Meditation and Mass Civil Disruption: How “Engaged” Can an “Engaged Buddhist” Be?

Abstract

As a subgroup of the environmental movement “Extinction Rebellion,” “Extinction Rebellion Buddhists” are a unique religious community in the United Kingdom. While at first glance the group might seem to align with broader trends occurring in the religious landscape, where Buddhists are increasingly involving themselves in political issues, they in fact encapsulate a distinct phenomenon in contemporary Buddhism: participation in direct-action activism. Through public, collective meditation, the group brings a distinctive emphasis to “mass civil disruption.” Built on nearly two years of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper explores the ways in which Extinction Rebellion Buddhists challenge the perceived limits of Buddhism’s involvement in social concerns, pushing the boundaries of how “engaged” an “engaged Buddhist” can be. This paper aims to situate the group’s practices within the ongoing dialogue surrounding the limits and parameters of engaged Buddhism, arguing that XRB exemplify the ever-diversifying relationship between Buddhism and social change.