Renewing Our Vows
- BPF at 30 -

By Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey,
BPF Board Chair

It's funny when I consider that, as the current President of the Board of Directors, I was born in 1978 - the same year as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. It certainly has been an interesting 30 years for us to grow up in.

I remember watching the news with my mom as the Berlin wall was being pulled down and then, a few months later, as Nelson Mandela breathed through his first few moments of freedom in 27 years. My mother looked at me and said with awe, "You are living through such an incredible time." I was 11. She had no idea what was ahead for the world I would grow up in, but I knew seeing the collapse of the Apartheid government in South Africa and watching Nelson Mandela walk freely through Soweto gave her a deep sense of hope.

Now, almost 20 years have passed and we continue to see the signs of profound change in our world. Many are horrifying - the increasingly oppressive grip of American militarism on the lives of people around the world, a federal government whose growing power loosens itself more fully each day from accountability to its citizens, and a corporatist economic system that manages to hoard more and more wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer people. Of course, we also bear witness to the sometimes faint but even then stunning glimmers of hope on the horizon. Burmese and Tibetan monks and nuns reminded the world of the unequaled transformational power of nonviolent protest. Undoing the environmental impact of human society is at the forefront of most mainstream political discussions. And, of course, it is very likely we are about to be witness to the first black presidency of the United States.

As we at BPF try to live into the responses demanded by our historical and organizational moment, I find myself imagining back through the 30 years past, as the BPF board and staff members who preceded us sat together in silence, strategized and philosophized, socialized and prophesized. I know many of their names and only a few of their faces. Some are still in touch. Others have wandered down distant roads. At the very least, we know they had practice. And while all the madness and beauty of the world has blossomed and decayed over and again for the past 30 years, we know we can meet our predecessors at any moment in the timeless fellowship of this inclination toward peace, wisdom and love.

We who are the current BPF board and staff recognize the beauty and the burden of the inheritance of this powerful lineage of socially engaged Buddhism in America. It is a lineage we are trying to carry forward with integrity - guided by reverence for the Buddha's teachings of liberation of the heart and mind as well as a commitment to the political, social and economic liberation of the whole of society.

This year, the year of our 30th anniversary, we at BPF are renewing our vows. We are taking up the commitments made by our elders and our ancestors to strive for the liberation of our selves and our world - from greed, hatred, delusion, oppression, injustice and indifference. We are working hard to make this organization a powerful vehicle for liberation in this historical moment for those who are coming to be born, those who are alive, and those who are dying. We know deep in our hearts that BPF is relevant and necessary as we know it will be 30, 60, 90 years into the future. We hope that you join us in renewing your vows that gather us all in this profound commitment to freedom. We look forward to striving together and sharing the fruits of this fellowship.