Lion's Roar

The Lion's Roar celebrates the spirit of wakefulness wherever it appears - in the arts, relationships, politics, livelihood, popular culture, and all the challenges of modern life. It offers a Buddhist view for people of all spiritual traditions who are open, inquisitive, passionate and committed.

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Lion’s Roar

THIS WORLD OF DEW

GIFTS FROM BEYOND • When HOLLY STOCKING discovers an unopened present from her late husband, she contemplates what it really means to be gone—and the things he’s still giving her.

THE MARAS OF PRIVILEGE • Scholar and practitioner ANN GLEIG on the backlash she and others experience against their work for racial justice in Buddhism.

HERO FOR OUR TIME • TV character Ted Lasso embodies what we need right now: goodness. In a world of antiheroes, says television critic JENNIFER KEISHIN ARMSTRONG, he just wants to make us better people.

WAVES OF CHANGE • From menopause to emotional upheavals to contemplating mortality, TRACY FRANZ recommends new books to help us navigate life’s changes.

VEN. DR. JUE JI

His Dharma Heir • Zen nun Aikon’s late teacher—a sexist—doubted she’d be able to keep his temple going. Now, in the flourishing zendo, she settles herself into his old seat. From RUTH OZEKI’s new novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness.

The Creative Force • In Conversation with Novelist Ruth Ozeki

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.

“Then I Had a Wonderful Experience” • Even a renowned Buddhist teacher like YONGEY MINGYUR RINPOCHE was transformed when he came close to death.

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.

The Long Haul of Covid • Zen meditators are told to “die on the cushion.” This way of letting go helped Buddhist teacher KRITEE when she was facing the real thing.

Good Death? Let’s Get Real • Most of the time death won’t follow our script, says Zen teacher and end-oflife expert JOAN HALIFAX. But amid its messiness and pain, our experience can be respected, and we can learn.

Coming Through the Flames • Badly burned in a near-fatal plane crash, Buddhist teacher ALLAN LOKOS contemplates the gifts this terrible experience has given him.

Practicing for Death • The Buddha said that meditating on death is like the elephant’s footprint, because it makes the biggest imprint of all meditations. Here are three meditations to make part of your practice.

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.

The Five Remembrances • To change your life now and prepare for the inevitable, says PAMELA AYO YETUNDE, regularly contemplate these five home truths.

7 Life and Death Questions • MICHAEL HEBB, founder of Death Over Dinner, offers some important questions to guide your contemplation of mortality.

Goodbye and Good Journey • Buddhist funeral traditions around the world help both the dead and their loved ones let go and move on.

THE SPIRITUAL ENTREPRENEUR • TAMI SIMON, founder of Sounds True, brings the spirit of enlightenment not only to her company’s products but to its culture. (Plus, dogs.)

THE MAN WHO REDEFINED ZEN • From just sitting to cooking as practice, Dogen defined how most of us understand Zen today. STEVEN HEINE on the life and global impact of Dogen Zenji.

“TO STUDY THE SELF IS TO FORGET...