Lama Rod Owens, an ordained Lama in a Tibetan Buddhist lineage and co-author of 'Radical Dharma,' shares his journey of navigating identity as a queer, black male from the American South. He discusses the interplay between anger and compassion, emphasizing how personal hurt can fuel activism and healing. The episode delves into confronting mortality through mindfulness, the importance of language in shaping identity, and the responsibilities inherent in racial dialogue. Ultimately, he advocates for compassion and awareness in facing societal injustices.
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insights INSIGHT
Anger and Compassion
Anger is tension experienced from hurt, compounded by a need to care for oneself.
Compassion arises when we acknowledge our hurt and desire to end suffering.
insights INSIGHT
Evolution of Buddhist Views on Anger
Buddhist views on anger evolved, from avoidance to embracing it as a tool.
Tantric anger decenters the ego, allowing anger to serve others' needs and disrupt suffering wisely.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Embodied Dialogue
Avoid performative allyship by embodying your words and engaging in difficult conversations authentically.
Superficial adoption of terminology without genuine understanding hinders meaningful dialogue.
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Why It's so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
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The salt eaters
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The price of the ticket
James Baldwin
This anthology includes 46 essays and full texts from notable works such as 'Notes of a Native Son', 'Nobody Knows My Name', 'The Fire Next Time', 'No Name in the Street', and 'The Devil Finds Work'. The essays provide insightful commentary on living in a racist American society, with themes that remain relevant today. Baldwin's writing critiques the entrenched racism and social injustices, advocating for a more unified and equitable society.
Anger
Anger
Lama Rod Owens
The Vagina Monologues
V (Eve Ensler)
The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler in 1996, based on interviews with over 200 women about their views on sex, relationships, and violence against women. The play consists of personal monologues that touch on matters such as sex, sex work, body image, love, rape, menstruation, female genital mutilation, and other feminine experiences. It emphasizes the vagina as a tool of female empowerment and individuality. The monologues are fictionalized nonfiction, reflecting real women's stories and experiences. The play has been performed globally, translated into numerous languages, and has inspired the V-Day movement to end violence against women and girls.
Like Mick Jagger, the Indian prince we know as The Buddha taught that we can’t get no satisfaction from this world, though we try and we try, and we try, and we try . . .
Buddha means “awakened one”. Awake to the fact that the world is impermanent and we suffer and cause suffering to one another because of that. “Woke” is a newer word for something similar. Waking up to pervasive social injustice. To racism, economic disparity, homophobia, and other forces that poison and destroy people’s lives and relationships. In other words, suffering people cause by clinging onto impermanent things—in this case, power. The intersection of these two kinds of awakening is at the heart of the work of my guest today, Lama Rod Owens. An ordained Lama in a Tibetan Buddhist lineage and the coauthor of RADICAL DHARMA, he grew up a queer, black male within the black Christian church in the American south. Navigating all of these intersecting, evolving identities has led him to a life’s work based on compassion for self and others, and on trying to help people wake up in all senses of the word.
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