Sacred Activism

Dharma for These Times

At Sacred Mountain Sangha, we are deeply committed to building an activist Dharma culture as central to our vision for these times.

These are deeply uncertain and troubling times. With each passing day, it is clear that the systems shaping our collective lives, many of which are profoundly corrupted, are not equipped to meet the pain of a world fast burning up. Instead, the world we’ve known is moving into free fall, and we, with it, are moving into uncharted territory. In response, it’s natural to feel lost, frozen, overwhelmed, and beset by paralyzing anxiety and fear for the future.

At such times, activated by fear, lost in confusion, and driven by ignorance, humans, easily disconnected from our deeper hearts, can be capable of terrible violence. It is for this reason, and many other reasons, that we must hold a line, one that is ethical, that values life, that holds all within nature’s great web of life as sacred. At such times–these times–we must take courage and lift the light of the Dharma so it may shine even brighter.

“They are as children, playing with their toys in a house on fire.”

– The Buddha

Resources

We offer these resources to help us navigate this fierce curriculum we have now entered. These offerings seek to cultivate ecological awareness, sacred activism, and mutual belonging for all beings everywhere.

Dharma Reflection
with Thanissara

In this talk, Thanissara emphasizes the urgent need to confront and dismantle patriarchal systems amid escalating climate crises and rising authoritarianism. She advocates for a shift towards love, cooperation, and ecological stewardship.

Interview with Baba
Mandaza Kandemwa

In this interview healer Baba Mandaza Augustine Kademwa discusses the profound connection between humanity and Mother Earth. He advocates for a return to nature, seeing this reconnection as essential for both personal and global healing.

Dharma Climate Council

In our first Climate Council, Thanissara, Yong Oh, and SMS teachers lead an open discussion on the climate crisis. The session invites personal and communal reflections, exploring collective responses to the urgent environmental challenges we face as a community.

Voices for Earth Rising Together

We believe if enough people, motivated by deep love and care, rise together, we stand a chance of shifting out from under the deadly systems we are caught in.

We invite you to join us as we raise our hearts and voices and act on behalf of Mother Nature, Grandmother Earth and her sacred web of life.

The Buddha called mindfulness the “flood stopper,” meaning it has the potential to stop the flood of greed, hatred, and delusion at the core of our dystopic descent, and instead, enable a fuller emergence of a new story born from our loftiest dreams and forged by love and dedication to humane values for each other.

In these challenging times, we all hear the urgent call to join together to do what we can to maintain a sustainable world for all. An essential priority is to undertake a core shift to realign with Nature’s Sacred Web of Life. This includes developing a culture of degrowth to reduce consumption while transitioning from the economy of extraction for profit and power that perpetuates a deeply unfair, violent, and unsustainable economic system.

We don’t have a clear map or know the full potential of Sacred Activism but we trust together we will find out while co-creating a new story guided by our highest dreams.

Let us love amid hate, uplift the frequency as the vortex of destruction tries to swallow the whole world, be joyful in this endless night of sorrows. Join us as we engage our beautiful world, and despite it all, do what we can as the hands of the “doomsday clock” shudder at midnight.