In a recent article, the Northwest Dharma Association reports on Lama Choyin Rangdrol, a Seattle-based African American lama in the Tibetan tradition, who was talking at the B.R. Ambedkar International Conference in Bangalore, India. In his talk, Rangdrol draws...
In a recent article, the Northwest Dharma Association reports on Lama Choyin Rangdrol, a Seattle-based African American lama in the Tibetan tradition, who was talking at the B.R. Ambedkar International Conference in Bangalore, India. In his talk, Rangdrol draws parallels between the experience of African Americans and so-called ‘untouchables’ in India.
Lama Rangdrol said participating in the conference was very powerful, because he saw so many parallels between the experience of African Americans and Indian people who fall outside the caste system, who traditionally were called untouchables. […]
“I’m a changed person. It changed me because I saw the passion and the compassion of the entire Earth coming to find out what’s going on,” Lama Rangdrol said of the conference experience. “It was a deep experience to witness the grand politic of India vie over who will address the tremendous suffering of caste, and how.”
The conference theme was a “Quest for equity—reclaiming social justice, revisiting Ambedkar” and attracted around 9,000 participants from around the world.