436: Past, Present, and Future in American Buddhism - Live from GenX 2023

The Buddhist Centre

What do you get when you invite a set of experienced American Dharma teachers and friends from different Buddhist traditions to gather together post-Covid and share their practice and experience of American Buddhism? Well, something like this! The bright joy and sense of common tradition is palpable. Hear four Gen-X Triratna Order members with deep connections to our community, both in the UK and US, in a round-table conversation with other Dharma farers from Vajrayana, Vipassana, and Zen traditions.
We explore kaleidoscopic difference and beautiful sameness in our various approaches to Dharma practice – and are united in grappling with being the “middle generation” of Buddhists in some of the new lineages of the West. Perhaps the central image from this conversation is of people needing to make sure they are carrying their culture with them, which allows us to be truly radical and ensure the revolutionary change we strive for as Buddhists is a genuine possibility for everyone in future.
It’s genuinely inspiring to hear the voices of “future ancestors” openly embracing the reality that long, deep change may not happen in their own lifetime, yet persisting with delight in Dharma practice. Gratitude for what we have inherited is key to that, and shines through in this fascinating meeting recorded at the end of a long, hot summer near the Catskills in New York State.
Featuring Ananta, Candradasa, Claire Villareal, Tenzen David Zimmerman, Singhashri, Stephanie Tait, Vimalasara, Upayadhi, Lama Zangmo.
Recorded at the Won Dharma Center, NY, USA.
Show notes

Gen-x 2019 Podcast

Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists by Chenxing Han

Sankofa (pronounced SAHN-koh-fah): a word in the Twi language of Ghana meaning “go back and get"
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
The Wisdom of Uncertainty by Kurt Spellmeyer (Tricycle)
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Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.