Lama Rod Owens on taking care of your own needs when you don’t see yourself represented in those around you. Question: I recently moved to a Buddhist retreat center where I am pretty much the only person of color. I knew that going in, but it’s been more difficult than I expected. I love the practice and don’t want to leave, but I feel uncomfortable and miss my own people [...]
Do You Know Your True Face?
Lama Rod Owens says we all need to look honestly at who we are, in all our complexity -- and that includes those who teach the dharma. Excerpted in the Fall 2017 Buddhadharma, "The Best of 15 Years." About a year after I finished the traditional three-year retreat program and had begun my work as a dharma teacher, I experienced a kind of breakdown, a severe sense of being [...]
The Unseen World
Lama Tsultrim Allione, Rob Preece, and Acharya Gaylon Ferguson discuss their individual relationships with nonmaterial realized beings and the purpose of including them in your practice. Introduction by Lama Rod Owens. I have never felt alone. I have always felt touched by an unseen world; the world of ghosts, spirits, demons, and angels has dwelled at times as close as a [...]
Have a Very Buddhist Christmas
Joy, giving, family, and peace—people of all faiths can celebrate these values of the holiday season. Eight Buddhists offer their take on yuletide dharma. One Perfect Christmas Bonnie Nadzam on letting go of holiday expectations, and simply enjoying the mystery and tradition of the season. I was raised Catholic and once, as a girl, I had The Perfect Christmas. The snow was [...]
How to Practice Shamatha Meditation
Shamatha meditation—mindfulness or concentration—is the foundation of Buddhist practice. Lama Rod Owens teaches us a version from the Vajrayana tradition. Shamatha means “peaceful abiding” or “tranquility.” Also called mindfulness or concentration meditation, shamatha is an important introductory practice that leads to the practice of vipashyana, or insight [...]
Protest Is My Spiritual Practice
Lama Rod Owens says protesting is a spiritual act that engages the practitioner's body, speech, and mind in service to others. But many Buddhists are resistant to resistance. On August 25, I marched with thousands of other religious leaders in the 1,000 Ministers March for Justice, organized by Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network. Ministers from across [...]
Stand Against Suffering: A Call to Action by Buddhist Teachers
Thirteen prominent teachers explain why Buddhists need to be be politically engaged at this crucial time in the country’s history, in this statement published in Lion’s Roar magazine and co-signed by more than 140 Buddhist leaders. As long as a society protects the vulnerable among them, they can be expected to prosper and not decline. —The Buddha, in the Mahaparinirvana [...]
Buddhists & Ethical Misconduct: We All Have Patriarchy Work to Do
Lama Rod Owens on why Buddhist community members — especially male-identified teachers, monks, staff, authorities, and lay practitioners — must confront and deal with ethical misconduct, and how to do it. Buddhist communities are not unlike other organized religious communities: where there is hierarchy, patriarchy, and a clergy class with weak accountability structures, [...]
My Body, My Life
How mindfulness has helped Buddhist teacher Lama Rod Owens live as a Black queer man in America. For me, practicing mindfulness is about showing up in the best way possible in my body and in my life. As an authorized lama in the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism, I am trained in Mahamudra, a system of meditation and philosophy that is concerned with revealing the true [...]
Forum: The Road Ahead
Gen X teachers from across traditions are transforming the vision and landscape of American Buddhism. Six years ago, Jack Kornfield and Noah Levine had the idea for post-baby-boomer-generation dharma teachers to meet, learn from, and support each other. Starting with that simple idea, Noah, Spring Washam, Josh Bartok, Lama Willa Miller, and I organized a conference, held in [...]
