Insight Myanmar6 Tammi 2021

Detached Engagement: Racial Equity Training in the Vipassana organization of S.N. Goenka

What place does engagement in social justice issues have, if any, within vipassana meditation centers in the tradition of S.N. Goenka? That is question Clyde Ford is asking, and is at the heart of a training session he led for teachers and students at Dhamma Kunja, a vipassana center in Washington state.

In addition to being a corporate trainer on racial justice, Clyde is himself a dedicated vipassana meditator in the Goenka tradition. He is also a software engineer, a chiropractor, a psychotherapist, an environmentalist, a 12-time, award-winning author, and currently a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow. He has appeared on Oprah and NPR, among other shows, to share his expertise.

In this episode, Clyde shares what led to his ground-breaking training at Dhamma Kunja, and what topics he covered in the session. We talk about spiritual bypass, past attempts at targeting courses for African American communities being blocked by the US leadership, proactive outreach opportunities to communities of color, ensuring that vipassana centers are more inclusive, the appointment of Black teachers, and finding a balance between spiritual practice and worldly affairs.

This fascinating discussion provides an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at how one North American vipassana center in the tradition of S.N. Goenka is exploring ways to transition into greater sensitivity in the second decade of the 21st century.

If you would like to support our mission, we welcome your contribution. You may give by searching “Insight Myanmar” on PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, Go Fund Me, and Patreon, as well as via Credit Card at www.insightmyanmar.org/donation.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(609)

A Course in Progress

Episode #594: “We fumble through life a little bit, and we end up doing different kind of things.” Arthur Nichols uses this modest explanation for a life that has now been shaped by Vipassana for fift...

24 Elo 1h 19min

Most Favored Regime

Episode #593: “Why are values included in international trade?” Arianna Bondi’s research begins with that question, but Myanmar turns it into a problem of limits. A PhD candidate at McGill University ...

21 Elo 1h 30min

Meditating beyond the Benevolent Dictator

Episode #592: In this, the 7th installment of a series of discussions with Jonathan Crowley, a former longtime practitioner and assistant teacher in the Goenka Vipassana tradition, he reflects on his ...

20 Elo 1h 49min

Ground Control

Episode #591: “The war may end, but for years and years, landmines indiscriminately will kill and maim people, quite often children, as well as farm animals, long after the act of fighting has ended.”...

18 Elo 1h 59min

The Feminine Mystique

Episode #590: Chie Ikeya’s work on colonial Burma began almost by accident. Trained as a historian and originally planning to study the Japanese occupation, she found herself in Yangon waiting for arc...

17 Elo 2h 27min

Port of No Return

Episode #589: The AAS Conference in Vancouver brought together thousands of scholars and practitioners focused on Asia, with Burma emerging as a key topic amid its ongoing crisis. Insight Myanmar Podc...

14 Elo 1h 19min

Missing, Presumed Extinct

Episode #588: Historian Douglas Ober began questioning the standard history of Indian Buddhism while traveling to Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and other sacred sites in his twenties. The dates he found on buil...

13 Elo 2h 42min

Abandoning the Barracks

Episode #587: Su Thit, the founder of Spouses of People’s Soldiers, frames military defection in Myanmar less as a single brave act than as an extended struggle against survival math. Leaving the inst...

11 Elo 1h 18min