Ep25: The Future of American Buddhism with guest Upayadhi

Our guest Upayadhi reports on her participation at a recent conference on the Future of Buddhism. This is the first of several conversations we will have with her about some of the interesting discussions, presentations and controversies which came up at this conference.

https://futureofamericanbuddhism.com/

Upayadhi began her journey in the Buddhadharma in 2004 at the London Buddhist Center in Bethnal Green. Over the years and her travels she has trained in a range of Buddhist contexts and traditions, but remains firmly rooted in the Triratna Buddhist Order, to which she was ordained in 2018. Professionally, her background is in leadership development, executive education and coaching. Following the wake-up call of the 2016 elections, Upayadhi entered Union Theological Seminary in New York, where as a seminarian she studied Buddhism and Interreligious Engagement. Her scholarship has focused on the 20th century Dalit leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and his radical Buddhist imagination, which she places in conversation with Womanist and Black liberation theologies. She co-founded (white) Awareness is Revolutionary, a collective of white Buddhists committing to cultivating Beloved Community and accelerating racial literacy within a Dharmic framework, as well as the Buddhist Collective of Students and Alumni of Union Theological Seminary.