DVA Raises Issue of Animal Agriculture at Vipassana Teacher’s Conference

Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California hosted an International Vipassana Teachers Conference June 10-13. Before the conference began, DVA learned that the teachers were planning to discuss climate change/global warming, how to reflect the urgency of climate change in their teachings, and how to encourage students to get involved. Concerned that the enormous impact of factory farming on global warming would either be ignored or … Continue reading DVA Raises Issue of Animal Agriculture at Vipassana Teacher’s Conference

Community Discussion: Humans, Animals, and Non-Harming

 [Note: At Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis, MN, on 27 June 2013, a discussion on “Humans, Animals, and Non-Harming” took place at the invitation of the Center’s guiding teacher, Mark Nunberg. Presenters included Dr. Mark Berkson, Religious Studies Professor at Hamline University, Dr. Deane Curtin, Philosophy Professor at Gustavus Adolphus University, and Dr. Greta Gaard, an ecofeminist activist-scholar and Professor of English at University … Continue reading Community Discussion: Humans, Animals, and Non-Harming

Animals & the Dharma - Day Long Retreat

Great Turnout for Animals & the Dharma Retreat

Twenty-seven people attended a day-long retreat sponsored by Dharma Voices for Animals in San Diego on Saturday, July 20. The teacher was Bob Isaacson. We met in the home of two DVA members. Those that are vegetarian, vegan, and those who are neither, were invited to join. We meditated together, talked in both small and large groups about the Dharma practices of non-harming and compassion … Continue reading Great Turnout for Animals & the Dharma Retreat

Animal Advocate at Spirit Rock

Update: Animal Advocate at Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Dharma Voices for Animals presented to Spirit Rock our petition for an Animal Advocate along with the names of 280 people who signed our petition. DVA requested that Spirit Rock create an Animal Advocate position on its soon to be formed Environmental Sustainability Committee (ESC), which will report to the Board. Although Spirit Rock will not be creating that position, as a result of our … Continue reading Update: Animal Advocate at Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Introduction to The Great Compassion

This article is taken from the Introduction to The Great Compassion by Norm Phelps (Lantern Books, 2004). Buddhism ought to be an animal rights religion par excellence. It teaches the unity of all life; it holds kindness and compassion to be the highest virtues; and it explicitly includes animals in its moral universe. Buddhist rules of conduct – including the First Precept, “Do not kill” … Continue reading Introduction to The Great Compassion

On the Boddhisattva path I stopped off for a burger

by Bob Isaacson and Norm Phelps  The following unabridged article by DVA President Bob Isaacson and DVA contributor Norm Phelps was published in an abridged form in the Fall, 2011 edition of The Inquiring Mind. Both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions teach the development of two qualities that are essential to the spiritual path. The first is panna, the wisdom that sees through the illusions … Continue reading On the Boddhisattva path I stopped off for a burger