Julie and Paul are both practising Buddhists following the Mahayana tradition. They strive to abide in the principles of Bodhicitta daily – to be loving, kind, compassionate, supportive and balanced in all they do with all they meet, while at the same time being mindful of their interconnectedness to the earth and all living things. This awareness carries with it a responsibility to avoid harming living things and to assist those who are suffering.

Socially engaged Buddhism is a way of being and acting in the world where Buddhist principles and practices inform one’s orientation to social justice, human rights and environmental conservation – the application of the dharma to the resolution of social and ecological problems.

Dr Patricia Sherwood in her book The Buddha is in the Street provides an eloquent definition of the Buddhist model of social change:

“At the heart of the Buddhist model of social change is this notion of indissoluble connectedness of all beings. All actions, thoughts and emotions have consequences for all beings and determine the processes of social transformation.

….. The individual and the whole are one energetically, only mental constructs give the illusion of separateness. Social change actions emerge from this place of interbeing, of recognising that there is no separate I or us or them, but that all are present to the suffering and joy of interbeingness. The gesture of compassion manifest in the world as skilful action connects the personal to the whole in this social change model.

Ecological Psychology and Interconnectedness