Engaged Buddhism

Engaged Buddhism applies Buddhist ethical and contemplative teachings to social, political, and environmental problems through action aimed at reducing suffering.

Thích Nhất Hạnh: A Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, and peace activist who developed influential accounts of mindfulness and social engagement. He named and shaped the modern movement while organizing relief work during the Vietnam War.
Socially engaged spirituality: Spiritual practice that addresses social conditions and public suffering through ethical action. This broader approach captures the movement from Buddhist practice into public life.
Peace movement: Collective activism that opposes war and promotes peaceful resolution of conflicts. Buddhist peace activism has challenged militarism through public witness, dialogue, and nonviolent action.
B. R. Ambedkar: An Indian jurist and anti-caste leader who embraced Buddhism and led a mass conversion movement in 1956. His reinterpretation of Buddhism made emancipation and social equality central to a major movement.
Buddhist monasticism: Forms of Buddhist life organized around renunciation, communal discipline, and monastic training. Engaged Buddhism questions whether withdrawal from public affairs can adequately answer social suffering.
Buddhist Crisis in Vietnam: The 1963 confrontation between South Vietnam’s government and Buddhists protesting religious discrimination. The crisis helped spur the public activism from which modern Vietnamese engaged Buddhism emerged.
Interbeing: Thích Nhất Hạnh’s term for the mutual dependence through which beings and things exist. Interdependence grounds the view that personal suffering and social conditions cannot be separated.
Dalit Buddhist movement: A movement in India in which Dalits embraced Buddhism, especially following B. R. Ambedkar’s conversion in 1956. It connects Buddhist conversion with resistance to caste oppression and the pursuit of social equality.
Sulak Sivaraksa: A Thai social critic and Buddhist activist who founded the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. He built transnational networks connecting Buddhist ethics with social and political reform.
Socially Engaged Buddhism in China: Chinese Buddhist initiatives that apply Buddhist teachings to charitable, educational, and social-service work. These initiatives show a distinct East Asian setting for Buddhist engagement beyond the movement’s Vietnamese roots.

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