Angel Kyodo Williams
Encyclopedia
angel Kyodo williams is an African American
//mixed race writer, ordained Zen
priest and the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace (ISBN 0670892688), published by Viking Press
in 2000. Called "the most vocal and most intriguing African-American Buddhist in America" by Library Journal
, she is the Spiritual Director of the meditation-based New Dharma Community and founder of the Center for Transformative Change (formerly Center for Urban Peace in Oakland) in Berkeley, California
and is also credited with developing fearlessMeditation, fearlessYoga and Warrior Spirit Training. Her given buddhist name, Kyodo, means "Way of Teaching."
father in Queens
and Brooklyn
and then by her mother in Tribeca
, Manhattan
after her parents separated. She attended junior high school in Chinatown
, New York
, a school that was ninety percent ethnic Chinese, high school in Chelsea
and attended Nazareth College in Rochester
, NY.
's, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
", and receiving her first formal meditation instruction at San Francisco Zen Center
while visiting California
, Williams sought a community and teacher. Originally a formal student of Roshi
Pat Enkyo O'Hara at the Village Zendo
in New York
, she was ordained as a priest by Francisco "Paco" Lugoviña from whom she also received denkai and hoshi
empowerments, authorizing her to transmit the precepts to others and making her a dharma holder in the Zen
tradition, respectively.
, daughter of novelist Alice Walker
, opened Kokobar, the first cybercafe owned and operated by African American
women, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
with financial backing from, among others, rockstar Tracy Chapman
, filmmaker Spike Lee
and Rita Owens (mother of Dana Owens, aka Queen Latifah
.) Walker withdrew from the affairs of the business and left it to Williams shortly after it opened. Chapman, who originally agreed to be an investor but later offered only a highly collateralized loan, called in the loan and less than six months later, in a surprise seizure action, sent sheriffs to remove the physical property of the cafe, causing the popular neighborhood cafe to close in 1997.
In 2000, Williams wrote Being Black, a nonfiction work published by Putnam/Penguin, to introduce more Black people and people of colors to Buddhist principles by writing what Boston Globe staff writer Vanessa E. Jones called, "an easily understandable explanation of Zen
practice." She sought to use Buddhism's "profoundly anti-elitist, anti-authoritarian, and antisectarian essence to revitalize" black identity politics and practice in America, but the book was rejected by many white-owned Buddhist bookstore owners who objected to the conversational tone Williams used, categorizing it as an African American book, rather than a Buddhist book." Interestingly, the book was critically acclaimed by mainstream reviewers and predicted to become "a classic" by one of American Buddhism's foremost and most teachers, Jack Kornfield
.
In 2003, Waxploitation Records founder Jeff Antebi
approached Williams' publisher to create a musical companion to Being Black. The CD, published by Spun Records, features work by well-known hiphop artists, MCs and producers, including Blackalicious, Will.i.am of Black-Eyed Peas, Jazzy Jeff, Jurassic 5 and King Britt, among others. The CD includes both original and existing music "inspired by" the book. Poet Ursula Rucker
performs vocal interludes which are quotes of Williams taken directly from the book. A Japan-distributed import version was released shortly after the American release.
In 2003, she also received a Spiritual Activism Fellowship along with seven others considered at the forefront of that field.
Later that year, she moved from New York City to Oakland, CA and in January 2004, founded the New Dharma Meditation Center specific serving as teacher and spiritual director. The center was established specifically to serve the spiritual needs of people of color while developing an approach to training that viewed individual, community and social transformation as a spiritual practice. Williams consistently challenged the established Buddhist communities in America, which are largely white, to make people of color welcome in practice settings, which she regarded as a failure of that population. Beginning in a small sublet, it transitioned to a 3-story Victorian home on the border of Emeryville.
Having grown into a residential practice center with a focus on social transformation, the New Dharma Meditation Center moved to its current home in Berkeley, California
in 2007. There, it was renamed the Center for Urban Peace and in 2009 became the Center for Transformative Change (CXC).
Williams has been featured on the Oxygen Channel (Oxygen (TV channel)
) and CNNfn
, and has appeared in The New York Times
, Boston Globe, Village Voice, Wired (magazine)
, Essence (magazine)
, and other publications. She now focuses her attention on the emerging field of "Transformative Social Change
" an approach to social justice outcomes Williams deems a new social movement and is credited with coining the phrase for with respect to this area and field of work by way of several essays.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
//mixed race writer, ordained Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
priest and the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace (ISBN 0670892688), published by Viking Press
Viking Press
Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
in 2000. Called "the most vocal and most intriguing African-American Buddhist in America" by Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
, she is the Spiritual Director of the meditation-based New Dharma Community and founder of the Center for Transformative Change (formerly Center for Urban Peace in Oakland) in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
and is also credited with developing fearlessMeditation, fearlessYoga and Warrior Spirit Training. Her given buddhist name, Kyodo, means "Way of Teaching."
Early life
Williams was raised by her firefighterFirefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
father in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and then by her mother in Tribeca
TriBeCa
Tribeca is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym based on the words "Triangle below Canal Street", and is properly bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Broadway, and Vesey Street...
, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
after her parents separated. She attended junior high school in Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, a school that was ninety percent ethnic Chinese, high school in Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
and attended Nazareth College in Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, NY.
Spiritual History
After reading D. T. Suzuki's "Zen and Japanese Culture", Shunryu SuzukiShunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō Zen roshi who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, particularly around San Francisco. Born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Suzuki was occasionally mistaken for the Zen scholar D.T...
's, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a book of teachings by the late Shunryu Suzuki, a compilation of talks given to his satellite Zen center in Los Altos, California. Published in 1970 by Weatherhill, the book is not academic. These are frank and direct transcriptions of Suzukis' talks recorded by his...
", and receiving her first formal meditation instruction at San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center , is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising the City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu...
while visiting California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Williams sought a community and teacher. Originally a formal student of Roshi
Roshi
is a Japanese honorific title used in Zen Buddhism that literally means "old teacher" or "elder master" and sometimes denotes a person who gives spiritual guidance to a Zen sangha or congregation...
Pat Enkyo O'Hara at the Village Zendo
Village Zendo
Village Zendo is a Soto Zen practice center originally located in the apartment of Enkyo Pat O'Hara, who founded the zendo in 1986. Formerly located in a red brick building, the Zen center took up the majority of space in O'Hara's apartment. The center has since moved to its new location on...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, she was ordained as a priest by Francisco "Paco" Lugoviña from whom she also received denkai and hoshi
Hoshi
is a Japanese word which means star. It is also a surname. is an unrelated word meaning "dried." is a Japanese surname with a similar pronunciation. is unrelated to the preceding words, and pronounced differently. It is a technical term in Buddhism...
empowerments, authorizing her to transmit the precepts to others and making her a dharma holder in the Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
tradition, respectively.
Career
In 1996, she and Rebecca WalkerRebecca Walker
Rebecca Walker is an American writer. She has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 50 future leaders of America.-Early life:...
, daughter of novelist Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
, opened Kokobar, the first cybercafe owned and operated by African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
women, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Part of Brooklyn Community Board 2, Fort Greene is listed on the New York State Registry and on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a New York City-designated Historic District...
with financial backing from, among others, rockstar Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
, filmmaker Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
and Rita Owens (mother of Dana Owens, aka Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
.) Walker withdrew from the affairs of the business and left it to Williams shortly after it opened. Chapman, who originally agreed to be an investor but later offered only a highly collateralized loan, called in the loan and less than six months later, in a surprise seizure action, sent sheriffs to remove the physical property of the cafe, causing the popular neighborhood cafe to close in 1997.
In 2000, Williams wrote Being Black, a nonfiction work published by Putnam/Penguin, to introduce more Black people and people of colors to Buddhist principles by writing what Boston Globe staff writer Vanessa E. Jones called, "an easily understandable explanation of Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
practice." She sought to use Buddhism's "profoundly anti-elitist, anti-authoritarian, and antisectarian essence to revitalize" black identity politics and practice in America, but the book was rejected by many white-owned Buddhist bookstore owners who objected to the conversational tone Williams used, categorizing it as an African American book, rather than a Buddhist book." Interestingly, the book was critically acclaimed by mainstream reviewers and predicted to become "a classic" by one of American Buddhism's foremost and most teachers, Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield is a teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, including as a student of the Thai monk Ajahn Chah...
.
In 2003, Waxploitation Records founder Jeff Antebi
Jeff Antebi
Jeff Antebi is an American entrepreneur in the arts, best known as the founder of Waxploitation Artists and for his photographic works from war and conflict zones.-Waxploitation Artists:...
approached Williams' publisher to create a musical companion to Being Black. The CD, published by Spun Records, features work by well-known hiphop artists, MCs and producers, including Blackalicious, Will.i.am of Black-Eyed Peas, Jazzy Jeff, Jurassic 5 and King Britt, among others. The CD includes both original and existing music "inspired by" the book. Poet Ursula Rucker
Ursula Rucker
Ursula Rucker is an American spoken word recording artist. Rucker is known for a diverse repertoire, and for utilizing techniques that catch her listeners' attention.-Biography:...
performs vocal interludes which are quotes of Williams taken directly from the book. A Japan-distributed import version was released shortly after the American release.
In 2003, she also received a Spiritual Activism Fellowship along with seven others considered at the forefront of that field.
Later that year, she moved from New York City to Oakland, CA and in January 2004, founded the New Dharma Meditation Center specific serving as teacher and spiritual director. The center was established specifically to serve the spiritual needs of people of color while developing an approach to training that viewed individual, community and social transformation as a spiritual practice. Williams consistently challenged the established Buddhist communities in America, which are largely white, to make people of color welcome in practice settings, which she regarded as a failure of that population. Beginning in a small sublet, it transitioned to a 3-story Victorian home on the border of Emeryville.
Having grown into a residential practice center with a focus on social transformation, the New Dharma Meditation Center moved to its current home in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
in 2007. There, it was renamed the Center for Urban Peace and in 2009 became the Center for Transformative Change (CXC).
Williams has been featured on the Oxygen Channel (Oxygen (TV channel)
Oxygen (TV channel)
Oxygen is an American cable television specialty channel with television programming marketed towards women, with a format similar to Lifetime.- History :...
) and CNNfn
CNNfn
CNNfn was a U.S. cable television news network operated by the CNN subsidiary of the media comglomerate Time Warner from December 29, 1995 and of AOL-Time Warner until December 15, 2004. The network was dedicated to covering financial markets and business news.It was available in a number of...
, and has appeared in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Boston Globe, Village Voice, Wired (magazine)
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
, Essence (magazine)
Essence (magazine)
Essence is a monthly magazine for African-American women between the ages of 18 and 49. The magazine covers fashion, lifestyle and beauty with an intimate girlfriend-to-girlfriend tone.-History:...
, and other publications. She now focuses her attention on the emerging field of "Transformative Social Change
Transformative Social Change
Transformative Social Change is a philosophical, practical and strategic process to effect revolutionary change within society, i.e., social transformation. It is effectively a systems approach applied to broad-based social change and social justice efforts to catalyze sociocultural, socioeconomic...
" an approach to social justice outcomes Williams deems a new social movement and is credited with coining the phrase for with respect to this area and field of work by way of several essays.
Books
- Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness and Grace, Hardcover Edition ISBN 0670892688(2000)
- Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness and Grace, Paperback Edition ISBN 0140196307(2002)
- Framing Deep Change: Essays on Transformative Social Change, Editor, ISBN 9780982884508(2010)
Recordings
- Being Black: A Musical Companion Inspired By the Angel Kyodo Williams Classic, worldcat.org ASIN B00007KFSG (2003)
- Being Black: A Musical Companion Inspired By the Angel Kyodo Williams Classic, Japan Release (2003)