TIMC’s Special Message in Response to Racism and Acts of Violence: A Support of the “May We Gather” Memorial Ceremony.
Triangle Insight Meditation Community is one of many ally partners for May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial Ceremony for Asian American Ancestors, the first national Buddhist memorial service in response to anti-Asian violence. The ceremony was livestreamed from Higashi Honganji Temple in Los Angeles, on May 4, 2021, which had been vandalized earlier in the year. The event brought together Asian American Buddhists and their allies to heal in community together.
Click here to read TIMC’s special message
May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial Ceremony
for Asian American Ancestors. Livestreamed, Tuesday, May 4, 202
When someone is hurting, we come together as community. We gather because our lives are inexorably interlinked. We do not suffer alone, nor do we heal alone. Only when we gather as a sangha (community), can we truly support each other’s freedom. —
From the May We Gather website
A Message of Support from the Triangle Insight Board of Directors
The members of the board of Triangle Insight Meditation Community feel moved to express the depth of our grief and pain arising from the heightened racism and violence being directed toward Asian-Americans and others of Asian lineage/heritage.
This is a time for waking up to the dramatic increase in hatred, harassment and harm over the past year, seemingly tied to rhetoric that recklessly and wrongly blames Asia/Asians for the coronavirus, as well as our long history of oppression towards those of Asian descent, which is deeply rooted in a culture of white supremacy.
As we noted in our response to the horrific murder of George Floyd, the path of Insight Meditation offers a way to wake up to the truth of things as they really are, including how our present reality is pervaded by the suffering of inequity and racism, which, like all suffering, is deeply conditioned by greed, hatred and delusion. The Board recognizes the many ways of working with and transforming racial conditioning. Insight Meditation is one way we share to cultivate mindfulness, clear seeing, discernment, goodwill, care, and compassion, all of which can guide us to wise action.
The current members of the Board understand that we are walking this path as privileged white people on a Board that needs greater diversity. As we do our own work, we are committed to addressing this and other issues in our sangha so our community can realize its intention of inclusivity and non-harming.
We recommit to an intention to bring hatred and hostility to an end, and to serve the health, safety, happiness and liberation of all beings. May we open our hearts and walk this path together in community. “For never is hatred settled by hate, it’s only settled by love: this is an ancient law.” (Dhp 1.5, Sujato tr.)
Mike Hall
Cynthia Hughey
Leah Rutchick
Sarah Tillis
Ron Vereen
For more information, please visit the May We Gather website. Additional details are in a Lion’s Roar interview with Duncan Ryūken Williams, one of the organizers of the memorial event.
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The Vision, Mission, and Values of the Triangle Insight Meditation Community
Our vision is the possibility of personally and collectively knowing suffering, its causes, its cessation, and walking a liberating path with all beings.
Our mission is to uphold the conditions for personal and collective liberation by coming together as a vibrant, diverse, inclusive, and non-oppressive community that nourisihes and supports insight meditation and Buddhist study, dialogue, discussion, and practices and applies these to daily life, making them count for our world.
Our core values guide us to create a brave space where difference
is welcomed as a source of mutual learning, dialogue, and shared spiritual growth.
Teachings and practice of the Buddhadharma
Accountability and transparency
Authenticity and integrity
Awakening and release
Collaborative leadership and respect for all
Embracing diversity and celebrating difference
Engagement and responsiveness
Generosity and giving
Honoring different perspectives and valuing all voices
Joy and gratitude
Kindness and compassion
Non-harming and non-oppression
Safety and refuge
Truthfulness and clear seeing
Welcoming and inclusivity
Quick Links
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For information about Triangle Insight’s BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Board Meetings, and Board Documents, please look here.
To email the Board of Directors, please use this address: [email protected]
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