Patience as an antidote to fixation and apathy
Engaged Buddhist Studies Workshop this Sunday + April’s Rad Reads
Hi friends,
Yesterday morning, as Bo gleefully scootered around my parent’s driveway, I took in the variety of yellow and white daffodils that have finally opened.
We live in the mountains so spring’s warmth has taken a bit longer to reach us. I’ve complained to anyone who will listen that my parent’s house is the one place in the Poconos where huge grey clouds like to congregate. The thing is, as soon as we drive out from their house, the clouds open up, the sky expands and sun beckons.
For me, it’s been a larger lesson about how patience isn’t necessarily about a change in circumstance but a shift in one’s perspective.
In Buddhism, patience is the antidote to anger and aggression. Aggression goes beyond overt forms of violence and pertains to resentment, bitterness, being overly critical. Patience has the felt quality of being able to ride the moment’s energy without grasping, pushing away, or fixating. It asks us to not only unclench but to raise our gaze, hold a larger view, and expand our awareness.
The spaciousness that patience invites doesn’t necessarily change our situation but rather allows us to meet our reality in a way that causes us to suffer less and therefore be able to move forward with more ease, compassion, and agility.
When taking into consideration this moment of political cruelty, it can feel out of touch or spiritual bypass to say that we should have more patience when people are being literally caged and dying. I think this is a misunderstanding of what patience, from a Buddhist perspective, is really about. It’s not that we don’t try to help or that we become apathetic.
Patience gives us a more expansive view that de-centers our fixation that is ultimately tied and connected to our ego’s sense of “me, me, me” so we don’t burn out, and can continue to do the work that is needed.
MLK wrote that "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." To be honest, I’m not sure how true this is, but I’m not interested in the veracity of the latter part of the sentence. What I do think is helpful is holding a view of the moral universe that is long and expansive.
Here’s why: The results of our organizing and activism matter. Deeply. But if we are engaging our work fixated on the end goal, clinging so tightly, we are simultaneously causing ourselves to suffer in a way that actually disempowers and diminishes our capacity to act in the long run.
Patience is deeply connected to dharma teachings on renunciation and the second precept “to not steal” and its larger contemplation to consider what we can afford to let go of. Stealing is not only in relationship to material objects, but time, energy, the stories we tell about ourselves and each other. It’s asking us to cultivate discernment on what to accept and reject. It’s an invitation to ask ourselves what is truly necessary. On the flip side, it’s also an invitation to ask ourselves what we are willing to receive.
As activists, organizers, concerned human-beings, how can we invite a longer, time-stretching view into our awareness so rather than acting out of tightness, we can make decisions and actions of the precision that comes from a wider awareness?
How can we recognize that sometimes the air and mental spaciousness that we need requires us simply to drive out of the housing development down the road to where the clouds are naturally parting and sun is beckoning?
I’ll be practicing this alongside all of you in the coming weeks, years, lifetime. In the meantime, below you can find a few different opportunities for us to study, meditate, and engage in good spiritual-political community together.
In love and solidarity,
Adriana
The Dharma’s Transmission to the West
Engaged Buddhist Studies SeminarsThis upcoming Sunday, April 27th 3:00-5:00pm ESTRescheduled Date: Wednesday, April 30th 6:00-8:00pm EST
As engaged meditators and Buddhists, we are aware of the ways that capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy perpetuate suffering for all beings. While we protest, build power, and create new ways of being to resist these forces, it's crucial that we examine and interrogate the ways that Buddhist practice itself in the West has been shaped by them.
This workshop will trace the journey of Buddhism's arrival and evolution in the United States, beginning with Asian immigrants in the early 20th century and the influential meditation masters who brought their teachings West. We'll examine the role of Western students who studied in Asia and helped ignite a wave of popular interest in Buddhism during the 1970s. We’ll also unpack how forces like modernity, capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy have shaped Western Buddhism and its offshoots in the secular mindfulness movement. The seminar also explores the ongoing tensions between so-called "heritage" and "convert" communities and how post-modern interpretations continue to evolve Buddhist practice today.
We’ll begin with introductions and a guided meditation, followed by a 90-mins lecture and discussion. Zoom registration link is at the end of this email. The replay will be sent out early next week.
Monday Meditation Gatherings
+ Introduction to Buddhist Meditation Practice Course
Every Monday 9:00-9:45am EST
If you’re looking to deepen your meditation practice, join us on Mondays! We’re working through a 20-lesson course on Introduction to Buddhist Meditation Practice. I’ve had a lot of fun recording these videos that are sent on Fridays. It’s also making me consider maybe I should have a YouTube channel and not a Substack? Lol Here are the videos from the past couple of weeks:
When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse by Norma Wong
Engaged Dharma Book Club
Thursday, May 29th 6:00-8:00pm EST
We’re reading Zen master and Indigenous Hawaiian leader Rōshi Norma Wong’s book this May. If you feel like your mind and spirit could use some nourishment, come join us. This book has been on my bookshelf for a while but I’ve purposely saved it to read in community. Here’s a short blurb on the book:
“Talking story, weaving poetry, and offering wisdom at the intersections of strategy, politics, and spiritual activism, When No Thing Works is a visionary guide to co-creating new worlds from one in crisis. It asks into the ways we can live well and maintain our wholeness in an era of collective acceleration: the swiftly moving current, fed and shaped by human actions, that sweeps us toward ever uncertain futures.
As we stand at a threshold of collective change, what leaps must we make?
How can we push through discord and polarization and meet these critical changepoints collectively?
What practices, strategies, and spiritualities can align to vision a sustainable future for our communities and descendents?
How can we step out of urgency to tend to our crises with wisdom, intention, and care?”
Palestine Mutual Aid Fundraiser Update
Thank you so much to everyone who donated to the Palestine interfaith mutual aid fundraiser. Our small interfaith group fundraised $44k collectively for Roots of Refuge and Dahoun, exceeding our goal of $36k. Amidst renewed destruction and devastation in Gaza, I find that it is easy to feel utter despair and hopelessness. My hope and prayer is that these funds are able to offer tangible relief and support to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
April’s Rad Reads
I haven’t had a lot of time to keep up with content across the internet this month but I do want to share a few links.
Spirituality & Resilience Study
Olivia Elmore, a Radical Change community member, is doing graduate research on the relationship between spirituality and resilience for her MSW. It’d be incredible if we could contribute to Olivia’s research. If you’re able to, please take a moment to fill out the above survey.
The Purpose of Protest & So You Want To Be A Radical by
(Dialectics of Decline)I recently came across Scarlet’s writing and want to uplift her work. Her analysis is sharp, clear, and compassionate. These two pieces in particular spoke to me.
Working Class Love Notes #10: Community by
Do you know when you read a newsletter and you feel nourished? I got that from Beth’s most recent newsletter.