The author and Roshi Bernie Glassman at Upaya Zen Center (photo by Roshi Joan Halifax)
For my longtime readers, I miss seeing you here… for my newer readers, just to get you up to speed, I don’t post very regularly on The Jizo Chronicles anymore. I am focusing my energy these days on my other blog, The Liberated Life Project, as well as on the work I do as Upaya Zen Center’s director of community outreach and development.
I’m having a rare quiet night so thought I’d give this blog a little attention and share some news from the world of socially engaged Buddhism that’s come across my desk this past month:
• Kudos to the Buddhist Peace Fellowship for being smart enough to pick Katie Loncke as their Director of Media and Action. I’ve long been a fan of Katie’s blog, and interviewed her on TJC back in January. I’m really looking forward to hearing more of Katie’s voice on behalf of BPF.
• Rev. Danny Fisher is now not only a reverend but a doctor! This week, Danny received a doctorate of Buddhist studies from the University of the West. Also of note is Danny’s excellent dharma talk based on the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Kristof and WuDunn). You can listen to Danny give the talk here.
• There’s quite a good article on socially engaged Buddhism in May 9th issue of The Washington Post by Losang Tendrol, a Tibetan Buddhist nun. The piece focuses on Thai activist Sulak Sivaraksa.
Even though I am not posting here often, please don’t write off The Jizo Chronicles… I’ll still pop up here occasionally and might mobilize this blog when an important action is needed.
But for the most part, you can find me over at the Liberated Life Project… Go on, check it out… I think you’ll really enjoy it. Here are some recent posts that may be of interest:
- Taking a Stand for What You Believe
- Reflections on Becoming a Buddhist Chaplain and Liberation-based Livelihood
- A Beautiful Wake-up Call
May you all be well,
Maia
The Jizo Chronicles 
Thank you, Maia the Wonderful! _/|\_
You’re welcome, Dr. Danny!
Reblogged this on Namaste Consulting Inc. and commented:
One of my favorite blogs… keep up with Maia’s blog and you won’t be sorry!!!!
Wow, Jennifer… thank you for your enthusiastic endorsement of my writing! I am honored.
Reblogged this on Jan Deelstra.
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“…that there is no Buddhism that is not engaged…”, is a real great insight!
Something to think about:
“How few understand what love really is, and how it arises in the human
heart. It is so frequently equated with good feelings toward others, with
benevolence or nonviolence or service. But these things in themselves
are not love. Love springs from awareness. It is only inasmuch as you
see someone as he or she is really here, and not how they are in your
memory or your desire or in your imagination or projection that you can
truly love them; otherwise it is not the person that you love but the idea
that you have formed of this person, or this person as the object of your
desire not as he or she is in themselves.
The first act of love is to see this person or this object, this reality as it
truly is. And this involves the enormous discipline of dropping your desires,
your prejudices, your memories, your projections, your selective way of
looking …a discipline so great that most people would rather plunge
headlong into good actions and service than submit to the burning fire of
this asceticism. When you set out to serve someone whom you have not
taken the trouble to see, are you meeting that person’s need or your own?”
—
“You see persons and things not as they are but as you are. If you wish to
see them as they are you must attend to your attachments and the fears
that your attachments generate. Because when you look at life it is these
attachments and fears that will decide what you will notice and what you
block out. Whatever you notice then commands your attention. And since
your looking has been selective you have an illusory version of the things
and people around you. The more you live with this distorted version the
more you become convinced that it is the only true picture of the world
because your attachments and fears continue to process incoming data in
a way that will reinforce your picture.”
The Way to Love— Father Anthony de Mello
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