Archive
Konda Mason: Growing rice in Louisiana is a path to justice for Black farmers
This article was originally published on The Christian Science Monitor, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. It’s past daybreak on a muggy July morning when Konda Mason reaches the farm, a …
After Thay: Plum Village Reckons With the Loss of Its Founder
This article was originally published on Tricycle with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. Monastics in long brown robes entered the hall for formal lunch in order of seniority, the longest ordained …
Jenifer Colpas Fernández: Young Colombian activist brings light to the displaced communities
This article was originally published on Religion News Service, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. CARTAGENA, Colombia (RNS) — In Isla de León, an hour’s drive through traffic-choked streets …
RNS: Gajaweera on Buddhism and Sri Lanka’s Recent Protest Movement
Protests that led to Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resignation have raised questions about the role of Buddhism in the country’s politics. Religion News Service interviewed CRCC’s Nalika Gajaweera about the Buddhist …
Sri Lanka’s Dual Crisis: Ethnic Conflict & the Debt Economy
This article was originally published by Jamhoor. “Except for the home crowd cheering for our national team at an international cricket match, it was the first time I was seeing Sri Lankans …
LA Times: Nalika Gajaweera on How Buddhists Are Responding to Anti-Asian Violence
The March 16, 2021 killing of six women of Asian descent and two others brought Asian Buddhists together across lineages and communities to confront anti-Asian hate. A year later, the LA Times …
Buddhadharma: Reclaiming Our So-Called “Cultural Baggage”
This article was originally published by Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly. You can often hear Western meditation-based convert circles use the term “cultural baggage” to refer to the ritualized acts, cosmological ideas, and …
Brother Chân Pháp Dung: Where the Search for Simplicity Leads
This article was originally published in Yes Magazine, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. Before entering monastic life, Brother Chân Pháp Dung gave away his worldly possessions. The last step …
Creating Safe(r) Spaces for Mindfulness of Breath: Experiences of Race in American Mindfulness
CRCC’s Nalika Gajaweera presented her research on how people of color experience race in mindfulness communities that are predominantly white at the Buddhism and Breath Summit. The Buddhism and Breath Summit was …
The Intersection of Gender, Nationalism and Faith-based Giving in Sri Lanka
On September 9 2021, the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI) held a webinar where CRCC’s Nalika Gajaweera presented her paper on the Intersection of gender, nationalism, and faith-based giving …
Teachers Turn to Mindfulness After a Stressful Pandemic Year
This article was originally published in Religion News Service, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. The past school year was the most challenging in Jon Salunga’s teaching career. It was …
Sexual Abuse, Whiteness and Patriarchy in Buddhist Sanghas
North American Buddhist communities have been and continue to be sites of sexual violations and power abuses. “Sexual Abuse, Whiteness and Patriarchy” is the first in a series of conversations that brings …
Why a Complaint Collective in Buddhist Studies?
CRCC Fellow Ann Gleig discusses speaks as a part of a series called Step Forward, in which scholars of Buddhist Studies discuss the academic culture of the field, focusing primarily on histories …
#BuddhistCultureWars: Buddhabros, Alt-Right Dharma, and Snowflake Sanghas
This article appeared in the Journal of Global Buddhism Vol 22, No 1 (2021) and was co-authored by Ann Gleig and Brenna Artinger. Abstract While often associated with a liberal demographic, the …
Sitting in the Fire Together: People of Color Cultivating Radical Resilience in North American Insight Meditation
This article appeared in the Journal of Global Buddhism’s Special Issue on Buddhism and Resilience, Vol 22, No 1 (2021), co-edited by Nalika Gajaweera. Abstract Drawing upon ethnographic research conducted in California …
Journal of Global Buddhism: Special Issue on Buddhism and Resilience
Nalika Gajaweera co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Global Buddhism on Buddhism and Resilience with Darcie DeAngelo. Below is an excerpt of their introduction along with a list of articles …
Kushil Gunasekera: ‘The More You Give, the More Will Be Yours to Give’
This article was originally published by The Arrow Journal, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. “I want to be one of the nicest human beings that this earth …
Religion in Los Angeles: Religious Activism, Innovation and Diversity in the Global City
Religion in Los Angeles: Religious Activism, Innovation and Diversity in the Global City Edited by Richard Flory and Diane Winston (Routledge, 2021) Why has Los Angeles been a hotspot for religious activism, …
Sonic Fields of Protection in Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 Pandemic
In a piece for the Asia Research Institute, CRCC’s Nalika Gajaweera and fellow anthropologist Neena Mahadev examine how for Sinhala Buddhists, pirit recitations serve to channel Dharmic energies and intentions during the COVID-19 …
Transforming the American Sangha: Race, Racism and Diversity in North American Insight Meditation
North American Insight Meditation institutions, rooted in the Vipassana tradition of Theravada Buddhism, are often seen as liberal, inclusive multicultural spaces committed to welcoming diverse constituencies into their communities. The research undertaken …