Buddhist Practice and Protest (Part 1 of 2)
It’s been over twenty years now since
we gathered with our signs on a busy street in downtown St. Louis in an attempt
to keep the Iraq War from beginning. In those days, if enough people gathered
in one place to protest something, local reporters would likely show up and cover
it for the nightly news. Notwithstanding that possibility, we hoped at least to
get the attention of the many motorists making their way to and from the Grand
Center Arts District for their evening of entertainment.
“Where are all the Buddhists?” I recall the protest leader enquiring over his megaphone in between the antiwar chants of the day. He was a Catholic activist in the mold of Dorothy Day, and I got the distinct impression that he wasn’t expecting anyone to answer. Nevertheless, we did. “We’re over here!” three of us Zen Buddhists called out from halfway down the block, although noble silence would have been a very Zen response!
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| Arrest of the Buddha |
I’m surmising that the protest leader was testing out his assumption about the “stereotypical Buddhist” not showing up for such political actions. How about you? Do you have a stereotypical Buddhist in mind as you read these words? Here’s one I’ve conjured up based on my interactions over the years: They’re ever so calmly composed and without attachment to any ideas about the way things should be. Since all worldly phenomena are decreed to be “illusory”—mere rippling waves on an ocean of samsara—they eschew entanglements while remaining focused on a practice of liberation from the suffering caused by this cycle of birth, aging, death, and rebirth. And given that the issues and politics of the day—war, famine, racist policies, and the like—are merely larger waves of transitory phenomena, the stereotypical Buddhist is not one to become embroiled in any of them. Why protest the way things are when the way things are is not even real?
Let’s try to break this down as best we can. Yes, the perception that the stereotypical Buddhist is not the protesting type is at least indirectly supported by data. According to the Pew ResearchCenter, a smaller percentage of eligible Buddhists are registered voters than perhaps any other reported religion. In addition, Buddhists report lower levels of volunteerism than any other religion. Indeed. Buddhists are probably not the most likely ones to be found at an antiwar protest.
Let’s be fair, though. More than half of all Buddhists presently living in the United States (55%) were born in other countries. Thus, Buddhists in America are more likely to be spending greater amounts of time, energy, and resources than the average person simply settling into their new lives in a brand-new country. And since most new Buddhist arrivals come from Asian-Pacific nations, let’s not discount their cultural predisposition to refrain from making waves, especially in their adopted country.
But what about all the Buddhist converts? They (we) presumably have the time and resources that anyone else born in this country might have; and they’re not constrained by any cultural norms. What can be said about this subset of Buddhists of which I am a part? Again, relying on Pew Research Center data, a smaller percentage of Buddhists identify as Black or Hispanic than any religion except Judaism and Hinduism. Thus, Buddhists of White European ancestry are less likely to hear first-hand accounts from fellow Buddhist practitioners about the difficulties of being Black or Hispanic in this culture. They are less likely to be prompted to process the current effects of structural racism through the lens of their adopted religious tradition. They are less likely to have a teacher who is Black or Hispanic. And, since practice centers often cater to specific ethnicities, they are often quite unfamiliar with what it’s like to have been born Buddhist in an Asian-Pacific country. At this point, I’ll be a bit less charitable and posit that Buddhists of White European ancestry are more likely to live in a bubble of privilege.
Now that we’ve laid some groundwork, let’s revisit that aforementioned Buddhist stereotype from the perspective of the Buddhist of White European ancestry. It’s a stereotype stitched together from swatches of idealized imagery and less than fully understood dogma. Which is not to say you won’t find Buddhists who seem to perfectly conform to it or who do a good job of projecting such an image. You likely will! However, even though Buddhists do generally think of this world as a samsaric realm from which we must attain liberation (nirvana) lest we become born yet again into this ocean of suffering, the interpretation of these ideas makes all the difference.
For instance, sunyata, which has been misleadingly translated as voidness in the past, has given rise to the dangerous idea that “all is an illusion.” A more accurate translation of sunyata, though still quite difficult to fully realize, is emptiness. The emptiness of all phenomena does not mean they are illusory. The emptiness of all phenomena merely means that all “things” are without any separate and abiding existence.
Mahayana Buddhists interpret emptiness much more radically than other Buddhists. They realize (or will one day realize, it is hoped) that the distinction between samsara and nirvana stems from our inability to realize the true nature of the inherent emptiness of all phenomena. Once the ultimate nature of emptiness is realized, samsara and nirvana are seen as one. When seen in this way, this world ceases to be something from which one needs to seek liberation. This samsaric world is seen as nirvana itself.
For Mahayana Buddhists, this different view nudges practitioners away from the idea that we can fruitfully seek individual liberation and toward the bodhisattva ideal of foregoing personal liberation for the sake of helping others navigate these roiling waters of samsara. Estimates vary, but it seems that around 60% of Buddhists in the United States are Mahayana practitioners. So, given that a supermajority of Buddhists root themselves in a tradition that highly regards the vow to “save all beings,” how does the stereotype of the Buddhist disengaged from social activism still prevail?
One reason, I think, is that the Mahayana interpretation of emptiness is extremely difficult to incorporate into ones “core.” It defies the logic we Westerners hold in such high regard. Even long-term practitioners get tripped up thinking of things in “illusory” terms. Similarly, the vow to “save all beings” can stretch too far the imagination of many. How does one person save all? It is such a seemingly impossible task that it likely prompts many to merely avert their gaze in order to focus on their own individual practice. I might also note that Buddhists seem largely to be an introverted lot. It is the contemplative practice that converts find appealing, not the opportunity to fight injustice and correct society’s ills. Perhaps the primary reason for the persistence of this stereotype, however, is that Buddhist ideas and images of all sorts swirl about in the zeitgeist like a stew. Most people and perhaps even most Buddhist practitioners have not studied the various Buddhist schools of thought in any comprehensive way. Thus, even Mahayana practitioners can fall prey to considering the aforementioned stereotype to be a model of exemplary practice.
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| Joan Halifax Roshi arrested for climate activism |
Let me close this first post of two by highlighting the work of some Buddhist communities that seem to hold social activism in appropriate regard. You’ve likely heard of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk who was a contemporary and colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Plum Village order that he founded is thriving and teaching on matters of social activism. Check out some of those teachings here. Zen Peacemakers International is rooted in the teachings on engaged Buddhism of Roshi Bernie Glassman. You may check out some of what they do by clicking here. Joan Halifax Roshi is another Zen teacher with a long history of engaged practice. Check out the Upaya Zen Center that she founded by clicking here.
Thank you for reading! I’ll be posting more
soon.
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| Power, Practice, and Peace logo |
Find a running list of all posts in this series by clicking here.
Images
Arrest
of the Buddha was composed by the author of the following images:
LA
County sheriffs arresting a protester by Ethan Swope accessed via:
Shakyamuni
Buddha statue in the St. Louis Art Museum collection accessed via:
https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/14738/
Black
Lives Matter sign courtesy of the author.
Arrest
of Joan Halifax Roshi courtesy of Greenpeace via:
https://www.joanhalifax.org/activist
Copyright
2025 by Mark Robert Frank
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