Category: Buddhist Wisdom
Joyful Wandering
From ecology to nirvana to a monk in high heels — Bonnie Nadzam recommends new books for your spiritual journey.
Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022)
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and founder of the Engaged Buddhism movement, died January 22 in his home country of Vietnam. He was 95.
Continuing Thay’s Teachings
Meet eight of Thich Nhat Hanh’s students who are now teachers themselves. In their own unique ways, they’re helping to carry his dharma into the future.
Whatever Way the Wind Blows
So-called objective reality, Pico Iyer finds, is as fickle as the weather. Maybe that’s because it’s as much mind as matter.
Why Meditation isn’t Enough
We can’t just blindly meditate, says Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. Our practice must be illuminated by deep, critical study of the Buddhist teachings.
The Four Noble Truths Are a Plan of Action
Buddhist teacher and scholar Jan Willis on the Buddha’s central teaching — his diagnosis and cure for suffering.
Working with Loneliness on the Contemplative Path
Rashid Hughes explores the importance of listening to loneliness and leaning into social intimacy when engaging in contemplative practice.
America has Zen all the time. Why, my Teacher, should I meddle?
Teachings and poems by the late Nyogen Senzaki. From Like A Dream, Like a Fantasy: The Zen Writings and Translations of Nyogen Senzaki.
Empty, Pure, Luminous: Mind in Dzogchen and Mahamudra
Roger R. Jackson explains how different Tibetan schools approach the nature of mind, and why it matters.
Dharma for a Traumatized World
The cause of our global suffering is forgetting that we belong to one another and to the earth. Tara Brach recommends four practices to nourish a sense of collective belonging.
The Zen of Joan Didion
Read David Swick's classic Lion's Roar profile of Joan Didion, who died December 23 at age 87.
The Many Faces of Cultural Appropriation
What does cultural appropriation mean in a Buddhist context? According to Chenxing Han and Trent Walker, the answer is not as simple as we might like it to be.
May All Be Well: The Aspirations of the Medicine Buddha
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche shares the fundamentals of Buddhist medicine and the intentions behind it.
The Practice of Wonderment
When your life takes the shape of a question, says Guo Gu, then you have entered the practice of huatou.
Making Offerings to Our Ancestors
When we place offerings on the altar for teachers long past, do we understand what we are doing, or why? Zenju Earthlyn Manuel looks into the depths of that encounter between past and present.
Are my finances at odds with my Buddhist practice?
Sean Feit Oakes, Gendo Lucy Xiao, and Lama Liz Monson on balancing Buddhist practice and the financial realities of life.
When We Have No Choice
Sometimes, says Pema Khandro, there’s no way out. It’s at those times that we can discover the depth and resilience of the mind.
Buddhadharma Book Briefs for Winter 2021
Joie Szu-Chiao Chen reviews "We Were Made for These Times" by Kaira Jewel Lingo, "The Wakeful Bod" by Willa Baker Blythe, "The Buddha’s Tooth" by John S. Strong, and more.
What Stories Do We Allow Ourselves to Hear?
When we read fantastical stories in Buddhist texts, we might simply dismiss them as myth. Ralph H. Craig III invites us to look at them a little more deeply.
The Best of bell hooks: Life, Writings, Quotes, and Books
Renowned author, feminist theorist, and cultural critic bell hooks passed away on Dec. 15 at the age of 69. Read about her remarkable life and and work, alongside a selection of pieces by and conversations with hooks published in the pages of Lion's Roar.