In an interesting interview about activist Buddhism in the Huffington Post, Jonathan Watts of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, talks about analysing social problems from a Buddhist perspective. But the points he makes can be relevant to any spiritual response to social issues.
- Facing and trying to understand a social issue, you can go back to textual resources in your religion or faith, or
- you can start from trying to apply your understanding of that faith's approach to the issue, or
- you can so incorporate your faith into your life that your response to any social issue becomes imbued with your faith.
He argues, though, that first and foremost a Buddhist: it becomes your core identity so it inevitably forms the basis for social activism or social work.
HuffPost blog on activist Buddhism
The blog post has useful links to Buddhist writings on social issues.
I still have fond memories of Zen in the Art of Helping by David Brandon which I read as a student in the 80's . From a secular left perspective of course the Social Work Action Network (SWAN) http://www.socialworkfuture.org/ from the UK or http://www.rankandfiler.net/ The Rank & Filer in the USA offer a look at committed left perspectives. From a Liberation Theology Christian perspective its hard to improve on Leonardo Boff http://leonardoboff.com/site-eng/lboff.htm as one of the most trenchent writers on the spiritualisation of political engagement for the poor not nearly as well discussed in western social work as he should be .
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