The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World

Donald Rothberg has committed his life to two vocations: social change and exploring the depths of human consciousness to awaken our deeper spiritual nature. In his work as a dedicated teacher, activist, organizer, and writer, he has aimed to bring these two paths together and to reveal how deeply they require one another. The Engaged Spiritual Life skillfully weaves together basic spiritual teachings, real-life examples, and social context to provide a clear, thorough, and compelling guide to connecting inner and outer transformation. At the core of the book are ten spiritual principles, accompanied by meditations and exercises, that will enable you to weave all the parts of your life—personal, interpersonal, and political—into a seamless whole.

“Few have poured their lives into the contemporary movement that is dedicated to recovering Buddhism’s social outreach with as much dedication and effectiveness as Donald Rothberg.” —Huston Smith, author of The World’s Religions

“Donald Rothberg is a remarkably talented teacher whose writing, like his teaching style, is interesting, engaging, upbeat, and—most importantly—hopeful. This is the authoritative map describing the connection between wisdom and social action, and it does so clearly, simply, nonacademically, and entertainingly. The specific practices it offers inspire confidence that transforming ourselves and the world is a possibility—which is the best message in the world in times like these.” —Sylvia Boorstein, author of It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness

“At a moment when our world desperately needs an integration of spiritual wisdom and social action, Donald Rothberg points the way to a new synthesis—of great interest to people in all faith communities and to many who have previously distanced themselves from spiritual life in order to pursue social change.” —Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right

“I know of no one who better combines scholarship in this field with teaching experience and on-the-ground activism. Rothberg’s words ring with an unmistakable authenticity.” —Joanna Macy, author of Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World

“…this guide will be useful to progressive spiritual practitioners from all traditions.”—Shambhala Sun, review

Donald Rothberg is one of the major teachers and writers on socially engaged Buddhism in the United States. He is a meditation teacher on the Spirit Rock Teachers’ Council in northern California and has been an organizer, teacher, and board member for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Rothberg also directs the Socially Engaged Spirituality program at the Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco. He has published essays in Tricycle, Turning Wheel, and The Journal of Humanistic Psychology among others. He lives in Berkeley, California.