When Bay Area Black liberation groups picketed a Whole Foods store, Buddhist Peace Fellowship members joined in. What they learned might surprise you.

Without radical change, we are on course to a terrifying future of extreme weather events, mass refugee crises, serial species extinctions, and the likely loss of human civilization. Time To Stand Up: An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth encourages Buddhists to join with other faith groups and activists to reverse the causes of catastrophic climate change. We can’t bring about the changes needed on our own, or as small groups; instead, to ensure a sustainable world for future generations, there has to be massive mobilization to pressure political and social systems in order to catalyze energy, economic, and social revolution.

Even the meditator who loves practicing in solitude should speak out against solitary confinement. Buddhist Peace Fellowship interviews two BPF supporters: attorneys fighting for justice in California.

As engaged Buddhists, are we ready for the ferocious compassion of nonviolent direct action within racial justice movements? Are we openhearted enough to hold the searing truths that such actions might reveal?

Jack Downey: Laudato Si represents an expansion of the formally “theological” subject matter, and Catholicism’s first environmental encyclical. This is not the first time a pope – let alone regional bishops – has remarked on the record about this topic, but the doctrinal gravity of the subject makes this text stand out.

Are you interested in the EcoSattva Training hosted by One Earth Sangha, from September 13 - November 15? BPF co-directors Dawn Haney and Katie Loncke will be presenting at 2 of the 8 sessions!

From August 5 to 9, join BPF co-directors Katie Loncke and Dawn Haney at the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a national gathering marking the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

David Loy shares an encouraging shift that he observed at the mega-Buddhist-teachers gathering at Omega a few weeks ago: "My presentation argued that the paths of individual transformation and social transformation need each other, and my sense is that we are collectively beginning to understand it."

Want to practice at this intersection of Buddhism and direct action? Join BPF Co-Directors Katie Loncke and Dawn Haney at one of these upcoming events - New York, DC, Oakland, New Orleans, and online!

Sophia Newman on the intersections between Buddhism and the LGBTQ movement.

Stefani Cox: At its heart, the problem with police violence goes down to the root of psychology and the base of our human compassion for one another. Nothing we do on the surface alone will end racism; we need to also get at those human roots. Practicing lovingkindness meditation is a good place to start.

Anna Gibson on how and why it is important to persist with activism in spite of jeering and even outright disapproval.

Life for an activist would be boring indeed if all we ever did was shout, protest, fume, and fulminate. At BPF we embrace anger, yes, but also agency. The power to build and cultivate the things we want to see in the world.

We are always practicing something, whether we are conscious of it or not. By becoming conscious of what we practice and intentionally choosing to practice something new, we can transform ourselves and our world.

Tired of pseudo-spiritual derails from #BlackLivesMatter to #AllLivesMatter? Want concrete ideas for sparking racial justice conversation in your sangha? Want the best recent Buddhist writing on police violence and state racism? Check out BPF's new toolkit.

As terrible as the Michael Brown and Eric Garner grand jury decisions have been, they are serving the purpose of waking up a lot of people who have been oblivious to or in denial of racial injustice. Maia Duerr weighs in on how you can stand on the side of love instead of staying silent or turning away.

Want to know how you can be more mindful around race and racism? Here's a helpful list of resources from dharma teacher Ruth King.

Don't miss Episode #3 of Danny Fisher's new Buddhist podcast series, "Off the Cushion!" Danny asks BPF's Co-Directors Dawn Haney and Katie Loncke about issues of structural racism in Buddhist communities, and the militarization of police forces in the United States