DJATD-Leadership of the Most Impacted
Close up of a Calibrachoa blossom, using a camera to approximate what the Calibrachoa knows about itself.
“We are led by those who most know these systems.” –Aurora Levins Morales
Leadership and Impact Are Inextricably Interwoven
Dhammadinna was a nun ordained by Shakyamuni Buddha who it is said he considered his most accomplished and skillful nun disciple. She arranged the elements of Shakyamuni’s Noble 8-Fold Path into groups representing their overall quality or purpose. Dhammadinna grouped Right View/Understanding, which we reflected on in our discussion of Intersectionality, as a Wisdom cultivator, and Right Action, which we reflected on in our discussion of Leadership of the Most Impacted, as a Moral Discipline cultivator. This helps to illuminate why Right View/Understanding, once cultivated, must lead to Right Action; what’s the point of seeing things as they are if our actions do not become consistent with both what is and what we hope will be?
Sin’s Invalid’s principle of Leadership of the Most Impacted calls this in by pointing out that, disabled people have the most crucial and impactful wisdom about the systems that are intended to support us, the systems that are oblivious to us, the systems that are intended to restrain or contain us, because we are living within them each and every moment of our lives.
Right Action has to follow Right View
Taking action in a disabled body is challenging, especially in a culture that is blind to the deeply moral and valid connection between the wisdom we cultivate in these bodies and the value our wisdom could and should bring to the systems of repression that impact us disproportionately, but everyone ultimately. Accepting that we do not live in a society that actively cultivates balance and equity (Right View/Understanding) while at the same time setting our intention to cultivate balance and equity in our own lives and the lives of those we touch (Right Intention) is the path Shakyamuni laid out for us. Keeping our perspective balanced and intentional as we look firmly toward a profound understanding of the true nature of reality can be our greatest support, especially when shared by a community of others practicing with the same view and intention, can guide us toward awareness of the actions that are within our individual capacities and best fit our needs, interests, and personal goals.
I’m not suggesting that what I’ve just described is the way Buddhism is practiced in the US or other parts of the West today, as this Instagram post by Liz Bucar, shared by one of Heartwidth Sangha’s community members, discusses. In the related Substack post, Liz says “When meditation becomes primarily about managing your own internal state rather than connecting you to collective struggle, it can become a tool for turning away from rather than toward political reality.” This applies equally to issues of ability, race, gender, orientation, and all the other deconstructive identities wielded by modern society.
Soothing, Comfort, Care, Support, Gratitude
In Sunday’s guided meditation, I called in soothing, comfort, care, support, and gratitude. With the world on fire, how can I keep my gaze fixed on cultivating a profound understanding of the true nature of reality, let alone metabolize what’s in front of me toward awareness of the actions that are within my capacities and best fit my needs, interests, and personal goals? How can I do all this without engaging in the kind of spiritual and political bypassing Liz Bucar describes? It’s really okay, I suggested, to let your impact (seem) to be narrow and limited. As Larry Ward said, “we don’t see ourselves as a whole cloth, we see ourselves as pieces, and we are pieces, but we are pieces of a whole cloth.” Everything we do impacts every other part of the cloth in some way, whether we see it or not. Everything we do with Right View/Understanding and Right Intention, including resting when we need to rest, recovering when we need to recover, is enough.
This is the soothing: I am enough.
This is the comfort: My practice is enough.
This is the care: My Right View/Understanding is enough.
This is the support: I am practicing in community that affirms my actions and inactions are enough.
This is gratitude: I am thankful my understanding, intention, and actions have brought me to this soothing, comfort, care, and support.
At the end of the links below, you’ll find a short list of organizations and offerings by and for disabled people, including a podcast that evolved from the practice, care, and support of another disability-led organization. On Sunday, I said that offering Disability Justice and the Dharma is my form of protest. I hope that your presence in these offerings is part of yours. Please listen and attend to your needs and your inner knowing. No one else has access to that wisdom. By listening and attending to yourself deeply, you are attending to the needs of all.
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I’m looking forward to being with you again in November for Anti-Capitalist Politic. Remember, if you want to receive gathering reminders, register here. Eventbrite requires separate registration for each month. Click “Check Availability” on the right side of the event page and select the date(s) you want to register for. Until then, utilize the resources linked below, revisit any of our recordings, practice with us on Thursdays at 1pm CT to continue in practice with Sangha Is All.
Sangha Is All Word Bank:
As we explore Sins Invalid’s principles and Buddha Dharma, I’m putting out modern and accessible explanations of major Buddhist concepts, like elements of the Four Noble Truths. Those suggested explanations are here:
Dharma – essentially truth, or the true nature of reality.
Noble Disciple - a person who practices for awareness is one who seeks the true nature of reality, tires to look straight into the true nature of reality, has perfect confidence in the true nature of reality, and is always seeking to arrive at the true nature of reality.
Samma Dhitti (Right View) - A perspective reflecting a balanced and intentional gaze toward a profound understanding of the true nature of reality.
Samma Kammanta (Right Action) - In all aspects of life, consciously engaging in activities that seek to create balance with the true nature of reality.
Other Ways to Practice Together Until Leadership of the Most Impacted on November 2:
Sangha Is All Embodied Awareness Practice, Thursdays at 1pm CT, practice Zoom link
Heartwidth Sangha Community Practice, practicing with a culture of Not Late, Not Wrong, Not Sorry. Zoom link for practice on Mondays Wednesdays, and Fridays can be found on Heartwidth’s calendar page.
Southsea Sangha’s Earthworm Sangha, a monthly meditation group run by and for disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill people. Scroll to the bottom of this page to find more information and register.
Bodhi Bodies, a monthly practice group run by and for disabled people as part of the World Interbeing Sangha (Thich Nhat Hahn’s Plum Village tradition). Click here for more information to register.
Sangha Is All Playlists
September 7 – Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate
Debe https://open.spotify.com/track/6V38ujp28AfvPkHV10xi1s?si=36ab01b65bea4b1e
Kala https://open.spotify.com/track/7qUQssZl3aIb1PcyUKtfK8?si=fca6a085012d4475
October 5 - Robert Macht
Vishnu https://open.spotify.com/track/70xYSbu6xTGYECjGIaMzDm?si=8530bb25d067405c
Pelawak https://open.spotify.com/track/317gdfi9TydJf9gdLlUMxf?si=5beffdf0959d45df
October 5 Links:
Recording - Disability Justice and The Dharma-Leadership of the Most Impacted: https://youtu.be/iYu1nOkNZPE
Bhikkhi Sujato translation, Cakkavattisutta: https://suttacentral.net/dn26/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
Roshi Joan Halifax, A Vision of Buddhist Leadership: Early Teachings of the Buddha (source of Buddha’s last teaching story) https://www.upaya.org/2022/11/a-vision-of-buddhist-leadership-early-teachings-of-the-buddha/
In Love and Trust, Sangha Building, Our Noblest Career, pages 103-118, Thich Nhat Hahn: https://www.parallax.org/product/in-love-and-trust/
Definition of Disabled T-shirt link: https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/2074812-disabled-definition
October 5 Quotes:
Octavia Butler, Parable of the Talents
”Choose your leaders
with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
is to be led
by the opportunists
who control the fool.
To be led by a thief
is to offer up
your most precious treasures
to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask
to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant
is to sell yourself
and those you love
into slavery.”
Leadership of the Most Impacted Organizations
MindBody Solutions https://www.mindbodysolutions.org/ founded by Matthew Sanford, paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident at age 13 “to transform trauma, loss, and disability into hope and potential by awakening the connection between mind and body” through yoga.
Looking Up From Here https://www.lookingupfromhere.com/?cid=9bab12fb-ec30-451d-bb43-5f46390314fb a podcast started by 3 MBS students to illuminate the wheelchair life.
NeuroBalance Center https://neurobalancecenter.org/ founded by a person living with multiple sclerosis to provide physical recovery services to individuals coping with conditions that affect their mobility, balance, strength, gait, coordination, and speech.
Wheel the World https://wheeltheworld.com/ Founded by a paralyzed from the neck down wheelchair user and his wife to make travel accessible to all
Chronically Capable https://www.wearecapable.org/ founded by a Lyme “survivor” “to make sure no one ever has to decide between their health and work ambitions again.”
GUIDE Beauty https://www.guidebeauty.com/ founded by a celebrity makeup artist who lost manual dexterity to Parkinsons to provide beauty tools disabled folks can use
UnHidden https://unhiddenclothing.com/ by a fashion designer disabled by a surgery in her 20s to create equity for the disabled and chronically ill community through representation and self-expression in fashion
AccessNow https://accessnow.com/ by a person experiencing muscular dystrophy to create a “resource for accessibility information worldwide.”
Diversability https://mydiversability.com/ An award-winning entirely disabled-run and disabled-led social enterprise to elevate disability pride, build disability power, and advance disability leadership.
