Every last one of us has failed to end police killing of Black boys and men.

As a gender non-conforming person, I am prone to leaving my body, abandoning it, running away. Buddhist meditation helped me come back to a "buddha-nature drenched in flesh."

"Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity."– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian writer

When it comes to the education of low-income students of color, mindfulness can easily mystify the structure of social oppression, shifting the analysis of school reform from the systemic level to the individual. I hope for a future in which mindfulness is grounded in notions of interconnectedness and social benefit, rather than focusing on individual growth.

We are constantly yearning for peace and harmony. Yet, the transformation requires us to destroy a life system that we depend upon — a system that is artificially bound together by the dominance of one living being upon another.

Mushim Ikeda, contributor to BPF's The System Stinks curriculum, is launching another year of the Practice in Transformative Action (PiTA 2) yearlong program at East Bay Meditation Center! Application deadline is August 15, 2014. ​

This Keynote event is open to the public and we’d love to have you join us. The event will also mark the beginning of a weekend-long BPF National Gathering: multigenerational Buddhist activists from around the country, meeting face-to-face to deepen our practice in social justice and spiritual awakening.