Abstract
This chapter presents an argument for mindfulness and secular Buddhism as inherently suffused with what might be called social justice concerns and thus calls for mindfulness teaching which includes practices and teachings that make explicit the links between mindfulness and social justice. Drawing on my experience within the fields of mindfulness teaching, law teaching, and contemplative pedagogy, in the first part of this chapter, I discuss how the practices we call mindfulness tend to cultivate a felt sense not only of interconnectedness and compassion but also of solidarity—unity of agreement in feeling or action (especially among individuals with a common purpose)—among practitioners, that assist us in working together for a more just world. I support these claims by reference to an exploratory case study: an offering of community-engaged mindfulness to address a community facing revelations of racism among law enforcement in a major American city.
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Notes
- 1.
Batchelor (2015), p. 240.
- 2.
Batchelor (2015), p. 322.
- 3.
For the official document containing the reported offensive messages, see “Government’s Opposition to Defendant Furminger’s Motion for Bail Pending Appeal,” U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Ca., CR 14-0102 (March 13, 2015), available here: https://drive.google.com/a/usfca.edu/file/d/0B4pdvMvLhJfdQXNKTUt0R04tUUU/view. See also, “The Horrible, Bigoted Text Messages Traded Among San Francisco Police Officers,” Gawker, March 18, 2015 (reporting, for example, the following messages obtained from the official record: “We got two blacks at my boys [sic] school and they are brother and sister! There cause dad works for the school district and I am watching them like hawks;” and, in response to a text saying, “Niggers should be spayed,” [Former San Francisco Police Officer] Furminger wrote “I saw one an hour ago with 4 kids,” and, “in response to a text saying,” All niggers must fucking hang, “Furminger wrote” Ask my 6 year old what he thinks about “Obama.”).
References
Batchelor, S. (2015). After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a secular age.
Blum, H. (2014). Mindfulness equity and Western Buddhism, reaching people of low socioeconomic status and people of color. International Journal of Mindfulness Studies, 2, 10.
Kabat Zinn, J. (2010). Jon Kabat Zinn and the healing power of mindfulness. Tricycle, October 10, 2010.
Magee, R. (forthcoming 2016). The way of colorinsight: Understanding race and law more effectively through mindulness-based colorinsight practices. Georgetown Law Journal of Modern Critical Race Perspectives, 8, 2.
Powell, J. (2003). Lessons from suffering: How social justice informs spirituality. U. St. Thomas L.J., 1, 102–127.
Rothberg, D. (2006). Engaged spirituality: A Buddhist approach to transforming ourselves and our world.
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Magee, R.V. (2016). Community-Engaged Mindfulness and Social Justice: An Inquiry and Call to Action. In: Purser, R., Forbes, D., Burke, A. (eds) Handbook of Mindfulness. Mindfulness in Behavioral Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44019-4_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44019-4_28
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