Protest

"Protest is my spiritual practice. When I recognize that, it helps me to ground my demonstration in compassion for myself and others. I have come to realize that marches are like the tantric practices done in groups, engaging the body, speech, and mind. At the march, I witnessed demonstrators using their bodies to move, their speech to chant and sing, and their minds to visualize a better world.

I don’t always want to attend every protest, and that’s okay. But one thing that always motivates me is knowing that, as a dharma teacher and minister, I feel I have an obligation to model the path of justice and dharma for my students and for the larger Buddhist community. I show up because I’m concerned about the violence of injustice. And I go because people need to see me and know there is space in Buddhism to talk about justice. When I march, I take my dharma practice with me; and it is my dharma practice that helps me show up with the aspiration for all beings to be free from suffering."

- Lama Rod Owens