The New Bodhisattva Path

The most important contribution of Buddhism to our situation today is the bodhisattva path, understood in a new way that combines the traditional concern for personal transformation with a commitment to social transformation. What role does emptiness play in integrating that double focus? Does social engagement distract us from the realization of emptiness, or does emptiness empower social engagement?

The Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism invites you to join us for our monthly Dharma Talk Series: Emptiness and Social Action. Over the course of nine months, a wide array of Buddhist teachers will take us into the essential teachings of the Buddhadharma and what it looks like to move into action to address the dissatisfaction, distress, and suffering that we meet in relationship with the earth, people, and systems today, in the United States, and around the world.

How does conceptual, inferential, and experiential knowledge into emptiness of an inherent self invite for a response to circumstances that are stressful, painful, and violent? Each evening will be unique, with a combination of a dharma talk, meditation, and a question and answer period exploring these essential and vital questions within Buddhism and our lives’ for this moment in time.

David Loy comes from both the Japanese Zen tradition and Insight. He began Zen practice in Hawaii in 1971 with Yamada Koun and Robert Aitken, and continued with Koun-roshi in Japan, where he lived for almost twenty years. He was authorized to teach in 1988 and leads retreats and workshops nationally and internationally in places such as at Spirit Rock, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Omega Institute, Cambridge Insight Center, Terre d’Eveil in Paris, and Dharma Gate in Budapest. David recently received an honorary PhD from his Alma Mater, Carleton College, for his years of work on socially engaged Buddhism.

David is a well-known writer, whose books and articles have been translated into many languages. He recently published Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis

(Wisdom Publications). He has written many articles and blogs on Buddhism, ecology, and activism. He is very interested in the parallels between what Buddhism teaches about our personal predicament, and our current collective environmental predicament. David’s writings and videos are available at davidloy.org.