The exterior of San Francisco Zen Center's Tassajara Zendo is seen.

“Negation After Negation You Attain Liberation”: Shosan with Suzuki Roshi

Sit in on the Q&A session with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi at the end of the second sesshin ever at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. An excerpt from David Chadwick’s new book, Tassajara Stories.

David Chadwick

How Do We Make Sense of Rebirth?

Questions around rebirth—from how it works to whether it’s even real—have energized and divided Buddhists for millennia. In this excerpt from his book “Rebirth,” Roger R. Jackson unpacks the complexity of it all and offers four basic approaches to incorporating it (or not) into our own practice.

Roger R. Jackson

Deep Dive

Interdependence

This month’s Deep Dive features Buddhist teachers on the key concept of dependent origination, also known as interdependence. Buddhism prizes the notion that all is interconnected and in change, even if imperceptibly. Reckoning with this idea amounts to much more than an intellectual exercise; it’s essential to our collective and individual liberation. Featuring Ajahn Buddhadhasa, Francesca Fremantle, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Roshi Pat O’Hara, the 17th Karmapa, and Tenshin Reb Anderson.

Understanding Emptiness & Interdependence

Emptiness and interdependence—they’re more than concepts; they’re key to realizing real-world benefits in our lives. His Holiness The Karmapa helps us put our wisdom into practice.

The Karmapa

What is Interdependent Origination?

Interdependent Origination as defined by Francesca Fremantle, a scholar and translator of Sanskrit and Tibetan works.

Francesca Fremantle

Karma: The Choice Is Yours

There are two ways to understand dependent origination, teaches Ajahn Buddhadasa. But only one leads to liberation.

Ajahn Buddhadasa

why the wheel turns tenshin reb anderson San Francisco Zen Center Buddhism Lion's Roar

Why the Wheel Turns Three Times

A buddha is someone who sees the way things really are. When we see the way things really are, we see that we are all interdependent.

Tenshin Reb Anderson

Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are

The African philosophy of ubuntu teaches that we are human only through the humanity of others. Buddhists of African descent explore the synergy between ubuntu and the Buddhist teachings on interdependence.

Pamela Ayo Yetunde

Enkyo Pat O'Hara Which River Will You Cross Social Justice Buddhism

Which River Will You Cross?

Whether buying products on the Internet or Skyping with our students and teachers, we instantly recognize our interdependence, and yet how about when we walk outside our door?

Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara

This Is the Buddha’s Love: An Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh

The great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh talks about non-self, interdependence, and the love that expands until it has no limit.

Melvin McLeod

More Deep Dives
Deep Dive

Living Buddhist Ethics

Looking primarily at the three sila aspects of the Buddha’s eightfold path—right action, right speech, and right livelihood—leading dharma figures explain how, as Buddhists in today’s world, we can live ethically, and in accord with what the dharma teaches.

Man in Zen robes with hands in gassho

Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom 

Norman Fischer on how sila, samadhi, and prajna work together to give us stability on the Buddhist path to liberation.

A Buddhist monastic holds up their saffron-colored robe

Understanding the Vinaya

Amy Paris Langenberg on the history, evolution, and modern manifestations of the training rules followed by Buddhist monastics.

A collage whose pieces comprise an abstract human face

Dukkha as a Doorway to Liberation

Scott Tusa on how Buddhist ethics transcend mere morality and help us to realize awakening.

Deep Dive

The Six Dharmas of Naropa

Considered a fast track to buddhahood, the Six Dharmas are advanced tantric practices including tummo (inner heat), yoga of the dream state, resting in luminosity, and more. Featuring an overview by Pema Khandro Rinpoche, plus in-depth teachings by specialists in each of the Six Dharmas.

The Swift Path to Buddhahood

Pema Khandro on the fascinating history, practice, and purpose of the Six Dharmas of Naropa.

The Practice of Fierce Inner Heat

Judith Simmer-Brown on tummo, one of the most famous esoteric practices of Tibetan Vajrayana and the Six Dharmas. What is it, what are its benefits, and what role does it play in our journey to enlightenment?

A Wake-Up Call

Andrew Holecek on bardo, one of the Six Dharmas of Naropa’s two practices for helping us find our way, when the time comes, through the death experience. It can help us in life, too.

Embodying the Sacred: Charya Nritya, the Sacred Dance of Nepal’s Newar Vajrayana Buddhist Tradition

While in Nepal, Buddhadharma deputy editor Mariana Restrepo met with Punya Sagara, a devoted practitioner of Charya Nritya, to explore how this meditative practice endures as both a spiritual path and a living cultural heritage.

Mariana Restrepo

A small statue of Eihei Dogen in seen up close.

Dropping Body and Mind

In her new book, Meeting the Myriad Things, American Zen teacher Shinshu Roberts unpacks Dogen’s famed text Genjokoan (“Actualization of Reality”). Here she dives into Dogen’s most quoted teaching.

Shinshu Roberts

Ask the Teachers
VIDEO

You’ll find these and much more on the Lion’s Roar YouTube channel.

What If Buddhists Engaged AI as Part of Practice?

Deborah McGlauflin offers a dharma-grounded reflection on how our everyday interactions with AI can shape its moral and emotional tone. Drawing on her experience with a custom chatbot named Skywalker, she invites us to treat digital dialogue as a form of mindful speech and karmic imprint

Deborah McGlauflin

Pure Perception – How Poison Becomes Medicine

This article, part of Mingyur Rinpoche’s new year-long teaching series, Blueprints of Awakening, explores how pure perception and the wisdom of buddhanature can transform even our deepest suffering into a path of liberation.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Buddhism A–Z

Learn all about key Buddhist terms, concepts, and traditions in our in-depth glossary — perfect for beginners and committed dharma practitioners alike.