Abstract
This article deconstructs how Buddhist practitioners of African descent acknowledge racism and challenge predominantly white, affluent Buddhist sanghas that embrace the tenets of Socially Engaged Buddhism. It argues that practitioners of African descent directly acknowledge the social constructs of the black body that result in violent practices such as police brutality and disproportionate black incarceration. To support this argument, I rely on primary texts published by Socially Engaged Buddhists. The results conclude that black Buddhists not only highlight the suffering wrought by racism in the West, they also challenge white sangha members to reckon with the depth of racism in society and in their sanghas. I conclude that black Buddhists, in their acknowledgement of the socially constructed meanings of the black body, offer an important challenge to Socially Engaged Buddhism.
Highlights
Engaged Buddhists identify social action as an expression of Buddhist spirituality and teachings
It argues that practitioners of African descent directly acknowledge the social constructs of the black body that result in violent practices such as police brutality and disproportionate black incarceration
Because Western contexts rest upon histories of racialized colonialism, genocide, slavery, legal segregation, and de facto segregation, black Buddhist practitioners emphasize the need to examine racialized bodies
Summary
Engaged Buddhists identify social action as an expression of Buddhist spirituality and teachings. This article deconstructs how Buddhist practitioners of African descent acknowledge racism and challenge predominantly white, affluent Buddhist sanghas that embrace the tenets of Socially Engaged Buddhism. Engaged Buddhists state that as all sentient beings live in nature, it is important to protect earthly resources. This is a similar approach to Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, who is credited with coining the term “Socially Engaged Buddhism” and who engages social and environmental issues through adaptations of Zen teachings.. Thich Nhat Hanh’s approach to peacemaking in situations of conflict and war echoes the approach of The Dalai Lama Both teachers exhibit an inner stability founded upon meditation practice and Buddhist teachings. Buddhist communities that have emerged in the West since the 1970s
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