Black People and Buddhism
Here are some links re Black people and Buddhism.
Jan Willis is an African American woman who has many years' experience as a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. Growing up in the Deep South, she and her family were terrorised by the Ku Klux Klan. After joining the Black Panthers in the 1960s, she decided that violence was not the way forward and began to practise Buddhism. Click here to learn about her autobiography, Dreaming Me.
Angel Kyodo Williams has practised Zen Buddhism form many years. Click here to learn more about her book, Being Black: Zen and the Art of Fearlessness and Grace.
To read an interview with her entitled 'A Revolutionary Practice', in which she discusses her experience as an African American Buddhist, click here.
Faith Adiele
Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun
Faith Adiele wasn't looking for religion. She was a savvy world traveller who, in a moment that felt like clarity, decided to become northern Thailand's first Black Buddhist nun. In Meeting Faith, Adiele recounts her transformation from cultural anthropologist to spiritual novice.
Click here to read more about this book.
A couple of reviews have also been posted to the Black Buddhists group (see below).
Black Buddhists: "Our discussion group provides a means by which Black Buddhists as well as Christians, Muslims and others can come together and explore the ways in which Buddhist teachings and meditation can illuminate our spiritual journeys and help us to lead more satisfying, meaningful and skillful lives."
Charles R. Johnson
Understanding Charles Johnson by Gary Storhoff
Storhoff explores the merging of philosophical and spiritual interests with Johnson's concern for African American culture. In identifying the literary principles of Johnson's texts, Storhoff emphasizes the writer's commitment to Buddhism and demonstrates its impact on his themes, characters, narratives, and rhetoric.
Lawrence Ellis
Lawrence Ellis practices in the Vietnamese Zen tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. He is an organization consultant, whose client roster ranges from Charles Schwab to Amnesty International to hospital and health organizations. He says, "I’m a spiritual-social activist who uses “organizational development” (OD) consulting and social movement building as vehicles for individual and collective transformation".
