The System Stinks: Sources of Inspiration for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Abstract

This paper explores the early formation of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and its recent efforts to recreate itself. Originally envisioned as a network of local BPF chapters undertaking peacemaking and ecological projects at the regional level, it has become a web-based network of like-minded individuals connecting online. The founders published a mimeographed newsletter with inspirational translations of historical teachers and information regarding peacemaking efforts and descriptions of Asian Buddhists suffering from violence to discrimination. While the basic mission remains unchanged, current leadership faces a very different landscape, socially, politically and technologically. Current events coverage now routinely includes stories related to violence committed by Buddhists. Reaching out to a younger, less historically minded generation of Buddhists, the organisers seek to revitalise the movement with an online pedagogy called ‘The System Stinks’, inspired by an iconographic image of Robert Aitken protesting the second war in Iraq.

Notes

1. http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/about-bpf/mission/ (accessed 7 February 2014).

2. Robert Baker Aitken, one of the best-known American-born Zen teachers, with his wife Anne Hopkins Aitken founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959 and Maui Zendo in 1969. He was a prolific writer, authoring more than a dozen books on Zen as well as numerous essays, articles and book chapters.

3. Nelson Foster, the primary Dharma heir of Robert Baker Aitken, teaches within the Diamond Sangha lineage. He currently teaches at Ring of Bone Zendo in Nevada City, California. He is the author and editor of several books related to Buddhism.

4. Foster (1988, 48).

5. The image is displayed on the Training and Education page of the website. See http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/our-work/training-and-education/ (accessed 16 December 2014).

6. http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/our-work/training-and-education/ (accessed 16 December 2014).

7. The following narrative is based on a personal interview with Nelson Foster, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, on 11 September 2013, supplemented by archival sources as noted.

8. W. S. Merwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet who resides on Maui. He has been active in the anti-war and anti-nuclear movements as well as ecological efforts to save the rain forests.

9. FOR was founded in Europe in 1914 at the start of the First World War. ‘FOR has since become an interfaith and international movement with branches and affiliated groups in over 50 countries and on every continent. Today the membership of FOR includes Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Indigenous religious practitioners, Baha’i, and people of other faith traditions, as well as those with no formal religious affiliation’. http:forusa.org/about/history (accessed 4 April 2014).

10. Foster, personal interview, Honolulu, Hawaii, 11 September 2013.

11. David Loy, an American Zen teacher and scholar, practices within the Sanbōkyōdan lineage of Japanese Zen. He began his Zen practice with the Diamond Sangha, while it was still affiliated with Sanbōkyōdan. For most of his academic career he was a professor in the Faculty of International Studies, at Bunkyō University, Chigasaki, Japan. He has written and published extensively on Buddhist ethics, especially with regards to ecological concerns.

12. Foster (1978).

13. BPF (1978, 1).

14. BPF (1978, 1, 2).

15. BPF (1978, 2).

16. BPF (1979, 1). The full list includes: Robert and Anne Aitken, Haiku, Hawaii; Richard Baker, San Francisco, CA; Kenneth Barklind, Edina MN; Doug Blankensop,Anchorage, Alaska; Alfred Bloom, Honolulu, HI; Linda Brown, Honolulu, HI; Mike Disend, New York, NY; Fred and Erika Eppsteiner,Great Neck, NY; Nelson Foster, Makawao, HI; Robin Foster, Honolulu, HI; Stephen Gockley, Haiku, HI; Johndennis Govert, Longview, WA; Margaret Habein, Honolulu, HI; Karl Hill,Larchmont, NY; Jerry Houston, Starke, FL; Judy Hurley, Santa Cruz, CA; Jack Kornfield, Barre, MA; Randy LaPolla, Smithtown, NY; James Larick, Natalia, TX; Joanna Macy, Washington, DC; Ron Miyamura, Chicago, IL; Jim Osgood, Chicago, IL; Mariquita Platov, Tannersville, NY; Mike Roche, Kensington, CA; Gary Snyder, Nevada City, CA; Barbara Spalding, Honolulu, HI; Hiroshi Suzuki, Waimea, HI; Daizen Victoria, Los Angeles, CA; Claire Whittlesey-Weigel, Mill Hall, PA.

17. BPF (1979, 1, 2).

18. The Banana Patch was a commune with 26 makeshift homes located in Haiku, Maui on property owned by David Joseph. Starting in the mid-1960s, Joseph allowed people to live on his property for free, and the hippie community eventually grew to approximately 80 men, women and children. Joseph later had to close the community and bulldoze the site after facing steep fines and jail time for numerous housing, health and safety violations.

19. The Institute for Human Services (IHS), popularly known as the Peanut Butter Ministry, is a comprehensive social services agency working to prevent and end homelessness in Hawaii. Reverend Claude Du Teil, an Episcopal priest, founded IHS in 1978. In the early years, the original centre served peanut butter sandwiches and coffee three times a day. Today, IHS runs two service centres to provide a wide range of services for homeless families and individuals.

20. Foster, personal interview, Honolulu, Hawaii, 11 September 2013.

21. Foster, personal interview, Honolulu, Hawaii, 11 September 2013.

22. Baroni (2012).

23. Ryo Imamura (b. 1944) is a Shin Buddhist priest, psychologist and scholar, who has long been active in the peace movement. In addition to his involvement with BPF, he also served as a board member for FOR. He served as the Director of the Buddhist Studies Centre in Honolulu, HI from 1972 to 1976. He founded the East-West Counselling Centre in San Francisco, CA. He recently retired from teaching psychology at Evergreen State University in Olympia, Washington. His grandfather was Bishop Yemyo Imamura, the eminent Buddhist leader who served the Honpa Honwanji Mission in Hawaii from 1900 until 1932.

24. BPF (1980, 1).

25. BPF (1980, 4).

26. Foster (1982).

27. Gary Snyder is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet, university professor, Zen practitioner and environmental activist. He practiced Zen in Japan for several years, and for a time practiced with Robert Baker Aitken. He founded and built Ring of Bone Zendo in Nevada City, California.

28. Joanna Macy is a Buddhist scholar and teacher best known for her work on Buddhism and Deep Ecology.

29. Reported in a letter published in BPF (1983b).

30. Imamura (1983).

31. Data derived from the entries on the BPF Mailing List. BFP (1983, 2–14).

32. Haney and Lockney, personal interview via Skype, 9 September 2013.

33. BPF (1978, 5).

34. BPF (1980, 3).

35. BPF (1980, 2).

36. Susan Moon, long-time editor of the BPF journal Turning Wheel, later produced a second volume, Not Turning Away, an anthology of articles previously published in the journal (Moon, 2004).

37. Fred Eppsteiner is a psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher in the Vietnamese Zen lineage of Thich Nhat Hahn, from whom he received Dhara Transmission and permission to teach in 1994. He currently teaches at the Florida Community of Mindfulness in Tampa, Florida.

38. BPF (1981a).

39. All names are reproduced as transliterated in the original.

40. BPF (1981b).

41. Foster (1982).

42. Baroni, 88 and 184 (note 8).

43. Foster (1982, 1).

44. Aitken (1982a). The letter names the following addressees: Arne Naess (Institute of Philosophy, Norway), Gary Snyder, George Sessions (Department of Philosophy, Sierra College), Bill Devall (Department of Sociology, Humboldt State), Tom Birch (Department of Philosophy, University of Montana), Michael Soule (Institute for Transcultural Studies, Los Angeles) and Andy Cooper (ZCLA).

45. Aitken (1982a).

46. Aitken (1982b). The second Memorandum is identical to Aitken (1982a), except that it was printed on Diamond Sangha letterhead, addressed to the Hawaii chapter of BPF, and included an additional postscript.

47. Aitken expressed similar sentiments in his personal correspondence. See Baroni, 94.

48. http:www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/about-bpf/mission/ 7 February 2014.

49. Haney and Lockney, personal interview via Skype, 9 September 2013.

50. On 3 April 2014, BPF sent out an announcement to members via email that they would host a BPF National Gathering in Oakland, CA, 29–31 August 2014. The full event schedule is available at http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/bpf-summer-gathering-schedule/ (accessed 2 December 2014).

51. http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/gathering-greeting/, (accessed 31 October 2016).

52. http:www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/our-work/training-and-education/the-system-stinks/tss-2013, (accessed 15 February 2014).

53. http:www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/our-work/training-and-education/the-system-stinks/tss-2013-freely-offered, (accessed 15 February 2014).

54. BPF (1978, 1).

55. See, for example, ‘Do We Scare Off People with our Spiritual Activism’, posted 29 January 2014. http:www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/do-we-scare-off-people-with-our-spiritual-activism, 10 March 2014.

56. http:www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/our-work/training-and-education/the-system-stinks/tss-2013, (accessed on 2 December 2014).