Dharma Relief Interview
By Anna Tsuchimoto
She/Her/Hers
YBE’s Editor-in-Chief and Buddhist Discussion Editor interviewed a few volunteers from Dharma Relief, a project that raised nearly $650,000 between March 30th and May 18th of 2020, and used this money to provide 1.2 million PPE to hospitals in North America, Canada, and Mexico. Here are some fragments from their interview, which can be found on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/7YXIUV-z8vg.
The interview took place with three Dharma Relief volunteers - Sara, Greg, and Yi-Ling. They met and coordinated Dharma Relief on a WhatsApp group chat under their Buddhist teacher, Guo Gu. Sara is a public health consultant, and has recently moved closer to Guo Gu to continue her Buddhist practice. Greg works in the agricultural industry in Oregon, and before transitioning to the Dharma Drum lineage, has practiced residentially in Buddhist monasteries. Yi-Ling is currently in a PhD program studying anthropology, originally from Taiwan and continues to practice in the Dharma Drum lineage after moving to the U.S.
The following quotes are paraphrased.
[5.34] Anna: “What got you started in Dharma Relief, and how did you put this project into action so quickly?”
[5.51] Sara: “[There was] lots of free time because of quarantine, and we were constantly texting on WhatsApp; made initial goals and contacted friends, and we met the $100k mark in a day. Lots of other Buddhist groups helped and donated, [we then] raised the goal, ordered masks from factories, and found hospitals to mail them to.
[7.18] Greg: “[This showed the power of] karmic forces, the power behind a shutdown and lockdown of the economy - there was a ton of energy. The great thing about Dharma Relief is the wealth of knowledge; many individuals would contribute their strengths to participate in the project and they took off with lots of energy. There was a very explicit karmic goal of getting masks in people’s hands.”
[8.55] Yi-Ling: “There were discussions about which hospitals to send masks to first, and the main goal was to distribute PPE to the wide majority but identify which hospitals were the most hard-hit. There was lots of data analysis at the beginning, making maps of which hospitals needed more
[10.08] Trevor: “It seems like this one group chat took on more members, that’s where Dharma Relief started and that’s how you had all these connections to get people to help and to get help from China to get PPE.”
[10.27] Yi-Ling: “We have some connections with Dharma Drum mountains people in China because they had to talk to the manufacturers.”
[10.45] Sara: “Dharma Drum Hong Kong was Guo Gu’s contact, they had connections with people and manufacturers, and we got discounted prices for masks - they were the ones on the ground talking to factories and seeing how many masks they could get with a certain amount of money.”
[12.00] Trevor: “Is Dharma Drum similar to your group in Buddhist sect, how is that connection formed?”
[12.07] Sara: “All three of us meditate in Dharma Drum lineage. It is one of the 4 biggest monasteries in Taiwan. Guo Gu is an amazing teacher in this lineage, he’s really active socially.”
[13.23] Greg: “I practiced Soto Zen Buddhism, and later jumped into Dharma Drum. Dharma Drum is community based and they invite teachers from outside.”
[14.20] Yi-Ling: “I am originally from Taiwan, where there are lots of Dharma Drum centers and retreats. I joined a retreat in college, and found a small branch in St. Louis; you have to invite different teachers to the center. You have the ability to get in contact with different teachers. I created deep connections with Guo Gu and was able to bring back what I learned from Guo Gu to the local community.”
[15.50] Anna: “What do you guys do at your retreats, since we have our own retreats and I’m sure they are way different?”
[16.10] Greg: “We sit. The fundamentals in Chan tradition is the retreats change a bit based on where students are and how they are doing in a certain retreat, change based on which teacher is there. We do some recitation during walking meditation, but it’s usually based on seated meditation mixed in with walking and other work. The teacher wants each individual to work on something individually in their practice. It can be different for different people because they are all in different parts of their journey.”
[17.23] Sara: “It looks funny because we are all just sitting staring at a wall for 16 hours a day for 7 days, which is what we are doing, but we are all internally working on a method to basically uproot greed, hatred, ignorance, lessening those in our mind, and the best way to do that is sticking with a method as much as you can and seeing the workings of your mind.”
[18.22] Yi-Ling: “I started with a youth Dharma Drum group in Taiwan. The youth retreat is also 7 days, but there is lots of other time doing other things. On my second retreat, the master was coming from Malaysia. You learn the same things from different teachers but with different techniques. You learn how to practice in your daily life, and you have more time to work together with other people. In Taiwan there are lots of practitioners so there isn’t a close contact or relationship with the teachers, but in the US there is time to talk to the teacher and ask questions.”
[20.28] Greg: “I have met some Jodo Shinshu priests. When we say we’re sitting, we are grounding ourselves and in a seated position to relax our bodies completely, so that in a cross-legged or kneeling position - our ability to relax is a lot easier. You stay upright, and it allows your mind and body to become incredibly relaxed and provides a launching point for many meditation techniques. Start with following the breath, usually at the very beginning you are counting inhalations and exhalations, and as that progresses you learn to follow the breath in a form that follows Buddhist tradition.”
[22.26] (Trevor): “Are there plans for a next Dharma Relief, a Dharma Relief II, anything like that?
[22.25] Sara: “Right after Dharma Relief I was over with, it was right around that time when there were a lot of racial protests regarding police brutality. A swelling of protests around racial injustice, so naturally Guo Gu is very sensitive to the plight of other people and saw us all working together working on a project - Dharma Relief I. He rounded up his Buddhist teacher buddies and has been in contact with Black Buddhist teachers and building alliances with them. Him and other leaders are making a group where their mission statement is to make all Dharma centers in North America more racially inclusive. How can we make these Dharma centers more appealing and less threatening for people of color to feel safe to explore? There are three things that people can do - specifically for Dharma teachers (or anyone), would be to explore our own racial biases we have (and have diversity and awareness trainings for people). Two would be addressing trauma for Black Buddhist practitioners that they invariably have from decades of living in society that have marginalized them - providing trauma healing for teachers that have had that level of pain that has come to their practice in Buddhism. And third, making that available to all Buddhist communities. Once we try out the framework of trauma healing to Buddhist teachers and have diversity and racial awareness trainings (for white teachers) to help people recognize their own biases, then we can make that available for all Buddhist centers across North America. Also fundraising so that centers can apply for the program so that a priest or teacher can get certification that they have diversity training and are able to make their centers inclusive for people of color to visit. This doesn’t exist currently and is really a shame for Dharma centers in North America.”
[27.55] (Anna): “I know we talked about vaccinations specifically and other projects within your communities [before the interview], would you like to expand on that?”
[28.11] Greg: “My work situation is really high-risk, and there has already been a Covid outbreak at my work. There are some cultural traits that sometimes come from karmic backgrounds like living in large communities that don’t have access to masks or health information, which can be really devastating when a community lacks health information in general. I felt really uncomfortable not saying anything, so I asked my boss if I could spend time and put together some information. And it was received very well. Agricultural workers in Oregon are able to get vaccinated within the next few weeks. Some cultural traits with the workers there make it very difficult to deal with crowd diseases, and dispelling any myths is really important. Now we’ve gotten to a point where millions of people are vaccinated, so making me feel better about it was good relief, and a big part of that is based on Dharma practice - both on meditation training and being in tune with everyone around you and building connections. We vow to be Bodhisattvas, so [I thought] ‘What can I do right now in this situation?’ And right then it was gathering information, and it only took a few hours.”
[31.36] Sara: “And thanks for asking for help [on that] Greg because it helped build a community. It helped one of my friends to stay busy and build up her mood, and she was happy to help. Just a chain of events, which is a lot of what Dharma Relief is about, it’s brought us together in a lot of ways.”
[32.07] Greg: “It only takes seeing some suffering and me getting an impulse to ask for some help, and now this pack of information I've made is going to get distributed to other people, and it might literally save a life. Who knows how many lives were saved after those masks - legit what a good idea. And that was back when there were no masks.”
[33.20] Yi-Ling: “Back when Sara and Greg were talking about vaccinations, I thought I should also pay attention to help the senior Sangha. I also explained that to other people I was in contact with. I was in two other mask distribution projects in St. Louis, and helped groups purchase cloth masks from Taiwan and distribute them to nursing homes. I used the knowledge learned from Dhama Relief to quickly help people distribute their material.”
[34.52] Greg: “The biggest takeaway I can give your listeners is that if you and a bunch of friends are truly interested in ending greed, hate, and delusion for all beings, regardless of anything (race, faith, status) and you group up, you make things happen. Connections in a big group are there, and you can help each other to the point where things you never thought you could do on your own or be a part of, happen! Band together with friends and do good work together.”
