Next Steps?

As a follow up to the Pope's recent encyclical on global warming (see Laudato Si), I post the image above. A group of Catholic and Buddhist leaders met at the Vatican on June 24. Go here for more information about the meeting and to view a short video clip of the Pope's words to the group. Pope Francis, smiling beatifically, is shown to the right. To his immediate left, looking on from the background in brown okesa is Hozan Alan Senauke (see Bodhisattva's Embrace and In the Herbarium). The plot continues to thicken.  [NOTE: Image from the RomeReports.com video].

Bodhisattva's Embrace

Hozan Alan Senauke has been in residence at the Empty Hand Zen Center for the past few weeks (deep bow of gratitude, Alan). I have been reading through his book The Bodhisattva's Embrace: Dispatches from Engaged Buddhism's Front Lines as part of his class on Dogen's essay Bodaisatta Shishobo (Four Embracing Dharmas) from Shobogenzo.

As Vice-Abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center, leader of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, founder of the Clear View Project, and advisior to the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, Alan has a unique and global perspective on socially-engaged Buddhism as a force for positive change. And the clarity of this view comes through in his writings. This is a wonderful book. [NOTE: Click here to download a translation of Bodaisatta Shishobo. Read slowly. Repeat. Conscientiously apply in your life and become a Bodhisattva].