Zen Open Circle & The Sydney Zen Centre invite you to join us for a public talk with special guest Professor David Loy.
When: 6-8pm / 14 July 2017
Where: Sydney Zen Centre – 251 Young Street, Annandale
Cost: Entry by donation
The mercy of the West has been social revolution. The mercy of the East has been individual insight into the basic self/void. We need both.
– Gary Snyder
The highest ideal of the Western tradition has been to restructure our societies so that they are more socially just. The most important goal for Buddhism is to awaken and put an end to dukkha “suffering” due to the delusion of a separate self. Today it has become obvious that we need both: not just because individual transformation and social transformation complement each other, but because each project needs the other.
In the particular context of a world facing social and ecological crisis, David Loy will explore the intersections and possibilities that emerge when Zen/Buddhism and modernity meet and become entangled.
Our global and human predicament calls for new perspectives that question many of the priorities and presuppositions of modernity and buddhism. Can we employ each viewpoint to interrogate the other without accepting either perspective as absolute? How can we maintain a dual practice of continuing the path of personal transformation while doing everything we can to promote social and ecological transformation? Is there a new path that can be forged on the knife-edge between the two at this critical moment in history?
About David Loy
David Loy is visiting Australia from the United States. He is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is known for his contribution to socially engaged Buddhist practice and his exploration of the relationships between Buddhism and social/eccological issues. Loy is a professor of Buddhist and comparative philosophy. He is the author of numerous books including the bestselling book Money, Sex, War, Karma, and most recently A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution, and Ethics in the Modern World.
