Spiritual Radicals – Learning Engaged Spirituality

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Learning Engaged Spirituality from Christian Saints and Buddhist Bodhisattvas

with Kaira Jewel Lingo and Father Adam Bucko

In a world grappling with multiple crises and an uncertain future, it can feel overwhelming to navigate such challenges with an open heart. However, it is precisely during such times that we must tap into our inner spaciousness and discover our purpose for these times. This daylong will invite participants into a felt sense of contemplative practice that leads to action and allows us to engage with the world wholeheartedly. We will draw inspiration from contemporary Buddhist and Christian saints and bodhisattvas such as Thich Nhat Hanh, bell hooks, Desmond Tutu, Dorothy Day, Howard Thurman, Bear Heart, Mahagosananda, and others. Their wisdom offers valuable insights into cultivating fearlessness and compassion.

Through meditation, prayer, and intimate conversations, we will connect with the “mystic heart,” where the teachings of Buddha and Christ converge. In this sacred space, we will explore our unique callings and discern how to meet these times with compassion, resilience, and purpose.

This retreat will be highly experiential and practice-based. It will include daily talks as well as daily guided sitting and walking meditation. Mornings will be held in Noble Silence. There will also be opportunities for nature-based practice, Lectio Divina/sacred reading from Buddhist and Christian saints and bodhisattvas, group mentoring with the teachers, and Contemplative Eucharist.

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SCHOLARSHIPS

A limited number of scholarships are available through our partners at the Hemera Foundation. For more information and to apply, please click here. Please do not sign up for the retreat, if you have submitted an application. Please wait to hear from us. For questions, please contact us at: scholarships@garrisoninstitute.org

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TEACHERS

Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher with a lifelong interest in spirituality and social justice. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, and she draws inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, as well as in secular mindfulness, at the intersection of racial, climate and social justice with a focus on activists, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to groups and is author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption and co-author of the forthcoming, Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy and Liberation (Feb 2024) from Parallax Press. Her teachings and writings can be found at www.kairajewel.com.

Father Adam Bucko is an Episcopal priest, spiritual teacher and activist who works at an intersection of contemplative spirituality and justice. He authored several books, including “Let Your Heartbreak be Your Guide”, “Occupy Spirituality” and “The New Monasticism” and in 2004 co-founded the Reciprocity Foundation, an award-winning organization that serves as a place of sanctuary for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ young people who are homeless or housing insecure in New York City. Currently, Adam serves as a director of The Center for Spiritual Imagination in New York, dedicated to democratizing the gifts of monastic spirituality and teaching contemplative prayer in the context of hearing and responding to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth.