An essay adapted from a talk given by Carol Russell, October 7, 2025

We often acknowledge sangha as one of the three jewels, one of the places we can go to for refuge. What does it mean for the sangha to be a refuge – especially when the world around you may feel less safe? Is the sangha a sanctuary, a place blessedly free of outside concerns? A place for finding sympathetic support for practice?  A place for enduring spiritual friendship?  What role does the sangha play if we feel called by our ethical practice to engage with the suffering we see in the world around us? 

The message of these teachings is that it is possible to have a heart free of greed, hatred, and delusion. I find walking this path gives my life a deep sense of meaning – which could be summed up in many ways. One way I have been reflecting on this meaning is that I am developing my heart, I am learning how to love the world. There is depth and breadth to this practice of learning how to love the world. 

What the Buddha taught is a love that is directed unconditionally toward all beings. Not because of how they are, but simply because they are. This is a tall order these days when I am surrounded by news of hateful acts, unimaginable loss, and devastating suffering. 

The media bombards us with suffering. As Diana Clark, one of the teachers on my recent retreat, points out, with our easy access to media, you could easily be in touch with suffering all day. It can be very challenging to be discerning of what we expose ourselves to, what opens our hearts yet doesn’t undermine our sense of our fundamental humanity.

That is why this is a practice, something I feel I must attend to if I wish to learn to love the world. 

From a dharma talk given by Kenn Duncan, Sept. 23, 2025

So let’s start this talk with a short common definition of engaged buddhism, or sometimes you’ll hear socially engaged buddhism: in general the term references the movement of applying Buddhist solutions or teachings, or practice to social, political and ecological problems. 

Definition of this action was sort of acknowledged and further developed in the latter half of the 20th century. The actual term engaged buddhism is credited to the Vietnamese Zen Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, he sort of coined it to describe his and others work to try and bring about peace during a time of great turmoil and war in his home country. 

So the concept of engaged Buddhism is to lower suffering and oppression of all beings through the transformation of unjust and repressive social and political constructs, while not losing sight of the emphasis on inward spiritual growth. 
The Buddha’s teachings guide us to study our own human experience so that we can develop the wisdom that brings liberation from suffering and manifests lovingkindness and compassion toward other beings and their suffering.                       
So engaged buddhism might (as Thich Nhat Hanh says) just be buddhism, buddhism we bring off the cushion and into the world in the form of social service, working with those who are suffering, working on programs that emphasis compassion, engaging in helpful professions or just simply bringing mindfulness into our daily lives and to those around us.

Carol pointed out the importance of idea of interdependence in Buddhism in her talk last week (everything being connected) and this made me think that this interdependence is a key aspect in the suffering we see in the world. 

It’s possible to suffer as a result of social conditions or natural circumstances like poverty, injustice, oppression, natural disaster and other conditions that might arise in a collective way, one thing affecting another, one person affecting another. So if this, than dukkha/suffering does need to be addressed also in a collective way to remove these conditions for all beings in our worlds.

This can feel daunting and overwhelming if we start to look at the weight and the extent of all the suffering of even just ourselves, much less the entire world.  So how do we take our practice off the cushion and into the world and will it make a difference? (The other internal battle, can I, will I make a difference?) I truly believe the answer is yes.