Category: Buddhist Wisdom
Buddhist Books About Death & Dying
There are plenty of Buddhist books with helpful advice about how to help dying people—and how to die yourself.
Dogen’s 4 Key Teachings
From being to the nature of time, Dogen explored the big questions. Four experts unpack some of his most influential concepts.
Buddhadharma Book Briefs for Fall 2021
Joie Szu-Chiao Chen reviews What I Don’t Know about Death by C. W. Huntington, The Guru Principle by Shenpen Hookham, Questioning the Buddha by Peter Skilling, and more.
Everything Dies
It’s the Buddha’s basic teaching. It’s life’s universal truth. It’s what we most want to deny. Sallie Jiko Tisdale on how this hard but liberating truth can transform your life.
The Buddha Would Have Believed You
In too many Buddhist communities, women have not been believed when revealing harm caused by men. Bhikkhu Sujato looks to the Vinaya and finds another approach.
Reclaiming Our So-Called “Cultural Baggage”
Asian American Buddhist communities have for years been dismissed by “convert” Buddhists for carrying “cultural baggage.” Nalika Gajaweera says the response should not be to let it go but to claim it as a mark of cultural responsibility.
Spiritual Friendship Is the Path
Each one of us, says David Viafora, can be a kalyana mitra, or “spiritual friend.” Here’s how.
The Building Blocks of Belonging
According to Willa Blythe Baker, making a strong, healthy community starts with understanding how it is constructed.
The Three Minds of Zen
Zen teaches that we should maintain “a joyful mind, an elder’s mind, and a great mind.” According to Jisho Sara Siebert, they’re never far away.
This World of Dew
Editor-in-Chief Melvin McLeod reflects on the importance of death in Buddhist philosophy in the opening editorial of the November 2021 issue of Lion's Roar.
Buddhist Funeral Traditions
Buddhist funeral traditions around the world help both the dead and their loved ones let go and move on.
Birth and Death in Every Breath
When we practice mindfulness of breath, says Judy Lief, we connect to the reality that birth and death are happening in every moment.
Where, Oh Where Will I Go?
“When the body has dissolved into the four elements, where will you go?” asks the koan called Doushuai’s Third Barrier. Vastness into vastness, concludes Zen teacher John Tarrant.
Good Death? Let’s Get Real
Most of the time death won’t follow our script, says Roshi Joan Halifax. But amid its messiness and pain, our experience can be respected, and we can learn.
Spiritual Free Agents: The Buddhists of Gen Z
A report on findings from Gen Z Buddhists surveyed in Springtide Research Institute's "The State of Religion and Young People."
Motherhood Is the Path
Like motherhood, the path to awakening demands compassion, love, and sacrifice. Jenna Hollenstein explains the parallels between mothers and bodhisattvas.
What Is Your Body?
It’s less than we think. It’s far more than we know. It’s who we are but it’s not. Contemplate the deeper reality of the body.