Reflections with the 2024 May We Gather Co-Organizers: Funie Hsu, Chenxing Han and Duncan Ryūken Williams

Funie Hsu, Chenxing Han, and Duncan Ryūken Williams are the
co-organizers of May We Gather, a collaborative project of
commemorative healing, by and for Asian American Buddhists and
their spiritual friends. What began in 2022 as a response to the
uptick in violence and hate towards Asian Americans, has
continued into 2024, as a second iteration of May We Gather, this
time in the form of ritual memorial, and also as a precious and
much needed space for gathering and community. In this interview,
the three co-organizers share their reflections on the 2024
event.

Watch the entire live stream recording of May We Gather
2024.

Learn more about May We Gather.

GUESTS:

FUNIE HSU (she/they) is an Associate Professor of American
studies at San Jose State University whose transdisciplinary
research interests are shaped by their background as a former
public elementary school teacher and a Taiwanese American
heritage Buddhist from a working class, multilingual family. Look
for their upcoming article in the Review of Education, Pedagogy
and Cultural Studies which examines contemporary challenges to
mindfulness in US K-12 public schools within the framework of
White Christian nationalism, particularly with the perpetuation
of positioning Asians and Buddhism as heathen, immoral, and a
threat to the US.

CHENXING HAN (she/her) is an author, educator, and speaker whose
work explores the possibilities that emerge at the intersections
of Buddhism, Asian America, spiritual care, and creative
expression. She is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising the
Voices of Asian American Buddhists and One Long Listening: A
Memoir of Grief, Friendship, and Spiritual Care.

DUNCAN RYŪKEN WILLIAMS (he/him) was ordained as a Soto Zen
Buddhist priest at Kotakuji Temple (Nagano, Japan) in 1993. He
served as a Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University, where he
received his Ph.D. in 2000. Currently, he serves as a priest at
Zenshuji Soto Mission in Los Angeles and Professor of Religion at
the University of Southern California. He is the author of
American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World
War and The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Soto Zen
Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan. 


HOST

REV. LIÊN SHUTT (she/they) is a recognized leader in the movement
that breaks through the wall of American white-centered convert
Buddhism to welcome people of all backgrounds into a
contemporary, engaged Buddhism. As an ordained Zen priest,
licensed social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of
Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of
spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome
to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and those
seeking a “home” in the midst of North American society’s
reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia.
Shutt is a founder of Access to Zen (2014). You can learn more
about her work at AccessToZen.org. Her new book,
Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold
Path. See all her offerings at EVENTS