Buddhism Beyond the Cushion
A Community Gathering with Duncan Ryuken Williams and Funie Hsu/Chhî, facilitated by Jungwon Kim
Join Buddhist scholars and activists Rev. Duncan Ryūken Williams, Ph.D. and Funie Hsu/Chhî, Ph.D. for an illuminating dialogue exploring the intersection of Buddhist practice and social transformation. This conversation weaves together Buddhism, remembrance, healing, and liberation, examining how the dharma offers both a path to personal awakening and Social-Spiritual Liberation. Our guests shared how Buddhist teachings help transform grief into connection, particularly in response to racially motivated violence against Asian American communities. The conversation challenged conventional Western Buddhist approaches to Secularization and Individual Awakening.
Some of the themes we explored:
- Beyond Digestible Buddhism: Restoring Cultural Context in the Liberation Journey
The Western extraction of meditative practices from their spiritual and ethical foundations, reclaiming Buddhist contexts and connecting with broader movements for justice. - Off the Cushion Approaches to Buddhism as Social-Spiritual Liberation
Buddhist principles in action through community organizing, ritual, art, and direct action that addresses societal suffering and injustice. - Colonial Roots of Buddhist Secularization
Colonial stripping away of cultural elements to focus on individual wellness rather than communal liberation. - Ceremony as Resistance: May We Gather and Beyond
Ritual practices as forms of spiritual resistance, creating sacred spaces that honor victims of violence and mobilizing communities toward collective healing and justice.
Presenters
Duncan Ryuken Williams
Duncan Ryuken Williams is a Professor of Religion and the Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California; previously, Chairman of Japanese Buddhism at UC Berkeley, Director of Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies, and Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University where he received his Ph.D. An ordained priest since 1993 in the Soto Zen tradition, he received Dharma transmission in 2024 at Kotakuji Temple, Japan. His latest book, American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War, an LA Times bestseller, won the 2022 Grawemeyer Religion Award. He also wrote The Other Side of Zen .
He serves on the boards of the Irei Project, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Asian Pacific American Religion Research Initiative. He has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post and served as a consultant for TV shows such as AMC’s The Terror: Infamy, Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle, and FX’s Shogun.
Funie Hsu/Chhî
Funie Hsu/Chhî, Ph.D. is a transdisciplinary scholar from a working class, Taiwanese-American family, raised in a Taiwanese Humanistic Buddhist tradition. Her work melds American, Asian-American, Buddhist, and Taiwan Studies. Currently Associate Professor of American Studies at San Jose State University, she received a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality from UC Berkeley. Aspects of her work explore issues of language, education and colonialism. She is a co-organizer of May We Gather, a national Buddhist memorial ceremony for Asian American ancestors and a former Board Member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship where she advocated for the recognition of Asian American heritage Buddhist communities in the organization and beyond.
Jungwon Kim
Jungwon Kim is an award-winning writer and cultural worker. She is also a communications leader, organizational strategy consultant, and journalist who has dedicated her professional life to human rights and environmental advocacy. As Head of Creative & Editorial at the Rainforest Alliance, she directed a multimedia team of writers, videographers, and graphic designers. Earlier in her career, she served as the editor of Amnesty International USA’s human rights quarterly that featured the work of award-winning journalists and documentary photographers (circulation 300,000). She began her storytelling career as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and on-air correspondent for nationally syndicated public radio programs.