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Rev. angel Kyodo williams

"love and justice are not two. without inner change, there can be no outer change; without collective change, no change matters."

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      Not that a Black, mixed-raced woman Zen priest is ordinary to begin with, but Rev. angel Kyodo williams defies and transcends any title, descriptor or category you can imagine. Freed from ordinary ways of naming, she captures imaginations, expands visions, and gets straight to the heart of the work of liberation.

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      Once called “the most intriguing African-American Buddhist” by Library Journal, and “one of our wisest voices on social evolution” by Krista Tippett, Rev. angel Kyodo williams Sensei, is an author, maverick spiritual teacher, master trainer and founder of Transformative Change.

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      RADICAL DHARMA: Talking Race, Love and Liberation – “the book for right now” is igniting conversations to radically transform how race is navigated in dharma, yoga, activist, faith communities and more. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that this book shifted the tide of what liberation means worldwide.  Transform race in your life now.

      BEING BLACK: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness & Grace – The book that changed everything for so many reached its 20th year anniversary in 2020, Rev. angel’s first critically-acclaimed book was called “a classic” by Buddhist pioneer Jack Kornfield and “an act of love” by iconic writer Alice Walker. Find out why.

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      being transformation 2023 – Rev. angel Kyodo Williams’s potent, powerful and proven be.ing transformation retreat takes place for the sixth year at Hui Ho’olana, the “Heart Chakra” of Molokai, HI. 2023 Dates to be announced soon. Join mailing list to be notified.

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“love and justice are not two. without inner change, there can be no outer change; without collective change, no change matters.”

MENUMENU
  • about
    • Meet Rev. angel

      Not that a Black, mixed-raced woman Zen priest is ordinary to begin with, but Rev. angel Kyodo williams defies and transcends any title, descriptor or category you can imagine. Freed from ordinary ways of naming, she captures imaginations, expands visions, and gets straight to the heart of the work of liberation.

      Go beyond the bio & meet Rev. angel

    • Rev. angel kyodo williams – BIO

      Once called “the most intriguing African-American Buddhist” by Library Journal, and “one of our wisest voices on social evolution” by Krista Tippett, Rev. angel Kyodo williams Sensei, is an author, maverick spiritual teacher, master trainer and founder of Transformative Change.

      Read more of Rev. angel’s bio

  • books
    • BOOKS By angel Kyodo williams

      RADICAL DHARMA: Talking Race, Love and Liberation – “the book for right now” is igniting conversations to radically transform how race is navigated in dharma, yoga, activist, faith communities and more. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that this book shifted the tide of what liberation means worldwide.  Transform race in your life now.

      BEING BLACK: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness & Grace – The book that changed everything for so many reached its 20th year anniversary in 2020, Rev. angel’s first critically-acclaimed book was called “a classic” by Buddhist pioneer Jack Kornfield and “an act of love” by iconic writer Alice Walker. Find out why.

    • Radical Dharma book image

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      Are you a YES! for engaging Rev. angel? Forget trolling the internet. Stream the things no one else can. Get hand-curated content from both in the behind the scenes.

      Give love and get love.

      Enter the Lovestream Now >

      Mindfulness Training by Rev. Angel

      Ready to drop into the only mindfulness
      training program designed from the ground up to meet you exactly where you
      are? Rev. angel knows mindfulness for
      your life, work and practice are not
      about being on anyone else’s agenda, so
      she architected the most modern, diverse mindfulness program ever.

      Get MNDFL >

    • Go DEEPER

      Practicing Justice – You have to grow up to show up. Changemakers, activists, Liberated Life Network, leaders & entrepreneurs. Get head, heart & embodied practice in alignment.

      be.ing transformation – The most powerful and leveraged week you’ll ever spend in your life is here for 2020. Level up because it matters and you don’t have time for mediocre.

      27 Days of Change – The gateway program. With guidance, clear structure, and community, you can jumpstart the change you want to make happen in your life in just 27 days.

      Gain more Experience with Rev. angel…

  • events
    • Find the Right EVENT for You

      Public Talks & Speaking

      Dharma & Meditation Retreats

      Radical Dharma Circles, Conversations & Camp

      Podcast Releases

      All Events

      INVITE Rev. angel for your event

    • Fetaured Events

      being transformation 2023 – Rev. angel Kyodo Williams’s potent, powerful and proven be.ing transformation retreat takes place for the sixth year at Hui Ho’olana, the “Heart Chakra” of Molokai, HI. 2023 Dates to be announced soon. Join mailing list to be notified.

      ALL EVENTS…

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Threading Anger Through Love

29 July 2015 By aboutangel

threading-anger-through-love_300x227angel Kyodo williams, Zen teacher, activist, and author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace, describes how we can practice shifting anger from a destructive to a generative force.

Anger is capable of pointing us back to love. It arises as a result of an offense to what we love. If we can use anger to reconnect to love, then that anger—the response that we have to injustice, pain, and suffering in the world—can be a generative force rather than a destructive one.

When we thread anger back through the core of what we love, the response can be fierce and powerful but not consuming. This is a very subtle point that is often not understood—that we can, in fact, have fierce responses that begin from a place of anger about injustices and pain that are greater than any person or community should have to bear. But, that anger must be taken and threaded through and then anchored and rooted in what we love. When we anchor it in love and allow ourselves to also be cognizant of the suffering that we are experiencing as a result of our loss, pain, and the injustice, we get back again to that place that doesn’t want anyone to suffer like we are.

So when yet another black child, teenager, or young person is killed, the response should be fierce. But if it’s rooted in love and that love is connected with a deep touching into our suffering, whatever the reaction, there’s no wish for destruction of life or for the suffering of others. Love has a wish for the deconstruction of that which is false and that which harms. That’s the right place to go. Love never expresses itself as wishing harm.

The nuance is challenging because anger is a fire energy. And it often burns so hot we’re not able to see through into love.

Looking Beyond Practice to Cause

I want to say, especially thinking about Martin Luther King’s quote about riots as a voice of people that have not been heard, that I’m making these observations within a privilege of not having had that amount of injustice hoisted upon me.

I would like to believe that if I were directly touched in a material way by these injustices, that having a practice and an understanding that arises out of that practice, would enable me to root my anger in love. To anchor it and take that thread and loop it in love so that my activity would manifest as a loving expression. But I cannot imagine or speak to what it means for people that haven’t had that practice and have had that kind of injustice. I can speak from the seat of comfort and privilege, but I’m not prepared to denounce in any way what it does to the human psyche, the human heart, when your humanity has been so denied.

I think we have to be careful about asking a humane response from people who have been dehumanized so often for so long, from the beginning of the building of this society.

We should endeavor to know what it is that produces serial killing at the rate at which it’s produced in this country, in this society. Do we blame the serial killers or do we blame the society when we know that the percentage is so high and so specific to our country?

I have a friend who says, “There is no personal experience.” There’s no such thing. And so I can’t demand of anyone a merely personal response. We can’t keep going along and saying, we are collective, we’re connected, and then say, but individually they should do X, Y, and Z. You’re not an individual. No one’s an individual. We’re all active in the web of actions, reactions, and experience.

Read the interview here: https://www.eomega.org/article/threading-anger-through-love

Filed Under: interviews Tagged With: angel Kyodo williams, buddhism, dharma

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