Tibet’s first religion is not Buddhism. The authors of a new book on Bön, Tibet’s indigenous religion, talk to Melvin McLeod about the history of Bön, its influence on Tibetan Buddhism, and why its earth-centered spirituality is so important for the earth today.By Sandra Hannebohm

East Bay Meditation Center teacher Arisika Razak talks to associate editor Mihiri Tillakaratne about loving-kindness, intergenerational trauma, recognizing our shared humanity, and the vulnerability in “ugly crying.” Razak then leads a loving-kindness meditation practice for ourselves, those who have supported our journeys, and even the difficult p…

The Insight Meditation Society celebrates the 80th birthday of one of its co-founders, Joseph Goldstein this year. In his conversation with Buddhadharma editor Rod Meade Sperry, Goldstein applies the “harmonized understanding” approach he championed in his book One Dharma to the concept of buddhanature, to uncover the concept’s relevance to Buddhis…

Lion’s Roar editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod talks with Shantum Seth, a teacher in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition who leads the In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimages. They discuss Thich Nhat Hanh's own pilgrimage to India, how visiting the places where the Buddha lived brings him to life, and bringing Buddhism back to the country where it was born…

White Lotus and Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli is also a novelist, screenwriter, director and musician. He and his partner Victoria Imperioli, a well-known interior designer, talk about how Buddhism informs their life together as artists and entrepreneurs. The Lion's Roar Podcast is taking a momentary pause. In the meantime, enjoy our library of …

Judy Lief, a Buddhist teacher in the Tibetan tradition, talks about how you can work with your desires to find peace. Then Cheryl Fraser, a sex therapist and dharma teacher, shares her article, How to Have Mindful Sex. To close, professor, minister, and author of Living Nembutsu: Applying Shinran’s Radically Engaged Buddhism in Life and Society, Je…

Sam likes to chill, and Rex likes to play. When Sam wants to take a break from playing, Rex wonders ‘what’s so great about being still?’ Author Catherine Bailey talks about these characters in her children’s book, Dinos Don’t Meditate, and shares a thirty second practice you can do with your kids. Then, Vanessa Zuisei Goddard talks about her book, …

Feelings of grief, panic and helplessness can lead one to do unpredictable, irrational things. In this selection from Lion’s Roar’s online course, Medicine for Fear, dharma teacher Mushim Patricia Ikeda of the East Bay Meditation Center talks about the art of “feeling all the feelings” without causing harm to yourself and others, and why the smalle…

The Center for Humane Technology is featured in the Emmy award winning Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, and co-founded by Randima Fernando. He talks about the promises and pitfalls of artificial intelligence; the existential questions it inspires, how Buddhism is uniquely suited to answering them, and how you can approach this new technology…

Jane Hirshfield is the author of ten collections of poetry, the most recent being The Asking: New and Selected Poems. She talks about creativity in the liminal state, then Anouk Shambrook—an astrophysicist turned meditation teacher—talks about the intersections between science and spirituality. First, a short reading from Buddhadharma’s Rod Meade S…

Dean of Students at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Scott Mitchell, talks about his book, The Making of American Buddhism and how Western scholarship has largely ignored the role of Japanese immigrants and their American descendants in the development of Buddhism in America.By Sandra Hannebohm

Internal medicine physician and founder of the End Well Project, Shoshana Ungerlieder talks about the taboo of death and dying among medical professionals and the importance of taking time to ask what really matters to you and your loved ones, while you still can. For more Buddhist wisdom on death and dying join the free, 5 day online event, Death,…

New York Times bestselling author and pop culture writer, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, talks about the film’s unexpected lessons in suffering impermanence, and awakening.By Sandra Hannebohm

Buddhist teacher, author, and founder of Tara Mandala retreat center, Lama Tsultrim Allione, talks with Lion's Roar magazine's editor Andrea Miller about the meaning — and urgency — of embracing the sacred feminine as a way to resist the destructive aspects of patriarchal society. Plus, a reading of "Green Tara: You Are the Divine Feminine" written…

Award winning Sri-Lankan Canadian novelist and author of Funny Boy, talks about his latest historical fiction, Mansions of the Moon—the difficult and creative process of using fact and imagination to create an intimate tale of the Buddha’s wife, her relationship with him, their inevitable separation, and her own path to enlightenment.…

Religious studies professor Brooke Schedneck is the author of Living Theravada: Demystifying the People, Places, and Practices of a Buddhist Tradition. She talks about Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, from ordinary lay people to elite monks.By Sandra Hannebohm

Psychologist and teacher Tim Burkett was ordained in 1978, but his path began in 1964, when he met Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, the famed author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. He talks about learning the nature of enlightenment from Suzuki Roshi, and why the pursuit of enlightenment is futile.By Sandra Hannebohm

Teacher and co-founder of the BIPOC Sangha at Common Ground Meditation Center, Stacy McClendon talks about how mindfulness can transform the way we think about how we work.By Sandra Hannebohm

Visiting professor of Buddhism and Black Studies at Union Theological Seminary, and author of Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation, Rima Vesely-Flad talks about her book on the connection between the practices of Buddhism, and the Black tradition of radical activism.…

Writer, filmmaker, actor, singer, and meditation teacher, Kevin Townley talks about his latest book featuring women whose work exemplifies each of the five wisdom energies in Tibetan Buddhism, how the energies can show up in daily life, and how the spiritualist abstract artist Hilma af Klint embodied the wisdom energy of emptiness.…

From her first encounter with Zen to her life as a poet, Black activist, and Zen teacher in Suzuki Roshi’s lineage, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel shares her journey and how it has been informed by the wisdom of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.By Sandra Hannebohm

Former physician, and internationally known mindfulness and Insight meditation teacher, Christiane Wolf is well versed in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, and classical Buddhist mindfulness. Wolf talks about the early days of the modern mindfulness movement, how Insight and mindfulness communities inform each other, and how mindfulness-based app…

Pico Iyer, author of dozens of books including The Lady and the Monk and The Art of Stillness, talks to Lion’s Roar editor in chief Melvin McLeod about the profound wonder that travel invites, how he came to cherish the feeling of wandering in the unknown, and how he came to find a home within himself.…

Karla Jackson-Brewer is a senior teacher with the Tara Mandala Buddhist Retreat Center, and longtime student of Lama Tsultrim Allione. In this conversation, Lion’s Roar’s Pamela Ayo Yetunde Talks to her about internalized racism and the medicine Buddhism can offer to heal it.By Sandra Hannebohm

Psychiatrist and Zen teacher Robert Waldinger directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development—a 75 year-long study on happiness, spanning lifetimes. He speaks with Lion’s Roar’s Melvin McLeod about the nature of happiness as found in the study, and how it all connects with what Buddhism has to say about suffering.…