For Native American Heritage Month, I want you to meet one of the most important Indigenous voices in our nation (and in my life), Dr. Bonnie Duran. Bonnie is a scholar, author, meditation teacher, professor of public health and social work at the University of Washington, and one of the leaders of the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute. She has led many public health research studies and community initiatives among Tribes, Native organizations, and communities of color for over 35 years.
Bonnie is also a member of my scientific advisory board, and most importantly, she is my meditation teacher, and a dear friend. I met Bonnie over a decade ago. As a newly minted lawyer, I went to my a silent meditation retreat where Bonnie was serendipitously assigned to be my teacher. I was carrying with me years of baggage around my own experiences of exclusion due to bias, but also incredible amounts of anger and disappointment around the racial disparities I witnessed daily in the criminal justice system.
In our first private meetings, I shared with her my anger, disappointment, and despair at the state of racial injustice, unconsciously uttering the phrase: “it shouldn’t be this way.” Without blinking, she replied, “But it is this way. And you shouldering reality will not change it. It will only prolong your suffering.” In the meditation world, a teacher is someone who clears the dust in students’ eyes so they can see more clearly. That is what my first meeting with Bonnie did for me. She helped me see my options more clearly: to continue to carry the burden or lighten the load. I know for a fact that I could not — or more likely would not — have received this message from any other person. Beyond Bonnie’s professional pedigree, she is personally a mixed race Opelousas/Coushatta descendent, Indigenous peoples from the lands that are now Louisiana and Mississippi.
While my mind cannot fathom the pain and horror her ancestors have experienced due to physical, cultural, and spiritual genocide (if you’re curious, you must read her book Native American Postcolonial Psychology), my body and my heart have experienced her tremendous healing and peace. This is because she has transmitted them to me through her dedicated practice, her teachings, and her truth telling.
Last week, I was so delighted to reconnect with Dr. Bonnie Duran to get her perspective on the causes of racial bias and the divisions in our society today. Carrying equanimity, humor, and optimism, she drops so much wisdom that she brings not only from her Indigenous lineages but also the meditation lineages from Asia, and her rigorous training as a scientist. Below are some highlights from our conversation.
~Anu
Bonnie, I’d love for you to share with me and our audiences your story.
In Indian Country, one of the first things we do is talk about our tribal affiliation to make it known that we are still here — despite the narratives of the dominant culture. So, I always start off by saying, “My name is Bonnie, an Opelousas/Coushatta descendant.”
My parents both moved from Louisiana to California—the Bay Area—before I was born, and I grew up there. I was raised very poor and I’m a first generation college student which has been an incredibly useful lens for me. Growing up, I didn’t know much about college or higher education in general. I was about to join the Navy and my brother asked, “Are you going to college?” I said, “College? What’s that?” He was the first Native American counselor for the Educational Opportunity special admissions program. And I became one of his first recruits. I started college in 1973 as a special admissions student. After college, I traveled the world for six or seven years and I came back to the U.S. for grad school at UC Berkeley which had a special American Indian program. One of my beloved professors—who I’m still close to today—said, “Bonnie, you need to stay for a PhD or a doctorate.” So, I did.
The path was not planned in any way but I knew deep down that I was committed to transforming my own suffering through the Dharma and to use my position to alleviate suffering in Indian country.
How did you find meditation and the Dharma [the Buddhist path]? What is the Dharma to you and how does it integrate into Indigenous way of seeing things?
Right after I finished college, all of my beloved white friends planned to take a trip to Europe for the summer. I had no money but I had some friends who had worked at an American military ski resort in Germany so I bought myself a one way ticket there in 1979 and got a job as a chambermaid. There, I met a lot of expatriates and world travelers and they said, “Bonnie, you have to go to Asia.” So, in 1982, I got a one way ticket to Nepal, and checked myself into Kopan Monastery.
I did the month-long with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa and from there we went straight to Bodh Gaya, India, and sat Vipassana retreats with Christopher Titmuss and listened to lectures from His Holiness the Dalia Lama. At the time, Joseph Goldstein was coming in and out of that retreat. Sharon Salzberg, I think was sitting behind me.
This was now forty years ago, and since that time, most of my vacations have been on silent meditation retreats, that I now also get to lead. Going on retreat has been an important part of my practice, because it was one of the rare places where I felt I was hearing the truth of my interconnectedness with everything. One of the foundational principles of Indigenous life is interconnectedness. We are all related and we are all interconnected with one another - not just humans, but all aspects of nature, the Earth, the sky, the wind, and all of the elements. That’s why I think the Dharma is so resonant with me and with Indigenous communities because we believe connection as a core foundation. We are all relatives. You are my relative.
At the same time, we can recognize systemic, economic, and educational harms that are embedded in the structure of the economy and history of this country. That’s how our beloved country is — the hostility of racism and sexism is present. The question is, what is an appropriate response to these conditions?
Let’s go there! What are some appropriate responses to racial and gender bias in our society?
All of those things begin in the mind. Our minds are filled with numerous stories and what we call defilements. These defilements are manifestations of greed, hatred, and delusion — the three root poisons. David Loy has written a book that outlines greed as our economic system, delusion as our entertainment system, and hatred as the military industrial complex. For me, liberation is about uprooting greed, hatred, and delusion. And we begin with ourselves.
I always tell people in retreat, “You might have a day, a week, or a month or two of sobbing meditation, or stomping meditation.” That’s just the body releasing historical trauma. People used to say, “Oh, intergenerational trauma is just an American Indian folk tale.” Then epigenetics discovered that extreme conditions in one generation actually makes the next generation more susceptible to substance abuse, depression, diabetes — all those things. So, I think on an individual level, the Dharma is excellent for clearing the body of that suffering. And we do that by recognizing those seeds in our own mind.
I see racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, all that stuff, pretty often in myself. Because I am an old brown woman, I am the object of a lot of microaggressions. When that arises, with mindfulness, I acknowledge, “I see you, settler. I see you, colonialism.” These are habit patterns that I too have learned about myself and others. I believe anyone who colonizes or dominates another person — whether they are white or cisgendered or straight — they may think they are better, but they’re actually getting played. They’re getting played by greed, hatred, and delusion too if they believe that this system is serving them.
What do you see as some pathways in creating equity and a sense of belonging to advance social justice?
It all starts with personal practice. Mindfulness allows us to be much more objective about what’s happening inside. It shows more clearly what our intentions are, and what is fueling our thoughts, our speech, and our actions.
We can do something with the intention of hurting or helping someone. When we act or speak with the intention of hurting, we are watering the seeds of greed, hatred, and delusion within ourselves. Similarly, if we want to help people realize what’s happening, that’s incredibly wholesome, we water the seeds of compassion and love within ourselves. That’s why I say that we have to be very careful of our intentions for our actions in the world.
If we are railing against the machine, based on anger and hate, that’s going to turn us into the machine. Checking in with ourselves, we ensure that our work is not based on anger and rejection, but based on a knowledge of our interconnectedness. At the end of the day, we are all related, and our work is to realize our interconnectedness. For white people, this means realizing that those aren’t just some brown or black or yellow people over there — they are our relatives, and we need to make sure they have what they need, too.
This is also important for historically marginalized people and for racialized groups of people. Mindfulness and the Dharma can be a source of transformative internal healing and a foundation for doing social justice work in the world. These practices are trying to free all of us from greed, hatred, and delusion. All systems of oppression are manifestations of that, and this way gives a very clear and loving way to address it with wisdom and power.
That has certainly been my journey and you helped me see and tend to the generations of pain that I carry in my own mind, body, and heart. Thank you. In closing, share with us about what you are working on right now and how we can support you.
I’ve worked in American Indian Indigenous communities my entire career and I’ve been trying to provide as much assistance as I can to Indian country, native rural nations, and urban native people. My colleague and I became co-chairs of the Native American expert panel for the Coronavirus Prevention Network. Dr. Karina Walters has taken the lead in doing a needs assessment survey in Indian country and I’m helping with that — I’ve worked with the Navajo Nation for many years. Same with the Oglala Lakota Nation. I’m also the community engagement person on a Novavax vaccine trial here at the University of Washington. I reached out to some of the local tribes and, now, the Lummi and Nooksack tribes are a mobile site for that trial. And I’ve been working with Sea-Mar, which is a Latinx federally qualified clinical healthcare organization that has 25 clinic sites in the Pacific Northwest. I am a natural connector and I feel so lucky that I get to do social justice work as my full-time job.
I don’t need support, but I will say that the biggest barrier for our Indigenous relatives to access the Dharma and mindfulness in general is money. Even with sliding scale registration fees, flying to Barre, Massachusetts, or flying to Woodacre, California, and taking time off, is expensive. Offering more generous scholarships or even online programming is going to be a huge, positive element in bringing healing to many people who might benefit from it!
Thank you, Bonnie!
Learn more about Bonnie’s work: University of Washington Faculty and Research Page, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, and sign up to complete a meditation retreat with Bonnie at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.