Bhante Henepola Gunaratana — affectionately known as "Bhante G." — had a moment of coming face-to-face with death while on a flight. Here's what he told an audience at Cittaviveka, a Buddhist monastery in the UK, about it. I had received word of my mother's final illness. On the way to Sri Lanka from Washington, DC, I changed planes to a jumbo jet in Hawaii. An hour or two [...]
bell hooks and John Perry Barlow talk “prana in cyberspace”
From the Lion's Roar archives, a 1995 conversation between digital activist and lyricist John Perry Barlow — who died on February 7, 2018 — and social theorist bell hooks. John Perry Barlow: "On paper, you are my polar opposite [bell hooks: iconoclastic feminist, leading African-American intellectual, progressive Buddhist, self-proclaimed homebody], yet I feel none of that [...]
Study suggests Tibetan Buddhist monastics have an above-average fear of death
In a study, researchers were surprised to find that Tibetan monks and nuns in showed much more fear of death than other participants. On January 22, the journal Cognitive Science published a paper comparing attitudes toward self and the fear of death between different groups. Participants in the studies included non-religious Westerners, Hindus, Christians, lay Tibetans, [...]
Ursula K. Le Guin on Housman’s Classic Poem “From Far”
Ursula K. Le Guin analyzes A.E. Housman's poem, "From Far." From the November 2007 Lion's Roar. A Shropshire Lad: XXXII From far, from eve and morning And yon twelve-winded sky, The stuff of life to knit me Blew hither: here am I. Now—for a breath I tarry Nor yet disperse apart— Take my hand quick and tell me What have you in your heart. Speak now, and I will [...]
Death: The Greatest Teacher
The Buddha said the greatest of all teachings is impermanence. Its final expression is death. Buddhist teacher Judy Lief explains why our awareness of death is the secret of life. It’s the ultimate twist. Whether we fight it, deny it, or accept it, we all have a relationship with death. Some people have few encounters with death as they are growing up, and it becomes [...]
How Will You Die?
Lindsay Kyte profiles five people who offer Buddhist wisdom to people who are dying and those close to them. Death Is Here Now: Koshin Paley Ellison & Robert Chodo Campbell I didn’t know what to do. I was at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care to talk with Koshin Paley Ellison and Robert Chodo Campbell about their Buddhist approach to end-of-life care. But [...]
Video: Can we change the culture of caregiving?
Buddhism is changing how America dies, and Zen priests, and married couple Koshin Palley Ellison and Robert Chodo Campbell are helping lead the way. In this video, they discuss what they’re doing to help medical professionals, students, and caregivers build a community of support so they can better care for themselves and others. For more on their work, see the November [...]
Video: The Wisdom of End-of-Life Care
Buddhist teacher Frank Ostaseski has been one of the leading voices in contemplative end-of-life care since the 1980s. In this video, Ostaseski talks with Lion's Roar's Lindsay Kyte about the lessons he’s learned at the bedsides of thousands of dying people, his new book The Five Invitations, and the future of end-of-life care. Look for Kyte's profile of Ostaseski in the [...]
Watch: Koshin Palley Ellison and Robert Chodo Campbell on Working with Death
In the November 2017 Lion's Roar magazine, Lindsay Kyte spoke with the experts about how Buddhism is changing the way American dies. Among them are New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care founders, Zen priests, and married couple Koshin Palley Ellison and Robert Chodo Campbell. In this video, they discuss what it's like to work with the dying directly, and share some of the [...]
The Zen of Joan Didion
Her masterpiece The Year of Magical Thinking is a meditation on the human mind both pointed and profound. In that year, following her husband’s death, and explored in the new documentary on Didion, she learned in her bones the basic truths we so often deny — death, impermanence, and aloneness. David Swick profiles Joan Didion, a great American journalist observing her own mind [...]
