In this course we intend to explore how Engaged Buddhism and the Nonviolent Global Liberation framework can be expressed in daily life, individually and collectively, to help us respond and live meaningfully as peacemakers in a world where violence and war are increasing. Our study and practice will include the Engaged Buddhism of Thich Nhat Hanh and other sacred activists and peacemakers, and our exploration of nonviolence will draw from the Nonviolent Global Liberation framework. Our intention is to weave these two paths in service of creating a culture of peace and compassion, in which the liberation of all beings is paramount.  

 

In this 7-month course, we plan to guide us into an embodied insight into interbeing and our interdependent connection with all of life and to gain practical skills to apply this insight more deeply in our lives. The focus of the course is on shifting consciousness from the individual to the collective while also offering daily practices to support integrating this shift into the fullness of our being. 

 

If we fulfill our intention this course will be deeply challenging. We invite you to consider the following:

Am I willing to grow my heart in the imperfect and sometimes challenging space of community?

Do I already or am I seriously willing to see and hold with compassion and tenderness my limitations and others’ limitations? 

Do I already or I am seriously willing to start to care for and advocate for all beings?

Do I already or am I seriously willing to start to co-create a world that works for everyone? 

 

If the answer to these questions is a resounding yes, then we ask you to think about who else in your community, workplace, neighborhood, family or sangha might also share a similar orientation and invite them to join you in applying for this course. This work tends to be exponentially more fruitful if you take it on with others with whom you share purpose and/or community. That said, if you cannot identify anyone, we wholeheartedly welcome you to apply and invite you to join this group of others who share your commitment.  

 

This course will be limited to 35 people to create an intimate container to deepen this inquiry. We also hold the intention to have a diverse community that is intergenerational, with robust representation from BIPOC and LGBTQIA people, and with varied income levels. 

 

​Opening Retreat: November 14-19, 2025:

Meeting Fear with Love: Foundations of Engaged Buddhism & Nonviolence 

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“Patriarchal societies are based, at root, on loss of trust in life and turning away from life’s flow into modes of being that emerge from scarcity, function in separation, and result in powerlessness.” - Miki Kashtan, 

“When I was in Vietnam, so many of our villages were being bombed. Along with my monastic brothers and sisters, I had to decide what to do. Should we continue to practice in our monasteries, or should we leave the meditation halls in order to help the people who were suffering under the bombs? After careful reflection, we decided to do both—to go out and help people and to do so in mindfulness. We called it engaged Buddhism. Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. …We must be aware of the real problems of the world. Then, with mindfulness, we will know what to do and what not to do to be of help.” Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step

 

In this opening retreat we plan to explore key aspects of Engaged Buddhism and the Nonviolent Global Liberation framework and how both can support compassion and skillful engagement in our world. 

 

Engaged Buddhism is a contemporary movement, with many ancestors in different Buddhist traditions, that invites active participation in social, political, and environmental issues. Integrating Buddhist practices with a commitment to social action and advocacy for peace and justice, it invites us to practice: interconnectedness; mindfulness and presence; nonviolence and peace; environmental responsibility; advancing equity and structural change; living an ethical life; building community; and being part of raising awareness and educating others. 

 

Nonviolent Global Liberation, NGL, is a community of practitioners engaging in experimentation with the NGL framework. Throughout the course we plan to engage with NGL’s foundational teachings and practices, including: the capacity lens; purpose-based discernment; impact sharing; how to orient to vision while staying rigorously within capacity; power and privilege analysis; mourning as a liberatory practice; and the practice of needs choreography to weave togetherness (see the NGL website for detailed description of the NGL Framework and principles and the learning packets for deep dives into the content of the framework). 

 

During this retreat our intention is to attend to internalized states of scarcity, separation and powerlessness that can lead to coercive behaviors such as othering, blaming, and “should-ing.” Applying the Buddha’s foundational teaching on the Four Noble Truths, we want to look at modern social and economic systems that reinforce scarcity to support a deeper willingness and ability to co-create alternatives to these systems. The lens of the Four Noble Truths can also help us turn towards our painful habits of othering with compassion and tenderness. Through connecting more deeply with these mind states of separation, which are key roots of violence, we can set a strong intention individually and as a community to embody and act from a love that is stronger than fear. 

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Monthly Zoom Gathering Dates:

5 Sundays 11:30-1:30pm ET 

Dec 14

Jan 11

Feb 8

March 8

Apr 12

 

Closing Retreat: May 19-24, 2026:

Shifting from I to We: Building the Beloved Community

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In this closing retreat we plan to look into what it means to embody the vision of a Beloved Community.  Articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Howard Thurman, it is a vision of liberation for all beings.  The work of Thich Nhat Hanh, Dorothy, Day, and others, was to nurture a loving and nonviolent movement to realize this healing and liberating vision. 

 

Shifting from I to we, we learn to see ourselves as always part of a larger whole to which we are oriented, the community within which we make choices rooted in deep interdependence, where we also understand that our happiness and suffering is fully intertwined with the happiness and suffering of others. We will offer methodologies for building and healing the Beloved Community developed by Engaged Buddhist pioneers like Thich Nhat Hanh, including practices like Beginning Anew, Touching the Earth, Lazy Days, and Deep Relaxation.  We also intend to continue to deepen in the liberatory framework and practices used within NGL. With mindfulness and clarity, we hope to cultivate capacities to liberate our own minds and hearts so that we might better learn to do our own work in service of collective liberation and respond with wise, compassionate, and courageous action in the world.

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More Information and Application Here