A Brief Note on the Buddhadharma Forum Panels

WHEN YOU START a magazine, you need to dream up unique features and departments that will keep readers coming back. Some of them don’t make it off the drawing board, a few last for a while and then peter out, and some become well-loved institutions that readers look forward to in every issue. Over a decade ago, when a few of us got together to envision Buddhadharma magazine, we thought it might be interesting to hold a regular conversation with Buddhists of many different stripes, mainly teachers, to kick around ideas and concerns. So much wonderful Dharma takes the form of conversation, from the sutras to kōan stories to the free-ranging discussions in a carload of people returning home from a retreat. We hoped it would convey that kind of lively spirit. It would demonstrate that Dharma is anything but dry—that, on the contrary, it’s intensely personal.

It’s been my pleasure to have been the main convener of these conversations for the Buddhadharma forum’s first ten years. Every three months, Buddhadharma’s editor, Tynette Deveaux, and the editor-in-chief, Melvin McLeod, and I would gather to bat around what the topic could be for the next issue and whom we would invite to talk about it.

In some cases, we delved into something that came out of our own experience of practice (such as working with emotional upheavals), a philosophical topic of contemplation (what is karma and rebirth anyway?), or issues about how the Dharma is being assimilated in the West (diversity, gender, politics, and so forth). In these cases, we always tried to find people from various traditions to keep the discussion broad.

In other cases, we acted as a fly-on-the-wall, listening in on the kind of discussion people of one particular tradition might have—such as Zen teachers sharing their passion for Dōgen, Theravāda teachers talking about applying formal practice to everyday life, or Vajrayanists considering whether Dzogchen has been watered down in its current presentation in the West.

When we called to ask people to take part in these ninety-minute conference calls, with participants calling in from far-flung time zones, they were unfailingly generous in agreeing to take part. When the appointed day and time arrived, we always started with a script of questions that had been shared with the panelists, but once things got rolling, the script usually came apart in my hands.

One thing I can tell you: the Buddhists I had in conversation were very kind about not interrupting others and allowing them to finish their thoughts. Conventional journalistic wisdom would say that such politesse inhibits the free flow of ideas. Not so. The flow was very free, and fun. In many cases, people who had heard about each other for many years had an opportunity to meet and get to know each other in the virtual forum we created.

A painstaking, weeklong process of editing the transcript of these free-for-alls ensued. It was hard work, but it held many rewards, not the least of which was that when you read something over fifteen times, the point would start to sink in. It was also an interesting challenge to try to carry over not just the meaning but some of the tenor of the conversation. I’m happy to see that this book stays true to the liveliness and enthusiasm of these lengthy chats.

There were many times when every one of us on the call laughed out loud as a joke ripped away the skimpy veil that ego uses to obscure reality, or when we fell silent at an especially poignant image or insight. I felt so delighted to be capturing this for our readers—and now for you—because the Buddhadharma forum is unique. It’s a wide-ranging, decade-long conversation among Buddhists in the West about what dharma means in our lives—and in particular how it could help others. May this conversation continue for many decades to come.

Barry Boyce

Editor-in-chief

Mindful magazine