Lion's Roar

ROD MEADE SPERRY IS THE NEW EDITOR OF BUDDHADHARMA Following last issue’s announcement that Andrea Miller has taken over as editor of Lion’s Roar magazine, we have another important transition in our editorial department to tell you about. Koun Franz has left the editorship of our quarterly Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide to pursue a new career as a counsellor. Rod Meade Sperry, currently our digital editorial director, will take over as the new editor of Buddhadharma. A Soto Zen priest and teacher, Koun came to Lion’s Roar in 2011 after many years of training in Japanese monasteries and four years as director of the Anchorage Alaska Zen Community. With deep knowledge of the dharma and excellent writing skills, he did an outstanding job first as deputy editor and then as editor of…

IT STARTED in my late twenties. I’d be in deep, woolly sleep when, suddenly, I’d wake with a heart-thumping realization: I am powerless against the passage of time. Day by day, I am aging, and sooner or later I will die. I assume this involuntary memento mori started when I was within spitting distance of my thirtieth birthday because, until that age, I’d been like a lot of other young people. Deep down, against all logic, I believed I’d be forever young, immortal. Then a few hairs turned gray, the faintest of faint lines etched themselves around my eyes, and I glimpsed the inevitable destination of this train, my body. Of course, my mortality was the last thing I wanted to dwell on. So, I plucked the grays, held mirrors at a…

THE LIFE STORY of the Buddha is lofty, elevated, and inspiring, providing us with a role model we can admire and respect. We marvel at Prince Siddhartha’s renunciation of worldly life, and we are in awe at his attainment of buddhahood. But does the story also provide us with smaller moments—moments of ordinary human emotion, feelings of intimacy and feelings of loss, or affectionate portraits of creatures who love and adore one another? Does the life story of the Buddha bear any relevance for me—on this very day—as I snuggle on the couch with Danny, the sweetest and goofiest of my feline companions? The Buddhist emphasis on nonattachment sometimes threatens to render Buddhism as something cold and distant. So, it’s important to look for these smaller moments. What if we were to…

WE EMPATHIZE WITH PEOPLE with obvious physical health conditions; we sign their casts and send get-well cards and flowers. But people with mental health issues are all too often stigmatized, misunderstood, and ignored. Even those hospitalized with mental health crises often do not receive sympathy, let alone flowers. As a psychiatrist, I’m deeply grateful when people do their best to help their family and friends suffering from mental illness. Just one caring person can make a world of difference. According to relational-cultural theory, which stems from the work of psychoanalyst Jean Baker Miller, suffering is a crisis of disconnection, while the opposite of suffering is belonging. This resonates with what Buddhism teaches us about interdependence. That is, we suffer because we are under the delusion that we’re separate. No one is an…

Metta practice helps me in challenging times. This meditation reminds me that if I can find loving-kindness even in the worst moments of my life, then I can find forgiveness, compassion, patience, and understanding, too. Love is something that is always available, and it’s the strongest emotion I’ve ever felt. So, even in the face of hate, I choose love. —Joanie Lane, Kelseyville, California Vipassana has helped me bring a pause into my life. Observing my thoughts, feelings, and emotions, I’m calmer and happier. I flow better now that I’m not as resistant to things not in my control. —Priyanka Devi Gupta, Jacksons Point, Ontario My favorite breathing mantra is “Breathing in, I know that it is so very easy to let go of X notion, X preoccupation, or tension in X area of…

SUNDOWN TURNS TO DUSK as my forehead touches the rug beneath me. I stand, clasp my left wrist with my right hand, and intone the Arabic verses of the Qur’an that are recited daily by over a billion Muslims around the world. With my prayers, I’m unifying body, speech, and mind into the simple act of devotion to Allah, also known as al-Ra’uf, “the Compassionate.” After completing the evening ritual, I fold up my prayer rug and exchange it for my meditation cushion. While I progressively relax my body from scalp to toes, the last embers of sunset glow through the glass doors leading to my balcony, and I watch airplanes and thoughts go by. I practice silent illumination until night covers the neighborhood, then I run my fingers over my…