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Engaged Buddhism

established 8/20/2008 7:54 am | updated 8/20/2008 7:54 am

We all know that Buddhism is highly stylized by the act of sitting meditation. This group seeks to explore how we take that sitting meditation and do what the Buddha taught: make your sitting the rest of your life. How do we engage the teaching of Buddha in social activism? How does it affect our jobs, our volunteer activities, our social life.


GROUP MESSAGES:

The premise of engaged Buddhism arises from two of Buddhisms major ideals: wisdom and compassion. It would seem awfully selfish to develop these ideals and not express them. And being socially active with them doesn't require one to have all the answers, or necessarily any of them. If you allow your compassion to radiate, then you will be doing what is natural to compassion.

Another vital factor that drives engaged Buddhism is the reality of interdependence. None of us exist independently. Even down to the level of our thoughts, there is really no such thing as independence. At the cellualr level this attempt at independence is called cancer.

Realizing our interdependence will go a long way to actually making for freedom, and uniting it with wisdom and compassion will help bring about the answers we need to solve today's problems in a way that leads to peace and equanimity.

posted by Rob on 8/21/2008 7:29 am
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