Asian Americans and Asian Pacific Islander Americans
Scroll below to watch our past webinars.
⬇︎ Click on each webinar below to learn more
More than two thirds of U.S. Buddhists are Asian American. But you’d never guess this from mainstream representations, which all too often whitewash the racial and cultural diversity of American Buddhist communities. In the context of increased anti-Asian violence, including the deaths of six women of Asian heritage in the Atlanta shootings and the vandalism of Buddhist temples in Southern California, we need to develop intersectional understandings of race that include Asian Americans. American Buddhist sanghas are beginning to address this need, though there is much work to be done.
This three-speaker series counters the marginalization, erasure, and stereotyping of Asian American Buddhists by celebrating the diversity of this group as indispensable stewards and shapers of American Buddhism. In May, author Chenxing Han will present a talk based on her recently published book, Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists. An Tran and David Woo will be our speakers in June and July - registration for these events will open soon.
These participatory online events are freely offered and open to all. We hope these events will build a foundation of ongoing learning and empathy between Asian American and non–Asian American Buddhist communities.
Asian Americans and Asian Pacific Islander Americans
with Chenxing Han
May 12, 2021 - 7pm - 8:30pm EDT
CLOSED. watch the recording of this webinar
Chenxing Han is a Bay Area–based writer whose publications have appeared in Buddhadharma, Journal of Global Buddhism, Lion’s Roar, Pacific World, Tricycle, and elsewhere. She holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA in Buddhist studies from the Graduate Theological Union. After studying chaplaincy at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California she worked in spiritual care at a nearby community hospital in Oakland. Her first book, Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists, was published by North Atlantic Books in January 2021.
Asian Americans and Asian Pacific Islander Americans
with David Woo
June 23, 2021, 7pm - 8:30pm EDT
CLOSED. Click below to watch the recording of this webinar.
David works as a care specialist at Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit that serves high risk, recently incarcerated and formerly gang-involved youth as well as adults. He has also served as a counselor and mentor at NaNoom, a faith-based, addiction treatment center located in Koreatown, and as a mindfulness meditation group facilitator for youth serving sentences at juvenile incarceration facilities. Woo is currently in his final semester of Buddhist seminary, pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at the University of the West and was the recipient of the 2020 Semester of Justice social justice grant by the Kaleidoscope Institute, an award recognizing rising faith leaders of color.
Asian Americans and Asian Pacific Islander Americans
with An Tran
July 28, 2021, 7pm - 8:30pm EDT
CLOSED. CLICK below to watch the recording of this webinar.
We’re so grateful for the opportunity to have An join us in the closing webinar of this series. The conversation will be centered around attempting to decolonize American Buddhism from its anti-Asian and white supremacist roots. It does this by exposing the history of how American Buddhism was constructed out of revisionist history that was often upheld through violence.