Dassanāya Buddhist Community and Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW) host Rev. Liên Shutt to share the insights of her practice and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path
The evening is a hybrid event for both virtual and in-person participants. In-person participants are encouraged to please register via Eventbrite, as seating at the vihara is limited. Zoom link for virtual attendance.
About Home Is Here is for anyone seeking restoration and healing—from white supremacy culture or other oppressions. Rev. Liên Shutt introduces us to the Engaged Four Noble Truths, a reframing of foun- dational Buddhist teachings that actively address- es the urgent causes of today and offers antiracist practices applicable to our everyday lives. For both those who are new to Buddhism and those who wish to deepen their practice, Home Is Here shows us how we may attend to ourselves in the face of racism and oppression—and invites us all to return to our individual and collective wholeness. Grounded in practice, memoir, and mindful self- help skill-building, Rev. Liên Shutt’s Engaged Four Noble Truths clarify and support us to be with, work with, and respond to racialization and systems of oppression. With a unique perspective as a queer Asian American Zen priest, Rev. Liên shares her own experiences with anti-Asian hate—as a teen riding her bike, meditating in whitewashed monasteries—and asks, what does it mean to attend to our suffering in body, heart, and mind when racism can cause such intense hurt and pain? Illuminating a path toward healing and liberation, Home Is Here moves us all from knowing and contemplation to a place of action and wholeness.
“This book is an appropriate response — a clear, powerful, and kind Dharma that has emerged from the cauldron of a racialized and othered American society. In it, I hear Rev. Shutt’s warmhearted care. The wisdom that she offers will surely open your eyes.”
—AYYĀ DHAMMADĪPĀ, founder of Dassanāya Buddhist Community and author of Gifts Greater than the Oceans
About the Author: Rev. Liên Shutt (she/they) is a recognized leader in the movement that breaks through the wall of American white-centered convert Buddhism to welcome people of all backgrounds into a contemporary, engaged Buddhism. As an ordained Zen priest, licensed social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and those seeking a “home” in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a co-founder of Buddhists of Color (1998) and founder of Access to Zen (2014). As the creator, producer, and host, she launched a podcast series, “Opening Dharma Access: Listening to BIPOC Teachers,” in 2022 with Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön, Sister Peace and Dalila Bothwell.