Dear friends,
As I'm sure you know, BuddhaFest, a wonderful festival of films, talks, meditation, and music, will be happening at Artisphere in Arlington, VA from June 11-14. BuddhaFest promises again to be a rich and enlightening experience.
I particularly wanted to let you know about a unique opportunity at BuddhaFest this year to explore issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion within Western Buddhist communities that we have explored in the Downtown Dharma (IMCW/Church of the Holy City) community: "Beloved Community: Healing What Separates Us", Sunday, June 14, 12:30-2:30pm.
The event features Tara Brach, who will open the session with a dharma talk on "The Trance of the Unreal Other", and Rev. angel Kyodo williams Sensai, a visionary Zen teacher who recently spoke on this theme at a meeting of Buddhist teachers at the White House. Following Tara's talk, she and Rev. angel will participate in a panel discussion along with Femi Akinnagbe, a dear friend and longtime IMCW practitioner. Femi is currently a medical student at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he is an active community member of the Common Ground Meditation Center, helping to facilitate the center's men's group, and serving on its Inclusivity Advisory Council, and People of Color (POC) sangha steering committee. Eleanor Hancock, director of White Awake, who is facilitating IMCW's White Awareness program for teachers, staff, and board members, will moderate the panel discussion.
Audience participation will be an important part of the program. We hope you can attend and bring your own wisdom, questions, and insight to this important community conversation. Our hope is that this event can serve as a public forum that brings out our collective sense of the challenge, hope, and possible avenues towards multicultural, inclusive community. For a full program description, please visit BuddhaFest.org here and scroll down - the full festival schedule of events is listed in chronological order. Ticket information is also available on this page.
Given the BuddhaFest theme this year, "Engaged Buddhism", there are many other wonderful offerings to choose from. If you would like to familiarize yourself more fully with Rev. angel's work, she will be giving a talk ("Embodied Life, Liberated Life": bringing body centered, interactive practices together with Dharma teachings) later in the afternoon (4:45-5:45), the same day as the Beloved Community program.
I hope to see you June 14th!
Warmly,
Hugh Byrne
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