Following her insightful and compassionate commentaries on the war in Gaza for lionsroar.com, Buddhist teacher Tara Brach sits down with editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod to talk about the ultimate root of conflict, the destructive dehumanizing known as othering, and how we can overcome it in ourselves and society.

Read Tara Brach’s pieces mentioned in the episode:

• What Is Love Asking from Us? 
• Gaza and the Bodhisattva Path

In this episode of the Lion's Roar Podcast, assistant editor Sandi Rankaduwa talks to Reverend Melissa Opel, a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a minister at the Buddhist Church of San Francisco — the oldest Jodo Shinshu, or Shin Buddhist, church in the mainland United States. 

Rev. Opel shares what drew her to Buddhism, what keeps her inspired as a minister, how acceptance and inclusivity are central to the Jodo Shinshu tradition, and how Buddhists and Buddhist institutions can offer meaningful support to the LGBTQ+ community.  

This episode is sponsored by Karuna Training. Find out more at karunatraining.com

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, Jeff Wilson, talks about the radically inclusive founder of the Jodo Shinshu tradition, Shinran.

Julio Rivera is the founder and CEO of Liberate, a meditation app and community for black indigenous and people of colour. We spoke in March, at the height of coronavirus related deaths in New York City, where he lives and works. We talked about what makes a sangha of non-white practitioners different, and why Liberate has shifted to focusing on black and indigenous healing foremost – a message that’s only amplified by the recent news, and demonstrations in response to, police violence against George Floyd and too many others. After the interview you’ll hear “Compassion,” the first song released from the Dalai Lama’s first album of music, Inner World.

The podcast is shifting to bi-weekly starting with this episode, allowing us to prepare a slew of new projects coming your way. Today, Lion’s Roar publisher Ben Moore speaks with Canadian meditation teacher and co-author of Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, Jeff Warren about founding the Consciousness Explorers Club and engaging mental health through the lens of spiritual practice. But first, our editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod shares why Buddhism — famous for its doctrine of non-self— is the ultimate form of self-help.

Author and activist bell hooks shares a simple formula for healthy romantic relationships, starting with the myth that love is a feeling – a noun. In fact, as Jungian psychoanalyst and Zen Buddhist Dr. Polly Young-Eisendrath puts it, “love is what to do.”

She lays out the pitfalls of romantic love that lead us to idealization, delusion, disappointment and depression, and how to avoid them.

Then an introductory tonglen meditation to refresh and expand your heart, from the online course Flight of the Swans: Dharma Comes West, by Lion's Roar and Naropa University. 

Buddhist teachers Toni Bernhard and Pema Khandro Rinpoche have both known chronic illness first hand. In this conversation—especially relevant in the coronavirus era—they talk personally about relating to health and sickness through the Buddhist lens, and Bernhard describes the teachings that continue to help her find peace even 20 years after being diagnosed with a life-changing illness.

Big-league baseball is on hold thanks to the coronavirus but a new book by Dr. Don Lopez captures the feel of the game in Buddha Takes the Mound: Enlightenment in 9 Innings. Rod Meade Sperry talks to him about the book, which combines Lopez's love of both baseball and Buddhism. Then, a chance for fresh air: Oren Sofer shares a 10 minute guided walking meditation. Find more meditations from his website at OrenJaySofer.com.

Longtime Buddhist practitioner, mindfulness teacher, and hip hop artist Born I Music talks to Rod Meade Sperry about how he and his family are using mindfulness to cope with the shutdown due to coronavirus, how he came to learn and teach meditation, and how that practice has informed his newest album, 11:11. Includes a track from the forthcoming album.

Arthur Russell was a genius musician, known for experimenting with genres from Indian classical to disco. He passed away at just 40 years old, leaving behind more than 1,000 tapes of unreleased music. Rod Meade Sperry asks Russell archivist Steve Knutson how these tapes fell into his possession, eventually becoming several posthumous albums, and about Russell's life as a Buddhist. Includes clips and a full track of Russell music.

Koshin Paley Ellison and Robert Chodo Campbell are Zen monks who live in New York city where the death toll is reported to have risen to more than 10,000. They're the founders of the New York Zen Centre for Contemplative Care which helps caregivers, family, patients and clinicians cope with illness and death by using meditation and mindfulness as a foundation. Editorial assistant and podcast host Sandra Hannebohm asked how they've adapted to the new reality of coronavirus and quarantine, and what they’ve learned about grief and gratitude in the process. We start with a grounding meditation to open the interview, and end with a healing “pat of butter” meditation. 

Roshi Joan Halifax is the founder, head teacher and abbot of Upaya Institute and Zen Center. In an interview with LionsRoar.com editor Rod Meade Sperry, she talks about how the center adapted to the threat of coronavirus by switching in-person programs and events to online platforms. Then, a quick practice to navigate the illness and fear brought on by the coronavirus crisis, and any time we confront illness.

Also, details on the Spring Practice Period: Honoring Women of the Way, and the upcoming Varela International Symposium on the nature of awareness in May. 

Social distancing has become the new buzzword but it doesn’t mean you need to stop caring and communicating in a social way. Buddhadharma editor Tynette Deveaux talks to mindfulness teacher Oren Jay Sofer about how and why we can deepen our understanding of our relationship to ourselves, one another, and the world – an approach that the COVID-19 pandemic seems to urge us to take.  

Then, from Roshi Josh Bartok of the Greater Boston Zen Centre, a dedication to sentient beings (and even non-sentient beings) we depend on to help stop the spread of coronavirus. 

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, Weather Any Storm, in which  “the Wildering Billies”serve as a metaphor for waves of emotion that create an inner storm. Plus, Zuisei shares a short breathing practice for kids.

Food writer and practicing Buddhist Elissa Altman lays out five ways to appreciate more of your meal, even if it means making peace with not having your favourite ingredients. But first, Bonnie Myotai Treace shares three powerful reflections and practices to help us stay open-hearted and connected as we cope with widespread fear and uncertainty.

The Buddhist community is reckoning with coronavirus as many brick and mortar centres temporarily shut down. Rod Meade Sperry of Lion's Roar shares a piece on what we can do to help. But first, a basic meditation to align the body and mind from Vipassana teacher Oren Jay Sofer.

Dr. Larry Ward, ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh as a dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, says much of the turmoil we face is the result of a history of thought and practice that has justified slavery, environmental degradation, and other atrocities. The revolutionary act therefore is slowing down, practicing kindness, and cultivating joy. These are radical social acts. In this dharma talk Ward describes how we can start to heal the trauma in ourselves and in the world.

In a world full of reasons to be scared, Vipassana meditation teacher JoAnna Hardy says loving-kindness is the antidote to fear. Hardy approaches meditation with an emphasis on compassion, and she says this opening of the heart is one of the most radical endeavours a person can take on. 

Life has a way of throwing us a curveball when we least expect it, and when we think we can’t withstand any more, something else happens. Author and mindfulness teacher Dr. Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason-John shares the parable of the "second arrow" – a metaphor for the extra suffering we cause ourselves – and five ways to work with habitual thoughts so we can start rolling with the punches, and stop kicking ourselves.

Author and activist bell hooks shares a simple formula for a healthy romantic relationships, starting with the myth that love is a feeling – a noun. In fact she says, “love is what to do.”

Jungian psychoanalyst and Zen Buddhist Dr. Polly Young-Eisendrath lays out the pitfalls of romantic love that lead us to idealization, delusion, disappointment and depression, and how to avoid them.

Then an introductory tonglen meditation to refresh and expand your heart, from the online course Flight of the Swans: Dharma Comes West, by Lion's Roar and Naropa University. 

How does personal experience shape how we understand the dharma? How does that understanding shape how we take social action? Buddhist leaders Kamilah Majied, Willie Mukei Smith, and DaRa Williams explore how their experiences as black Americans shaped their understanding of the dharma, interacting with other faith traditions to inform how they understand Buddhist teachings like collective karma, liberation, and the Bodhisattva vow to alleviate suffering. 

The simplest practice of all is the ability to "just stop," says Chief Editor Melvin McLeod, but it's not easy. In this brief editorial he sheds light on why we struggle to slow down, and why we should do so anyway.

Then, a guided meditation to help you embody your best qualities even when you’re deep in "the heart of your darkness,” with Zen teacher Koshin Paley Ellison.

Claire Gesshin Greenwood discovered Oryoki in the monasteries of Japan, where monks in training practice a ritualized eating ceremony with bells and chanting. There’s a right way to use the bowls, a right way to clean them, a right way to hold them, and a right way to eat what’s in them – all to help them experience greater clarity and gratitude for their lives. Greenwood says we can experience this same stillness and sense of interconnectedness in our homes. She explains why, even after she left the cloistered monastic life, she was inspired to bring this practice back to her San Francisco home. 

One of the core teachings of Ram Dass is on conscious aging and dying, so even after he passed away, followers of his work turned to him to make sense of their grief. On the internet they would find a vast archive of recorded talks from the past - sometimes clear and sometimes not - as well as a new album of the most recent, and most vivid audio recording of Ram Dass talking about death shortly before his own death. Musician East Forest talks about meeting Ram Dass, recording with him, and making sense of his passing.

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 smallest act of kindness can be a powerful form of activism.

Two senior dharma teachers ordained by peace activist and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh share a poetic dharma talk and guided meditation to reconnect with yourself, with nature, and with each other. 

Buddhist teacher and author Sylvia Boorstein finds herself asking a prominent teacher, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, for advice she hoped would open the way to profound enlightenment. What she discovered instead was one of the simplest and most understated practices in Buddhism, yet one of the most difficult disciplines to master. In this talk and practice Boorstein guides us in the discipline of goodwill. 

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood deeply affected children growing up from 1968 to 2001 and long after. He stood up for public television that helped kids deal with real life emotions, every day sending a message that they were loved, and today the feature film about Fred Rogers reminds us how relevant his message continues to be. The kids are all grown up now but author, psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein talks about how we can all practice more compassion and equanimity to cultivate a mind like Mr. Rogers.

Compassionate action goes hand-in-hand with social and racial justice, but it also has a lot to do with how we show up in the world as neighbours, loved ones, or even as fellow strangers. JoAnna Hardy talks about how metta helps us know ourselves, what holds us back, and how loving-kindness can manifest itself in us. Then, a meditation for your practice.

Two Zen monks ask how do we dance, sing, and enjoy life even as we experience unavoidable pain? Married couple and founders of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, Senseis Koshin and Chodo, work every day with the dying, and caregivers of the dying. Rather than try to ignore or pass over intense emotions and pain, the couple share a dharma talk on how to really sit with sorrow and then, how to absorb joy.

There are Buddhists who don’t believe in God (or gods) and there are Buddhists who do. In this reading by editor in chief Melvin McLeod from an article he wrote called, “Are You Spiritual but Not Religious? Ten Reasons Why Buddhism Will Enrich Your Path,” we find out why Buddhism is well-suited to people who don’t necessarily like religion.

Robert Thurman, Buddhist author and scholar, tells an old folk tale of the time that Brahma (the Hindu god) and Buddha, actually met.

Ray Buckner is a transgender activist, academic and contributing author at Lion’s Roar magazine and Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, where they write about Buddhism, queer and trans embodiment, and social injustice. Buckner talks to Koun Franz about what it’s like to be different in a Buddhist sangha or community, and how we can get better at creating space for people who live in historically marginalized bodies. 

Lama Justin Von Bujdoss, the first-ever Buddhist chaplain at Rikers Island Prison, shares a visualization practice inspired by the traditional practice in Vajrayana Buddhism called chöd, where you find strength by opening your heart to the demons and ghosts that haunt you, and defeat them through compassion. 

The Buddhist teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center talks about what came out of The Gathering II, five days of dharma talks, meditation, workshops, and panel discussions by and for Black Americans on the Buddhist path, held at Spirit Rock in October.

"Bad Buddhist" Phil Rind is a singer in a metal band who's newest album Awakening is riddled with references to the eightfold path and the Buddha's teachings. Lion’s Roar Editor Rod Meade Sperry asked him about the unapologetically positive metal album.

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 that has the power to change what it means to be human. For more on the future of technology and spirituality, find What A.I. Means for Buddhism at lionsroar.com.

With music from her debut album, composer and multi-instrumentalist Nina Keith shares her process of producing experimental classical music with found sounds and rented instruments from her bedroom in Philadelphia. An album that depicts her journey through the past to uncover childhood memories, and what she's learned from death meditation.

Cyndi Lee, Buddhist and teacher of movement and self-care, shares a brief practice to help you get grounded when life is overwhelming.

Lion’s Roar Editor Rod Meade Sperry shares a quick guide to meditation for beginners.

Environmental activist, author and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy talks about “The Work that Reconnects” and how it encourages activism that doesn’t alienate or blame, but brings people together.

The Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi gives a United Nations address about our need to confront climate change.

Mark Ovland, longtime practicing Buddhist and activist with Extinction Rebellion, gave up training as a Buddhist teacher to join the environmental movement full time, at risk of assault and arrest. 

Zen priest and black queer feminist Rev. angel Kyodo williams on compassion, liberation and Radical Dharma. 

Congressman and presidential candidate Tim Ryan on his platform, which strongly encourages the adoption of mindfulness as national policy.

Koun Franz, Zen priest and deputy editor of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, talks about what Zen is—and isn’t.

Buddhist teacher and author Sylvia Boorstein tells a folk tale about a terrifying samurai, and the abbot who would not flee.

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 Sperry of an article by world-renowned meditation teacher, Mingyur Rinpoche. 

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.

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, Love and Wisdom from October 12-16th.

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

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 by Lama Döndrup Drölma from the September 2023 "Women of Wisdom" issue of Lion's Roar magazine. Explore what's inside the issue on lionsroar.com

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.

Today, we’re re-sharing one of the most popular episodes of The Lion’s Roar Podcast featuring essayist and novelist Pico Iyer. For Iyer, travel is a spiritual experience that shakes up our usual certainties and connects us to a richer, vaster world.

In this conversation, Iyer & Lion’s Roar’s editor-in-chief Melvin Mcleod, discuss Iyer’s book The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise and his eclectic contemplative practice.

Read Pico Iyer's articles discussed in this episode at lionsroar.com/author/pico-iyer/

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.

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.