The Race Koan
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
Who needs the Negro? What does the Negro want? I grew up hearing these types of questions. I don’t recall my parents losing sleep over them; they were busy placing food on the table so that I could eat.  Black intellectuals have always wrestled with the riddle of how to survive in the United States. Think of W. E. B. Du Bois wrestling with his double consciousness—American and Black. Then there was Malcolm X who discarded his slave name, and Carter G. Woodson who centered Black history. We can spend entire lifetimes wondering, how do we handle not just segregation and prejudice but heartb ..read more
Visit website
True Liberation: Black & Buddhist in America
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
Pamela Ayo Yetunde: How do you understand the particularities of Black people’s suffering in the United States?  Jean Marie Robbins: I understand them as an intentional device to maintain an enslavement mentality, in order for the people on top and in power to do as little as they need to and reap the benefits of very inexpensive labor, if not free labor. That was intentional from the beginning, and it took time to take root. Now it’s so deeply rooted that it’s rooted in my own consciousness, and I have to work intentionally against the idea that I’m indebted and I have to always pay my w ..read more
Visit website
10 Ways to Find True Happiness
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
The paramis or paramitas are qualities that help us develop and reach true happiness, our highest potential. They are often translated as “perfections,” as they are the perfections of character necessary for enlightenment.  Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh called them practices that help us cross from the shore of confusion and suffering to the shore of liberation. Kittisaro, cofounder of Sacred Mountain Sangha, speaks of them as “the essential qualities of heart that carry us safely through the swirling floods of existence to the unshakeable groundedness and well-being of our true nature.”&nbs ..read more
Visit website
How to Create a Meditation Space 
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
I’ve had many experiences that have left me wanting to create meditation spaces for myself and others. I recall, as a child, seeing my grandmother sit in a chair next to a small table with pictures of my dad, aunts, and uncle, along with a bible. In that space, she’d quietly hum or read from the scriptures, while my cousins would caution, “Don’t bother Grandma, ’cause she’s sitting.” My dear grandmother would later emerge with what seemed to be revived faith. “You can create your own peaceful refuge, no matter where you live.” Growing up as a military dependent, I traveled to many places throu ..read more
Visit website
The Revolution Begins with the Self
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
Intersectional Black activists have been part of and at the forefront of many liberation movements. From Black Lives Matter to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Black activism has addressed issues such as Black mental health, trans rights, voting rights, ending mass incarceration, disability rights, and more. All these causes work to recognize the injustice or suffering of Black intersectional identities and alleviate that suffering through social and political change. I work with many activists whose hearts are loving, tender, and ablaze with the dedication to li ..read more
Visit website
Hands of Compassion
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
In the family of care and concern, sympathy, empathy, and compassion are kin. Like relatives, these virtues may grow alongside each other, offering their unique perspectives on and responses to the human condition. While the three attributes are connected, it’s helpful to understand how they differ. Sympathy resides in our thoughts. Empathy inhabits our feelings and physical bodies. Compassion moves the heart to action. The goddess Guanyin, “She Who Hears the Cries of the World,” is the Buddhist embodiment of these virtues. She’s sometimes depicted with a thousand arms and an eye in the palm o ..read more
Visit website
The Black Onyx in the Triple Gem
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
I am so excited about this issue that it’s impossible to be still, even after years of practice! Nevertheless, I will joyfully reflect on the ebony jewel box of an issue that you have just received.  In 2014, while earning my doctorate in pastoral counseling, I began mining gems of wisdom from Black Buddhist practitioners in the U.S. I wanted to find out if Buddhism is good for Black people, because for years, it had been ingrained in me that it was not. From my research I learned that—contrary to what I’d previously been told—Buddhism isn’t just helpful for people of Asian and European d ..read more
Visit website
Lion’s Roar Book Reviews May 2024
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
Dr. Kamilah Majied’s Joyfully Just: Black Wisdom and Buddhist Insights for Liberated Living (Sounds True) invites us to exercise playful curiosity. The book’s expansive embrace of contemplative practices supports wellness and justice for people from all spiritual traditions and cultural backgrounds. “Well minds nurture justice and just minds nurture wellness,” Majied writes. Drawing deeply on Buddhist teachings and Black creative expression, Majied guides us on a path for how to reclaim and engage with a holistic joy, one that recognizes and integrates the realities of suffering, but then flow ..read more
Visit website
A Thousand Thoughts, A Thousand Pieces
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
I remember being embarrassed doing puzzles with my in-laws for the first time. While it took me quite a while to find a piece, they were fast because they were experienced puzzlers. After discovering the satisfaction of working on a thousand-piece puzzle, I noticed similarities with meditation and dharma practice.  With a puzzle, a person sits at the table with a thousand pieces scattered in all directions. They may say, “I don’t see any connections. How can I find anything?” After a few minutes they may say, “I can’t do this. This is not for me.” So, they give up. It may be true that the ..read more
Visit website
Open Heart, Wise Heart: The Life & Teachings of Ruth King
Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time
by Lilly Greenblatt
2d ago
As a Black woman born and raised in these United States, I have spent much of my life not just angry, but rageful. It’s the kind of rage that finds me gritting my teeth until my jaw aches even as everything around me seems perfectly safe and serene.  There’s a difference between anger and rage, says Ruth King, a beloved Insight Meditation teacher, the author of Healing Rage and Mindful of Race, and the founder of Mindful of Race Institute. “Anger is primarily associated with a current injustice, dislike, or disappointment”—a driver cutting you off in traffic, a disagreement at work, for e ..read more
Visit website

Follow Lion's Roar - Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR