Biases are learned. Given this fact, it is possible for biases to be unlearned. Learn to discern the difference between conscious and unconscious biases and understand what social and even financial benefits we gain by breaking all forms biases, -isms, and -phobias. In this conversation, Anu Gupta and Kosen Gregory Snyder will examine bias as it can be recognized and uprooted, through a Buddhist lens, and speak to the potential of the transformational interpersonal power of this work.

Livestreaming of this program will be available here: The Promise of Breaking Bias

This program is brought to you by the Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism. Previous conversations can be found here.

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Anu Gupta is an educator, lawyer, scientist, and the founder and CEO of BE MORE with Anu, an education technology benefit corporation that trains professionals across corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors to advance DEIB and wellness by breaking bias.

His work has reached 300+ organizations training more than 80,000 professionals impacting over 30 million lives. As a gay immigrant of color, he came to the work of breaking bias after almost ending his life due to lifelong experiences with racism, homophobia, and Islamophobia. The realization that bias can be unlearned helped lead him out of that dark point and inspired a lifelong mission to build a global movement for social healing based on principles of mindfulness and compassion. A peer-reviewed author, he has written and spoken extensively, including on the TED stage, the Oprah Conversation, Fast Company, Newsweek, and Vogue Business.

Rev. Kosen Greg Snyder, Osho is the Senior Director and Assistant Professor of Buddhist Studies at Union Theological Seminary, where he oversees the Master of Divinity degree program in Buddhism and Interreligious Engagement as well as the Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism. 

Professor Snyder is an ordained Zen Buddhist priest and dharma-transmitted teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He co-founded and is currently the senior resident priest at the Brooklyn Zen Center and Ancestral Heart Zen Monastery in Millerton, NY. He is one of the founders of the Buddhist Action Coalition, whose mission is to organize and inspire compassionate Buddhist initiatives in advancing social, economic, and environmental justice through advocacy and nonviolent direct action.

Professor Snyder’s academic and practice interests include socially engaged Buddhism, the intersections of contemplative interreligious dialogue and social action, the relationship between Buddhist liberatory practices and social transformation, and the exploratory juxtaposition of Buddhism with liberation theology, Earth-centered cosmologies, and Western continental theory, particularly phenomenology and post-structuralism. Professor Snyder is currently working on a book exploring expressions of social justice rooted in Buddhist dharma, moral epistemology, and praxis. He has been published in Buddhist and other periodicals, including Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, Shambhala Sun and the New York Times.