Happy 81st Birthday, Sulak Sivaraksa!

Thanks, Matteo Pistono, for the reminder!

For the uninitiated, Sivaraksa is Thailand’s preeminent social activist and one of the titans of the modern engaged Buddhist movement. He founded and currently directs Thailand’s Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation, and also serves on the advisory board of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists.

In addition to all his work as an activist, organizer, and social critic in Thailand, he has served as chair of the UN’s Asian Cultural Forum on Development and has been a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Hawaii, and Cornell University.

A Nobel Peace Prize nominee, he is the author such books as Seeds of Peace: A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society; Conflict, Culture, Change: Engaged Buddhism in a Globalizing World; Loyalty Demands Dissent: Autobiography of a Socially Engaged Buddhist; and The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century.

(For a little bit more by way of an introduction, be sure to check out these two pieces by Matteo.)

I have had the distinct pleasure and true honor of meeting and receiving teachings from Sulak, and I think he’s quite a remarkable man. On the occasion of his 81st natal anniversary, I thought I would share the below videos of some recent teachings of his on “Engaging Society with Dharma Practice.”