Lama Rod Owens: Bad Buddhist

A self-titled bad Buddhist, Lama Rod Owens is an author, activist and authorised Lama (Buddhist Teacher) in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. He’s a comforting, honest and straight-talking queer Black man, who’s considered one of the leaders of his generation of Buddhist teachers. His new book is Love and Rage: The Path to Liberation through Anger – and he opens the first chapter like this: “Since the 2016 presidential election, shit has been hard for some of us. For the rest of us, shit has been hard for a while.” From his rearing in the Black Church to his self-discovery through Buddhism, our conversation is one of deep reflection and a frank exploration of the ways in which our unaddressed anger prevents us from not only a psychic and physical liberation, but from connecting meaningfully to ourselves and to others in every imaginable part of our lives.

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