Crossing Nebraska

It’s come to my attention that some Buddhists are beginning to lament what they call “woke Buddhism” taking over Western Zen centers and Buddhist communities. This is a rather ironic development, of course, given that awakening is so central to the Buddhist religion. How can people strive to be awakened while at the same time lamenting wokeness? Perhaps it behooves us to explore some definitions. The word buddha is derived from bodhi , which means awakened , having perfect wisdom, enlightened, if you will. One who is completely awakened is called a buddha. When we speak of the Buddha, however, we are referring to the historical Shakyamuni Buddha. Venn diagram showing the relationship of woke and awakened Being awakened means somewhat different things in different sects of Buddhism. However, in Mahayana Buddhism—the practice of which is more widespread in China, Japan, Korea, and Tibet— bodhi is more specifically defined as follows: “[It] is mainly understood as wisdom based on ...

I was walking down the road from where we live and saw it for the umpteenth time: the “Just Be Kind” sign somebody had placed by their mailbox. Perhaps you’ve seen the version I’m referring to. It seems to be the product of a movement of some sort, as I’ve seen numerous copies of it around town and online. It would seem that those who display such signs believe they’ve unlocked the secret to making the world a better place. From my point of view, though, seeing it again reminded me that I’ve long wanted to dig below the surface of this ostensibly inspirational bromide in order to point out its smug vapidity as well as the potential for it to perpetuate violence. This "Just Be Kind" sign seems to be a thing Just being kind does nothing to address structural racism. In other words, it doesn’t address inequities in educational opportunities and health outcomes resulting from what neighborhood you’re born into. It doesn’t address disparities in wealth accumulation based on where ...