Buddhist Voices in Unitarian Universalism

"When two distinctive and rich spiritual traditions become intimately interwoven, the unfolding dance deserves documentation. Buddhist Voices in Unitarian Universalism offers us an engaging mix of history, personal stories, reflections, and wisdom teachings. In reading this book, we can sense our evolutionary potential to embrace the sacred in its myriad creative expressions."-Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge. "Anyone interested in awakening the inner mind, opening the heart, and co-creating a better world today will be delighted to hear the unified voices in these pages. This highly positive, diverse, and thoughtfully interwoven collection of essays can help us to empower and embrace others and lift them up in their own eyes. It also provides original research and anecdotes about the very first historical intimations of East-West spirituality, as well as the earliest initiatives of Buddhists in America almost two hundred years ago.. I deeply appreciate lineage, traditional erudition, and vital, life-saving debate and discussion. They are the purling streams of any tradition's lifeblood. We find them here in these articles from Buddha-like meditating ministers, as well as an abundance of provocative ideas."--from the Foreword by Lama Surya Das. "This book is more than a celebration of the diversity of Buddhism within Unitarian Universalism. It celebrates diverse and conflicting views of the roles that Buddhist practices can and should play in congregational life and worship. If you are thinking about where we might go, read this book."--Robert Ertman, Editor, UU Sangha. Both the seven Principles and the six Sources of Unitarian Universalism affirm and encourage Unitarian Universalists in exploring world faith traditions while maintaining their UU identity. This book brings together for the first time the voices of UUs who have become Buddhists while not sacrificing that identity, and Buddhists who have found in Unitarian Universalism a spiritual home where they can sustain a practice and join in an activist religious community that accepts and encourages who they are. Also included is an exploration of how American Buddhism has been influenced by Unitarian Universalism and how UU congregations are being changed by Buddhist practice.. Table Of Contents:. Foreword by Lama Surya DasIntroduction. History and ContextBuddhism 101, Sam TrumboreA Brief History of Unitarian Universalist Buddhism, Jeff WilsonA Brief History of the UU Buddhist Fellowship, Wayne Arnason and Sam Trumbore. Encounters and JourneysStanding on the Side of Metta, Meg Riley"You're a UU Tibetan Buddhist?", Judith E. WrightFully Alive, Catherine SenghasZen and a Stitch of Awareness, Marni HarmonyDo Good, Good Comes, Ren BrumfieldTaming the Elephants in the Room, Alex HoltZen to UU and Back Again, David Dae An RynickLonging to Belong, Joyce Reeves. ReflectionsLoving-Kindness, Kim K. Crawford HarvieFour Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Wayne ArnasonFrom Deficit to Abundance, Sam TrumboreThriving In Difficult Times, Doug KraftThe Knowledge Road to Nowhere, Meredith Garmon. Divergence and InfluenceUU Buddhism Is Foreign to Me, Kat LiuDiversity Within Buddhism, Jeff WilsonAn Egoless Dance for Our Congregational Life, ThandekaConfessions of a Zen Teacher and UU Minister, James Ishmael Ford. AfterwordFor Further ReadingGlossary