Rod Meade Sperry takes a look at how the late comedian Mike DeStefano, whose posthumous LP, Puppies and Heroin was just released, found himself on the Buddhist path. Bonus video: Mikey D’s act, as captured on his live CD OK Karma, could get pretty nasty at times, but was still in many ways friendly and strong. But that album doesn’t capture the depth and breadth of [...]
About Rod Meade Sperry
In honor of “Character Day,” a Buddhist guide to character strengths
Thursday, September 22, marks the third annual Global Character Day, which was launched by filmmaker and Webby Awards founder, Tiffany Shlain. The idea of the day is to get us all talking about "the importance of character building in today’s increasingly distracted and overly-connected world." Sounds to us at Lion's Roar like a very good thing to do. Perhaps the place to start [...]
The Tibetan Comic-Book of the Dead
It's fun! It's visionary! It features Donald Trump as Yama Raja, the Lord of Death. It's "The Comic Bardo Thodol" (aka The Tibetan Book of the Dead), as created and executed by writer/artist Thomas Scoville. How nice to see it making the rounds online again, since it's now been posted on UltraCulture.org. It first surfaced in 2008, and I reached out to Scoville, who [...]
Groundhog Day, Harold Ramis’s “underground Buddhist classic,” is Broadway-bound
Here's some news comedy fans will like, not least of all Buddhist ones: Groundhog Day, Harold Ramis's beloved 1993 film, has been adapted for the stage and will be headed to Broadway in 2017. But wait, you may be wondering... there's such a thing as Buddhist comedy? I didn't even know Buddhists have a sense of humor! Well, comedy is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone, [...]
Watch the heartwarming “Love Has No Labels” — the first PSA to win an Emmy
We first shared this beautiful PSA in March of 2015. Now, it's the first PSA to win an Emmy Award. "Love Has No Labels," made by the Ad Council as part of a year-long campaign about implicit bias, reminds us about love's power to cross any and all perceived boundaries. "Most of us aren’t even conscious of our prejudice," the campaign's website explains. "That’s why [...]
Threatened by fire, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center cancels guest season, seeks funds to cover “devastating” losses
In a new letter posted on the San Francisco Zen Center blog, SFZC president Susan O'Connell has announced that "guest season will not reopen this summer" at SFZC's Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, due to the ongoing threat posed by California's raging wildfires. The closure itself, too, represents a challenge. Writes O'Connell: While we do have business interruption insurance, [...]
McZen! This use of a Buddhist term is a real whopper
Has the "Dharma-Burger" gone meta? Zen teacher Brad Warner was kind enough to send this my way just now: This McDonald's tweet is an example of what we call a "Dharma-Burger." That is, "any example of Buddhist thought or imagery being infused into advertising or marketing—and, therefore, pop/mass-culture." Sometimes tasty, they're more often cheesy and/or [...]
Mindfulness: It’s All Good
The opening editorial from our "Buddhist Teachings on Mindfulness" issue. If “mindfulness” seems like a simple concept, that’s true. Also, it’s not. In the September 2016 issue of Lion’s Roar, you’ll find a number of definitions. In Joseph Goldstein’s teaching on page 42, for example, mindfulness is first defined as “the quality and power of mind that is aware of what is [...]
The Buddha in Obama’s pocket
A little something for Throwback Thursday: In a White House-produced YouTube video first shared on January 15, President Obama addressed a number of things -- including what's in his pockets. It turns out that, along with a rosary gifted to him by Pope Francis, a small Buddha statuette, given to him by a monk, is often found on the president's person. "Ever since I started [...]
Trailers: Doctor Strange has a Buddhist wifi password; Iron Fist is still white
In this new official trailer for Doctor Strange, we get a new, longer glimpse at Benedict Cumberbatch as Marvel's "master of the mystic arts" -- and, at the end, learn how how his neighbors can hack his internet. Strange's wifi password will be recognizable to many, not least of all our readers, who will recognize it as a variation on a key word in our old name, before we [...]