''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 Many North American universities identify themselves as being nonsectarian, such as B ...

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

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and other contemplative 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 Shambhala (, ),Śambhala m. (also written Sambhala): Name of a town (situated between the Rathaprā and Ganges, and identified by some with Sambhal in Moradabad; the town or district of Śambhala is fabled to be the place where Kalki, the last ...

community, the Sun has evolved from a community newspaper, the Vajradhatu Sun founded in 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 a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. ''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 that are 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 *The

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

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 Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

* Daniel Goleman *

bell hooks Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952 – December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks (stylized in lowercase), was an American author, theorist, educator, and social critic who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Be ...

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

* Amanda Palmer * Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche *

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate ...

* Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche * Robert Thurman *

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 Med ...

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 based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

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

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''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 Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' 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 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. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

.'' 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