< Issue No. 15 (2020)Article
Chan Practitioners as Agents of Social Change
Li, Rebecca S.K., The College of New Jersey
Abstract
In this paper, I argue that sociological insights into how social structures are perpetuated and change, are congruent with Dharma teachings of dependent origination and are useful for Chan practitioners’ cultivation of wisdom and compassion. Examples of social change, in the economy and family, are used to illustrate how these Dharma principles are manifested in the social construction of norms and beliefs, and in the ways macro-level social structures and change are founded on micro-level social interactions embedded in mundane moments of our daily life. I then argue that for Chan practitioners to truly align their actions with their bodhisattva vows, conceptual understanding of social processes, yielded from sociological analysis, is essential in cultivating clear total awareness of the operation of the social world and the impact of their actions. Lastly, cultivation of clear awareness of the subtle dynamics of racial domination is used to demonstrate how Chan practitioners can be agents of social change in bringing about a more compassionate and just society to benefit to sentient beings.