ABSTRACT
Christopher Queen's argument that intention is the sine qua non of any definition of engaged Buddhism is at once pragmatic and substantial. That is to say, we can regard as authentically Buddhist social action in which principles and techniques are practiced in the name of the Awakened One, in accord with the teachings of wisdom and compassion, and in the spirit of an unbroken community working in harmony with the Three Refuges. Ajarn Buddhadasa's suggestion that what quenches dukkha is Buddhist similarly directs us to both intention and its manifestations in consequence. In these forms, nomenclature does not separate the life of action from that of the spiritual path. Rather, they are seen as complementary. I
The aim of this chapter is to describe a model now in the process of implementation by Vipassana Hawaii, an organization based in Honolulu and founded in 1984 by Steven Smith and Michelle McDonald-Smith. The model has evolved as part of and in response to the founders' more than twenty years of experience in the Insight Meditation Society.2 In addition, the model reflects their work with the environmental movement in North America, and their active engagement with an ongoing series of developmental projects located in the Sagaing Hills of Central Burma, which has long been a center of Burmese Theravadin practice.
