The Lion’s Roar Podcast

Dream yoga specialist Andrew Holecek and one of the first American women to be ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Lama Tsultrim Allione, share their expertise on powerful practices and contemplations from the profound teachings of Tibetan traditions as featured in Lion’s Roar’s online learning series, Open Heart, Vajra Mind.

Secular Dharma Foundation founder Dave Smith is teaching an online, teacher-directed, community-based buddhist addiction recovery course. Buddhadharma’s Koun Franz asked him about the Four Noble Tasks of recovery and how they inform his new program.

Sumi Loundon Kim, Buddhist chaplain at Yale University, talks with Buddhadharma’s Koun Franz about what she’s learned from teaching mindfulness to kids and their parents. Then, the Buddha is believed to have said the true nature of reality is beyond human comprehension, so journalist Judith Hertog asks former monk Georges Dreyfus can we know the truth if even reality isn’t real?

Vanessa Sasson is a religious studies professor and author of Yasodhara: A Novel about the Buddha’s Wife, a fiction based on close study of historical Buddhist texts on the Buddha’s path to, and of, enlightenment. She talks with Lion’s Roar magazine’s Andrea Miller about the forgotten story of Siddhartha’s wife, shares an excerpt from the book, and describes some of the hidden lessons in Yasodhara’s story.

American Tibetan Buddhist nun, Thubten Chodron, gives a humorous depiction of the consequences of believing in a solid self and an objective reality. Then, Chan teacher Guo Gu talks about founding Dharma Relief, a pan-Buddhist Covid relief program to distribute masks in the early months of the pandemic, and what’s next for the growing organization.

Beth Wallace is Lion’s Roar’s Associate Publisher, Finance & Operations, but she’s also big on dharma and mindfulness, and helps people understand and experience these for themselves. She sat down with Lion’s Roar’s Rod Meade Sperry to delve into the benefits of mindfulness at work, how work has changed since mindfulness entered the mainstream, and how to avoid some pitfalls in developing a deeper practice that works for you and your health, whether you identify as Buddhist or not. 

Buddhadharma’s Koun Franz interviews Chan teacher and scholar Guo Gu about the essence of his latest book, Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening, in which he explains embodied practice and Chan methods of realizing your Buddha nature. 

Korean American Zen priest Cristina Moon responds to the recent rise in anti-Asian violence in her article, “Anti-Asian Violence Is an Attack On Us All.” Then a quick conversation with Zen teacher Sensei Dorothy Dai En Friedman, recorded in preparation for Love & Resilience: The Contemplative Care Summit -- register at lionsroar.com/care.

In this special episode featuring music from Buddhist artists, Jessica Pimentel from Orange is the New Black talks to Lion’s Roar’s Ross Nervig about the intersection between her practice of Buddhism and her role as the frontwoman for the indie death metal group, Alekhine’s Gun. Then, rapper and meditation teacher Born I Music talks about the inspiration behind his latest single, In This Moment. 

Teacher, author, and radical black activist Lama Rod Owens explores what it means to let go of the person you think you are, and how to face the inevitable discomfort and brokenheartedness that comes with working to liberate yourself and others.