BuddhaFest: Healing what Separates Us - Tara Brach

Tara Brach gives a talk, followed by a panel discussion that includes Tara, Rev. angel Kyodo williams Sensei, Eleanor Hancock and Femi Akinnagbe. Attendees then have an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings on this important topic.

In the spirit of MLK's vision of “beloved community," we look at how we can make our own Buddhist communities more inclusive. This program explores how issues of separate-ness connect deeply both with our collective spiritual journey, and with our own personal paths of awakening. What do the Buddha's teachings have to say about the causes of separate-ness? And how do we go about healing it?

"It’s the community’s job to figure out how we can stretch into the so-called margins to broaden our understanding and the ability to be inclusive. Inclusivity is not 'how do we make you a part of what we are?' but 'how do we become more of what you are?' ... We have to get clear that an essential aspect of our practice is to shift these things internally for ourselves because our personal liberation, the very thing we come to the dharma for, is completely bound up in making these kinds of changes."

- Rev. angel Kyodo williams Sensei

Tara Brach opens the Beloved Community program with a talk:

The Trance of the Unreal Other

We move through daily life with conscious and unconscious judgments about most everyone we encounter.  Not only does this limit intimacy in our personal life, it is part of the collective trance that perpetuates racism, social inequity and war across the globe. Tara draws on her own experience in creating separation, and explores the meditation practices that can awaken our heart, create truly inclusive spiritual community and serve the healing of our world.