Rime Social Justice Committee partners with The Innocence Project-Missouri

The Social Justice Committee is pleased to announce this fall’s topic study will be wrongful convictions. On September 23rd, The Innocence Project will be in attendance for the Sunday service. On October 16th, the film screening will be Time Simply Passes. The film screening will begin at 7:45. The social justice book title for the fall is Blind Injustice: A Former Prosecutor Exposes the Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions The book will be for sale in the bookstore in September. Discussion of the book will be on November 13th. at 7:45pm. All are welcome to participate.

What do I want to share with my Sangha about Social Justice and Racial Justice?

Reflections by Gabi Otto

Photographed by Mark Berndt

For me, the discussion of social and racial justice is very personal. I grew up in Germany and was born not too long after Hitler’s dream of controlling the world came to an end in 1945. The savage legacy of the Holocaust has taught me the importance of denouncing and calling out injustice whenever and wherever it takes place. It is my responsibility to speak out against racism and injustice and I cannot be silent and turn a blind eye. Imagine how many lives could have been saved, if more people would have had the courage to speak out against the hatred propagated by the Nazis. Imagine how much suffering could have been averted. Continue reading

Social Justice Committee makes Fall Reading Selection

October 24, 2017

The Social Justice Book Club has selected Radical Dharma: Talking Race Love and Liberation by Rev Angel Kyodo Williams, Lama Rod Owens with Jasmine Syedullah.

Discussion will take place on October 24 @ 7:30 pm. The book will be for sale in the bookstore. All are welcome to participate.

“Igniting a long-overdue dialogue about how the legacy of racial injustice and white supremacy plays out in society at large and Buddhist communities in particular, this urgent call to action outlines a new dharma that takes into account the ways that racism and privilege prevent our collective awakening.”

More information can be found at: https://radicaldharma.org/

Social Justice Book Club Fall Schedule

The Rime Buddhist Center offers the Social Justice Book Club. The group meets at 7:45 pm to discuss books about Social Justice. The upcoming schedule for the fall is listed below.

September 18th

Invisible ManInvisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith

How do you learn to be a black man in America? For young black men today, it means coming of age during the presidency of Barack Obama. It means witnessing the deaths of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, and too many more. It means celebrating powerful moments of black self-determination for LeBron James, Dave Chappelle, and Frank Ocean. Continue reading

Socially Engaged Buddhism


Dharma Talk Given By Lama Matthew Rice Feb. 28th, 2016
Check out this episode!

In this talk I ask that the Rime Center adopt Thich Nhat Hanh’s five Wonderful Precepts as our Prātimokṣa precepts.  In order for you to reflect on these precepts and incorporate them into your life, I have listed them below.  These precepts engender our engagement with the world rather than refraining from it.  Please, take these to heart. Continue reading