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Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you well and feeling ground under your feet as we envision a new and more wholesome Shambhala community. I am well, and creating a good life moving forward from the extraordinary year last year.
From the beginning of my work, I said that Shambhala can be a positive example to the greater world with how we move through the process of exposing our community's sexualized violence. We are already seeing signs of that manifesting.
Buddhist Project Sunshine was a grass roots Shambhala initiative led by a second-generation Shambhalian who deeply loves our community. I led BPS from core Shambhala values, most notably connected with the brilliant light of the Great Eastern Sun.
The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) is investigating the way that BPS brought to light the abuse and how we did so in a caring way. Investigative journalists in the past have simply exposed abuse without care for the victims and the community impacted. The CJR feels a new standard needs to be adopted within journalism that takes this care into account, and they are looking to the example BPS provided. I am delighted to contribute to their article, along with the other BPS volunteers who were interviewed.
This article will be published for the greater journalism community, and I have every hope that it will contribute to more compassionate journalistic practices going forward.
The BPS News Service is a continuation of the work I started over two years ago. Completing the original Buddhist PRoject Sunshine work of bringing these issues to light was a huge accomplishment, and the institutions of Shambhala are showing slow signs of responsiveness - of change and growth. The BPS News Service continues to highlight articles of note for the community during this important time. They provide a greater breadth of information than is found in official Shambhala communications alone, and this allows more fruitful conversations to be had at all levels. Please join me in supporting the volunteers performing this work. Even a small donation can go a long way in supporting this service. Please share their fundraising campaign broadly through your Facebook and other social media channels, and let's see this service continue for the benefit of all beings!
The GoFundMe campaign can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/buddhist-project-sunshine-news-service-fundraiser
With love to all of you,
Andrea Winn