Press
Buddhists use karmic healing against one US city’s anti-Asian legacy and nationwide prejudice today
Associated Press - Religion
March 19, 2024
By Terry Tang and Deepa Bharath
Photography by Godofredo A. Vasquez
For one afternoon, on Antioch’s main street and tranquil riverbank, the fragrance of burning incense was paired with the sound of Buddhist and Tao chants. Their cumulative calming energy was meant to be a balm of sorts to soothe the racial and religious hate that cast a shadow on Antioch’s legacy.
View AP’s 4-minute video
A California city wrestles with its history of discrimination against early Chinese immigrants
Associated Press - Race and Ethnicity
March 19, 2024
By Terry Tang and Deepa Bharath
Photography by Godofredo A. Vasquez
Buddhist faith leaders and community members participate in a “May We Gather” pilgrimage in Antioch, California. The event aimed to use karmic cleansing through chants, prayer and testimony to heal racial trauma caused by anti-Chinese discrimination in Antioch in the 1870s.
View AP’s 2-minute video
Buddhists confront anti-Asian violence with peaceful perseverance
Los Angles Times
March 18, 2022
By Deborah Netburn
Photography by Jason Armond
One by one, the Buddhist priests bowed before the altar at the Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo, wearing robes of yellow, orange and black. Accompanied by the chanting of the Heart Sutra in Korean, they dipped a paintbrush into a bowl of golden lacquer to gently fill in the cracks of a white ceramic lotus that had been handmade for the occasion.
Repairing Generations of Trauma, One Lotus Flower at a Time
The New York Times
May 5, 2021
By Elizabeth Dias
Photography by Rozette Rago
Buddhists from many cultures and communities gathered to repair the nation’s racial karma. The ceremony was held at a Los Angeles temple that had recently been vandalized in an arson attack.
Rare gathering of world’s vast schools of Buddhism offers healing against racial hate
Los Angeles Times
May 8, 2021
By Teresa Watanabe
Photography by Jason Armond
One by one, the Buddhist priests, nuns and teachers silently entered the Los Angeles temple in similar robes of black and saffron hues, with identical gestures of hands clasped in prayer.
“May We Gather” Buddhist memorial and pilgrimage honors Asian American ancestors
Lion’s Roar
March 21, 2024
By Mihiri Tillakaratne
A profound and historic gathering took place on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Antioch, California, as Buddhist communities from across the nation convened for “May We Gather: A National Buddhist Pilgrimage for Asian American Ancestors.”
Buddhists Bring Karmic Healing to Antioch, California
Buddhistdoor Global
March 21, 2024
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo
One resident, Karen J. Oliver, said of the day’s proceedings: “We all need peace and reconciliation and whatever road we can find it on, we need to take that road.”
May We Gather – Radio Episode
Full Circle KPFA
March 29, 2024
By Frank Sterling
Tune in at the 31’22” mark to hear a live interview after the March 16, 2024 May We Gather healing ceremony in Antioch, California.
Reflections with the 2024 May We Gather Co-Organizers – Podcast Episode
Opening Dharma Access
May 1, 2024
By Rev. Liên Shutt
Photography by Godofredo A. Vasquez
A conversation with Funie Hsu, Chenxing Han, and Duncan Ryūken Williams
May We Gather - Podcast Episode
University of Virginia Religion, Race & Democracy Lab
May 1, 2024
By Jeff Wilson
May We Gather reflects a more accurate presentation, especially for historic Asian American communities: community and ritual are at the heart of Buddhism; they have deep powers for cultivating healing and solidarity; Asian American Buddhists will stand up for themselves and claim their rightful place in American society when threatened; and generations of American Buddhists have found ways to navigate the seas of intolerance and erasure to achieve a measure of peace and happiness.
Remembering as an Act of Cultivating Clear Awareness
Tricycle
March 14, 2024
By Rebecca Li
As a part of the May We Gather series, Chan teacher Rebecca Li reflects on the role of memory in healing and growing in wisdom and compassion.
A Dharma Message for “May We Gather”
Buddhistdoor Global
March 23, 2024
By Rev. Grace Song
Our gathering echoes a profound connection, rooted in past lives, and destined to continue in future ones.
On Asian American Buddhist Friendship
CMOON
March 26, 2024
By Cristina Moon
(Read Rev. Moon’s reflections on the May 4, 2021 May We Gather memorial here) Reflections on May We Gather's 3-Year Memorial for Victims of Anti-Asian Violence in Antioch, CA and a Delightfully Sassy Car of Women Buddhist Priests (aka #PriusPosse)
ནང་ཆོས་ཐོག་ནས་ཤར་ཕྱོགས་པར་དབྱེ་འབྱེད་ཀྱི་རྨ་ཁ་གསོ་ཐབས།
VOA (Voice of America) Tibetan
March 21, 2024
ཨ་རིའི་ནང་རྒྱ་རིགས་སོགས་ཤར་ཕྱོགས་པའི་གདོང་རིས་ལ་དབྱེ་འབྱེད་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་དཀའ་ངལ་འཕྲད་བཞིན་ཡོད་པའི་སྐབས་རྨ་ཁ་གསོ་ཐབས་དང་མི་རིགས་དབྱེ་འབྱེད་མེད་པ་བཟོ་ཆེད་ནང་ཆོས་ཉམས་ལེན་གྱི་ཐོག་ནས་ལས་འགུལ་སྤེལ་དུས་བོད་བརྒྱུད་ནང་བསྟན་གྱི་འབྲེལ་ཡོད་མི་སྣ་མཉམ་ཞུགས་གནང་ཡོད་པ་སོགས་ཀྱི་སྐོར་ལ་མཁན་པོ་དཔལ་འབྱོར་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ལགས་.
“May We Gather” to commemorate Asian American ancestors with ceremony, peace walk on March 16
Associated Press - Religion
Lion’s Roar
By Martine Panzica
The event marks the three-year memorial of the 2021 Atlanta-area spa shootings, which claimed the lives of eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent.
East Bay peace walk, pilgrimage seek to draw attention to Asian-American trauma and promote healing
The Mercury News
February 24, 2024
By Judith Prieve
Buddhists, Asian scholars and others to gather March 16 in Antioch, site of historic city apology to Chinese for past harms.
“May We Gather” Returns to Honor Victims of Anti-Asian Hate
Buddhist Churches of America
February 13, 2024
By Jon Kawamoto
The March 16 event in Antioch, California, will be held from 12 to 5 p.m. PST at El Campanil Theater, 602 W. 2nd St., Antioch.
Asian American Buddhists Commemorate Anti-Asian Violence and Murders with “May We Gather 2024”
Buddhistdoor Global
January 29, 2024
By Raymond Lam
May We Gather seeks to remind Americans and the world that the shootings must be accorded their proper context: “a broader tapestry of anti-Asian animus, religious bigotry, and injustice against women” in the US and, in different contexts, elsewhere in the Global North.
“Forty-Nine Days” – Case Study
In Pluralism in Practice: Case Studies of Leadership in a Religiously Diverse America, edited by Elinor J. Pierce (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2023)
May We Gather honored ancestors across multiple eras and of diverse backgrounds.
AAPI Action: 100 ways Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and allies have found solutions to racism and violence
NBC News
May 2, 2024
By Angela Yang, Kimmy Yam, Claire Wang, Brahmjot Kaur
Illustrations by Sophi Miyoko Gullbrants
#32 – Asian American Buddhists mourn those lost in Atlanta area: For many practicing Buddhists, the 49th day after someone’s death marks a transition point in the mourning period.
Funie Hsu and Chenxing Han Discuss “May We Gather” Ceremony
The Lion’s Roar
May 5, 2021
By Nancy Chu
Lion’s Roar associate editor Nancy Chu spoke with Funie Hsu and Chenxing Han about “May We Gather,” a ceremony held by Buddhist leaders and allies offering “spiritual community, reflection, and collective healing” in the face of rising anti-Asian American violence across the U.S.
“May We Gather” Buddhist memorial ceremony offers Asian American community space to heal
The Lion’s Roar
May 5, 2021
By Mihiri Tillakaratne
Lion’s Roar associate editor Mihiri Tillakaratne reports on “May We Gather,” the national Buddhist memorial Ceremony for Asian American ancestors that took place on May 4.
A NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING
Rafu Shimpo
May 7, 2021
By Gwen Muranaka
Photography by Mikey Hirano Culross
Diverse Buddhist leadership mark 49 days since Atlanta shooting. On May 4 — the 49th day since a gunman killed eight in Atlanta, including six Asian women — Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo played host to a stirring memorial for the dead and those suffering from anti-Asian hate. “We the Sangha of the United States,” intoned Rev. Duncan Ryuken Williams of Zenshuji Soto Mission, “have gathered to recall our interconnectedness, feel the presence of those who have gone before and to get back up.”
For the Ancestors and for Peace: A Conversation with the Organizers of “May We Gather”
Buddhist Door Global
July 2, 2021
By Harsha Menon
Photography by Tenzin Kiyosaki. Image courtesy of Tauran Photography, tauran.com
Buddhist monastics and teachers from diverse lineages joined together on 4 May 2021 for the first national Buddhist memorial service in response to anti-Asian violence. The event, “May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial Ceremony for Asian American Ancestors,” which was held in person and shared via livestream, marked a historic collective experience in the history of American Buddhism. What began in tragedy, transformed over those few hours into an expression of solidarity and community.
Young Asian American Buddhists are reclaiming narrative after decades of white dominance
NBC News
July 9, 2021
By Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil
Image by Cinyee Chiu for NBC News
Asian Americans make up two-thirds of Buddhists in the U.S. but have long been marginalized in popular perceptions of the religion. A new generation is pushing back.