The Buddha in Jail: Cuong Lu on Interbeing

Groundless Ground Podcast

My dialogue with Cuong Lu, Buddhist teacher and prison chaplain in the Netherlands, was by far the most moving experience of my podcasting life. Cuong’s wisdom and limitless compassion brought me to tears several times during our time together. He was born in Vietnam and grew up in the midst of war, only knowing fighting until his mother moved them to the Netherlands when he was twelve years old and he experienced friendliness for the first time. He spent many years as a monk with Thich Nhat Hanh and then became a lay Buddhist teacher in 2009. His is a deeply relational dharma characterized by complete embodiment of interbeing, the empty inseparability of all beings. His remarkable new book, The Buddha in Jail: Restoring Lives, Finding Hope and Freedom recounts his unique application of the Buddhist teachings for prisoners who, he asserts “are often able to understand the Dharma more quickly than those whose lives have been easier.” Cuong is on book tour July 22 - Aug 2 in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Madison, and several venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can find his schedule in the show notes and I urge any of you who can, to attend and meet this remarkable man.

Cuong Lu's Links:

Mind Only School of Buddhist Psychology

Buy The Buddha in Jail

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.