Buddhist Coalition for Democracy

BCD Women in Solidarity Group
2026-05-07 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-06-04 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-07-02 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-08-06 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-09-03 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom Event
This is a group for women to express and discuss their own lived experience within the safety of a women’s-only space. The group’s focus is on matters relevant to engaged Buddhism. Topics may include patriarchy within Buddhist groups, activist groups, and society at large. Depending on the interests of the members, the group may discuss writings by Buddhist women and/or invite outside speakers. The group is facilitated by Kanchi Mary Richards and meets the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m.
Click here to be on the BCD Women in Solidarity mailing list and stay informed about upcoming groups: bcdwomeninsolidarity@gmail.com.
To join the meeting, click here: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87096192102?pwd=[REDACTED]

BCD Engaged Buddhist Book Club
2026-05-12 19:15 - 20:30, 2026-05-19 19:15 - 20:30, 2026-05-26 19:15 - 20:30, 2026-06-02 19:15 - 20:30, 2026-06-09 19:15 - 20:30, 2026-06-16 19:15 - 20:30, 2026-06-23 19:15 - 20:30, 2026-06-30 19:15 - 20:30 and 6 more dates | Zoom Event
This weekly book club is hosted by Kat Symington Muendell. Each week, members will discuss a book or article related to engaged Buddhism.
Email Kat at bcdbookclub@gmail.com for the weekly reading assignment and Zoom link and to get on the Book Club mailing list.

Live BCD Event: New Horizons in Engaged Buddhism: Host Julia Sagebien interviews Kaira Jewel Lingo
2026-05-14 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom Event
In this eighth live interview in the New Horizons in Engaged Buddhism series, host Julia Sagbien will interview Kaira Jewel Lingo. Kaira Jewel is a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage and teaches Vipassana in the Insight tradition. She is a member of the Plum Village North American Dharma Teachers’ Council of Elders. She has been practicing mindfulness since 1997 and teaching since 2007, and completed the four-year Spirit Rock teacher training in 2020. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, drawing inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her father’s work with Martin Luther King Jr.
After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen and Vipassana traditions. Based in New York, she is faculty in a Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy training and a guiding teacher of One Earth Sangha. With her partner, Adam Bucko, she is founding a center for engaged contemplation, The Beloved Community for Engaged Spirituality, in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York. She is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation.
There will be time for Q- and-A with Kaira Jewel after the interview.
To join this live interview, click on: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8246019794?pwd=[REDACTED]
Or use Meeting ID: 824 601 9794. Passcode: [REDACTED]
To receive information about future New Horizons in Engaged Buddhism interviews, contact: newhorizonsinengagedbuddhism@gmail.com
Save the Date: The next live New Horizons in Engaged Buddhism interview will be on June 25th at 7:00 p.m. when host Julia Sagebien will interview Joshin Byrnes from the Breadloaf Mountain Zen Community.

Ten Percent More Engaged (Monthly BCD Group)
2026-05-20 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-06-17 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-07-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom Event
BCD offers a monthly gathering for those who want to engage in mindful reflection and find practical ways to be more involved in making change happen.
Our gatherings take place on the third Wednesday of each month from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. EST.
We start with a meditation, after which we briefly share what came up for us. The bulk of the meeting is devoted to exploring ways in which we can be more involved and effective in reaching out and making change happen… in a way that is realistic and productive.
A concrete example of the types of discussion we have is: How we can use social media more effectively individually and as a group.
We conduct our gatherings in a respectful, supportive space that embodies our aspiration for mindfulness and democracy in action.
The gatherings are facilitated by Serge Prengel.
To register and receive monthly reminders of meetings, click here: https://tinyurl.com/bcdengaged

BCD Poetry as Witness: A Contemplative Circle of Nature and Word (Recurring Monthly Group)
2026-05-28 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-06-25 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-07-30 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-08-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom Event
Poetry as Witness is a monthly online contemplative circle of Nature & Word designed as a space for literary expression, mindful witnessing, and relational reflection.
The circle is facilitated by Lorena Saavedra-Smith, BCD member, poet, pacha philosopher, and ecopsychologist. Originally from Perú, Lorena is a lifelong storyteller and keeper of Andean ancestral wisdom.
This circle invites both experienced writers and first-time participants to engage with poetry as a practice of presence.
• Providing contemplative space for authentic expression
• Encouraging mindful, non-reactive speech
• Cultivating moral imagination through shared language
The circle emphasizes presence over performance and listening over reaction.
Each session begins with a brief meditation to ground participants in shared presence. A suggested monthly theme will gently orient the gathering and allow participants time to reflect and prepare writing connected to interconnectedness, nature, or lived experience. A short selected poem will open the evening and anchor collective reflection.
To get on this group’s mailing list, write to poetryandnaturegroup@gmail.com.
To join on Zoom, click on: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87407397997?pwd=[REDACTED]
Or use Meeting ID: 874 0739 7997 and Passcode: [REDACTED]
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BCD Live Event: New Horizons in Engaged Buddhism: Host Julia Sagebien interviews Joshin Byrnes
2026-06-25 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom Event
In this ninth episode in the New Horizons in Engaged Buddhism series, host Julia Sagebien interviews Joshin Byrnes. Joshin is a Zen priest and teacher at Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community in Middlebury, Vermont, a hub of community-engaged practice with direct service programs that include an active daily drop-in center called Gather and transitional supported housing at The Grove. He holds street retreats and bearing witness practices across the country, informed by decades of experience in HIV/AIDS activism—including work with AIDS Action Committee in Boston and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation—as well as leadership at community-based philanthropic organizations, including The Vermont Community Foundation and the Santa Fe Community Foundation. Before founding Bread Loaf Mountain, he served as president, vice abbot, and chaplaincy training director at Upaya Zen Center. Earlier in life, he studied philosophy and theology as a member of the Dominican Order, a social-justice oriented Catholic community, and trained as a musician and musicologist.
To attend this live event, click here: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8246019794?pwd=[REDACTED]

First Sunday Independence Day Democracy Observance
2026-07-05 11:00 - 12:30 | Zoom Event
BCD is hosting a First Sunday Democracy Observance on July 5th at 11:00 a.m. ET. The event was initiated by member Morris Doshin Sullivan Sensei in conjunction with other Buddhist and interfaith organizations. The Zoom event will commemorate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence at a time when our democracy is under threat and our people are being subjected to violent oppression by authoritarians.
Sensei Morris is a Zen priest in the White Plum lineage, chair of the Bright Dawn leadership council, and founding teacher for Volusia Buddhist Fellowship. He will lead the service, joined by Seth Zuihō Segall, Zen priest at Pamsula Zen of Westchester and BCD Coordinating Committee member. There will be additional speakers and recorded chanting performed by members of the First Parish of Watertown.
The observance will be based on the Zen Peacemakers Three Tenets: Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Taking Action and will include:

Reflections from the speakers.
Group recitation of the Metta Sutta, the Metta Prayer, the Gate of Sweet Nectar, and Feeding the Hungry Spirits.
Bearing witness to those who have died at the hands of the country’s anti-democratic regime by meditating on their names.

There will be opportunities to share and reflect following the formal service.
To attend the service, click here.
Meeting ID: 868 5876 3648
Passcode: [REDACTED]
The event is free. Please consider supporting one or more of the participating organizations:
Bright Dawn
Buddhist Coalition for Democracy
First Parish Watertown
Pamsula Zen of Westchester
Volusia Buddhist Fellowship
Zen Peacemakers International
Contact Morris Sullivan for more information.

The Bodhisattva Path in Action: How Buddhism, Politics, and Social Engagement Serve Democracy
2026-09-24 18:00 - 19:30
The Bodhisattva Path in Action: How Buddhism, Politics, and Social Engagement Serve Democracy
Thursday, September 24th 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. ET
Co-Sponsors: Buddhist Coalition for Democracy (BCD)
Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC (IMCW)
Intention: As communities navigate increasing polarization, threats to democratic norms, and growing social division, many Buddhist practitioners are asking how the Dharma can inform compassionate and effective engagement in public life. This online forum will explore how Buddhist practice can support democratic values such as participation, dialogue, mutual respect, shared responsibility, and concern for the common good. Rather than focusing on political parties, candidates, or policy positions, the discussion will examine how practitioners can embody Buddhist principles while engaging in civic and social life.
Panelists:
Tara Brach
Spiritual teacher, psychologist, and author. Tara’s teaching blends Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices with a mindful attention to inner life and a dedication to creating a more just, equitable, and loving world.
Ben Connelly
Soto Zen teacher and Dharma heir in the Katagiri lineage. Ben teaches mindfulness in a variety of secular contexts and works with multifaith groups focusing on intersectional liberation, racial justice, and climate justice.
Kaira Jewel Lingo
Former ordained Zen nun (and trainee of Thich Nhat Hanh), teacher of Buddhist meditation, secular mindfulness, and compassion practices, as well as spiritual mentor with a focus on racial, climate, and social justice.
A timely dialogue in advance of the midterm elections. The forum will provide space for learning, reflection, and dialogue on how Buddhists can participate in social and political life in ways that are:
Grounded in Buddha’s teachings.
Responsive to present-day realities.
Supportive of connection rather than division.

You must pre-register for this event: https://imcw.org/event/?eventId=1747
