This summer the Ecodharma Centre, a Triratna centre in Catalunya, will be linking up with the Natural Dharma Fellowship in the United States. Through live web link ups the two organisations will be connecting Ecodharma’s Engaged Buddhist Training, with Natural Dharma’s Eco Dharma conference this August.

The Engaged Buddhist Training, exploring Dharma-based approaches to social action, has been running in Europe every summer for several years now. This year sees the first Eco Dharma Conference, touching on similar themes, in the United States, bring together prominent Buddhist teachers and environmental activists to explore the intersection of Buddhism and stewardship of the earth. “It’s great to see other folk in the Buddhist world giving similar attention as we do to the social and ecological context of Dharma practice,” says Ecodharma’s director Guhyapati.

Amongst the line-up at the US conference, hosted by Lama Willa Miller, is David Loy, who has done a lot of theoretical work around Buddhist social engagement. “David is a really interesting thinker on social and ecological themes from a Buddhist perspective,” says Guhyapati. “We are delighted that the two events can hook up and we can benefit from cross-pollination of ideas.”

The Engaged Buddhist Training runs in Catalunya, Spain, from August 2nd to 16th, 2014, and the Eco Dharma Conference takes place in the United States between August 8th and 11th.