"brave new voices" is a new film about the youth speaks spoken word project in san francisco, and other cities as well.
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Brave_New_Voices_Come_to_the_Kabuki_Sundance_6752.html
their project inspires me. i wonder...how could we create a poetry/spoken word jai bhim project with indian youth?

i am feeling very inspired by an interview i just heard on the radio with jean shinoda-bolen about social change. she said to create effective, long-lasting social change all of our projects must have 3 components. they must be personally-meaningful, they must be fun, and they must be motivated by love.
that rang true for me. it is how i feel about the launch of jai bhim international.

i have just written an article for the connecticut college alumni magazine about our work here at jai bhim international, as a way of getting the word out about what we are doing and building community.take a look and give us your feedback:
http://www.jaibhiminternational.org/article

happy first day of spring!

just returned from a wonderful sfbc retreat, "recollecting the buddha", led by dh. shantinayaka, down in the santa cruz mountains. gazing at different buddha images in the beautiful book "buddha radiant awakening" (edited by jack menzies) i came across some images of the medicine buddha, the blue buddha of the 5 buddha family. the description on these pages had some fascinating information about the buddhist view on medicine and public health. the quote below echoes dr. ambedkar's views on how cruel caste has been, and his own urgency in converting to buddhism for the betterment of indian society.

"buddha's personal interest in the purity of both the body and mind or thought is well attested in literaure. it was clear to him that without physical well-being one could not endure the strains and stresses of an austere life necessary for meditative practices and mental development."

"according to the pali canon, medicine, along with robes, food and lodging, was a requisite for life. indeed, medicine has also remained one of the five 'sciences' to be studied by a monk aspiring to be a bodhisattva. as keeneth zysk has noted in his extensive study of healing and medicine in india, buddhist monks were on the vanguard of developing the tradition of empirico-rational medicine in the country. pre-buddhist medicine, as we know from vedic literature, was largely magico-religious. indeed, medical practice was forbidden for brahmins, and physicians were considered impure as they 'roam with humans'.

"had he not converted to buddhism, it is unlikely that the maurya emperor ashoka (reigned 268 - 233 bce) would have been so ardent a supporter of public health for both humans and animals."

good news today from the internal revenue service. wait...isn't that an oxymoron? well, the good news is that we are now an official non-profit corporation, and have been granted "501c3 status". what a relief! this means that all contributions to our jai bhim international, effective july 24th of 2008, are tax-deductible. jai bhim!

the other night i heard greg mortenson speak at city college, and felt very inspired listening to him tell of his life's journey. the book "three cups of tea" describes mortenson's climb up k2, the 2nd highest mountain range in the world, getting lost on his descent and being rescued by a local mountain village, his return to this village to build a school, and his life's work to follow, establishing the central asia institute, to go on to build schools in other mountain villages across pakistan and afghanistan.

the book outlines this journey, but in person mortenson truly embodies the vision and the humanity behind the story. he is a big, gentle man, funny, humble, passionate and a bit mischevious. he is so committed to education as the path to peace, and particularly to educating girls. he said that when you educate girls, to at least a 5th grade level, you reduce infant mortality, reduce the population explosion, and improve the basic qualities of health and life itself. when you educate girls the girls read to their mothers and educate them. in "jihad" areas a young man must get the blessing from his mother to go on a jihad, and an educated woman in less likely to give this blessing to her sons. mortenson said that the former taliban members who have since become great advocates for education in these remote mountain regions had mothers who did not support what they were doing on jihad.

religious extremists understand the power of educating girls and women. the bad news is that since 2007 over 480, mostly girls', schools have been bombed, destroyed or shut down by the taliban or other jihad groups. they know in their hearts the truth of the islamic proverb "the ink of a scholar is more powerful than the blood of a soldier". the good news is that in the year 2000 800,000, mostly boys, attended school in afghanistan. in 2008 7.2 million children attend school there, including over 2 million girls. this is the greatest increase in school enrollment in modern history anywhere in the world!

one of several highlights of the night was seeing the slides of all the beautiful children's faces, the communities building their schools, and the magnificent mountain scenery, in pakistan and afghanistan. there was also a video of mortenson with his gorgeus young daughter (who is only a newborn baby in the book!) talking about their "pennies for peace" project, where american schoolchildren donate their pennies to build new schools in central asia. the project also encourges children to start their own projects in their own communities, which they have done with impressive success.

mortenson told how his initial support came from a 4th grader at a school in the american midwest, where his mother was the principal. mortenson had unsuccessfully been trying to fundraise and build support for his new project all over the country. this child heard mortenson talk, and brought his piggy bank to offer. other children followed, and in 6 weeks the children had brought in 6,234 pennies, totaling $623.40, beginning the work of the central asia institute. it is poignant that it was the children who understood mortenson's mission and were his first supporters. "pennies for peace" began with the support of 270 schools, has grown to 3,500 schools, and by next year will include 15,000 schools! "when kids get onto a mission," he said "get out of the way!"

throughout the evening mortenson kept relating the importance of education in promoting and building peace, and that peace must not be based in fear and anxiety, but in HOPE. jai bhim!

take a peek at the link for the youth poetry slam happening this month in san francisco: http://www.youthspeaks.org/

our friends in the western buddhist order and tbmsg are gathering this week in bodh gaya for an international order convention. we are getting news that it is amazing there, very powerful.
here is an entry from the fwbo blog:
http://www.fwbo-news.org/2009/02/order-convention-at-bodh-gaya.html

in december jai bhim international gave scholarships to 10 students in bodh gaya to attend the annual nnby convention in bor dharan. we were so impressed by these students, several of them living cooperatively and building sangha in their community. even though bodh gaya is the place where the buddha gained enlightenment, it is now a very poor area and the people there really struggle. we hope to work more closely with our friends in bodh gaya this year to support the amazing work they are doing and to collaborate on our community english project. jai bhim to everyone in bodh gaya!

i am curious about these protests in india, over slumdog millionaire, organized by the "slumdwellers action committee". they accuse danny boyle of making "povety porn". take a look at the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCLyx0gzW_k
myself, i loved the movie. what do you think?

here in san francisco folks are preparing for the oscars tomorrow night, and talking about the movie "slumdog millionaire", shot in mumbai. here is an entry from the fwbo blog about the film's director danny boyle, who is a supporter of the karuna trust:
http://www.fwbo-news.org/2009/02/karuna-supporter-danny-boyle-directs.html
sadhu danny boyle!

it is raining here in san francisco, and i am preparing to head off this afternoon to the santa cruz mountains for a 4-day retreat with the north american women's sangha of the fwbo. in india, our friends in delhi at the dhammachakra buddhist center have been busy with subhuti's tour. their retreat in delhi was a success, and now maitriveer nagarjuna is traveling with subhuti and dharmashalin through rajasthan. i so enjoyed my own visits in north india in january, and am looking forward to returning there later this year for new jai bhim international projects.

here at our headquarters in the u.s. i have been busy with paperwork. sadly it is much less glamorous than traveling through india! but we are lucky to have the generous help of sarah brown, one of our board members, who finished our accounting for 2008. happily, we finished the year with a surplus of nearly $280! i will be posting all of our expenses on the website next week, so our supporters can see how our money is being spent. now we are gathering all our documentation together to being to prepare our taxes for the first time, with the help of our bookkeeping ally victoria. it sure helps to know people who understand finance!

in october we submitted our 1023 form to the internal revenue service, for non-profit 501-c3 status. this week we heard back that they require more documentation from us, so i have been writing detailed reports of our 2008 projects and proposals for 2009, as well as a more itemized budget and financial projections for the next 2 years. it is always daunting doing official paperwork, but i am seeing it as a learning opportunity. every time we prepare official documents it is a chance for us to get clearer about our mission anf our vision, and check that there is clarity in how we are operating. thanks i.r.s.!

take a look at the latest posting on the fwbo blog about buddhism alive and well in delhi, bodh gaya and tamil nadu.
http://www.fwbo-news.org/2009/02/tbmsg-activities-expanding-in-north.html

one of our videos is now on youtube, thanks to our friend dharmashalin in india, depite working in often very low-tech conditions! share the link with your friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzLl-zHRQa4

dharmashalin also put together a nice little video from the nnby retreat in december at bor dharan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FfbxdXzIhc
enjoy!

my fabulous colleagues at city college of san francisco have shown a lot of curiosity and support for our jai bhim international projects. last week they asked me to make a presentation about my recent trip so they could learn more. we celebrated the occasion by sharing some indian take-away and i gave some background on the caste system, the life and work of dr. amedkar, and the vision for jai bhim international. it was a pretty informal presentation, but the group was spirited and full of questions, such as, "how do indians know one another's caste?" "how have things changed in india in terms of caste?" and "how was ambedakr able to be educated despite his low-caste identity?"

since that afternoon the faculty development committee has asked me to make more presentations to our faculty at other campuses! i am very excited about this new project and so grateful for the support. reaching educators is at the core of our work. teacher training is central to getting the word out about dr. ambedkar in the west, and aslo for building our community english project in india. i feel very honored to be working in this field, the field of teachers who consider themselves lifelong learners.

this week is the "dhammakranti mahashivir", a large buddhist retreat in delhi, organized by our friends at the dhammachakra buddhist center. subhuti will be leading this retreat, and soon we will be posting updates from maitriveer nagarjuna and the delhi sangha.

in the meantime, our friend dharmashalin has posted news of subhuti's tour of india on the fwbo site this week:
http://www.fwbo-news.org/2009/01/news-from-india-dhamma-talks-and-tours.html .
i was on retreat with both subhuti and dharmashalin at the nnby conference in december. while there i learned so much more about dr. ambedkar, got a chance to practice meditation and the buddhist dhamma with the indian sangha, and most of all, deepen my friendships with the youth on retreat.

on this last visit to india i spent time in both central india and northern india. nagpur is the geographic center of india in the state of maharastra. it is dr. ambedkar's "diksha bhumi", the place where he converted to buddhism. there is a stupa there to mark this site, and nearby is the tbmsg's nagaloka center, as well as the dragon palace, a beautiful taiwanese buddhist temple. ambedkar's influence is strongly felt in nagpur, actually throughout the state of mahrastra, where the dalit buddhist community is very organized. the nagpur airport is named after dr. amedkaar and there are statues and other images of ambedkar throughout the city. in north india, by contrast, the dalit community is a minority, and dalit buddhists organize on their own, or in very small groups. buddhist ambedkarites are in north india within a hindu fundamentalist context, and there are many challenges to their work. for this reason i was very impressed by my committed buddhist friends who are in delhi, as well as in towns and villages across north india. i saw for myself how hard they are working to spread the dharma in this area, often with very little support.

in delhi i re-connected with my friends at the new dhammachakra buddhist center. it is a lovely sangha emerging there, organized by one order member, dh. maitriveer nagarjuna, near the jnu campus. the dhamma mitras are university students and recent university graduates, and local people from the community also attend their sangha events. i was delighted to witness the cooperation on display in this emerging sangha.

also in delhi i met with dhamma mitras who are creating a right livelihood business, encouraging one another to study foreign languages, such as german and korean, to build a tour company that offers ethical travel packages to westerners. their specialty is tours to sacred buddhist sites, and includes accurate buddhist history, opportunities for travelers to meditate and do puja with local buddhists, and discussions on dr. ambedkar and the revival of buddhism in modern india. i saw for myself how tough life is in delhi, for both local residents and for tourists! in my experience, tour operators there can be quite aggressive, and often rather dishonest. i am very eager to connect my western buddhist friends with these young buddhist entrepreneurs as an alternative, as a means of promoting ethical travel, and also a way to keep our money flowing through the local buddhist economy.

outside of delhi i visited some north indian villages, which i loved. modinagar is an hour away from delhi, and the local sangha there had a celebration on the grounds of a buddhist orphanage. it was a festive day with presentations of drama, poetry, speeches and song, praising dr. ambedkar and teaching the dharma. i was received warmly as their guest, and the garland they presented me was woven from marigolds grown right there in their own garden. i loved the warmth and generosity of the local people i met, and felt the buddhist spirit very much alive in their gathering. i was also very moved by the beautiful ragas people sang and played on traditional instruments.

another village, bharat pur, rajasthan, is the site of a magnificent bird sanctuary, one of the most renowned bird parks in the world. in bharat pur we met local buddhists in their homes, in preparation for subhuti's visit there. they fed us well and took us on a tour of the local school where subhuti would be speaking. that night we gathered with local villagers for a short dharma talk by nagarjuna, and a little presentation by me about jai bhim international. this small gathering was very powerful for me. i imagine us bringing our community english project to communities just like this one.

now nagarjuna and the dhammachakra buddhist center are busy preparing for a 4-day retreat with subhuti in delhi next week, and also arranging the details of the rest of his tour, in places like modinagar and bharat pur. it is exciting to think of the buddhist dharma returning to the north of india, and impressive and humbling to be practicing with people who are committing themselves so whole-heartedly to this work.


see fotos from our time in delhi on our website:
http://www.jaibhiminternational.org/delhi2008-2009
and from north india: http://www.jaibhiminternational.org/january2009northindia

savi savakar is an indian painter, from the dalit community, inspired by buddhism and by the vision of dr. ambedkar. my visit to his studio in december was a highlight of my visit to india. every social revolution needs the contribution of its artists.

i have written about my visit with savi on jai bhim international's website: http://www.jaibhiminternational.org/savisavakarinterview
i look forward to more collaborations with this visionary, impressive man.

dr. bhimrao ambedkar is the inspiration for our work at jai bhim international. although one sees his image all over india, most americans have never heard of dr. ambedkar, nor have any idea about his contribution to indian society. i myself am no different, and so am trying to educate myself about ambedkar's legacy. today on martin luther king's birthday i am reflecting on the legacy of these two great men, bhim rao ambedkar and martin luther king. everyone compares king to gandhi, but dr. king's message for change was so urgent, so controversial, so relevant still today, that i think it is more interesting to compare his message to that of dr. ambedkar.

i am currenty reading ambedkar's masterpiece "the annihilation of caste", written in 1936, as india envisioned its evolution as a nation. in this book ambedkar proposes the importance of SOCIAL reform before political reform, and how political reform will have no impact if social realities are ignored. he states that "social and religious problems have a bearing on political constitutions" and gives the example of ancient rome, as well as of contemporary northern ireland, and their corresponding political reforms "arising out of the prevaling social order". this from a man who worked within the political system, who drafted legislation, advocated for legal and political changes, and even went on the write india's constitution.

ambedkar's call for social reform, outlined in this book, relates to the caste system, which he proposes be annihilated. he states that caste must be taken into account before there can be any political or economic reform, and gives strong examples of the injustices imposed on the untouchable community within india's caste system; untouchables not being allowed to walk down village streets for fear of their shadows "polluting" the higher castes, being forced to wear black threads on their wrists for identity, to carry brooms on their backs to sweep away any traces of their own footsteps and wear earthern pots around their necks so that their spit would not pollute the ground, not being allowed to drink from village wells, their children not being allowed to to attend village schools. he also records systematic acts of violence against various untouchable communities. although india has changed in many ways since 1936, blatant caste discrimination is still practiced in the villages, and more subtle, and often not-so-subtle, forms of casteism are exhibited in towns and cities as well.

casteism is different from racism, but there is overlap in the changes for which king was fighting; to sit at lunch counters, to ride in the front of the buses, to have access to housing and education and employment. king, as ambedkar, spoke of the dignity of "being men" of "being people". his house was firebombed, opponents threw stones at him, spit on him, police tried to beat him. the christians tell the parable of the "the good samaritan" helping the dying man on the side of the jericho road, a man attacked by thieves, a man passed by to die by priests. the priests asked, "if i stop to help this man, what might happen to me?" where the good samaritan asks, "if i do not stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" king, like ambedkar, was critical of those who took pride in their position and prestige, especially religious leaders, who were not living ethically as individuals.

ambedkar posits "emancipation of the mind and soul a necessary preliminary for political expansion of a people". interesting, as i listen to speeches today by martin luther king, and hear that king came to a similar conclusion as ambedkar; that change must occur in the hearts and minds of individuals.

our first 2008 jai bhim international project was to provide 20 students with scholarships of $25 each to attend the december nnby youth conference in bor dharan, central india. the scholarships were awarded to 10 students from bodh gaya, the place of the buddha's enlightenment, and to 10 students from the southern states of kerala and tamil nadu, a region that i visited on my first trip to india a year ago, a place that holds a special place in my heart!

we are so pleased to be able to assist these 20 students in traveling the long distance across india to attend this conference, make new friends, learn new skills, and return energized to their own communities. the students in the south are from communities where buddhism has not yet flourished, and they are eager to expand their network and build a strong sangha, inspired by the buddhist dhamma and dr. ambedkar's message of social justice. i was impressed by these southern youth leaders, their intelligence, their clarity, and their vision. it is not easy for them to join an event like the nnby retreat, as most of them, coming from the south, are not fluent in hindi. so communication with their peers is a particular challenge. but their presence was felt all week, and i was quite aware of their gentleness, their kindness, and their friendliness, which endeared them to youth from other areas. i even saw beginning english students from our session practicing their english with them! on the last night the southern students offered a drama presentation, a martial arts demonstration and sang some beautiful songs. we will all remember what they shared that night.

bodh gaya is a particularly poor region in india, and it is tragic that in the area where the buddha gained enlightenment, an area where thousands of tourists visit every year, the local people struggle to find any work at all. i was so happy to reconnect with 2 bodh gaya students who i'd met on the dehra dun retreat in may, who have formed a sangha and are living with other mitras on buddhist land as a community. several of them are in the ordination process, practicing as gfr mitras. these students are working hard, practicing together, building a sangha with their local community, and offering tours to international visitors. we are very inspired by their model of a right livelihood business, and see many opportunities in this model to provide work for local buddhists, invest money and other resources within the local buddhist economy, connect our international sangha, and encourage one another in our buddhist practice. it is especially hopeful that it is these buddhists who are providing tours of the holy sites, so that buddhist history is represented accurately and that business is conducted ethically and with kindness. we hope to visit this community next year and work more intensively with these students.

we are very excited by the example, the motivation, energy and creativity of these 20 youth, and by their friendship with one another. we look forward to hearing from them about their projects over the next year. we will be collaborating with them again very soon. jai bhim.

my role on this recent nnby retreat was to lead an english language session every day. fluency in english is a valuable skill, and in the dalit community there are many students who have not mastered english conversation and don't feel confident speaking english. english is now the global language, and access to english means access to opportunity. english language training is a core project in our evolvution as jai bhim international.

bhante sangharakshita instructs teachers of the buddhist dhamma to "be encouraging" and this is the essence of my english teaching. i see the english class as a learning environment, a community of learners, a safe space where learners can practice, take risks with language, have fun, allow the language to emerge. perfect grammar is not vital, communication is what matters. the language is just a means of communicating, expressing, connecting. i am inspired by the teaching philosophy of paolo freire, a brazilian educator who was jailed by the military government for leading literacy projects in rural communities. student-centered learning empowered and improed life those communities. he saw learning as a revolutionary act.

my vision for the next year at jai bhim international is to work with indian english teachers, to share with them the training i have received and my 18 years of experience teaching in various contexts. i would like to support indian english teachers in becoming more confident and becoming more creative, more effective in their english teaching. as paolo freire says, students are not empty vessels we fill up with knowledge. they are already full. i see that this is true for indian english teachers, as well as english learners.

we had our first teacher training in nagpur in january. it was a pilot, and i saw that details still need to be worked out. the biggest challenge is to collaborate with organizers who understand the philosophy of such a workshop. my experience so far is that many people just want a general englsih class, an opportunity for lots of people to practice their english. and if 100 people attend, such a workshop is seen as a success. but that is not what this is. this is not jumbo english session for the entire community. it is a professional development workshop for teachers, to improve their own english language skills, learn new teaching methods, discuss the challenges of teaching with their peers, create new resources for themselves, and network with other indian english techers for support. there are also american english teachers, my colleagues at the city college of san francisco, who are interested in being long-distance teaching mentors in this project to their indian peers. these colleagues are advising us on our english teaching advisory board

we laid the foundation for such a project on january, and i really enjoyed the day i had with the group of teachers who gathered. when we discussed the challenges they faced as teachers they were very honest. they told me they doubt their own english fluency, they do not feel confident about their vocabulary, they fear they will model something incorrectly for their students. so they stick to grammar and to translation into hindi, which they know. it is safe. but they also told me how they love poetry and songs and reading about current events. i saw a lot of creativity and enthusiasm. and one teacher commented that the best way to improve his teaching is to continue learning english himself. "to be a better teacher i must continue to be a student myself," he said. exactly! i myself felt like a student listening to all of them, and i learned an immense amount from our time together.

i modeled various student-centered activities during the day that began with simple introductions and moved on to pronunciation improvement and reading and writing generated through student speech. i gave the teachers the opportunity to experience these lessons as learners, and then they can bring them back to their classes and use them right away. we also discussed the teaching philosophy of john dewey, and important 20th century educator. dr. ambedkar studied under him at columbia university, so his influence relates directly to their own communities.

in the year ahead we will be creating a manifesto for this project, and also developing an english language curriculum that incorporates the life and vision of dr. ambedkar. we will also be envisioning a workshop of several days that we can take into new regions of india where there are not as many resources, so that the work may spiral out, affecting and empowering as many people as possible.

we would love to hear your ideas about this project. i am especially interested to know how others came to be fluent in english, and what was particularly inspiring in their own learning process. jai bhim.

december 25 - january 1 of this year was the nnby youth conference, a buddhist retreat held in bor dharan, central india. it was my second time on this retreat, and it was a chance to re-connect with friends i made last year, to make new friends, to hear from people about projects they have created, and to brainstorm ideas for jai bhim international.

the nnby is led by dhammachari kumarjeev, based in nagpur, and is an organization for youth, ages 15 to 35 from all over india. kumarjeev leads the sit every morning in the stupa, and for many of the students this was their first exposure to meditation. dhammachari subhuti is on this retreat as well, giving a talk every day that ties together the themes of the buddhist dhamma, dr. ambedkar's work and vision for democratic india, the caste system, and how buddhist practice is relevant in our lives and in these times. subhuti has an amazing way of explaining complex themes in a manner that is engaging and accessible. in the weeks ahead i will be summarizing his talks on the jai bhim website (www.jaibhiminternational.org). of particular interest was his first talk on how the injustices of the caste system relate to current events, specifically the bombings in mumbai in november.

my role on the retreat was to teach an english practice session every day, and this year i focused on basic english. for many students it was the first time they had a communicative, student-centered language learning experience, without translation into hindi, without grammar exercises, without exams. just an opportunity to improve their communication, and to use english as a way to express themselves and connect with new friends. my teaching is inspired by bhante sangharakshita's instruction to dhamma teachers to "be encouraging". if this is at the core of all we do as teachers then our students will have fun, take risks, flourish. over the week the students told me that our class helped them to feel more confident, and i took delight as their english improved both in class and outside of class. a particular joy was that many of the students used what they had practiced in class to befriend indian students from kerala, who do not speak hindi, but do speak english. so english became the basis of communication in their new friendships. success!!

while not in a session i met with students informally, giving them the chance to practice their english and tell me about their lives. i was impressed at how much many of the students' english have improved since last year, and how much many of them had matured since i last met them. a lot of these students are active in their local sanghas, and they told me about their recent projects, such as the all-night meditation in nagpur, and the greening mumbai, where one sangha worked together to clean up trash and plant trees. i also made some new friends, young women who are closer to my age, who told me about their personal experiences of inner caste marriage, and how the caste system has impacted their lives in ways that are deeply personal.

and there was music. beautiful indian music. the ladies in the kitchen singing me folksongs about dr. amebedkar as they peeled vegetables and the men chopped garlic. sitting with the girls under trees out of the hot sun as they sang me the songs they knew. groups of students waiting for lunch in the kitchen, singing me the latest bollywood numbers. a pack of us one afternoon in the dorm dancing bhangra to music from mobile phones. and a whole evening of singing and drama and poetry and martial arts on new year's eve out on the grass.

the retreat came to a dramatic close with chanting in the candle-lit stupa for the mitra ceremony where 45 students became buddhists. and there was elaborate rejoicing-in-merit, where all who worked on the retreat were acknowledged and appreciated, one by one, receiving hugs and garlands of marigolds. at midnight the year changed, we threw flower petals at one another, and i absorbed all the joy, all the energy, all the spirit of these young people and the 7 days we'd spent together.