colorful tiles collage painting with face and flower

On the Spectrum, On the Path

Meditation can help with navigating challenges, cultivating calm, and connecting with others. Four Buddhists with autism on how the practice has changed their lives.

Bird flying in blue sky with clouds

“I Miss the Sky”

Corresponding with prisoners, Katherine Jamieson has come to appreciate her own freedom.

Two figures bow towards each other

No Self, No Opponent

Are martial arts incompatible or in harmony with Zen? That depends, says Som Pourfarzaneh.

Illustration of woman getting haircut, looking in a broken mirror.

Love Thy Haircutter?

After an infuriating trim, Renshin Bunce realizes meditation isn’t helping her overcome anger—or is it?

collage of book covers

Lion’s Roar November 2023 Book Reviews

How do we transform suffering into happiness? Bonnie Nadzam surveys new books that are helping to show the way.

Mingyur Rinpoche sitting under a tree, looking off into the distance.

Clarity & Calm: An Interview With Mingyur Rinpoche

In this exclusive interview, Mingyur Rinpoche tells Lion’s Roar’s Andrea Miller how he learned to befriend his anxiety. We all have an innate well-being, he says. And we can all experience it.

Lotus flower

Nothing Is More Important Than Your Buddhanature

“What if,” asks Tsadra Foundation executive director Marcus Perman, “we were brought up with the knowledge that each one of us is by nature capable of complete freedom from suffering, and that we possess wisdom and compassion on a nearly unthinkable scale?”

Books

A Short Guide to Key Buddhanature Texts

Gary Donnelly shares a selection of key buddhanature texts to add to your reading list.

Pink flowers

How Insentient Beings Expound Dharma

Shohaku Okumura explains the connection between non-sentient beings and buddhanature.

green and black light sculpture

Meditations on Buddhanature

Four Buddhist teachers share concise instructions for recognizing the luminous nature of mind.

Bookshelf

Buddhadharma on Books: Fall 2023

Joie Szu-Chiao Chen reviews seven new books for the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma.

Joseph Goldstein. Photo by Stephanie Zollshan.

Joseph Goldstein: It’s Not Either-Or

In this conversation with Buddhadharma, the Insight Meditation Society cofounder applies the “harmonized understanding” approach championed in his book One Dharma to the idea of buddhanature. In the end, it’s not about who’s right or wrong about it. It’s about what leads us to less clinging.

A swimmer tries to stay afloat within a wave.

The World Between Breaths

Vanessa Zuisei Goddard on the famous Zen koan “Mu,” and how it helps us dive into buddhanature.

A Fire Runs Through All Things

Read an excerpt from A Fire Runs Through All Things: Zen Koans for Facing the Climate Crisis

An excerpt from Susan Murphy's new book, A Fire Runs through All Things: Zen Koans for Facing the Climate Crisis — as reviewed in the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide

Read “Masculinities Beyond the Buddha,” an excerpt from Buddhist Masculinities

An excerpt of Buddhist Masculinities edited by Megan Bryson and Kevin Buckelew— as reviewed in the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide

Weather Any Storm

Meditate with your children with Weather Any Storm author, Vanessa Zuisei Goddard

An excerpt Vanessa Zuisei Goddard's new book, Weather Any Storm — as reviewed in the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide

Gesar: Tantric Practices of the Tibetan Warrior King

Read “Gesar the Warrior” an excerpt from Gesar: Tantric Practices of the Tibetan Warrior King

An excerpt of Gesar: Tantric Practices of the Tibetan Warrior King— as reviewed in the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide

Bhikkhu Analayo

Read “The Basics of Signless Concentration,” an excerpt from Bhikkhu Analayo’s The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana

An excerpt from Bhikkhu Anālayo's new book, The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana — as reviewed in the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide

A hand holds a mirror, reflecting an eye looking back at itself.

Finding Nonself on My Gender Journey

René Rivera shares the direct experience of nonself he discovered along his gender journey as a trans man.

Nagarjuna, Arya along with the disciple Aryadeva, retrieving the Prajnaparamita Sutra from the Naga Realm, Eastern Tibet, 1800–1899. Unidentified artist, Rubin Museum of Art. Item no. 174.

To Be or Not To Be? Be a Buddha!

Looking at the words of classical texts, Karl Brunnhölzl explores the notions of buddhanature and emptiness—how they may be understood as one and the same, and how they are not identical.