Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Encyclopedia
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) is a nonsectarian
international network of engaged Buddhists
participating in various forms of nonviolent social activism and environmentalism
with chapters all over the world. The non-profit BPF is an affiliate of the international Fellowship of Reconciliation
working toward global disarmament
and peace, helping individuals suffering under governmental tyranny in places such as Burma, Bangladesh
, Tibet
and Vietnam
. Currently headquartered in Berkeley, California
, the BPF was incorporated in 1978 in Hawaii
by Robert Baker Aitken
, his wife Anne Hopkins Aitken
, Nelson Foster, Ryo Imamura and others. Shortly after other notable individuals climbed aboard, including Gary Snyder
, Alfred Bloom
, Joanna Macy
and Jack Kornfield
. Generally speaking, the BPF has a tendency to approach social issues from a left-wing perspective and, while the fellowship is nonsectarian, the majority of its members are practitioners of Zen Buddhism.
BPF is currently led by Executive Director Sarah Weintraub, a second generation American Buddhist who grew up as a “Zen kid” in and around the San Francisco Zen Center
.
movement established in 1978 by Robert Baker Aitken
and Anne Hopkins Aitken
, along with Nelson Foster and others, on the front porch of their Maui Zendo in Hawaii
. Sitting around a table, the assembled group discussed nuclear weapons and militarism
within the United States
in the years following the Vietnam War
, finding that these issues must be addressed with compassion from a Buddhist perspective in order to bring about peace. Original members were centered primarily in Hawaii or the San Francisco Bay Area
, and by 1979 the group had roughly fifty members. To stay connected, the group formulated a newsletter spearheaded by Nelson Foster which evolved into Turning Wheel—the quarterly magazine published by the BPF. Today it trades ads with others Buddhist magazines in an effort to mutually generate more subscriptions. By the late 1980s the association had hundreds of members, and the headquarters had moved to office space in Berkeley, California
. During this time much of their work was geared toward human rights
efforts in areas of the world such as Cambodia
, Vietnam
and Bangladesh
, working particularly hard at freeing Buddhist prisoners of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
. This period in BPF history also was marked by the hiring of a coordinator and the development of national chapters.
BPF went through a turbulent period after longtime executive director Alan Senauke left at the end of 2001. After two executive directors who served less than a year and a period of no clear leadership, board member Maia Duerr was asked to lead the organization in 2004. During her three-year tenure, the BPF stabilized its finances, and considerable effort were made to bolster its nationwide outreach and include chapters in decision-making processes. Also during this period, Duerr led two "Buddhist Peace Delegations" to Washington, D.C., to call for an end to war in Iraq.
The BPF is administered by fifteen board members and an international advisory board composed of some of the leading voices in Buddhism
. The Berkeley office provides direction and support for chapters in the United States and other countries. Membership costs $45.00 per year for individuals or $30.00 for low income individuals. Included with one's membership is a subscription to Turning Wheel.
for social workers, activists and human service workers. It has chapters in various cities in the United States
, including Berkeley, California
and Boston, Massachusetts, aiming to help professionals integrate their work with Buddhist practice. The idea behind BASE was originally conceived of by Robert Baker Aitken
during discussions at a BPF meeting held in Oakland, California
in 1992, although it was Diana Winston who ultimately saw this vision through. She was somewhat disheartened to find that many of the BPF members were not actively engaged in meditation, so she out to develop a "training program that would integrate Buddhist practice, social engagement, and community life into one organic whole."
and also offer prisons information on chaplaincy opportunities. The committee's founding director was Diana Lion, who also has served as associate director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.
was founded, a non-profit affiliate of the BPF run entirely by volunteers, serving individuals with HIV/AIDS, those who are HIV positive, their families, and their caregiver
s.
chapter of BPF organized The Hiroshima Memorial in conjunction with Pax Christi
, designed to raise consciousness about the issue of nuclear war. The two groups released "peace lanterns" into the air and participants held vigil
s and various talks. On Hiroshima Day of August 6, 2006, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Santa Cruz, California
used the occasion to protest the Iraq War. Participants of the group "displayed a three foot tall, hundred foot long, scroll listing 40,000 names of Iraqi civilians killed in the war. There was also a pair of booths created which listed the names, photos, and brief stories, of over 2,000 US and coalition soldiers who also died in the war."
In October 2007 the Milwaukee chapter of BPF organized a silent "lakefront demonstration" to lend their support to the Buddhists of Myanmar
protesting the oppression of the military junta
there. Plans were made to sneak photographs and information on the Milwaukee event into Myanmar, to let protesters know that there are outsiders standing with them in solidarity. Some members reported being told that their phones were likely bugged in the United States
.
Nonsectarian
Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense, refers to a lack of sectarianism. The term is also more narrowly used to describe secular private educational institutions or other organizations either not affiliated with or not restricted to a particular religious denomination though the organization...
international network of engaged Buddhists
Engaged Buddhism
Engaged Buddhism refers to Buddhists who are seeking ways to apply the insights from meditation practice and dharma teachings to situations of social, political, environmental, and economic suffering and injustice...
participating in various forms of nonviolent social activism and environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
with chapters all over the world. The non-profit BPF is an affiliate of the international Fellowship of Reconciliation
Fellowship of Reconciliation
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries...
working toward global disarmament
Disarmament
Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms...
and peace, helping individuals suffering under governmental tyranny in places such as Burma, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Currently headquartered in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, the BPF was incorporated in 1978 in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
by Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Roshi was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959...
, his wife Anne Hopkins Aitken
Anne Hopkins Aitken
Anne Arundel Hopkins Aitken is considered by many to be one of the modern mothers of Zen Buddhism in the western world...
, Nelson Foster, Ryo Imamura and others. Shortly after other notable individuals climbed aboard, including Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
, Alfred Bloom
Alfred Bloom (Buddhist)
- Alfred Bloom :Alfred Bloom is a pioneer of Jodo Shinshu studies in the English-speaking world. Born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1926 Bloom was the youngest child of a Jewish father. At the time of Alfred Bloom’s birth, his mother had been a recent convert to a fundamentalist tradition of...
, Joanna Macy
Joanna Macy
Joanna Rogers Macy, Ph.D , is an environmental activist, author, scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology.-Biography:...
and Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield is a teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, including as a student of the Thai monk Ajahn Chah...
. Generally speaking, the BPF has a tendency to approach social issues from a left-wing perspective and, while the fellowship is nonsectarian, the majority of its members are practitioners of Zen Buddhism.
The BPF statement of purpose is:
1 To make clear public witness to Buddhist practice and interdependence as a way of peace and protection for all beings;
2 to raise peace, environmental, feminist, and social justice concerns among North American Buddhists;
3 to bring a Buddhist perspective of non-duality to contemporary social action and environmental movements;
4 to encourage the practice of nonviolence based on the rich resources of traditional Buddhist and Western spiritual teachings; and
5 to offer avenues for dialogue and exchange among the diverse North American and world Sanghas.
—
BPF is currently led by Executive Director Sarah Weintraub, a second generation American Buddhist who grew up as a “Zen kid” in and around the San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center , is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising the City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu...
.
About
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a grassrootsGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
movement established in 1978 by Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Roshi was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959...
and Anne Hopkins Aitken
Anne Hopkins Aitken
Anne Arundel Hopkins Aitken is considered by many to be one of the modern mothers of Zen Buddhism in the western world...
, along with Nelson Foster and others, on the front porch of their Maui Zendo in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Sitting around a table, the assembled group discussed nuclear weapons and militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
within the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the years following the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, finding that these issues must be addressed with compassion from a Buddhist perspective in order to bring about peace. Original members were centered primarily in Hawaii or the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, and by 1979 the group had roughly fifty members. To stay connected, the group formulated a newsletter spearheaded by Nelson Foster which evolved into Turning Wheel—the quarterly magazine published by the BPF. Today it trades ads with others Buddhist magazines in an effort to mutually generate more subscriptions. By the late 1980s the association had hundreds of members, and the headquarters had moved to office space in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. During this time much of their work was geared toward human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
efforts in areas of the world such as Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, working particularly hard at freeing Buddhist prisoners of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is a Buddhist organization in Vietnam. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam was founded in 1964 to unify 11 of the 14 different sects of Vietnamese Buddhism at the time present in the country...
. This period in BPF history also was marked by the hiring of a coordinator and the development of national chapters.
BPF went through a turbulent period after longtime executive director Alan Senauke left at the end of 2001. After two executive directors who served less than a year and a period of no clear leadership, board member Maia Duerr was asked to lead the organization in 2004. During her three-year tenure, the BPF stabilized its finances, and considerable effort were made to bolster its nationwide outreach and include chapters in decision-making processes. Also during this period, Duerr led two "Buddhist Peace Delegations" to Washington, D.C., to call for an end to war in Iraq.
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship appeals to Westerners who have embraced Buddhism and who also believe that their chosen path must address the pressing issues of the day. More a religious movement than a political one, the BPF is fueled by an expressed need to modify or extend traditional spiritual practice.
—
Many individual activists from different traditions network through the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF), an organization that facilitates individual and group social engagement in the United States and Asia and often works together with the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB). The BPF is the largest and most effective of the engaged Buddhist networks.
—
The BPF is administered by fifteen board members and an international advisory board composed of some of the leading voices in Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. The Berkeley office provides direction and support for chapters in the United States and other countries. Membership costs $45.00 per year for individuals or $30.00 for low income individuals. Included with one's membership is a subscription to Turning Wheel.
Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement
The Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) is an extension of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship established in 1995, offering training and internship programs based on the model set forward by the Jesuit Volunteer CorpsJesuit Volunteer Corps
The Jesuit Volunteer Corps is an organization of lay volunteers who dedicate one year or more to voluntary community service working with people in need--the homeless, abused women and children, immigrants and refugees, the mentally ill, people with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, the elderly,...
for social workers, activists and human service workers. It has chapters in various cities in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
and Boston, Massachusetts, aiming to help professionals integrate their work with Buddhist practice. The idea behind BASE was originally conceived of by Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Roshi was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959...
during discussions at a BPF meeting held in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
in 1992, although it was Diana Winston who ultimately saw this vision through. She was somewhat disheartened to find that many of the BPF members were not actively engaged in meditation, so she out to develop a "training program that would integrate Buddhist practice, social engagement, and community life into one organic whole."
BASE is meant to provide for lay American Buddhists the kind of institutional support for the cultivation of socially engaged Buddhism available to Asian monks and nuns who are part of a monastic sangha. But it is also inspired by the BASE community of Latin America, which was founded in the 1970s as a vehicle for Catholic liberation theology...BASE emphasized social engagement as a path of Buddhist practice, not simply as a mode of Buddhist social service.
—
BASE participants combine weekly meetings for meditation and study with fifteen to thirty hours a week working in hospices, homeless shelters, prisons, medical clinics, and activist organizations.
—
Buddhist Peace Fellowship Prison Project
Another outgrowth of the BPF is the Buddhist Peace Fellowship Prison Project, a committee within BPF which works with prisoners and their families and other religious groups in an effort to address violence within the criminal justice system. They oppose the implementation of capital punishmentCapital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
and also offer prisons information on chaplaincy opportunities. The committee's founding director was Diana Lion, who also has served as associate director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.
...the BPF Prison project...is attempting to transform the prison system through reforming the prison-industrial complex, abolishing the death penalty, and bringing the teachings of "dharma" to those persons confined in prisons and jails...
—
Buddhist AIDS Project
In 1993 the Buddhist AIDS Project (BAP), based in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
was founded, a non-profit affiliate of the BPF run entirely by volunteers, serving individuals with HIV/AIDS, those who are HIV positive, their families, and their caregiver
Caregiver
Caregiver may refer to:* Caregiver or carer - an unpaid person who cares for someone requiring support due to a disability, frailty, mental health problem, learning disability or old age...
s.
Activist activities
On Hiroshima Day of August 6, 2005 the Tampa, FloridaTampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
chapter of BPF organized The Hiroshima Memorial in conjunction with Pax Christi
Pax Christi
-History:Pax Christi was established in France in 1945 as a reconciliation work between the French and the Germans after the Second World War. In 2007, it existed in more than 60 countries...
, designed to raise consciousness about the issue of nuclear war. The two groups released "peace lanterns" into the air and participants held vigil
Vigil
A vigil is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance...
s and various talks. On Hiroshima Day of August 6, 2006, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
used the occasion to protest the Iraq War. Participants of the group "displayed a three foot tall, hundred foot long, scroll listing 40,000 names of Iraqi civilians killed in the war. There was also a pair of booths created which listed the names, photos, and brief stories, of over 2,000 US and coalition soldiers who also died in the war."
In October 2007 the Milwaukee chapter of BPF organized a silent "lakefront demonstration" to lend their support to the Buddhists of Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
protesting the oppression of the military junta
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
there. Plans were made to sneak photographs and information on the Milwaukee event into Myanmar, to let protesters know that there are outsiders standing with them in solidarity. Some members reported being told that their phones were likely bugged in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Criticism
Due to its lack of a centralized leadership, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship has had trouble developing a "unifying strategy for social change." Another apparent issue involves its "failure to develop an adequate, in-depth social analysis to underpin its work."See also
- Baptist Peace Fellowship of North AmericaBaptist Peace Fellowship of North AmericaThe Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, abbreviated BPFNA, is a nonprofit 501 organization headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
- Engaged BuddhismEngaged BuddhismEngaged Buddhism refers to Buddhists who are seeking ways to apply the insights from meditation practice and dharma teachings to situations of social, political, environmental, and economic suffering and injustice...
- Episcopal Peace FellowshipEpiscopal Peace FellowshipThe Episcopal Peace Fellowship is a U.S. peace organization composed of members of the Episcopal Church. It was originally founded on November 11, 1939 as the Episcopal Pacifist Fellowship by Bishop William Appleton Lawrence, Mrs. Henry Hill Pierce, Rev. John Nevin Sayre and Bishop Paul Jones and...
- Fellowship of ReconciliationFellowship of ReconciliationThe Fellowship of Reconciliation is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries...
- International Network of Engaged BuddhistsInternational Network of Engaged BuddhistsThe International Network of Engaged Buddhists is an organisation that connects engaged Buddhists from around the world. It was established at a meeting in Thailand in February 1989 organised by Sulak Sivaraksa and Maruyama Teruo. INEB maintains an office in Bangkok. It has members in about 20...
- Jesuit Volunteer CorpsJesuit Volunteer CorpsThe Jesuit Volunteer Corps is an organization of lay volunteers who dedicate one year or more to voluntary community service working with people in need--the homeless, abused women and children, immigrants and refugees, the mentally ill, people with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, the elderly,...
- Jewish Peace FellowshipJewish Peace FellowshipThe Jewish Peace Fellowship is a nonprofit, nondenominational organization set up to provide a Jewish voice in the peace movement. The organization was founded in 1941 in order to support Jewish conscientious objectors who sought exemption from combatant military service...
- Methodist Peace FellowshipMethodist Peace FellowshipThe Methodist Peace Fellowship is a British Methodist Christian pacifist organization.The Methodist Peace Fellowship was founded by Rev. Henry Carter in 1933 to inform and unite Methodists who covenanted together "to renounce war and all its works and ways."' It is part of the international...
- Order of InterbeingOrder of InterbeingThe Order of Interbeing, or Tiếp Hiện in Vietnamese, was founded between 1964 and 1966 by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Tiếp means "being in touch with" and "continuing." Hiện means "realizing" and "making it here and now." "Interbeing" is a word coined by Thich Nhat Hanh to represent...
- Peace churchesPeace churchesPeace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches: Church of the Brethren, Mennonites including the Amish, and Religious Society of Friends and has...