Great start!

Twenty-three really committed meditating activists showed up for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship meeting yesterday. Stu Sugarman, the lawyer who talked to us about protests and the police, was warm, funny, honest, and wise: a brilliant man of great kindness and humility who has been doing the work of protecting protesters for decades. A talented young photographer named Benji Bao Vu'o'ng took many photographs and a video, but he was rushing on afterwards to a vigil for a homeless man who died from exposure this week. This picture Benji Bao took, of three break-out groups planning various events, is the only one he has had time to send me. If he sends me more photos, I may switch out this one for another one later on. 

We have three events in the works now: 

1) A public meditation in Director Park (central, urban, easy to reach by public transit), under the banner, "May All Beings Be Safe." This will be held every month in the same place for as long as the energy lasts, and the first one will be March 8. 

2) A Quick-Response Solidarity network that will join rallies and demonstrations planned by other groups, as allies and supporters who meditate publicly in solidarity and silence.  

3) A major event protesting Portland's alliance with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, perhaps under the banner, "Keep Portland Safe and Free." This will take long-term planning and may not materialize for a few months, but the planners are on fire with it.

The energy was high and strong and at the same time centered and grounded. We were a room full of people who are seasoned meditators and are passionate about social justice. Twenty-three indomitable people, willing to come together and take responsibility to make things happen "off the cushion," willing to be arrested if necessary, aware of the power of meditation to change the energy where we are. It was deeply invigorating.