Compassion & Equity: The Buddha’s Approach to Social & Political Life

The Buddha was not just a meditator and renunciate who created a monastic order known for its love of solitude, wilderness, and deep states of meditation. He was also born a member of the ruling class, intentionally cultivated relationships with kings, bankers, and other powerful people, and became a prominent social critic and philosopher who advised rulers and businesspeople on appropriate responses to difficult social and political situations.

In this 5-week class, part of our ongoing Refuge of Dhamma study series, we look at teachings from the Pāli Canon that reveal the insightful and still valuable approach the Buddha took to issues like caste, commerce, inequality, militarism, and the web of relationships and hierarchy that defines our place in the social order. We will explore how to bring our practices of intention, ethics, and mindful action into engagement with the world, with compassion and wisdom as our guide.

About Sean Oakes, PhD

Sean Oakes, PhD (he/him, queer, Puerto Rican & English ancestry, living on unceded Pomo land in Northern California), teaches Buddhism and somatic practice focusing on the integration of meditation, trauma resolution, and social justice. He has studied in Theravāda, Zen, and Vajrāyāna Buddhist lineages, including training as a monk in Burma, and was authorized to teach by Jack Kornfield. Website: SeanFeitOakes.com

About Spirit Rock & Insight Meditation

Spirit Rock is a spiritual training institution in the Insight Meditation tradition grounded in the Buddha’s teachings in the Pāli discourses. Our vision and mission is to bring people to a depth of realization of the Buddha’s path of liberation through direct experience, and to provide practitioners with teachings to manifest wisdom and compassion in all aspects of their lives, for the benefit of all beings. We welcome practitioners of all backgrounds and levels of experience to join communities of learning, support, and connection in our spiritual sanctuary and refuge.

This course is part of Spirit Rock’s new Dharma Institute, which offers in-depth study of the teachings and practices of the Buddha and the Insight Meditation lineage, along with professional trainings and continuing education. 

Spirit Rock was founded in 1986 by a group of Insight Meditation teachers including Jack Kornfield, who, along with Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, and Jacqueline Schwartz, had founded Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA, in 1976. These centers, along with Gaia House (Devon, UK), are among the first centers teaching Insight Meditation (vipassanā) in the West. Read more about the founding of Spirit Rock and IMS in Jack Kornfield’s article “This Fantastic, Unfolding Experiment.” 

Insight Meditation is based in Theravāda (“The Way of the Elders”) Buddhism, as practiced in Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), and Thailand, though our teachers carry many different lineages within—and outside—Theravāda. Our primary practices are based in the Mahāsī lineage of Burmese vipassanā and the Thai Forest Saṅgha lineage of Ajahn Chah. Read more about our Buddhist Lineage and listen to talks from teachers about the roots of our practice.

Thank you for your support as we work to make study of the Buddha’s wisdom accessible to all! May our practice be for the sustaining of the Dhamma and the conditions necessary for goodness and liberation to flourish, for the benefit of all beings everywhere.

namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhasa
Homage to the Blessed One, the Perfected One, the Fully Self-Awakened One

Questions?

Visit Help for additional information and guidance. After visiting the Help page, if you still need support with the Online Learning Platform, email OLPsupport@spiritrock.org.