''Lion's Roar'' (previously ''Shambhala Sun'') is an independent, bimonthly magazine (in print and online) that offers a

nonsectarian Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. Academic sphere Examples of US universities that identify themselves as being nonsectarian include Adelp ...

view of "Buddhism, Culture, Meditation, and Life". Presented are teachings from the

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and other

contemplative In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with prayer or meditation. Etymology The word ''contemplation'' is derived from the Latin word '' ...

traditions, with an emphasis on applying the principles of mindfulness and awareness practices to everyday life.

History and profile

Launched by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as an internal publication of the

Shambhala In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala ( sa, शम्भल ',''Śambhala'', also ''Sambhala'', is the name of a town between the Rathaprā and Ganges rivers, identified by some with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. In the Puranas, it is named as ...

community, the Sun has evolved from a community newspaper, the Vajradhatu Sun founded 1978, to a small young magazine, to the largest-circulation Buddhist magazine in the English language. Established in 1995, the magazine is now a publication of the independent, nonprofit Lion's Roar Foundation. In 2002, the ''Sun'' launched another periodical, '' Buddhadharma: Practitioner's Quarterly'' focused strongly on Buddhist practice. ''Buddhadharma'' is currently published by the Lion's Roar Foundation. In 2003, the ''Shambhala Sun'' was the most successful Canadian magazine in the United States. In November 2015 the magazine's name was changed to ''Lion’s Roar''. Distributed internationally, the magazine is based and published in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. ''Lion's Roar'' has a circulation of 80,000 copies, with a readership of several hundred thousand. The ''Lion's Roar'' online archive includes a substantial amount of previously published articles and essays free to the public. In handing out their Alternative Press Awards in 2007, ''

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

'' magazine awarded ''Shambhala Sun'' for a fourth time, this year for Best Spiritual Coverage. ''Utne'' had this to say about the ''Shambhala Sun'':

Notable contributors

Pema Chodron Pema ( or ) is a Tibetan name meaning " lotus", which originated as a loanword from Sanskrit ''padma''. People who have this name as one of their given namesNote that Tibetan names generally do not have surnames. See e.g. include: Buddhist teacher ...

*The

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Daniel Goleman Daniel Goleman (born March 7, 1946) is an author, psychologist, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for ''The New York Times'', reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 book ''Emotional Intelligence'' was on ''Th ...

* bell hooks *

Pico Iyer Siddharth Pico Raghavan Iyer (born 11 February 1957), known as Pico Iyer, is a British-born essayist and novelist known chiefly for his travel writing. He is the author of numerous books on crossing cultures including ''Video Night in Kathmandu ...

* Amanda Palmer *

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche, Jampal Trinley Dradul (born Ösel Rangdrol Mukpo on November 15, 1962) is an American and Tibetan Buddhist descendant of the Shambhala lineage and Shambhala, a worldwide network of urban Buddhist meditation center ...

* Gary Snyder * Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche *

Robert Thurman Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 3, 1941) is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at ...

Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...

Jon Kabat-Zinn Jon Kabat-Zinn (born Jon Kabat, June 5, 1944) is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medi ...

Masthead

*Editor-in-Chief: Melvin McLeod *Publisher: Ben Moore

Awards and critical reception

Recent awards include: *

magazine's Alternative Press award for General Excellence and Spiritual Coverage in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2007 * Folio magazine’s 2002 Ozzie award for page design *The 2003 Canadian Newsstand Award for cover design *The 2005 and 2007 Atlantic Journalism Award for ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' Best Cover and Best Article. *In 2005, ''Shambhala Sun'' ranked number 29 in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

''s ranking of the 50 best magazines in publication. ''Shambhala Sun'' has received generally positive reviews for its application of Buddhist wisdom to a variety of contemporary topics including the arts, politics, and health. In 1995, Morris Wolfe of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' wrote that "at its best, Shambahala Sun demonstrates how important, and yet how difficult it is to live in the moment, to see and experience what is in front of us". In 1997,

Antonia Zerbisias Antonia Zerbisias is a Canadian journalist associated with the ''Toronto Star'' from 1989 until she took early retirement from the paper on 31 October 2014. She has been a reporter and TV host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as wel ...

described the magazine as "thoughtful" and "startlingly original" in a review for the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

.'' In 2008, the ''New York Review of Magazines'' described the magazine's layout as "elegant, spacious and calming" and the editorial content as "effective".

References

{{Reflist

External links