Lion’s Roar Foundation
1790 30th Street, Suite 300
Boulder, CO
Website: lionsroar.com
Description of Organization
Lion’s Roar, the leading Buddhist media organization in North America, was founded in 1976 as the Vajradhatu Sun, the newspaper of the community founded by the late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Today, it is a fully independent non-profit whose mission is to offer Buddhist wisdom and practices to benefit people’s lives and our society, and to contribute to the development of Buddhism. The organization publishes Lion’s Roar magazine, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly; Lionsroar.com; special publications; video; and audio.
Grant(s) Awarded
In 2022, a grant in the amount of $13,500 was awarded to help launch WISDOM WORKS, a new skills development program offering effective Buddhist wisdom and techniques to professionals in key fields, benefiting them and those they serve. In collaboration with Naropa University and others who share the intention to see these teachings have the greatest possible societal impact, WISDOM WORKS will be launched in 2023, bringing the best of Buddhist wisdom and meditation techniques to professional development and training. From health care providers to first responders to organizational leaders, WISDOM WORKS will leverage the reach of digitally-presented dharma to help professionals in many fields to work more skillfully, compassionately, and sustainably. Drawing on recognized leaders in their fields, and representing the diversity of the Buddhist world, WISDOM WORKS will offer courses that meet the high standards of professional development and offer Continuing Education Credits and other professional credentials. We will begin with fields in which Buddhist insight and methods already have recognized benefits, increasing effectiveness, resilience, well-being, and job satisfaction. These include:
- Hospice and end-of-life care
- Psychotherapy, psychology and counseling
- First response
- Health care
- Human resources
- Organization leadership
- Education
- Diversity, inclusion, and equity training
WISDOM WORKS will also offer courses in best practices and management specifically for Buddhist communities, many of whom are currently on their own in developing organizational systems and standards. This will help Buddhist communities and leaders devote more time and energy to their core function of practicing and teaching the dharma.
In October 2018, a grant in the amount of $10,000 was awarded to inaugurate the first-ever gathering of American Buddhist teachers of African descent at Union Theological Seminary in New York. The conference brought together 25-30 prominent Buddhist teachers from different Buddhist traditions to discuss the common challenges they face and the contributions they can make to the development and growth of Buddhism in twenty-first-century America. This was a closed door gathering allowing participants to share freely their wisdom and experience. The goal of this historic gathering was to have a significant positive impact on the future of Buddhism, strengthening the voices of teachers of African descent and making Buddhism more diverse, engaged, and appealing to different audiences.
In the late summer of 2018, the Lenz Foundation made a grant in the amount of $10,000 to provide travel, accommodations, facilities, and administrative support for the steering committee of teachers of African descent who traveled to the conference.