What Everyone Who Meditates Should Know | Chenxing Han and Duncan Ryūken Williams
Chenxing Han, author of "Be the Refuge," and Duncan Ryūken Williams, author of "American Sutra," discuss the history of anti-Asian violence, the erasure of Asian American Buddhists, and how meditation can build resilience and address collective karma.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Introduction: Acknowledging Asian Roots of Meditation and Anti-Asian Violence
Guests' Personal Experiences with Recent Anti-Asian Hate Crimes
Historical Context of Anti-Buddhist and Anti-Asian Discrimination in America
Buddhist Practice as a Source of Resilience and Responding to Hate
The Importance of Sangha (Community) in Buddhist Practice
Challenging the 'Two Buddhisms' Dichotomy in America
Host's Acknowledgment of Past Missteps and Seeking Advice
The Role of Ethics and Context in Secular Mindfulness
Cultivating Culturally Engaged and Intersectional Buddhist Spaces
Connecting Karma of Nations to the Concept of Reparations
Buddhist Perspective on Transformation, Buddha Nature, and Bias
Bodhisattva Practice and Finding Belonging as an Asian American Buddhist
Embodying Refuge and Building Connections Across Communities
6 Key Concepts
Perpetual Foreigner
This describes the experience of Asian Americans, who, even after multiple generations, are often treated as if they do not truly belong in the U.S., facing questions like 'go back home' despite being citizens. This perception ignores their long history and contributions to the country.
Two Buddhisms Dichotomy
A prevalent but limiting framework that divides American Buddhism into two categories: white converts (often associated with seated meditation, rationalism, and scientific approaches) and Asian immigrants (often associated with chanting, devotion, and sometimes disparaged as superstitious). This dichotomy overlooks other racial groups and diverse practices.
Sangha
A core Buddhist concept referring to the spiritual community. It emphasizes that while individual practice is important, the collective support and interaction within a community are crucial for resilience, healing, and mutual upliftment, especially during difficult times.
Karma of Nations
This concept extends the idea of individual karma to a collective level, suggesting that historical actions, particularly those causing widespread hurt like racial discrimination, create a collective 'karma' that is inherited and affects all communities within a nation across generations, requiring deep repair.
Bodhisattva
A being who, in Buddhist traditions, delays their own enlightenment to dedicate themselves to the liberation and well-being of all other sentient beings. It represents a commitment to interconnectedness and compassionate action for the benefit of the collective.
Jijuzamai
A Zen Buddhist concept referring to the freedom of the mind to feel at home and find refuge anywhere. It suggests that one's practice and sense of belonging are not confined to specific physical spaces but can be cultivated in any environment, including daily life and work.
9 Questions Answered
Chenxing Han describes experiencing psychological trauma from the constant news of verbal and physical assaults, while Duncan Williams reflects on becoming a U.S. citizen during this period and the historical context of exclusion that resurfaces during such times.
Discrimination dates back to the 19th century with Chinese immigrants, marked by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1881 and the use of slurs like 'heathen chini.' This animus continued with the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, where Buddhism was targeted as an 'enemy religion.'
Buddhist practice, particularly meditation, cultivates resilience, enabling individuals to 'get back up' when knocked off track. It teaches responding to hate with loving kindness, which, while challenging, is considered the path to true healing.
While difficult, the Buddha taught that responding to hate with love is the path to true, deep healing. It may not be the immediate first step, but it is a necessary one for long-term repair and alleviating suffering.
This dichotomy categorizes American Buddhism into white converts (meditation, rationalism) and Asian immigrants (chanting, devotion), often disparaging the latter as 'superstitious.' It is problematic because it excludes other racial groups, limits understanding of diverse practices, and can be painful for Asian American Buddhists.
It requires cultivating humility, recognizing the vastness of Buddhist traditions beyond predominantly white convert spaces, and engaging in culturally and intersectionally aware conversations that acknowledge the historical contributions and ongoing presence of Asian practitioners.
While not aligning with 'original sin,' the Buddhist idea of 'racial karma' suggests that collective historical hurts and patterns of racism are transmitted across generations. Reparations can be seen as acknowledging, truth-telling, and deeply repairing these collective wounds for the nation.
Buddhism teaches that transformation is possible through wisdom (insight into reality) and compassion (recognizing interconnectedness). It involves acknowledging both our brokenness and our inherent 'Buddha nature,' working to change patterns while also relaxing into our innate completeness.
For some, the struggle to fully belong can become an 'unexpected gift,' fostering empathy for other marginalized communities and enabling them to be 'bridge builders' between different groups, ultimately finding belonging in not belonging.
13 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Resilience Through Meditation
In meditation, when your mind wanders or body slumps, notice it and gently bring yourself back to an upright posture and focused mind. This practice builds resilience and the capacity to bounce back in life, embodying the teaching ‘seven times you fall down, eight times you get back up’.
2. Harness the Power of Sangha
Actively engage with your community (Sangha) and cultivate spiritual friendships. Our ability to get back up when we’ve fallen down is often dependent on the power of community coming together, where we lend and receive helping hands, and find solace and shared intention during difficult times.
3. Respond to Hate with Love
When faced with hate, respond with loving kindness or goodwill. This is presented as the ’truer, deeper, real healing’ that prevents adding to suffering, even if it’s not the first step taken.
4. Alleviate Suffering with Stillness
When overwhelmed by anger or grief, take a moment to notice the pain and become still. This initial step of alleviating suffering can then lead to proactive responses, bringing Buddhist practice, morality, and virtues to bear on actions for true healing and repair.
5. Embody Being a Refuge
Actively embody what it means to be a refuge for yourself, loved ones, and all beings. This can manifest as seated meditation, acts of service like cooking a meal, or engaging in difficult but caring conversations to strengthen relationships, finding belonging and freedom wherever you are.
6. Contextualize Meditation for Deeper Practice
Understand meditation within its broader context, including history, ethics, and ritual, rather than divorcing it from these elements. This prevents its misuse and ensures it aligns with the deeper purpose of wisdom, compassion, and interconnectedness.
7. Cultivate Humility, Broaden Perspective
Cultivate a healthy level of humility and actively seek connections with diverse individuals and communities to broaden your perspective on Buddhism and life. This approach fosters understanding, is appreciated by others, and can lead to more nuanced, healing conversations.
8. Repair Collective Karma (Reparations)
Recognize that unaddressed historical hurts and racial karma get passed on through generations. Engage in deep repair work for these collective hurts, such as supporting initiatives like H.R. 40 for reparations, as a matter of acknowledgment, truth-telling, and human dignity.
9. Believe in Transformation, Buddha Nature
Believe in the possibility of transformation from patterns of pain and bias, utilizing wisdom and compassion as a pathway. Practice acknowledging each other’s inherent Buddha nature while also recognizing universal brokenness, allowing for both active change and relaxing into inherent completeness.
10. Learn Practice History
Learn more about the historical origins of practices like meditation and yoga, and the experiences of Asian American Buddhists. This adds depth, perspective, and freshness to your practice and helps correct historical narratives.
11. Embrace “Not Belonging”
If you experience a sense of not fully belonging, embrace it as a potential gift. This experience can lead to comfort in diverse spaces, enable you to be a bridge-builder between communities, and foster natural empathy for marginalized groups.
12. Practice Chanting and Quiet Meditation
Incorporate chanting at home and quiet meditation into your routine. These practices can provide solace and help settle the mind during difficult periods.
13. Use Meditation for Emotional Regulation
Use meditation to deal with difficult emotions such as anger, uncertainty, and self-loathing.
8 Key Quotes
To be told, go back home when you are home has to be, I can only guess that the sense of dislocation and alienation that would engender.
Dan Harris
Seven times you fall down, eight times you get back up.
Duncan Ryūken Williams
When you are faced with hate, you need to respond with love, because that is actually the truer, deeper, real healing that happens when you do it that way.
Duncan Ryūken Williams
Sometimes we say things and we don't even recognize the impact that it has on other people, that our intention often is not to offend or hurt or ostracize, but sometimes it happens.
Chenxing Han
A sangha is like, the metaphor he gave was like, when you are trying to clean a potato, you can clean one at a time, take the buds off and the dirt off, you know, or you can put a bunch of potatoes in a bucket, and then you kind of like make them rub up against each other, and they will become clean that way. And he said, that's sangha.
Duncan Ryūken Williams
Wisdom times compassion equals freedom.
Duncan Ryūken Williams
Transformation is possible. That's the kind of good news of Buddhism, right? Transformation is possible.
Duncan Ryūken Williams
If we're connected sometimes by the sense of like not really fully belonging, there's a way in which actually we learn to feel comfortable in a lot of different spaces or comfortable enough in a lot of different spaces that actually perhaps are not belonging can actually be a kind of unexpected gift.
Chenxing Han