Buddhist Coalition for Democracy

BCD Weekly Meditation Group
2025-10-29 12:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-22 12:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-15 12:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-08 12:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-01 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom Event
​​This is a weekly meditation group facilitated by Linda Modaro. It is a welcoming drop-in group—join when you can.

Meeting ID: Meeting ID: 893 5609 8014
Passcode: [REDACTED]
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89356098014?pwd=[REDACTED]

What to Expect
Each session begins with an invitation to bring your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with activism into your meditation; holding them in the conditions of Kindness and Curiosity. This is a silent, self-guided meditation practice. You may discern if this feels right for you in the moment; if not, you are welcome to do the practice of your choice.
● During meditation, cameras are generally off so you can focus on your practice. If keeping your camera on helps you feel more connected, you are welcome to do so.
● After meditation, we encourage you to write down and reflect on your experience.
● A few participants will have the opportunity for a short conversation with Linda Modaro about their meditation while others listen and observe.
● Each session closes with a group discussion on topics that naturally emerged from meditation and reflection.
Session Flow
● 9:00–9:05 am PT – Invitation: for meditation and activism
● 9:05–9:25 am PT – Meditation: 20 minute silent meditation (cameras on or off)
● 9:25–9:35 am PT – Reflection: remembering and recollecting your experience
● 9:35–9:45 am PT – Sharing: short conversations about meditation experience between a meditator and Linda Modaro while others listen
● 9:45-10:00 am PT – Group discussion: on themes arising from practice and reflection
About the Facilitator
Linda Modaro is the founder and lead teacher at Sati Sangha, a vibrant online meditation community offering daily Reflective Meditation sessions and online retreats throughout the year. She is co-author (with Nelly Kaufer of Pine Street Sangha) of Reflective Meditation: Cultivating Kindness and Curiosity in the Buddha’s Company.
Linda Modaro

BCD Coordinating Committee
2025-10-24 17:00 - 18:30 | Zoom Event
This is a meeting for BCD Coordinating Committee members only.

No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance
2025-10-18
No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.
On October 18, millions of us are rising again to show the world: America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.
See map of locations at:
https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/map/

Actualizing Unfaltering Engaged Practice In Our Time – EMBODIMENT with Guo Gu
2025-10-12 13:00 - 14:30
Upaya Zen Center presents a monthly series stewarded by Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Kodo Roen, and Sensei Wendy Dainin Lau. The focus is on recognizing and ending violence in relation to addressing the roots of war/genocide, racism, climate suffering, economics of exploitation and extraction, othering, and our own delusion that we are separate from any being or thing. The faculty for this series includes: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Christiana Figueres, Ruth King, Valerie Brown, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Father Greg Boyle, Terry Tempest Williams, Konda Mason, Rebecca Solnit, Father John Dear, Guo Gu, Tara Brach, Frank Ostaseski, Sharon Salzberg, Roshi Joan, and Senseis Kodo Roen and Dainin Lau.
Guo Gu (Dr. Jimmy Yu) is the founder of the Tallahassee Chan Center, the founder of the socially engaged intra-denominational Buddhist organization, Dharma Relief, and a professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Florida State University. He studied under the late Master Sheng Yen for over 30 years, nine of which as his attendant monk and most senior and closest disciple. He is the author of The Essence of Chan (2012), Passing Through the Gateless Barrier (2016), and Silent Illumination (2021).
Registration link:
https://www.upaya.org/program/engaged-buddhism-online-october-2025/

BCD Communications Committee
2025-10-08 19:00 - 20:00, 2025-09-10 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom Event
This is a members-only meeting for Communications Commitee members to dicuss communications strategy regarding the BCD website, press releases, social media, telecasts and podcasts, Substack publications, and newsletter.
If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact Amaury Cruz at <amaurycruz@yahoo.com>.

BCD Action Committee Meeting
2025-10-07 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom Event
This meeting is for members of the BCD Action Committee only.
For more information, contact Karsten Struhl at kastruhl@tiac.net or Kathryn Koehl at kathrynkoehl@hotmail.com

No Kings: Protest Safety, Know Your Rights & De-Escalation Training
2025-10-06 20:00
Before you hit the streets- join our know your rights, protest safety, and de-escalation training on 10/6/25 at 8 PM ET.
This October, communities across the country will mobilize en masse for the second No Kings national day of action- a mass mobilization against President Trump’s abuses of power and federal crackdown on our freedoms. Together, we’ll send a clear message: the people will not be silenced.
To prepare, join the ACLU’s Protest Safety, Know Your Rights and De-Escalation Training on October 6 at 8 PM ET. This training will give you the tools to take action safely, confidently, and with key de-escalation strategies in hand. Whether you’re marching, rallying, or supporting from the sidelines, you’ll learn how to protect yourself, your community, and stand up for your rights.
WHAT: ACLU’s Protest Safety, Know Your Rights and De-Escalation Training
WHEN: Monday, October 6th at 8 PM ET
WHERE: On Zoom- RSVP for the link!
What we’ll cover:
– Know your rights during protests and law enforcement encounters
– Practical tools for safety and de-escalation in tense moments
– Get prepared to take nonviolent action safely, powerfully and together
– Build the knowledge and strength to support others in the streets and beyond
Because when we know our rights, we can defend them. Let’s get ready. RSVP NOW.
https://act.aclu.org/a/no-kings-kyr-eng1

BCD Coordinating Committee Meeting
2025-10-03 17:00 - 18:00 | Zoom Event
This meeting is for Coordinating Committee Members only

Actualizing Unfaltering Engaged Practice In Our Time – DISCERNMENT with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
2025-09-28 13:00 - 14:30
Join us in the continued commitment to social and environmental engagement and justice in this very complex time, to exploring the roots of structural violence in our social systems, and to engage in the world in a courageous way based on contemplative practice and views that actualize non-separateness, interbeing, equity, compassion, justice, integrity, courage, dignity, and unshakable awareness.
This monthly series is stewarded by Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Noah Kodo Roen, and Sensei Wendy Dainin Lau.
The faculty for this series includes: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Christiana Figueres, Ruth King, Valerie Brown, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Father Greg Boyle, Terry Tempest Williams, Konda Mason, Rebecca Solnit, Father John Dear, Guo Gu, Tara Brach, Frank Ostaseski, Sharon Salzberg, Roshi Joan, and Senseis Noah Kodo Roen and Wendy Dainin Lau.
The focus is on recognizing and ending violence in relation to addressing the roots of war/genocide, racism, climate suffering, economics of exploitation and extraction, othering, and our own delusion that we are separate from any being or thing.
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk, born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York. He obtained a BA in philosophy from Brooklyn College and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School before traveling to Sri Lanka to pursue his interest in Buddhism. He received novice ordination in 1972 and full ordination in 1973, both under Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya (1896-1998), the leading Sri Lankan scholar-monk of the time.
Registration link:
https://www.upaya.org/program/engaged-buddhism-online-bhikkhu-bodhi-2025/

BCD New Horizons in Engaged Buddhism Live Telecast: Julia Sagebien interviews Rev. Seth Zuihō Segall
2025-09-25 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom Event
In the first of a series of monthly live interviews with engaged Buddhist thought leaders, host Julia Sagebien interviews Rev. Seth Zuihō Segall about his understanding of engaged Buddhism. The interview will last 30 minutes and will be followed by an opportunity for questions and answers by viewers. In later months, the series will include live interviews with the Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi from Chuang Yen Monastery, Tara Brach of the Insight Meditaiton Community of Washington, D.C., Mushim Patricia Ikeda from the East Bay Meditation Center, Sinclair Shinryu Thomson Roshi, abbot of the Village Zendo, Daiken Nelson Roshi, from Pamsula Zen Center, the Rev. angel Kyodo williams from the Center for Transformative Change, Ellen Korman Mains, author and long-term student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and others. These live broadcasts will be recorded and later available as YouTube videos and Substack podcasts.
Rev. Segall is a Zen priest and psychologist who has written many books, chapters, and articles on the intersection of Buddhism and psychology. He is a former clinical faculty member of the Yale School of Medicine and a current contributing editor to Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. He is a cofounder and Coordinating Committee member of the Buddhist Coalition for Democracy. Rev. Segall views Buddhism from a naturalistic, pragmatic, cosmopolitan, and eudaimonic perspective. His experience as a citizen-activist began with the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movments.

To Join, click: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8246019794?pwd=[REDACTED]

Sun Day
2025-09-21
Sun Day is a day of action on September 21, 2025, celebrating solar and wind power, and the movement to leave fossil fuels behind. Solar energy is now the cheapest source of power on the planet – and gives us a chance to actually do something about the climate crisis. But fossil fuel billionaires are doing everything they can to shut it down. We will build, rally, sing, and come together in the communities that we need to get laws changed and work done.
Event website
Sun Day

No Kings October Mobilization Kick Off Call
2025-09-18 20:00 - 21:00
The No Kings Coalition is proud to announce the kick-off to our October 18th national protest!
Join us to learn more about the vision, urgency, and strategy behind this national day of action. Whether you’re brand new or a seasoned organizer, the time to act is now!
Sign up at
https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/839315/

The Three Tenets with Sensei Jim Daikan Bastien
2025-09-17 19:00 - 20:00
Bernie Glassman articulated the Three Tenets of the Zen Peacemakers early in the evolution of the organization. But these three, simple, profound, vows or commitments can also be taken as a complete practice for our life:
I will embody Not Knowing, thereby giving up fixed ideas.
I will Bear Witness, opening my heart to the joy and suffering of life.
I will take Loving Action arising out of not-knowing and bearing witness.
We can practice and manifest our true selves in every situation and with everything that arises, using the Three Tenets. This is a lifelong practice, one we never complete on our hourlong session we will present and describe the Three Tenets and have time to take your questions.
Duration: 60 minutes – Format: Presentation
To register:
https://hive.zenpeacemakers.org/events/188997

Zen Peacemaker Event: The Buddhist Coalition for Democracy: The New Kid on the Block
2025-09-16 12:00 - 13:30
Buddhist Coalition for Democracy (BCD) board members John Murphy and Rev. Seth Zuiho Segall will discuss the origins of the BCD and its Call to Action, the organization’s guiding principles, its initial actions and future programming, and its view of the current political situation and the role Buddhists can play in supporting democratic principles, ideals, norms, and processes. We will discuss the BCD’s intention to be a non-denominational Buddhist organization that embraces a broad spectrum of anti-authoritarian political views.
You can register for this event here.
https://hive.zenpeacemakers.org/events/188967/booking/07c50b55-4ae6-4577-a907-1ef7a9669306/ticket-selection

"Politics and the Path," a talk by BCD Coordinating Committee member Rachel Faro at the NY Shambhala Center
2025-09-14 14:00 - 17:00 | 151 West 30th St., 3rd Floor, 151 West 30th St., 3rd Floor, New York, NY, 10001
It’s often thought that the life of a meditator, a practitioner, is noncommittal, serene, not involved with or above the problems of the world. And yet, it’s hard to ignore the suffering and confusion we see everywhere, especially these days when society seems so polarized. One of the most fundamental aspects of Buddhism and Shambhala is compassion, kindness and a sense of the basic goodness of all sentient beings. But how do we bring that compassion into action, how can we find common ground and how can we make a difference without falling into aggression or hopelessness? We will discuss how we can bring skillful means to our activity, the interdependence of all actions and how we can stop seeking perfection or a utopian dream while helping to create a better society.
Rachel Faro is a senior meditation teacher and practitioner within the Shambhala and Tibetan Buddhist traditions who has taught and led meditation retreats, classes and workshops in Europe, Latin America, South Africa and throughout the United States. A personal student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she has been training, practicing and teaching since the early 1970’s. She is also an accomplished and well-known singer/songwriter, Grammy-nominated record producer, and owner/founder of Ashé Records, a world music record label.
For more information, see: https://ny.shambhala.org/program-details/?id=807842

Actualizing Unfaltering Engaged Practice In Our Time – NONVIOLENCE with Father John Dear
2025-09-14 13:00 - 14:30
In this session, Father John Dear will reflect on the critical importance of “nonviolence” for each one of us today, in our hearts and our personal lives, and for our world. He will review the basics, point out some areas that we can actively work on, and encourage us to do what we can together to be a force for a more nonviolent nation and world. He looks at creative nonviolence from the perspective of Gandhi, Dr. King and Dorothy Day, and his many friends and teachers, including Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Coretta Scotta King, Mother Theresa, Thich Nhat Hanh and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Registration link:
https://www.upaya.org/program/engaged-buddhism-online-september-2025/

We Are All DC: A National March
2025-09-06 11:00 - 16:00 | Malcom X Park, 16th St NW & W St NW, Washington, D.C., 20009, United States
On Saturday, September 6, there is a call DC residents and allies from across the country to join a “We Are All DC“ national march in solidarity with DC communities to end the occupation of DC.
The march will be followed by a Beloved Community Banquet from 4:00-7:00 PM at the Walker Memorial Baptist Church, 13th and U Streets NW, which will feature free food, music, and dancing and is co-sponsored by a consortium of twenty-three different religious organizations.

BCD Coordinating Committee Meeting
2025-09-05 17:00 - 18:00

Zen Peacemakers Bearing Witness to Gaza Silent Meditation
2025-09-05 12:00 - 13:00
As Zen Peacemakers, we practice seeing our world from a position of stillness and non-judgment, witnessing life’s beauty and joy alongside the horror and suffering, without looking away. From that intense experience our hearts call us to act.
Please join us virtually Friday, September 5th at 12:00 pm US Eastern Time, to sit together in silence for one hour, to acknowledge all those suffering in Gaza.
Duration: 60 minutes
A link to join using Zoom will be sent after you register.
To register:
https://hive.zenpeacemakers.org/events/189562

BCD Action Committee
2025-09-02 19:00 - 20:00
This is a members-only meeting for Action Committee members

The Three Tenets: The Intimacy of Taking Action
2025-09-02 12:00 - 13:30
Please join us for a panel discussion with Genjo Marinello, Joshin Byrnes, Jitsujo Gauthier, Koho Mello, and Mikko Ijäs discussing Zen Peacemakers third Tenet: Taking Action. In this panel discussion, we will probe the emotional and spiritual aspects of taking action. Many of us struggle with the notion of taking action without naming or blaming perpetrators, without calling out evil, without siding with one group against another, or this against that. Many of us are hard-wired for the language, the tone, the energy and the action of conflict and resistance, which we know does not make matters better. And yet we are called to act.
How do we do this wisely and compassionately, preserving our inherent interconnectedness?
This tenet has been expressed as “healing”. How do we promote healing when we take action?
Geoff O’Keeffe will moderate and there will be an opportunity for participants to participate in the discussion.
Duration: 90 minutes
A link to join using Zoom will be sent after you register.
To register:
https://hive.zenpeacemakers.org/events/187516

Labor Day 2025: Workers Over Billionaires
2025-09-01
Labor and community are planning more than a barbecue on Labor Day this year because we have to stop the billionaire takeover.** Billionaires are converting the government into their private slush fund and just passed the largest wealth giveaway in the history of the US. The money they take from working families, they put in billionaires’ pockets and set aside to fund a private army of ICE agents.
Just like any bad boss, the way we stop the takeover is with collective action.** We are working people rising up to stop the billionaire takeover–not just through the ballot box or the courts, but through building a bigger and stronger movement. We are growing our movement and fighting for a country that is more fair, just, equitable, and free for all of us—and not just a chosen few.
On September 1st we will continue the movement we launched together on May 1st, standing in solidarity with all our communities under attack and fighting for real wins for all our people.
Thousands of communities across the country are taking a stand on Labor Day, join us! We will be in the streets, outside the offices of the corporate criminals who are behind the attacks on our freedoms, and at congressional offices. Together we will **demand a country that puts workers over billionaires.**
**OUR DEMANDS TO BUILD THE SOCIETY WE ALL DESERVE:**
1. Stop the billionaire takeover corrupting our government.
2. Protect and defend Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs for working people.
3. Fully funded schools, and healthcare and housing for all.
4. Stop the attacks on immigrants, Black, indigenous, trans people, and all our communities.
5. Invest in people not wars.
*Please note: A core principle behind all our events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.*
Event website:
https://maydaystrong.org/

Actualizing Unfaltering Engaged Practice In Our Time – HOPE with Rebecca Solnit
2025-08-31 13:00 - 14:30
Join us in the continued commitment to social and environmental engagement and justice in this very complex time, to exploring the roots of structural violence in our social systems, and to engaging in the world in a courageous way based on contemplative practice and views that actualize non-separateness, interbeing, equity, compassion, justice, integrity, courage, dignity, and unshakable awareness.
This monthly series is stewarded by Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Kodo Roen, and Sensei Wendy Dainin Lau.
The faculty for this series includes: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Christiana Figueres, Ruth King, Valerie Brown, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Father Greg Boyle, Terry Tempest Williams, Konda Mason, Rebecca Solnit, Father John Dear, Guo Gu, Tara Brach, Frank Ostaseski, Sharon Salzberg, Roshi Joan, and Senseis Kodo Roen and Dainin Lau.
The focus is on recognizing and ending violence in relation to addressing the roots of war/genocide, racism, climate suffering, economics of exploitation and extraction, othering, and our own delusion that we are separate from any being or thing.
Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, western and urban history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster. Her books include Recollections of My Nonexistence; Hope in the Dark; Men Explain Things to Me; and A Paradise Built in Hell:The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster. A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she writes regularly for the Guardian and Lithub and serves on the board of Oil Change International.
Rebecca also has been working with Upaya’s Nomads project since 2013 and was a student of Zenkai Blanche Hartman, an early leader at San Francisco Zen Center.
To register:
https://www.upaya.org/program/awareness-in-action-actualizing-unfaltering-engaged-practice-in-our-time-with-rebecca-solnit-online-august-31-2025/

BCD Coordinating Committee
2025-08-22 17:30 - 19:00
This is a members-only event for Coordinating Committee members

From Trauma to Hope in the Holy Land
2025-08-20 12:00 - 13:30
From Trauma to Hope in the Holy Land
Join this presentation with Elias Deis, Executive Director of Holy Land Trust. Holy Land Trust is a non-profit Palestinian organization committed to fostering peace, justice, and understanding in the Holy Land. They are deeply dedicated to exploring the root causes of violence and developing solutions to address them. They believe that true peace and justice are achieved through nonviolent activism, personal and spiritual transformation.
Founded in 1998 by local Palestinian visionaries, Holy Land Trust has over 20 years of experience in nonviolence, peacemaking, and raising awareness of the social and political conditions in the Holy Land. Officially registered with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior on May 5, 2004, under registration number BL-408-C, Holy Land Trust stands out for its focus on personal transformation and addressing the spiritual trauma that hinders a just and lasting peace. They are neither a political nor a religious organization but strive to live and act with unconditional love rather than fear.
Elias Deis – Executive Director
Holy Land Trust’s E.D., Elias Deis has worked for over a decade at Holy Land Trust. He was formally the Travel & Encounter Program Director and serves on the Beit Sahour City Council.
Duration: 90 minutes, Presentation followed by Q&A
A link to join using Zoom will be sent after you register.
Event registration link.
https://hive.zenpeacemakers.org/events/185511/
