#25 Sebene Selassie – You Belong!

Escaping Samsara

Sebene Selassie is an African American Buddhist teacher. She has been studying Buddhism for 30 years and teaching for 10. She has worked extensively for not-for-profit organisations everywhere from the Tenderloin in San Francisco to refugee camps in Guinea, West Africa. This year, she published her first book via HarperOne titled You Belong: A Call for Connection.

In this enriching conversation we tackle the kind of tough subjects that we all think about but need to talk about more. Why have women been sidelined in Buddhist lineages? How can the Dharma respond to racial strife and injustice? And how we can heal cultures of harm wherever we find ourselves.

Show Notes

• First experiences with bhakti yoga
• History of women in Buddhism
• Sebene's journey through Buddhist schools
• Kuan Yin and devotional practice
• The question of cultural appropriation
• How studying history can aid liberation
• The complex problem of unconscious bias
• What was left out when Buddhism was exported
• Good ol’ psychedelics
• Ancestral healing
• How we might heal racism in dharma communities
• It’s not about separation
• Guilt vs responsibility
• “The Dharma answers its context”

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