Online: Buddhist Practice and Transforming Racism
with Donald Rothberg
Thursdays, January 19th – February 23rd, 2023 | 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET
In this six-week course for those who identify as “white,” we will approach transforming racism inside and outside as an integral part of our spiritual practice, from a framework of Buddhist teachings and practices.
The course will be structured in a traditional way, into training in wisdom, meditation, and ethics (including action). We will explore the Buddha’s rejection of caste in the India of nearly 2600 years ago; perspectives from core Buddhist wisdom teachings helpful for understanding and transforming race and racism; the origins and history of whiteness, race, racism, and multi-racial solidarity; the centrality of mindfulness and heart practices like lovingkindness, compassion, forgiveness, and empathy, to investigate and transform our conditioning around race and whiteness; working with difficult mind-states, emotions, and body states; grounding in ethical integrity and action, including wise speech; and the importance of community, including smaller communities that can be supportive home bases, relatively free of “shame and blame.”
The course will integrate sitting meditation with talks, exercises, discussion, small groups, and about an hour of reading and/or watching video between sessions.
Donald is offering this course in honor and in the memory of his mother, Bernice, who dedicated many years of her life to working for racial justice and the eradication of poverty, initially in New York.
Suggested background: In mindfulness practice and basic mindfulness instructions, received typically through a class or retreat, and, if possible, a regular mindfulness practice and some experience with lovingkindness practice.
Registration:
Please register at the highest level that your generosity offers.
Explanations of levels follow below.
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Please contact registration@nyimc.org if you need assistance.
Registration Fees include Teacher Support
New York Insight Meditation Center has streamlined the registration fee levels. Members of our Circle of Friends are eligible to receive 20% off of the Sustaining Rate via a code provided in the email confirming membership, which you can enter after clicking the Sustaining Level registration.
*Benefactor Level: Supports NYI’s ability to offer the Subsidized Base.
**Sustaining Level: This level reflects the actual costs to support this program. Circle of Friends members eligible for 20% discount with code. Click here to join.
***Subsidized Base: Made possible by the generosity of Benefactor Level above and other donations to ensure participation by those requiring financial assistance.
If you have questions about your registration (cancellation policy, membership discount, email confirmation, etc.), please read our FAQs. If your question is not addressed in the FAQs, please email registration@nyimc.org.
If you are unable to pay the Subsidized Base Fee, you can learn about volunteering to offer work exchange and letting us know how much you are able to pay for this program by emailing registration@nyimc.org.
Please note that New York Insight records online programs. The recorded content may be discoverable should a legal matter arise.
By registering, I give New York Insight permission to use my text/video/audio for educational or other purposes for the duration of New York Insight activities going forward.
If you have any questions, please contact registration@nyimc.org.
Teacher(s)
Donald Rothberg, PhD
Donald Rothberg, PhD, is a member of the Teachers Council at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA, a guiding teacher for the Marin Sangha, and a regular teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, InsightLA, and New York Insight. He has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976 and also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice, in the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy, and in the Somatic Experiencing approach to working with trauma. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook University, he currently teaches and writes on mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation, and the application of these and other practices to transforming the judgmental mind, speech and communication, working with conflict, social service, and social action. Donald is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World, and the co-editor of Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers.