Black Buddhists have always read the dharma through the lens of liberation.
Join my class on Black radical thought and Buddhist practice
Oct. 11 to Nov. 15
Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad
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
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
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
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
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.
Praise for
The Fire Inside
Learn about the intersections between Buddhism and Black Liberation on my Substack,
Training Anger with Accuracy.
Articles and Events
Book Talk at Candler School of Theology
This event is co-sponsored by Candler School of Theology and Emory’s Office of Spiritual and Religious Life
🗓️ November 18, 2026 @ 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET
📍In-person
📍Pitts Lecture Hall (CST 360), 1531 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322
All are invited to attend a discussion and reading by author and Buddhist scholar Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad, founding director of the Initiative for Black Buddhist Studies and a research fellow at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, from her new book The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde (North Atlantic Books, 2026). Vesely-Flad will be in conversation with Charles Howard Candler Professor of Pastoral Theology and Spiritual Care Emmanuel Lartey. A reception and book signing will follow in the Candler third floor atrium.
Festival of Faiths
Two events presented by The Center for Interfaith Relations
🗓️ Nov 13, 2026 @ 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM ET and 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM
📍In-person
📍Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, 501 W Main St, Louisville, KY 40202
Embodying Courage: How do we move from inspiration to action?
and
From Poison to Power: How to Transform Our Energy with Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad
What happens when we meet anger and aversion with compassion?
A Buddhist Reading of Octavia Butler: A Conversation with Dr. Jessica Zu
Presented with the Institute of Buddhist Studies
🗓️ November 4, 2026 @ 4:00pm PST / 7:00pm EST
📍Online
This conversation series brings Black and Asian-American Buddhist scholars and practitioners together for honest dialogue about what it means to practice Buddhism in America today. These conversation partners aim to create bridges and ask nuanced questions — about ancestral practices and culture, about appropriation and erasure, and about what it means to evolve the Buddhist tradition to meet the current moment.