In the Light of Oakland (A Series)

Mushim

Mushim Patricia Ikeda is a Buddhist meditation teacher, socially engaged Buddhist activist, diversity facilitator, and author, who teaches meditation retreats for people of color, women, and social justice activists nationally. She is one of three women featured in Acting on Faith: Women's New Religious Activism in America, a documentary available from the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

Mushim was originally trained in the Korean Zen monastic tradition, and has had broad exposure to Buddhist practices and teachings within the Mahayana and Theravada lineages since 1981. Her writing has been published in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, ColorLines magazine, the Poets Against the War anthology, Turning Wheel: The Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism, seminal anthologies of Asian North American poetry, and other books and journals. She is the first recipient of the Ragdale Foundation's Alice Hayes Fellowship supporting a writing project having to do with social justice issues.

Mushim is also a core teacher at East Bay Meditation Center (http://www.eastbaymeditation.org/index.php?s=1) as well as a member of the Leadership Sangha at EBMC (the equivalent of the Board of Directors).

Mushim’s Dharma teachings are supported by the practice of generous giving (Dana). She lives simply in order to share the practices of Buddhist meditation and mindfulness with others in a fully accessible manner. However, people are welcome to donate to EBMC teachers at any time. If you wish to do so outside of the context of a class, you might (1) Donate through the teachers Website (http://mushim.wordpress.com/) if that Website has a donate button (IT DOES!); (2) Or you can go to EBMC's Website and click on the "Donate Now/Network for Good donation" button and donate online using a credit card and specify that the donation is intended to go to a particular teacher; or (3) Write a check to the teacher and send it to EBMC. EBMC's bookkeeper will ensure that these donations get to the teacher.

Mushim is a Light of Oakland shining brightly so that the rest of us may also and equally brightly shine.