Not Turning Away

The term "engaged Buddhism" was coined by the Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh as a way of asserting that Buddhism should not be passive or otherworldly, but on the contrary, that Buddhists should be deeply, compassionately involved in every aspect of society where suffering arises. Not Turning Away is a treasury of writings on the philosophy and practice of engaged Buddhism by some of the most well-known and respected figures in the movement, gleaned from the pages of the magazine that is the primary forum for engaged Buddhism in America and elsewhere: Turning Wheel: The Journal of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

Not Turning Away provides a history of the engaged Buddhism movement, an analysis of its underlying principles, and inspiring practical examples of real people's experiences in putting spiritual practice to the test on the personal, national, and global levels. The range of topics—from political oppression to prison work, disability, racism, poverty, nonviolence, forgiveness, the student-teacher relationship, and homelessness—demonstrates the applicability of Buddhist teaching to every concern of modern life.



Contributors include:

Robert Aitken
Jan Chozen Bays
Melody Ermachild Chavis
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Thich Nhat Hanh
Jack Kornfield
Kenneth Kraft
Joanna Macy
Jarvis Jay Masters
Fleet Maull
Susan Moon
Wendy Egyoku Nakao
Maylie Scott
Gary Snyder
Robert Thurman
Joan Tollifson
Diana Winston"Moon, longtime editor of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship's journal Turning Wheel , has anthologized some of the journal's best articles into the current book. . . . Moon's real brilliance is insisting on essays that eschew the hypothetical. Instead they describe frankly the intimate joys, humor, failures, even despair, of practicing engaged Buddhism."— Publishers Weekly Susan Moon is a writer and longtime Zen Buddhist who teaches popular writing workshops, mostly in California. She is the former editor of Turning Wheel: The Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism. She lives in Berkeley, California.