Often when we see Buddhist practice put into conversation with radical social transformation, commitments like forgiveness, patience, and non-attachment appear in one of two ways: as pillars of self-care, or resigned—almost theological—faith in inaction in the face of the intolerable. In fact, these practices are not merely tactical approaches to our immediate experience; they are key, prefigurative building-blocks worth re-thinking not just through the lens of the Buddha’s teachings, but the accounts of actors on the ground in contemporary struggles.
Recorded at Centre of Gravity, Toronto on November 12, 2013.