Training the Buddhist Leaders of Tomorrow

IN NEARLY EVERY SECTOR of public life in the West, there remains a dearth of leaders from communities of color. And despite our best intentions and all our talk of liberation, Western-convert Insight Meditation communities have historically been no different.

While there have been a few token attempts in the past to cultivate individual teachers of color, the handful that do exist are the exceptions that prove the rule—specifically, the unexamined assumption that everything, including leadership, must be measured according to the standards of the dominant white culture. It has taken more than forty years for the idea of equity and inclusivity to finally break through to the surface in what has historically been a predominantly white community of practitioners exploring a faith tradition different from their cultures of origin.

As of this writing, there are only about ten self-identified teachers of color among the more than 350 trained dharma teachers in the Insight