Prochoice America. An anti-choice White House, Congress and closely divided Supreme Court mean only one thing: pro-choice Americans must stand up and speak out today to protect the right to privacy and right to choose. Worse still, President Bush's victory has emboldened the right wing. The far right knows that this is their chance – if they can shift the balance on the Supreme Court now, they'll achieve their 30-year goal of overturning Roe v. Wade . They will bring everything they have to this confirmation fight – and we need to match them every step of the way. Here's how you can get started today: http://prochoiceamerica.org/

Transforming Violence   Innovative strategies for preventing, stopping and healing violence:

Peaceful Tomorrows  September Eleventh Families for Nonviolent Direct Action

International Answer Ongoing campaign links movements against war and against racism

Not In Our Name War without end? Not in our name.

Anti War antiwar news viewpoints and activities

 

 

Buddhist Peace Fellowship
The web site for BPF, International voice for Buddhism and Social Action.
(www.bpf.org)

Dharmanet Engaged Practice Links Page
A Comprehensive Site Listing Engaged Buddhist Resources
www.dharmanet.org/engaged.html)

 

 

Global Exchange
Human rights organization for environmental, political, and social justice worldwide.
(www.globalexchange.org)

Amnesty International Urgent Action
Check this regularly for information on civil rights violations worldwide and actions you can take.
(www.stoptorture.org)

Michael Moore's Site
Check the site of the author of bestseller "Stupid White Men" regularly for humor, information, lobbying and action.
(www.stoptorture.org)

Rainforest Information and Action Worldwide
Rainforest Action Network.
(www.rainforestweb.org)

N.R.D.C.
National Resources Defense Council.
(www.nrdc.org/default.asp)

Defenders of Wildlife
National and International Advocacy Organization
(www.defenders.org)

Environmental Defense
National and International Advocacy Organization
(www.environmentaldefense.org)

Slavery in the Sudan, Burma, and elsewhere
There are still an estimated twenty-seven million people in slavery worldwide. Information. Actions. Petition,
(www.iabolish.com)

Moveon.org--Petition Your Representative for Peace
Move On helps busy people be effective citizens. Move On is committed to broadening participation to counter the influence of monied interests and partisan extremes.
(www.moveon.org)

The Breast Cancer Site
PLEASE NOTE: We heard earlier this year that the Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota for donations for free monograms. It takes less than a minute to go to their site & click on the pink button that says "donating a mammogram" - their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily
visits to donate a mammogram in exchange for advertising.
Please go there, save it as a favorite, click on 'donate a mammogram', and do it every day. This works the same as the 'hunger site', that gives food to the needy from corporate sponsors. Pass it along to all your friends!
(www.thebreastcancersite.com)

The Petition Site
Amazingly comprehensive list of ongoing web based petitions
(www.thepetitionsite.com)

Commondreams
Breaking News and Views for the Progressive Community
(www.commondreams.org)

ZNet
"A Community of People Committed to Social Change"
(www.lol.shareworld.com/weluser.htm)

The Independent
Free Thinking News Source from the U. K.
(www.independent.co.uk)

AltNet news, editorials, and investigative journalism

 

 

Global Solidarity
Coalition for Global Solidarity and Social Development
(www.globalsolidarity.org/)

VDay
VDay is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.
(www.vday.org)

Victims' Families for Reconciliation
After a murder, victims' families face two things: a death and a crime. At these times, families need help to cope with their grief and loss, and support to heal their hearts and rebuild their lives. From experience, we know that revenge is not the answer. The answer lies in reducing violence, not causing more death. The answer lies in supporting those who grieve for their lost loved ones, not creating more grieving families. It is time we break the cycle of violence. To those who say society must take a life for a life, we say: "not in our name."
(www.mvfr.org/)

Sabeel
Sabeel is an ecumenical grassroots liberation movement among Palestinian Christians
(www.sabeel.org/)

Tree People
"Our mission is to inspire the people of Los Angeles to take personal responsibility for their environment, training and supporting them as they plant and care for trees and improve the neighborhoods in which they live, work and play."
(www.treepeople.org)

Los Angeles Coalition For World Peace
This Site exists because there is another way to respond to Terrorism. War is not the answer, it is war and violence that have brought this crisis to the dangerous abyss we face. We as citizens of the most powerful nation on earth, possessed of Democratic rights and responsibilities, have a duty to prevent the escalation of violence underway and its inevitable result - more innocent lives lost, loss of civil liberties that define us as a nation and the unleashing of violent racism in our land.
(www.coalitionforworldpeace.org)

Coalition For Clean Air
The Coalition for Clean Air is dedicated to restoring clean, healthful air to California by advocating responsible public health policy, providing technical and educational expertise, and promoting broad-based community involvement.
(www.coalitionforcleanair.org/)

Sometimes the assumption is made that there is no place for the political in the spiritual life; that to be truly 'spiritual' it is necessary to diminish involvement in the manifest world by focusing only on its transitory nature. But the idea that the only appropriate course of action, from a spiritual point of view, is to leave the concerns of the world behind, is no more true or credible than the opposite, materialist view, that only external things have reality, and that to give and any sort of credence to subjective reality is irrelevant, indulgent and irresponsible.

Both views are extremes, both have roots that go back as far as we have records-in the European, Indian, Chinese, and other traditions.

One particular variety of this sort of dualism that can sometimes be seen to manifests itself even in Buddhist Practice Centers, and in the hearts and minds of those who practice the Dharma, holds that only the insights developed in certain states of meditation have absolute verity.

This notion, a combination of doctrinal elitism and anti-intellectualism combined with a strong apolitical stance, owes as much to the early Christian Church, to the theological debate and social change of the tenth and eleventh centuries, to the anti-intellectualism of the 19th century Romantic movement, and even to the anti-intellectualism of the counterculture of the 1960s, as much as it does to the teachings of the Buddha.

These days, a distaste for any sort of involvement in current or political affairs is powerfully reinforced by the grotesque oversimplifications that are so much a part of popular cultural expression and commentary. However, there is a difference between an inner focus based on the understanding of the Dharma and a purely reactive desire to withdraw from the world based both on a fear of complexity and a fear of taking responsibility in situations where you will never be sure of being 'right'.

It is interesting to note that even within the Buddhist Asian context there has been a subtle shift, a subtle colonization, and a tendency to adopt western transcendentalist ideas, and become numb to the challenges of taking responsibility for living in he world.

The Buddha's teaching is very clear, the spiritual is not separate from the political. Our responsibility is to our awakening and liberation, and to the awakening and liberation of others. Our work is the work of cultivating compassion, and compassionate action, without discriminating as to who is a worthy recipient of it. Our practice is simply to do whatever we can to help, in whatever way seems appropriate, learning and adapting as we go.

That is our practice.

As in the invocation the Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha:

"We aspire . to be present where there is darkness, suffering, oppression, and despair, so that we may bring light, hope, relief, and liberation to those places. We are determined not to forget about or abandon those who are in desperate situations. We will do our best to establish contact with them when they cannot find a way out of their suffering and when their cries for help, justice, equality, and human rights are not heard."

We often close a period of meditation with a dedication and blessing:

"May all beings be free from exploitation and oppression. May all beings be free from animosity and blindness. May all beings become liberated from greed and obsession. Miracle of miracles-May all beings be safe and happy. May we all come home to the basic ground of our being-in love, in compassion, in joy, in peace. May all being be free, may all being be happy".

Web sites, like living beings, are "continually being born and continually dying."
Please feel free to contact us with information on relevant web sites you would like to see posted here.

Contact information for Ordinary Dharma, based in Los Angeles
as well as Manzanita Village Retreat Center in Warner Springs,

Ordinary Dharma,
PO Box 67,
Warner Springs,
CA 92086
760-782-9223 Manzanita Village
760-782-0655 Fax
manzanita@ordinarydharma.org