“This retreat gives us the opportunity to sit upright and explore our response to the elections of 2008″, says the Upaya website. “Observing the election outcome, we examine our relationship to the democratic process. What can we learn from Buddhism about our modern democracy? How do we deal with our own feelings of partisanship, self, and other? We’ll discuss the interrelatedness of society, biology, and culture, the rights of all sentient beings and the duties of citizenship in an era of globalization and climate change.”
Roshi Joan is an avid follower of the political process. Jim Gollin is Chairman of the Rainforest Action Network, a member of the Democracy Alliance, and trained under former Vice President Al Gore in environmental advocacy.