Available now!
The Fire Inside:
The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde
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.
On Black Buddhism and Radical Thought
🗓️ June 4, 2026 @ 6:00pm – 8:30pm PT
📍Online and in-person
📍1453 Mission St, San Francisco, CA (Main Building)
Join author Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad for a conversation exploring a Dharma of liberation, offering timely lessons to help us meet this moment, using the writings of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin to provide real world examples of this dharma in practice.
Conversation with Thenmozhi Soundararajan
🗓️ June 1, 2026 @ 5:30 – 7:00pm PT
📍Online and In-person
📍2406 Webster St., Oakland CA
EBMC is thrilled to host Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad, author of the newly released book The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde! Dr. Vesely-Flad will be in conversation with Thenmozhi Soundararajan, author of The Trauma of Caste and Executive Director of Equality Labs. There will also be time for audience Q & A. We hope you’ll join us for this deeply intersectional discussion about two iconic Black queer writers, timeless Buddhist teachings, and our current work toward social justice and collective liberation. This event is for lovers of literature, Buddhist teachings, and social justice activism. All are welcome to attend.
Interview: The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
Ethan talks to author, scholar and teacher Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad about her insightful new book The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde.
A public scholarship project created at the intersection of academic inquiry and community-based engagement.
Black Buddhist Studies aims to:
- Offer community-based Buddhist Studies courses that center Black social movements, Black poets, and Black Buddhist writers
- Create conversations amongst Buddhist practitioners and activists, as well as scholars of Buddhism, on how Buddhism can address racialized systemic harm in bureaucracies such as the U.S. penal system
- Think through how Buddhist-inspired anti-caste movements influence anti-racism movements, as well as speak to discrimination based on poverty, gender, and sexuality in the U.S. context
- Co-create a dialogue between Black Buddhists and Asian and Asian American Buddhists to address issues such as cultural appropriation, cultural adaptation, and internalized racism
- Publish literature that can be used for furthering academic and community dialogue that incorporates the study of Buddhism and Black Studies.
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