Engaged Buddhist Practice

Engaged Buddhist Practice takes our meditation practice off the cushion into the world through social and ecological service and action. Mountain Rain sponsors periodic workshops, study groups and guest speakers in support of engaged Buddhist practice. The group puts out an occasional newsletter with information, links, initiatives, and messages from sangha members who wish to link-up to participate in specific Engaged Buddhist activities. 

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We meet online monthly. Our next meeting is:

  • After a Summer break!

Honouring Joanna Macy (1929 – 2025)

Joanna Macy: how vast a being! what a lover of life! what a wise, compassionate, and generous teacher! She truly exemplified the life of a great Bodhisattva. She knew the dharma of her own being, once describing herself like this: “I am a flow-through of matter, energy, and information, which is transformed in turn by my own experiences and intentions,” reflecting her understanding of the true nature of all beings in the language of both general systems theory and Buddhadharma. And she expressed this understanding through poetry, as in the title of her memoir, Widening Circles, after the verse that she translated from German by Rainier Maria Rilke:

“I live my life in widening circles 

that reach out across the world. 

I may not complete this last one, 

but I give myself to it. 

I circle around God, around the primordial tower. 

I’ve been circling for thousands of years, 

and I still don’t know: am I a falcon, 

a storm or a great song?”

Her awareness of such vast interbeing allowed her to intimately identify with the entire world and from there to actualize great compassion through her life’s work, exhibiting sincere devotion to the welfare of all beings. Just look at the breadth of books she authored ranging from embracing the gifts within despair to the invitation to relate to the world as lover. She conveyed deep equanimity at the core, while passionately expressing the call for peace, justice, mutual respect, and reverence among and between species and peoples the world around. Her teaching drew upon rigorous scholarship as well as profound wisdom and entailed both theory and practice, as well as ritual, ceremony, song, dance and creativity. So wide and deep, generous and generative.

As teacher and guide, she has given us the maps to follow for Despair and Empowerment Work, Deep Ecology Work, The Work That Reconnects, Deep Time Work, and Active Hope.

May we honour her and her generosity by carrying these forms onward. So, if you should see beauty in the world today, or strength, or fortitude, or kindness, or mercy, know she is there – living on through many new forms and consciousnesses that have been touched by her.

Svaha!

THE EBPG would like to highlight the following:

1 . BC SOCIETY FOR POLICY SOLUTIONS - a progressive public policy research institute that looks at issues facing British Columbia and proposes bold and achievable policy solutions that centre social, economic, racial and environmental justice in BC. We face an emerging global trifecta of authoritarianism, growing inequality and a capture of our public institutions by wealthy elites—pushing us towards a breaking point for democracy and erosion of human rights. This makes existing crises on the climate and economic insecurity fronts worse—insecurity is in the air, by design.

IDEAS TO MEET THE MOMENT offers an overview of bold and achievable ideas that are already here. Ideas that if acted upon could help our province take much better care of the people who live here, and the land that we live on.

2. Help Us Shape Carney’s Climate Agenda (Please write!) - In these crucial first days, let’s make it clear that the Carney government must put the public good ahead of corporate profit. PETITION HERE

West Coast Climate Action Network - Welcome to the BC Climate News Roundup  

Liquefied Climate Disaster Brochure an initiative from West Coast Climate Action Network:  A 4-page colour brochure on LNG, which is being givin to every MLA in Victoria.

If you would like copies, you can either download it and print it locally, or send $$ and they’ll print it for you at $1 per copy + postage. Let them know how many you want – their Ladysmith printer has a 50% off sale during April. 

 “Peer-reviewed research shows that LNG’s climate pollution is as bad as or worse than coal. Natural gas is not a ‘transition fuel’. That is a wrong understanding. BC’s proposed projects will produce 380 MT of climate pollution a year, six times more than BC’s 62 MT. Our need is to reduce our climate pollution, not increase it.” 

We hope that the resources below will inspire you to write and send letters to your MLA.

Let’s support each other in practicing right speech, voicing our concerns regarding current social/environmental/climate issues. Let’s find ways to express wisdom and compassion in response to the issues that concern us most deeply.

Who to send your letters to - Find MLA by community -

“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
— Quote Source