Black Buddhists have always read the dharma through the lens of liberation.

Join our class on Black radical thought and Buddhist practice.

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Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad

On any given week, you can find me hosting a meditation circle in my living room, biking through the Blue Ridge Mountains, or deep in a book of poetry by Audre Lorde or June Jordan.
 
I’m also a scholar, author of three books, and the Founding Director of the Initiative for Black Buddhist Studies — but those credentials only tell part of the story. I’ve taught inside Sing Sing Prison as well as the traditional college classroom. I’ve lived in Venezuela, South Africa, and Ghana. I’m raising two kids and have fostered more than ten. My life and my work have never been separate.
 
The Initiative for Black Buddhist Studies grew out of all of it — a place where Baldwin and Lorde, bell hooks, and ancient dharma teachings meet the real weight of living in this world.
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Courses

The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde

What does it mean to survive — and still be fully alive?

A 6-week series rooted in Black Buddhist wisdom.

Available Sept. 1, 2026 | Self-Guided | Online

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Buddhism and Black Liberation

Black Buddhists have always read the dharma through the lens of liberation.

A 6-week series on Black radical thought and Buddhist practice. 

Sundays, Oct. 11–Nov. 15, 2026 | 12:00–1:30pm ET | Online

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The Discipline of Liberation

What if your spiritual practice was also your politics?

A 6-week series with bell hooks as our guide

Sundays, Jan. 3–Feb. 7, 2027 | 12:00–1:30pm ET | Online

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From Poison to Power

What would your community be without the weight of unresolved harm?

A 6-week series on community, conflict, and accountability

Sundays, Feb. 14–Mar. 21, 2027| 12:00–1:30pm ET | Online

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Available now!

The Fire Inside:

The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde

Independent Press Top 40 Bestseller
#1 New Release in Buddhism, African American Studies, LGBTQ+ Studies, Literary Criticism and Theory
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The Fire Inside explores the writings of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin through a Dharmic lens, revealing for the first time how two of America’s greatest literary voices reflect—and expand—Buddhism’s most timeless truths toward justice and liberation.

Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad dives deeply into a dharma of liberation as lived by Baldwin and Lorde, offering timely lessons to help us each meet this moment. She explores the writers’ enduring legacies to show that liberation depends not only on organizing and mass movements, but the generative power of inner well-being, authenticity, art, and embodiment. 

This book offers space for emerging conversations within spiritual communities—ones that don’t shy away from difficult or uncomfortable truths; that center—and celebrate—Black, queer, radical thought; and that embrace the ways our inner lives, creative fire, sensuality, and expressions of love can ignite and sustain revolutionary liberation.

Praise for

The Fire Inside

Articles and Events

Introducing four community based online courses

Introducing four community based online courses

July 2, 2026 | , ,

How do we use our energy to confront overwhelming dehumanization and force? I am excited to announce a series of community-based courses that I will offer beginning in September which will address this question and other topics to help sustain healing and social justice work.

On Suffering

On Suffering

May 29, 2026 | ,

This idea that we learn to suffer skillfully might be heard as a way of accepting it. Like ‘that’s okay, it’s justifiable. It’s something that is part and parcel of what it means to be Black in this country and we’ll just go along with it.’ That’s not what James Baldwin and Audre Lorde were talking about.