Meditations
On White Buddhist Theories About Spiritual Activism
These days, it’s hard for me to listen to Dharma teachers. Most often, they have a deep understanding of Buddhist philosophy and their intent is good. But they are often white men and, without realizing it, they are speaking to other white, likely middle-class folks, about a kind of abstract sense of fear and how to be happy amidst anxiety.
Those struggles are valid, and I hope these teachers are helpful in guiding white middle-class folks to a greater sense of interconnectedness, generosity & self-awareness. But that philosophy seems shallow to me. And to the extent that these Dharma teachers seem to think they are speaking to humanity as a whole, it seems almost insincere.
If I don’t go to sangha anymore, it’s because I don’t hear people there talking to Black mothers, or trans/gender queer people of color. They aren’t talking to people about how to cope with the very immediate fear of being assaulted or killed, or having your child be assaulted or killed, without consequences. How to cope with the anxiety of knowing that you are safer assuming a cop is a killer and that the justice system is not only not serving you, but actively working against you. These are not abstract concerns softened by a life of privilege : they are concrete, existential threats endured daily.
And, for me, if you live in America today and you aren’t talking to those people - those at the margins, those who are in the most dire need of that spiritual guidance or support, then you’re not working hard enough. And you’re not serving people of color. You’re not serving poor people. You’re not serving the LGBT* community. You’re not serving those who aren’t able-bodied. In fact, if you have their ear, you are likely promoting a sense of frustration within their hearts, as they try to apply abstract teachings to their concrete problems.
In fact, you are likely only serving yourself. And that, for me, is hardly Buddhist.
Carrie Fisher explains to a little boy what ‘bipolar’ means, at Indiana Comic Con 2015.
I love her so much.
I will always reblog this because it’s the best description of bi-polar I have EVER seen.
(Especially to people who don’t understand what mania means. You aren’t HAPPY, you’re very fast.)
It was SO important to 15-year-old me to learn that PRINCESS LEIA (whose hair I have envied since age 7, btw) was bi-polar.she is so good and i love her so much, and so so much for TALKING about everything so frankly. (without losing an ounce of her humor).
(via fabricfoxholes)
The Auspicious or Endless Knot is a symbol used to define a learning point on the path to enlightenment. The understanding that everything is related and interrelated should lead us to think carefully about our thoughts and actions, and thus their impact or effects not just on ourselves or those around us, but on civilisation as a whole. Source.
@people who refuse to use they as a singular pronoun: you’ve been using they as a singular pronoun since you learnt how to speak. you’ve been saying “someone’s left their bag here”, “i don’t know who they are” and so much more. you do it all the time. so no, you don’t care about grammar. you’re just transphobic.
(via fabricfoxholes)
