Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

uddhadharma offers in-depth teachings that reflect the wealth and range of Buddhist traditions, expert book reviews, and first-rate reporting on stories of special interest to Buddhists. It’s a precious resource for readers who want to deepen their understanding of Buddhist practice and philosophy.

Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

The Treasure of the Teacher • NORMAN FISCHER offers an overview of this issue’s theme. “You do the practice, you realize the way,” he writes. “And yet you must begin by finding a teacher you can have faith in.”

A Meeting of Minds • ANNE C. KLEIN on the importance of listening, relating, and actively engaging with our teachers as the foundation for a genuine, transformative connection with them.

“When You Are Ready…” • WILLA BLYTHE BAKER on the many forms in which our teachers might manifest.

What I Wish I’d Known When I Met My First Spiritual Teacher • SCOTT EDELSTEIN, author of The User’s Guide to Spiritual Teachers, shares 19 points to consider when beginning to engage with a teacher on the dharma path.

Relationship As Teacher • Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön and Lama Karma Zopa Jigme

Ever Present • Five dharma teachers recall formative teachers of their own who have passed away, but in their ways, remain.

A Rich Tapestry • Vincent Fakhoury Horn on a special, crowdfunded project in appreciation of dharma teachers.

Sexual Ethics and Healthy Boundaries in the Wake of Teacher Abuse • Scholars ANN GLEIG and AMY LANGENBERG look at how Buddhist sanghas have responded and evolved in response to the ethical breaches of the past few decades.

Samaya as Symbiotic Relationship • DAMCHÖ DIANA FINNEGAN on the guru–disciple bond in Vajrayana Buddhism, and how to navigate it in healthful, beneficial ways.

The Means to Awakening • Samuel Grimes on Newar Buddhism and Its Guru–Student Dynamic

Always a Student • Three dharma teachers on what they continue to learn from their current teachers.

ASK THE TEACHERS • “I’m a longtime practitioner but one thing that vexes me is chanting: it feels, to me, artificial, forced—and too often I can’t say I understand what it is that I’m chanting. Any advice for how to recalibrate my approach to chanting?”

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