Lion's Roar

PRECEPTS ARE OFTEN VIEWED as restrictions on our freedom. In reality, they are our best friends in the practice of cultivating wisdom and compassion. The second Buddhist precept is to not steal. As we live in a world that celebrates wealth and fame,

MOST EURO-AMERICANS assume I’ve transcended the traumas of slavery. I hold several academic degrees, my son graduated from college, and my Euro-American spouse is also middle-class. But I am a dark-skinned Black woman, and at the end of the day I am

In recognition of his coming 95th birthday-or “Continuation Day," as he and his community call it-we’re re-issuing our special Commemorative Edition, Thich Nhat Hanh. Along with some of his finest teachings, it features wonderful images of Thich Nhot

THE VERY FIRST DHARMA LESSON the Buddha gave to his son was never to tell a deliberate lie, even in jest. In another context, he added that if a person feels no shame telling a deliberate lie, there’s no evil that person will not do. Obviously, the B

I CONFESS: I am a Buddhist chauvinist. That’s because I believe the Buddha discovered an eternal and universal truth. We suffer. There is a reason we suffer. We can end suffering, and there is a way to do it. If there is a deep mystical secret to the

AS A CHILD, Rosalie had been severely abused by her father. When he was drunk he’d climb into her bed at night and rub his body against hers until he climaxed. If she resisted him, he’d hit her and threaten her with worse. If she tried to run away an

The Unexpected Lives of Western Tulkus ELIJAH ARY SEEMED LIKE A typical Canadian kid. He lived in Montreal with his mom and dad and two sisters, he loved playing hockey, and he didn’t like school. But something set him apart: according to the Dalai L

ONE DAY IN 1977, in his “Literary History of the Beat Generation” class at Naropa Institute, Allen Ginsberg challenged his students with a question: “How many of you have signed up for meditation instruction yet?” Only about half of the scruffy aspir

THERE IS A CLASSIC KOAN in the Zen tradition, called “Sun Faced Buddha, Moon Faced Buddha.” In this koan story, Zen master Baso is dying. The head monk comes to visit him and asks Baso, “How are you doing?” Baso replies, “Sun Faced Buddha, Moon Faced

BECOMING A ZEN PRIEST was never about becoming someone other than who I was. I was well aware that I would never be able to escape myself. Instead, in walking the path of Buddha, in living a life of vow, I found I was more present than ever. I was ev

THE BUDDHA CALLED the noble eightfold path “the way to the cessation of suffering,” and he included each factor in the path precisely because it serves this end. The eight factors that lead to the end of suffering are often divided into three section

MANY YEARS AGO, during a three-month meditation retreat, a visiting Burmese meditation master was asked a question about sex. As a monk, he responded, “Sex is gross, base, and disgusting.” The Buddha was clear that while sexuality is an enjoyment for

“WHERE ARE ALL THE YOUNG adult Asian American Buddhists, and what can we learn from them?” asks Chenxing Han in Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (North Atlantic Books). In search of an answer, Han interviewed eighty-nine

BUDDHISM teaches that we are stuck in an endless cycle or circling known as samsara. The underlying principle of this existence is that everything that arises does so in dependence upon something else. Nothing arises or exists independently. Samsara,

I’VE LONG CONSIDERED verse 183 of the Dhammapada to be one of the best and most succinct summations of the buddhadharma. That verse says: Do no harm,Practice virtue,Discipline the mind.These are the teachings of all the buddhas. These three—not causi

A FELLOW DHARMA student bowed her head while reaching for the paprika. “What is it?” I asked her. “Nothing” she said, sniffling subtly, but then she turned around. “I just got emotional about some strawberries,” she confessed. No further explanation

KAREN MAEZEN MILLER I live in samsara. Here, migrant children are taken from their parents at the border and housed in cages. Destruction of the world’s rainforests threatens thousands of species. Economists say homelessness could grow by forty-five

PICTURE THE BUDDHA teaching on Zoom. He meets individually with disciples in breakout rooms, and people unmute themselves to ask him questions. This is unfathomable, of course. Even someone who possessed the Buddha’s radical creativity and imaginatio

THE FIVE MINDFULNESS TRAININGS are Thich Nhat Hanh’s unique, modern take on the five traditional Buddhist precepts. They are a journey of training in right action—the kind of action that responds to the suffering of our times. Thay, as he’s known to

JASON’S TEAM MANAGER at work was someone who frequently “lost it” and publicly chastised him. When Jason attempted to speak to her about this, she brushed off his concerns, claiming she was just trying to motivate Jason, who obviously was “too sensit