Welcome Friends🙏.

My hope is that BCD members will be moved to send in brief descriptions of their lineages and samplings of resources (articles, books, videos) that they find especially helpful in these very challenging times.

What you share will be contributing to a new and unique American Buddhist community.

To begin our journey together, it is my pleasure to offer a sampling below from my root practice – The Plum Village Tradition of Engaged Buddhism begun by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

With gratitude,

Karen Hirsch

“Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiritual leader, poet, and peace activist, renowned for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace.

A gentle, humble monk, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called him “an Apostle of peace and nonviolence” when nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Exiled from his native Vietnam for almost four decades, Thich Nhat Hanh has been a pioneer bringing Buddhism and mindfulness to the West, and establishing an engaged Buddhist community for the 21st century.”  — From The Life Story of Thich Nhat Hanh

“You have to take care of your suffering—to embrace it tenderly, the way a mother would embrace her crying baby.”

–quote from Thich Nhat Nanh (2014). No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering. Parallax Press

1. (Music Video):  “The Great Bell Chant”   7:13

2. The Heart Sutra – New English translation by Thich Nhat Hanh (9-11-2014)  11:45

3.  “Handling Strong Emotions”, by Thich Nhat Hanh  (est. 7 pages)

4. Plum Village Zen Meditation App 5.0 (7K) (Available free in the Google Play and Apple App stores). A wealth of easy-to-use guided meditations, relaxations, and talks. 

5. (Video)  A Regulated Nervous System: An Orientation” by Jo-Ann Rosen  24:00

6. (Book)  Jo-Ann Rosen “Unshakeable-Trauma-Informed Mindfulness for Collective Awakening”,  Parallax Press, Berkeley, CA 2023,

7. (Network of Local Groups) Beloved Community Circles for Mindful Action. Beloved Community Circles is a close-knit, decentralized network of people in many countries working towards climate and racial justice in our communities, grounded in nonviolence, emotional healing, spiritual practice, and mindful action.

8. (Book)  John Bell  “Unbroken Wholeness — Six Pathways to the Beloved Community: Integrating Social Justice, Emotional Healing, and Spiritual Practice”, Parallax Press, 2024.

9. (Video) “House of Interbeing”  4:00. In the early 2000s, Thich Nhat Hanh proposed that Palestinians and Israelis attending a mindfulness retreat build a community in which they could learn to live together as brothers and sisters in the same land. The resulting House of Interbeing includes ordained Dharma teachers, member of the Order of Interbeing, and lay practitioners who help Palestinian and Israeli activists explore Thich Nhat Hanh’s proposal. 

11. (Video) Guided Body Scan”  Sister True Dedication (Hien Nghiem) (from Plum Village app)  5:00

12. (Singing)  Betsy Rose  betsyrosemusic.org.  – includes links to Betsy’s wonderful, healing YouTube music/singing videos and live events. You can join Betsy’s mailing list to hear about future events, in person and online.

1. (Book) “Living Nembutsu: Applying Shinran’s Radically Engaged Buddhism in Life and Society,” Jeff Wilson, 2023, Sumeru Books. A sourcebook for Jodo Shinshu Buddhists and other interested readers looking to apply Pure Land perspectives to the problems of contemporary society. 

2. (Podcast) “May We Gather,” Jeff Wilson, 2024, University of Virginia Religion, Race, and Democracy Lab. 38:10. Coverage of a pioneering pan-sectarian Buddhist ceremony of healing from racial and religious prejudice in the United States.

1. (Article) “We’ve Been Here All Along,” Funie Hsu, 2016, Lion’s Roar. A historical perspective on how Asian Americans get written out of the story of American Buddhism, and how to write them back in.

2) (Book) Emergent Dharma: Asian American Feminist Buddhists on Practice, Identity, and Resistance,
edited by Sharon A. Suh PhD, publisher North Atlantic Books, release date Dec 9, 2025

3) (Book) Be the Refuge, by Chenxing Han, publisher North Atlantic Books, 2021.

1) (Article) I Vow Not to Burn Out, by Mushim Patricia Ikeda, Lion’s Roar. Mushim draws upon her history of Korean Son, Japanese Rinzai and Soto Zen, and Insight Meditation practice, as well as her Grandmother’s Shin Buddhist tradition.

1) (Book) The Bodhisattva’s Embrace: Dispatches From Engaged Buddhism’s Front Lines by Hozan Alan Senauke, Clear View Press, 2010.

2) (Book) Heirs To Ambedkar: The Rebirth of Engaged Buddhism in India by Hozan Alan Senauke, Clear View Press, 2013.

2) (Book) Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts by Reb Anderson, Shambhala, 2001.

Our grateful thanks to Karen Hirsch, Jeff Wilson, Meredith Bliss, Mushim Patricia Ikeda, and Seth Zuihō Segall for suggesting resources for this page