Engaged Buddhism

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In the West, Engaged Buddhism refers to Buddhists who are seeking ways to apply the insights from meditation practice and dharma teachings to situations of social, political, and economic suffering and injustice.

[edit] Etymology

The term was originally coined by Vietnamese Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Originally, he used Chinese characters (which is a scriptural language of Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhism), 入世佛教 (lit: Worldly Buddhism, 入世 = enter + world). During the Vietnam War, he and his sangha (spiritual community) made efforts to respond to the suffering they saw around them. They saw this work as part of their meditation and mindfulness practice, not apart from it.

Since then, the term has been translated into Western language as "Engaged Buddhism", which is not an accurate translation of original Chinese. Interestingly, in Chinese, Engaged Buddhism is now re-translated back as "Left Wing Buddhism" (左翼佛教) to describe Western variations of this genre of Buddhism.

[edit] In practice

Organizations such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and the International Network of Engaged Buddhists are devoted to building the movement of engaged Buddhists. Other engaged Buddhist groups include the Zen Peacemakers Sangha, led by Roshi Bernard Glassman, the Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight, Gaden Relief Projects, Amida Trust and Tzu Chi.

Prominent figures in the movement include Robert Aitken Roshi, Joanna Macy, Gary Snyder, Alan Senauke, Sulak Sivaraksa, Maha Ghosananda, Sylvia Wetzel, Diana Winston, Fleet Maull, Joan Halifax and Ken Jones.