Buddha Eye Temple is hosting four events in May inspired by the recent national Buddhism and Ecology Summit. Sunday, May 15th, Abbot Ejo McMullen will present a Dharma Talk on “The Crisis is Not Out There.” There will then be two evening events featuring a dharma talk from the National Summit and providing an opportunity for conversation about meeting, living with, and acting on our ecological challenges. The first evening event, on May 17th is “Connection, Community, and Compassion” and the second, on May 24th, is “The Future We Choose.” Sunday, May 29th, Koji Kogen Houseknecht will present a Dharma Talk on Dharma and Ecology.
Everyone in the sangha and in our larger community is invited. This will be an in-person event.
Sunday, May 15
10:00 AM: The Crisis is Not Out There
Abbot Ejo McMullen
In an ever-turbulent human world it is natural to become anxious and afraid. We are at an inflection point. Industrial society is becoming self-aware of its limitations, and there is an ever-increasing sense of crisis. In our anxiousness and fear it is also natural for us to locate our problems, and ultimately the accompanying solutions, "out there", but Buddha Dharma tells us that there is fundamentally no such thing as "out" of the body to be "there". Join Abbot Ejo McMullen in a discussion of Buddhist teachings of embodiment, vision, and liberation as it applies to facing this important pivot point for the world.
Tuesday, May 17
7-8:30 PM: Connection, Community, and Compassion: Resources for our Emotional Wellbeing
Weaving together strands from behavioral and psychological research, contemplative wisdom and practices, and climate activism, this inspiring panel explores the power of connection, community, and compassion to buoy us as we rise to our calling to serve and live fully during these times. It provides a broad view of what we are up against emotionally and spiritually, the implications of these challenges for young people, and some grounded observations about what staying connected looks and feels like.
The panel includes Dekila Chungyalpa, the director of the Loka Initiative at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Healthy Minds; Brother Phap Dung, a senior teacher and activist from Plum Village; Elissa Epel, a health psychologist at the University of California San Francisco studying how stress resilience and mindfulness interventions can protect health and promote thriving; and Susan Bauer-Wu, President of the Mind & Life Institute, where she has championed “human-earth connection” as a priority focus area in bridging science and contemplative wisdom. Following the one-hour video, there will be time for discussion and conversation.
Tuesday, May 24
7-8:30 PM: The Future We Choose: Perspectives on Moral Character in Relation to the Climate Catastrophe with Roshi Joan Halifax and Christiana Figueres
Roshi Joan Halifax, Buddhist teacher and activist, joins Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Buddhist practitioner, to offer perspectives on the moral challenges we face individually and collectively. Their discussion provides a big picture context for the environmental crisis, but also engages what it means to get political, with a rich knowledge of what is happening in terms of action and policy around the world. Christiana led the work for the United Nations that gave us the historic 2015 Paris Agreement, which is now the point of reference for all international and national action. And she was a student of Thich Nhat Hanh’s. Following the one-hour video, there will be time for discussion and conversation.
Sunday, May 29
10:00 AM: Zen-Art-Poetry-Nature
Senior Student Kogen Houseknecht
An exploration of the human relationship with life on planet earth.