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Excerpts from draft
version, June 9, 2006
2006-2009
Wisdom and Compassion for Progressive Social Change
1. BPF Vision Statement
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship envisions a future in which people
from all backgrounds come into a heartfelt realization of interconnection
to each other and to the Earth. We believe that actions generated
from this understanding will create societies guided by generosity,
compassion, wisdom, and justice.
2. Theory of Change
(TOC)
Please see graphic in the “Related Content” box. The
TOC has been slightly revised from its birth at our March board/staff
retreat, and should still be considered a work in progress. We
see the TOC as helping to inform all of our work and guiding our
priorities in this Strategic Plan. We also believe that the TOC
should be a living document and that members of the wider BPF
community (Int’l
Advisory Council, BPF chapter, BPF members) be invited to contribute
to its formation over the next three years.
3. BPF’s Guiding
Principles
• We believe that engagement is expressed through social
and political action, and that this action is in itself a path
of dharma practice and an opportunity for transformation.
• We believe in the
importance of wholesome intention and nourishing ourselves in
the midst of activism.
• We aspire to address
the root causes of suffering in our programs and publications.
At the same time, we recognize the importance of skillful means
and flexibility, and that sometimes direct service work is the
most appropriate response to suffering.
• We believe we are
all on a path to mutual liberation; there is no separation between
helper’ and the one ‘helped;’ our intention
is to take a solidarity-based rather than charity-based approach
to all our work, even in direct service projects.
• We celebrate the
richness that flows from growth in embracing diversity at all
levels. We are committed to addressing the deep suffering that
follows from racism, classism, and other oppressions, and investigating
how to hold and change them informed by dharmic values. We are
committed to promoting and facilitating diversity in all facets
of our organizational structure, programs, and activities.
4. BPF’s primary
mode of working
Networker/Nexus Point in the field of Socially Engaged Buddhism.
The Next Steps team reached consensus that BPF’s primary
role has been to serve as the key Networker for the socially engaged
Buddhist community, as a nexus point and a hub to connect people,
information, and resources. We feel that BPF’s greatest
effectiveness and strength lies in continuing to focus on this
role. We recommend lessening the emphasis on other roles that
we attempt to play
5. Unifying Focus/4
Initiatives
We believe that the most potent BPF programs and projects will
combine the following two elements:
• Our role as the
key Networker/nexus point for the socially engaged Buddhist community
• Our intention to
work without enemies, and based in compassion
During our Strategic Planning
process, we agreed on two core values that are essential to hold
at all levels of our organization, including programmatically:
1) Awareness of our international
interconnectedness and our responsibility as global citizens,
with special attention and gratitude given to our SEB colleagues
in Asian countries.
2) Commitment to becoming
a culturally competent organization that deeply recognizes the
value of diversity and multiculturalism.
We agreed that these values should be fully integrated into all
of our initiatives. The following initiatives aspire to bring
these elements and values to the forefront:
A) Coming Home: Transformative
Justice
The four elements of the Prison Program’s Coming Home initiative,
an innovative post-release program based in dharma principles,
are:
a) de-carceration
b) housing
c) economic self-sufficiency
d) social justice organizing & advocacy
This project will embody
our commitment to dealing with the root causes of violence in
ourselves and in society: racism, poverty, political disempowerment,
and imprisonment.
B) Coming Home: Peacework
BPF’s Peacework will be expressed through three main strategies:
a) Being Peace in a Time
of War: Offering a witness for peace and “public displays
of practice” at vigils, rallies, and other gatherings.
b) Dismantling War: Addressing
the suffering brought about by the pervasive militarism in our
culture through support and information for young people facing
decisions about the military as well as for those already enlisted
and returning home from war.
c) Peace Education and Resources:
BPF is increasingly seen as the leading Buddhist voice on peace
and justice issues. We would continue in this role by publishing
and distributing dhammic
perspectives on peace and social justice issues, and militarism;
and by co-organizing and participating in interfaith forums.
C) Building Vibrant Communities
of Compassionate Activists
As noted in our Theory of Change, we believe that one of the root
causes of individual and social suffering in today’s world
is a culture based on fear, separation, domination, and consumerism.
These cultural forces that divide us are strong. We believe that
sangha, or community, is a powerful container for individuals
to learn transformative practices and deepen relationships which
in turn can transform societies. By creating these communities
based on generosity, compassion, wisdom, and justice, we are creating
a micro-version of the society we would like to see. In the words
of Jonathan Watts, “BPF can articulate a culture of simplicity
and non-violence. Through Buddhism we can comprehensively change
our culture and the world…In every major city or university,
BASE could help people develop their lifestyles. We are not just
talking about meditation or dharma studies, we are talking about
helping people
create a life style at an early age of 20s. That’s culture
change.”
This initiative sets the
intention to create and sustain small groups that come together
to deepen their inner and outer practices, using resources generated
by BPF and those in our community.
Our current forms for creating
community are: BASE, BPF chapters, teen retreats. In the next
three years, our intention is to get creative in this area and
take a closer look at the most effective forms, which could be
some hybrid of these or something entirely different (e.g. supporting
the formation of communities in the workplace, in dharma centers,
etc.).
D) Weaving Indra’s
Net
We have identified that the role of “Networker/Nexus Point”
in the socially engaged Buddhist community and beyond is one that
BPF has played well in the past and which we believe is our strength.
In order to fully realize our potential in this role, it is critical
to build our internal capacities in communications and resource
compilation/distribution. Additionally, we need to improve our
ability to tell our story to the general public in a clear, consistent,
and inspiring way so that there is more awareness of and support
for BPF’s work.
The “Weaving Indra’s
Net” initiative is about linking all the communities in
our own Indra’s Net (members, BASE groups, chapters, other
groups) to each other and to the larger movement of spiritual
activists and peacemakers from all walks of life. In the process
of doing so, we will help to create the critical mass necessary
to support the changes we wish to see in the world.
Please visit BPF.org
for more information about becoming a member of The Buddhist Peace
Fellowship.
