Prophetic Wisdom : Engaged Buddhism's Struggle for Social Justice and Complete Liberation

Shows how Engaged Buddhists can expand their understanding of the causes of collective suffering and develop nonviolent means for social transformation through a dialectic of love, power, and justice.

Classical Buddhism lacked an understanding of systemic injustice and its contribution to collective suffering. Despite the teaching of impermanence, classical Buddhist schools viewed social institutions as given and offered no path to social transformation. Today, Buddhists are shaped by multiple religious and secular traditions, including those stemming from the Hebrew prophets. The prophetic tradition offers a socially and religiously powerful concept-the concept of justice-that reconfigures the Buddhist dharma.

In a time of unparalleled peril, Buddhists are challenged as never before to turn wisdom into strategic action to foster systemic social change. Compassion is not enough. Prophetic Wisdom shows how Engaged Buddhists can expand their understanding of the causes of collective suffering and develop nonviolent means for social transformation through a dialectic of love, power, and justice. It concludes by confronting the poison of racism in the American body politic.

Charles R. Strain is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at DePaul University. His previous books include Global Migration: What's Happening, Why, and a Just Response (coauthored with Elizabeth W. Collier) and The Prophet and the Bodhisattva: Daniel Berrigan, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Ethics of Peace and Justice, which won the Society for Buddhist Christian Studies Frederick J. Streng Book of the Year Award in 2014.