Visiting Professor of Buddhism & Black Studies

We are very excited to announce that Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad '02 will be joining the Union Theological Seminary community as the Visiting Professor of Buddhism and Black Studies.

In Memoriam: Thich Nhat Hanh

The Union community is saddened to learn of the death of Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh ’63. In his death, we recognize the life of one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of our time.

Walking the Path of Compassion

Sister Chan Khong, Elder nun of the International Plum Village Sangha and monastic disciple of Thích Nhất Hạnh, came to Union on August 30th. In an afternoon filled with storytelling, wisdom, and song, she spoke on mindfulness, humanitarian work, and braving challenges with a heart of compassion.

Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire

On November 1, 2022, TNHEB, Parallax Press, Blue Cliff Monastery, and the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation joined to celebrate the new edition of Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. Originally published in 1967, and one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s first books written in English, this insightful text offers the perspective of the Vietnamese people on what they often refer to as “the American War.”

Compassion In Action: Sister Chan Khong

Venerable Sister Chan Khong is one of the first monastic disciples of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She continues her more than 55-year service as Thich Nhat Hanh’s main assistant and director of his humanitarian projects. The eldest nun of the International Plum Village Sangha, she is known as the compassionate, persistent, and brave singing nun who has devoted her life to working for peace and engaged Buddhism.

INVESTIGATING CASTE AND RACIAL OPPRESSION THROUGH A BUDDHIST LENS

In this virtual conversation, Thenmozhi Soundararajan and Rima Vesely-Flad discuss Buddhism, intergenerational trauma, how the experiences of caste and racial oppression mirror one another, and their indebtedness to the Black Feminist and abolitionist traditions.

SOLIDARITY IN BLACK AND ASIAN BUDDHIST SANGHAS

As Buddhism gains numbers of practitioners throughout the U.S., there is increasing attention paid to cultural adaptation and appropriation within "convert" sanghas. How can Buddhist practitioners, including Black Buddhists who have similarly experienced cultural appropriation, respond ethically? As violence continues to be disproportionately inflicted upon Black and Asian community members, how can Black and Asian communities create further avenues for solidarity?

GRIEF AS SOCIAL JUSTICE WORK

In this conversation we will explore the centrality of grief on the path of liberation, and how individual and collective practices and rituals in the Buddhist tradition can support, make space for and help reclaim how we integrate loss; and in turn be a part of reforming systems of oppression that depend on the denial and suppression of the vast histories of what we need to collectively grieve.

BLACK BUDDHISTS AND THE BLACK RADICAL TRADITION

They will explore themes of Blackness, gender, and sexuality within Dharma practice and communities. Engaging the work of Black Buddhist teachers, they will together examine the distinct contributions of contemporary writers, as well as luminaries such as James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, whose essays clarify historical teachings on suffering, impermanence, compassion, and sensuality.

ABOLITION

With nearly 2.3 million people locked up behind bars, the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Moreover, Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color are disproportionately targeted for criminalization and incarceration. With the Bodhisattva vow calling for the liberation of all beings, how should American Buddhists contend with the present reality of mass incarceration and its origins in the 13th Amendment? Are Buddhist notions of liberation aligned with the movement to abolish jails and prisons? Are there alternative ways of thinking about the current retributive justice system that are rooted in the dharma?

JUST RELATIONSHIP WITH THE EARTH

Cláudio Carvalhaes, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, and Sensei Kritee Kanko, PhD and Rev. Kosen Greg Snyder discuss the climate crisis as we grieve the mass extinction of species, the suffering and relocation of peoples, and the increasing regularity of cataclysmic weather events everywhere.

BUDDHISM, ANCESTRAL MEMORY, and HEALING

Dharma and Justice: Buddhism, Ancestral Memory, and Healing with Duncan Ryūken Williams, Venerable Bhante Buddharakkita, DaRa Williams, and Kosen Gregory Snyder.

BUDDHIST and CHRISTIAN WOMANIST LIBERATION

This dynamic conversation between the Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas and Dr. Pamela Ayo Yetunde will explore how Buddhist and Christian Womanist Liberation theologies relate to one another? In our movements to support the liberation of all through a womanist lens, how are we perhaps seeing things differently in important ways?

VOW TO NOT BURN OUT

In this conversation, with Mushim Ikeda and Rev. Kosen Greg Snyder will explore the questions: How many of us who have devoted ourselves to the liberation of all beings are on a path toward burnout? How do we not fall into cynicism and despair? By what means do we maintain the energy for our own spiritual lives?

WHY I AM STILL TALKING TO WHITE PEOPLE

Vimalasara hosted a conversation with Kosen Gregory Snyder about why they are still talking to white people.

Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote the best-selling book, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, and while this book continues to be critical in the conversation of race, systemic and institutional racism, there is the Black Voice that is still open to talking to white people. Some of us have white parents, white siblings, white lovers, and so while these relationships may be fraught with tension, perhaps this is the place where we can make change happen. I was told never to moan, now I reclaim my voice, and say hey white people let's have a conversation.

IMMIGRATION JUSTICE and UNCONSCIOUS OTHERING

In this timely conversation in our Dharma and Justice series between Rev. Grace Song, James Lynch, and Kosen Gregory Snyder discuss Immigration Justice and Unconscious Othering.

Rev. Grace (Sangjin) Song is the Won Buddhist Studies Department Chair at the Won Institute of Graduate Studies and Buddhist Chaplain at the University of Pennsylvania. Rev. Song is an ordained Kyomu in the Won Buddhist tradition. James A. Lynch is the current President of the Buddhist Council of New York and has been addressing immigrant justice issues for well over a quarter of a century having worked as a lawyer on immigration issues.

WISE SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IN OUR TIME

To address the needs of our communities in these times, more than ever spiritual leaders are being asked to act from a deep place of wisdom and skill. However, the appropriate response is not always clear, especially when spiritual training has not prepared many to discern and address the social complexities and challenges of our nation. When considering spiritual leadership in this moment, what are we being called to do to care for ourselves and our communities? How do we care for ourselves as leaders? How do we go about resourcing ourselves to make sense of these times? In what ways may we be failing our communities? How do we create harm when we attempt to lead with no understanding of what these times require?

WHAT IS RIGHT JUSTICE?

In his teaching regarding the eightfold path, the Buddha used the word, sammā, to characterize view, intention, action, speech, livelihood, mindfulness, effort, and concentration. Usually translated as “right,” the word can also suggest thoroughness, connectedness, and wholeness. How do we understand the work of justice in this way? How can we meet our violent histories and current realities from this place of right justice that endeavors to heal without reproducing false harmonies and relationships of subjugation?

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOCIAL VIOLENCE

How do Buddhists address social and political violence when there can often be an insistence within our traditions that doing so disrupts harmony, takes sides, and creates division? How do we ensure our traditions do not join in the reproduction of structural oppression and inequity? How do we work diligently for justice without entrenching separation and anger in our minds and hearts?

A More Plural Union

Dr. Simran Jeet Singh describes Union's interreligious engagement programs, interviewing Professor Greg Snyder and students in the Buddhism and Interreligious Engagement M.Div. pathway.

Power & Heart: Black and Buddhist in America

At the first-ever gathering of Buddhist teachers of black African descent, two panels of leading Buddhist teachers took questions about what it means to be a black Buddhist in America today.

Black Bodhisattvas

Dr. Kamilah Majied reflects her experiences at The Gathering of Buddhist Teachers of Black African Descent and what it means for humans to be free within ourselves, despite social, political, or “legal” imprisonment or persecution.

Compassion Conversation: Thupten Jinpa and Serene Jones

The Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism and Compassion Institute hosted a conversation with Tibetan Buddhist scholar, translator and author, Thupten Jinpa, and president of Union Theological Seminary, Serene Jones.

Emptiness and Social Action with DaRa Williams

The Buddha spoke of four immeasurable dwelling places of the heart that we now practice called the brahmaviharas. DaRa Williams spoke about how even in the midst of the challenging moments of today, we can rest our heart and develop balance, joy, kindness, and care.

Emptiness and Social Action with Bhante Buddharakkhita

Abbot Ven. Bhante Buddharakkhita discusses how conceptual, inferential, and experiential knowledge into emptiness of an inherent self invites a response to circumstances that are stressful, painful, and violent.

Emptiness and Social Action with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

Misunderstanding the teachings and truth of emptiness can lead to apathy, despair or rationalized disinterest. Sincere practice and correct understanding allows us to be truly and skillfully engaged within the world of samsara, without becoming overwhelmed by the suffering we encounter.

Emptiness and Social Action with David Loy

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. Does social engagement distract us from the realization of emptiness, or does emptiness empower social engagement?

Emptiness and Social Action with Bhikku Bodhi

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi draws upon three classical Buddhist sources that deal with the legitimation of political authority: the suttas of the Pali Canon, the edicts of King Asoka, and Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland. He then applies the principles derived from this survey to the present-day question of a government’s obligations to its citizenry.

American Sutra: Buddhism and the WWII Japanese American Incarceration

In the face of discrimination, dislocation, dispossession, and confinement, Japanese Americans turned to their faith to sustain them. American Sutra reveals how the Japanese American community broadened our country’s conception of religious freedom and forged a new American Buddhism.

Emptiness and Social Action with Greg Snyder

The Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism invites you to join us for our monthly Dharma Talk Series: Emptiness and Social Action.

Rohingya Genocide Panel Discussion

Co-hosted by the Buddhist Action Coalition, this conversation focused on the causes and conditions of the crisis, along with the role that Buddhist laity and monastic communities have played in the rhetoric and violence.

A Buddhist Peace Symbol

Rev. Dr. TK Nakagaki, author of "The Buddhist Swatsika and Hitler's Cross; Rescuing a Symbol of Peace from the Forces of Hate," in conversation with Rabbi, author and poet Sheila Peltz Weinberg and Professor Mary Boys.

Exploring Patience and its Strength

April 17, 2019
Ven. Khenpo Pema Wangdak leads a discussion and meditation on the subject of patience.

Black & Buddhist in America

This unprecedented public gathering brought together 15 leading Buddhist teachers of black African descent from across the country to talk about dharma, the state of the world, and what it means to be a black Buddhist in America today.

Buddhist Action: Morals, Vision, Justice

February 3, 2018
A gathering of New York Area Buddhist practitioners, scholars, activists and teachers.

Buddhism, Love, and Politics

November 1, 2017
A conversation featuring Sharon Salzberg, angel Kyodo williams, and Robert Wright.

NYC Vesak Celebration

The Thich Nhat Hanh program and the Buddhist Council of New York partnered for Vesak festivities. Vesak marks the traditional celebration of Buddha’s birthday in countries around the world. Celebrating Vesak involves making special efforts to reduce the suffering of sentient beings who are less fortunate.