White & Awakening in the Dhamma
As we enhance our understanding of the harm arising from the system of white privilege, white supremacy culture, and racism, white practitioners can build skills to strengthen community across differences in our sanghas. This fall, IWM would like to offer White and Awakening in the Dharma (WAD), a six-month, 12-session study and practice program for white-identified practitioners. WAD is designed to afford the opportunity to turn with mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion towards the manifestations of racism, white supremacy culture, and privilege in our society and in ourselves. With the course, we will provide a guided exploration of our racial conditioning as white people with the support of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. We will draw on diverse academic and popular materials on the topics of racism and white supremacy culture. A strength of this program is the community that is co-created by group members learning, growing and taking risks together. In addition to group gatherings, weekly discussions with assigned Dhamma Buddies are encouraged.
- Do you have some experience exploring and working with white privilege and want to increase your skills to support inclusive sangha building?
- Do you want to deepen your understanding of Buddhist teachings on suffering, oppression and liberation?
- Do you want to gain insight into the suffering and harm that arise from our racial conditioning as white people in this society?
- Would you like to become part of a supportive learning community of white practitioners exploring racism in the context of BuddhaDhamma and looking for ways to transform our white racial conditioning and white supremacist systems?
WAD is designed as a guided, collaborative exploration of our racial conditioning as white people. We will apply Dhamma practices to enhance our capacity to be in community with members of marginalized communities, and develop skills to support the larger practice community. It is also our hope that, through this collaboration, we will expand our shared capacity to help each other learn and grow in ways that support liberation for us all.
If you are interested in learning more, and in perhaps participating in WAD or other programming on this topic, please fill out this form. It will allow us to gauge interest and plan our programming.
