BPF / INEB 2005

In October 2005, I was honored to represent the Buddhist Peace Fellowship at the INEB (International Network of Engaged Buddhists) conference in Nagpur, India. To say that the conference was successful and that I had a great time is an understatement. It’s been hard to describe the experience in just a few words. To this day, I still feel the affect of being among fellow Buddhists from different countries as we learned from and shared with each other the work of engaged Buddhism.

As a representative from the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, I shared with individuals and groups of people the work that BPF does, told people about our efforts to stop President Bush from causing suffering and about how we embrace the buddhadharma in our work for positive social change. I gave a presentation on BPF’s youth and prison programs, our peace work, and our involvement with the anti-war movement. I gave out BPF brochures and shared copies of Turning Wheel with those who needed them. I spoke about the domestic violence work that I do with Buddhist monks, which led to a deeper discussion about domestic violence in Indian society. But more than anything, I learned a lot from everyone I met—I learned about the effort to reform Buddhism in Korea, about student activism in Indonesia, about leadership training with women in India, and much more.

What is INEB?

The International Network of Engaged Buddhists was established in 1987 as the first international Buddhist network that links together engaged Buddhists worldwide. INEB was born out of a conference in Siam (Thailand) attended by 36 clergy and laypeople from 11 countries. The Network is under the patronage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Venerable Somdet Phra Maha Ghosananda, and the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh.

INEB has four main goals:

Although Ajahn Sulak Sivaraksa, the renowned social thinker, activist and Buddhist teacher of Siam, has been the greatest initiator and supporter of INEB, many other people have played an important role in keeping INEB alive. The work of INEB has primarily been with grassroots dharma activist groups around the world and many initiatives have been born from INEB extensive network. Some of the more recent efforts have included leadership trainings and inter-faith dialogues. Through these trainings, INEB has helped to support and empower people and their communities to work for social justice and to solve their own problems based on their Buddhist beliefs and practices. Human rights, civil war, AIDS hospices, inter-religious dialogues, and leadership training for women and youth are the focus of INEB work at present.

In recent years, INEB’s area of leadership training has grown steadily and strongly. Prior to the conference, INEB executive secretary Lapapan Supamanta secured funding to have a youth camp in Northern India. There, the youth from different countries got together to share their skills, knowledge, and passion as they learned about leadership. They created a deep bond and strengthened their friendship and support for each other. This was evident when I saw them at the conference a week after. Their enthusiasm and youthful energy was quite inspiring. I had a chance to talk with a young man from Indonesia who shared with me the struggle of Buddhist minorities in a Muslim country and how his fellow university students lack resources for their activist work. The Turning Wheel magazines I brought with me found a home in the universities in Indonesia where they are much appreciated and will soon be translated into the Indonesian language.

The INEB conference is held every two years (the next conference, in 2007, will be held in Taiwan). Current INEB executive committee members are from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, and USA. The INEB secretariat is based in Bangkok, Siam.

Sulak Sivaraksa, Shantum Seth, Anchalee Kurutach, along with a million
others who came to commemorate 49th Anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism.

The Conference

The theme of the 2005 INEB conference, held Oct. 12-15, was “Buddhism and Social Equality.” The 128 participants included delegates from twelve countries. Ven. Samdhong Rimpoche delivered a keynote address on Buddhism and Social Equality and Ajahn Sulak Sivaraksa spoke on Buddhist social action and skillful means.

Topics covered at the conference included discrimination and caste prejudice, women’s participation in Buddhist social action, human rights issues, globalization and development, ecology and the environment, poverty and all forms of social deprivation, and social work and action as Buddhist practice.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is a close friend of Ajahn Sulak and has been supportive of INEB from the beginning, graciously accepted the invitation to attend the conference. Although he was delayed by a physical examination in Mumbai, which caused him to miss his flight, His Holiness was determined to come to Nagpur as he felt it was important to be at the INEB conference. Eventually the Indian government arranged a special airplane to take him to Nagpur. At the conference, His Holiness earnestly, and at times humorously, listened to and answered the questions from the audience. It was arranged so that these questions were to be read by two representatives. I was honored to be chosen, along with the Emcee, Mr. Aspi Mistry, to read the questions to His Holiness. The next day, His Holiness came back to the conference to give a public talk to the wider audience. Throughout both engagements, His Holiness spoke enthusiastically about socially engaged work and about the importance of studying the Dharma. He laughed easily and often looked into the eyes of the audience as he spoke to us. Hundreds of Tibetan refugees from a nearby settlement came to see their spiritual leader, who granted them a private audience.

Dr. Ambedkar

"The greatest thing the Buddha has done is to show the world
that it can only be transformed by the reformation of the mind of man".

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar

One special feature of the conference was a three-day workshop and pilgrimage called “Transcending Barriers: Dr. Ambedkar and the Buddhist World.” I learned about Dr. Ambedkar and the significance of his life-long commitment and contribution to social justice for the dalit, the untouchable caste. It was eye-opening to witness how the ex-untouchable community was profoundly changed by Buddhism.

Between 20 and 30 million people in India, mostly from dalit communities, have converted to Buddhism in the past 49 years under the inspiration of Dr. Ambedkar. After his work to bring social equality and justice to people from the untouchable caste like himself, Dr. Ambedkar saw Buddhism as a means of bringing about social change based on individual practice. Unfortunately, he died just six weeks after his conversion in October 1956. Consequently his followers have been isolated due to the lack of leadership in the movement as well as from the extreme poverty and social deprivation they face within the Hindu caste system of India. Without resources to read, travel, or communicate with others, these new Buddhists do not have opportunities to connect with others or to be engaged in Dharma practice. And the outside world has been ignorant of their existence. One of the goals of the INEB conference was to transcend the barriers between the followers of Dr. Ambedkar and the Buddhist world.

At the end of the first day of the pilgirimage, three bus loads took 100 of us INEB participants to Diksha-Bhumi where a million other people were already gathered. Everyone came from near and far to celebrate the 49th anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism. Never before had I seen or experienced anything like this! Everywhere, people put their palms together above their heads and said, “Jai Bhim!” The whole time I was in Nagpur, whether it was just on campus walking to a session, coming back from lunch, or during a visit to a hostel, whenever people walked past each other, we would put our palms together and uttered the words, “Jai Bhim!”. It was clear that doing so is a show of respect to the man who is so deeply revered. Peoples’ eyes would light up with pride and happiness as I exchanged the gesture and said “Jai Bhim!” to them. This means something like, “Hail to Dr. Ambedkar, the great man who changed our lives! He was the one who cared about the oppression we faced and the one who believed in us. Praise to the Buddha Dhamma we have come to know from the influence of Dr. Ambedkar. We are so grateful to him. Jai Bhim!”

That evening, I met Praveen, a small boy perhaps 15 years of age, on the bus heading to Diksha-Bhumi. He was one of the fifty people that accompanied INEB visitors during the Buddhist mecca that night. That night Praveen, his friends and others formed a human chain by locking their hands together so they could encircle the delegates and kept us together as we pushed through the crowd of a million. It took us about an hour to get to the site that was perhaps half a mile from where we got off the bus. Impressively, we all made it back without losing one single person or having any incident. That experience helped me see how gentle the people were (the crowd pushed us and we had to push back but no one got angry).

On the bus there I learned about Praveen’s dedication to Dharma through his karate practice. As it turned out, most of the youth that I saw that night and throughout my time in India, were participants of the Bushindo’s center. There they learn karate as a way to strengthen their bodies and to develop their minds. Most of the children are from the economically deprived communities and their participation at Bushindo gives them opportunity to become responsible citizens and to understand the importance of moral practice in their life. Praveen said to me, “I am small and may not be able to protect you from any physical harm should it happen. But, I am here to do the best I can and it is in the service of Buddha Dharma. We are thankful that you have come to India to meet with us.” Praveen told me that the meaning of Bushindo is the way to the Buddha’s heart. And I saw the Buddha in his heart.

At a hostel in Aurangabad, I had a chance to address the audience in a more intimate atmosphere since there were only about a hundred or so people in the audience (there were thousands at other times). There I made a promise that I am now delivering. After sending them greetings from the BPF communities (I was thinking of you all) and telling them how grateful I was to be in their presence, I told them that I would like to listen to their voices so that I can carry their words back with me to the U.S. to share with the people there. I asked them what they wanted to say to the people in the U.S. There was some silence and awkwardness at first (especially when I requested to hear from children and women). But in time, people spoke. The voice that was loudest and most clear that night was, “Tell people in America about Dr. Ambedkar!”

Being in India

Born and raised in a nearby Buddhist country, Thailand, I knew from school text books that India was the birthplace of the Buddha. But to see for myself the evidence that Buddhism once prospered in India was quite a realization. In the 2000-year-old caves of Ellora and Ajanta, I tried to imagine seven generations of people turning the whole mountain ranges into halls full of carvings and paintings of Buddha’s stories. I imagined the dharma practices that must have been strong during the time and what it was like for the society then. It was a delight also to travel with my fellow pilgrims, all of whom were exemplary folks who have done much for peace and social justice and who have dharma in their hearts. We did several chants and meditated together at some sites. It was quite a powerful experience.

Although I only spent a small amount of time in India, I am ready to agree with the saying that there is no place on earth like India. Everything is in your face and there are people everywhere. Yet, you can feel at peace there. At the same time, you see suffering and poverty everywhere and it penetrates your souls. In the path I took, the path walked by the Buddhist followers of Dr. Ambedkar, I got to see how proud people are in their Buddhist practices. I heard young children say that their most favorite person is the Buddha and their top two favorite activities are studying and meditation. They are grateful that Buddhism has changed their lives. To me, this is profound.

As delegates of INEB, we were extremely well-received everywhere we went. People brought flowers and garlands to welcome us. They fed us chai tea and invited us to visit them. Everywhere we went, people wanted to hear us speak, to take a picture with us, and to know our birthdates!

Closing Thoughts

I owe my gratitude to Aj. Sulak for his constant effort to honor the presence of BPF at the conference. He made sure that I was included in important conversations and during significant moments. At his suggestion, I have agreed to be on the executive committee of INEB so that we can stay connected with what is going on in socially engaged Buddhist work around the world.

Although it has been two months since the conference, the experience is still present in me today. I still hear the song sung by the youth at the conference, which began with “Happiness is here and now.” I still feel the vibration of our chant in the 2000-year-old cave in Ajanta, and I still remember the eyes of the children in the slum we visited. Most of all, I still remember to tell people about Dr. Ambedkar. I am grateful to be able to share with you the stories and inspiration I gained from the INEB conference. The trip made me proud of the work we do at BPF and the experience reminds me everyday of the interconnectedness among all of us. We cannot work alone. Our friends in dharma are out there and we must connect with them so we can transform ourselves and our society.

Born and raised in Thailand, Anchalee Kurutach has lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1988. Anchalee has been involved in socially-engaged work both in Thailand and in the U.S. for the past 25 years. She is fortunate to have had a great many opportunities to learn about social justice and humanity and to develop compassion for fellow beings, starting from her college work with poor rural farmers in Thailand, her after-college career as a teacher at a refugee camp for war-torn Southeast Asian refugees, to her 15 years of work with refugees and immigrants in the U.S.

Currently Anchalee works as a community outreach and educator for Survivors International, an organization that provides services to survivors of torture from around the world. In addition, she is involved with several other community activities such as serving on an advisory council for a domestic violence training program and co-founding an internationally-known socially active Thai group called Siam Sewana. Anchalee also teaches Thai at a Thai Buddhist temple in the Bay Area. Finally, Anchalee is working on her dissertation for a doctorate study in education.

Report on INEB Conference in India

What is INEB?

The Conference

Dr. Ambedkar

Being in India

Closing Thoughts