Chân Phǻp Dung graduated with a B.A. in architecture from USC. He found his true calling, however, away from the drafting table and as a senior Dharma teacher at Plum Village in Loubès-Bernac, France.
“Making space outside is one thing, making space inside is another,” said Dung, one of three spiritual leaders who offered their insights on life during a gathering of spiritual leaders held tonight at USC Annenberg.
Dung was one of three panelists who represented some of the 104 exemplars interviewed by USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) for its five-year project titled “Spiritual Exemplars: A Global Project on Engaged Spirituality.” The project published stories of exemplars from 13 different faith traditions, six different regions and 42 countries.
Dung is focused on spreading his practices to international communities through activism. He teaches mindfulness, and is committed to the building of “communities of resistance” to the “pressures” of contemporary society.
Despite the three panelists hailing from different backgrounds and spiritual beliefs, all panelists projected a similar message of working for individuals to change lives, instead of working to change the world as a whole.
Another panelist, Father Greg Boyle, came to speak about transforming communities. Since 1986, Father Boyle has operated Homeboy Industries, a program focused on the rehabilitation of former teenage gang members, and one that has reached 7,800 community clients. Homeboy Industries, created to provide healing initiatives to former gang members who were caught in a loop of violence and incarceration, provides programs that include substance abuse resources, an 18-month employment program and tattoo removal. Boyle is still helping others at Homeboy to this day.
“What if we invested in people rather than incarcerate our way out,” said Father Boyle. “Maybe we’ll stop punishing wounds and together we’ll be healing it.”
Father Boyle appreciated the opportunity to do outreach with a diverse group of spiritual leaders at the panel, saying “This is wonderful, it’s nice to be with those other two because they all have a story of their own anchor and you like to be around people like that.”
Sabrina Sojourner, a Shaliach Tzibur and Community Chaplain, said she was at first resistant to participate in this panel, but realized her teachings were valuable to educating others about how “we live our lives as good people, who are kind and who are about making and providing.”
“This is not about practicing one’s faith or spirituality, it’s about living one’s faith and spirituality. And finding the ways to not change the world, but to change and impact people one at a time, or in small groups. And it’s really recognizing that and really understanding that I really do have a very solid core basis by which I operate has really going to transform how I do the work that I do,” said Sojourner.
The reception’s co-sponsors were the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, USC Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, USC Annenberg Center on Public Diplomacy and USC Dornsife.