Engaged Spirituality
On the spiritual path, we cannot separate our inner work from how we express ourselves in daily life. Engaged spirituality refers to the active engagement of our heart and awareness in service of the greater, collective good. It means responding to the crisis of climate change, to the suffering of racism and other forms of oppression and injustice, to economic inequality, to the violence between humans and against non-human animals. Ultimately engaged spirituality honors the intrinsic sacredness of all living beings.
Engaged Spirituality – Talks
Compassion toward Non-Human Animals
A Conversation between Konda Mason and Tara Brach The medicine our world most needs is compassion, and it is crucial that this include all living beings. Our societal...
Engaged Spirituality during Times of Upheaval
Engaged spirituality means responding to our world’s suffering with wisdom and deep care. This talk looks at three blocks to aligning our actions with our heart – “bad othering,”...
Cultivating Loving Kindness – Seeing the Goodness
The ground of loving kindness is seeing the basic goodness in ourselves, each other and our world. This is what gives rise to pure appreciation, friendliness, love and the...
Love in Action: Realizing Interbeing
The suffering in our world arises out of a sense of separation—from our own bodies and hearts, each other, and this living web. These two talks explore this trance of...
The Earth is Crying in Our Hearts
The suffering in our world arises out of a sense of separation—from our own bodies and hearts, each other, and this living web. These two talks explore this trance of separation...
Facing the Truths That Keep Us from Love
A Conversation between Tara and Rev Angel Kyodo Williams - Our happiness and capacity to love fully arise as we face and embrace all domains of our existence. In this...
Radical Friendship: Conversation between Tara Brach and Kate Johnson
The often unseen cause of our difficulties in relationships is the societal structures that are marked by violence and domination. This conversation looks at what blocks...
Mindful Leadership: A Conversation between Tara Brach and Michelle Maldonado
The principles of mindful leadership are relevant for all of us—they bring out the best of who we are in our work, with our family, with our friends. Especially in these...
Bridging the Divide: Learning to Tend and Befriend
One of the great sufferings facing us is the growing divide between humans with different views, different realities. This talk looks at several levels of divides—being at war...
Belonging to the Earth
As a species, forgetting our belonging to our larger body of Earth is causing suffering for this entire living web. In this talk we look at what causes and sustains this trance...
Repairing our Hearts – Healing with the RAIN of Compassion
Living in a fear-based society fuels the trance of separation and unworthiness. This talk explores how we can bring an engaged compassionate presence to the suffering of this...
Engaged Spirituality – Meditations
Guided Reflection: The RAIN of Compassion – What Is It Like to Be You (11:55)
Compassion is hard wired in our organism, and can be cultivated. We have the capacity for affiliative care, to tune into each other and to hold each other in our hearts....
Meditation: Meeting Anger with Awareness (15:16 min.)
When anger is held in mindfulness, it can energize us to respond wisely to challenging situations. This meditation guides us in meeting personal or societal anger with RAIN -...
Meditation: Calling on Your Future Self (12:10 min.)
We have within us the wisdom and compassion that can carry us through the most challenging times. This meditation guides us in accessing these inner resources by calling on the...
RAIN on Blame: A Guided Meditation (14:40 min.)
When we are stuck in blame or resentment we are in a trance - the other person becomes an unreal bad other, and our own sense of being contracts into a victimized self, an angry...
Engaged Spirituality – Other Resources
Resources for Plant-Based Eating
Resources from the Vegan Sangha “All beings fear danger, life is dear to all. When a person considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.” (Dhammapada, 129) There are a lot...
Blog: About LGBTQIA and Use of Pronouns
About LGBTQIA and Use of Pronouns LESBIAN A woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Some lesbians may prefer to identify as gay or...
New to Meditation?
More Resources on Engaged Spirituality:
Spiritual Activism/Engaged Buddhism – Serving the World
- Dharma for Times of Global Trauma – Tara Brach, Lion’s Roar: Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time, March 24, 2022
- Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
- Fred Eppsteiner, The Path of Compassion: Writings on Socially Engaged Buddhism
- Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self: Courage for Global Justice and Ecological Renewal
- Ram Dass & Paul Gorman, How Can I Help?: Stories and Reflections on Service
- Donald Rothberg, The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World
- Kittisaro & Thanissara, Listening to the Heart: A Contemplative Journey to Engaged Buddhism
- Thanissara, Time to Stand Up: An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth — The Buddha’s Life and Message through Feminine Eyes (Sacred Activism)
Moving Towards a Plant-Based Diet: Compassion for All
- Vegan Sangha Resources (PDF)
- Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, by Paul Hawkin
- T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell, The China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health
- Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals
- Melanie Joy, Beyond Beliefs: A Guide to Improving Relationships and Communication for Vegans, Vegetarians, and Meat Eaters
- Melanie Joy, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism
- Norm Phelps, The Great Compassion: Buddhism and Animal Rights
- Lani Muelrath, The Mindful Vegan: A 30-Day Plan for Finding Health, Balance, Peace, and Happiness
- Matthieu Ricard, A Plea for the Animals: The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion
- Will Tuttle, The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony
