Love and rage The path of liberation through anger

Owens (Radical Dharma), a Lama in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, presents an essential guide to "facing our anger and welcoming it as a teacher and friend." Owens, "a black, queer, cisgender, and male-identified, fat, mixed-class, Buddhist teacher and minister, yoga teacher, and shit-talking Southerner, among other identities," writes of feeling inspired by the crushing results of the 2016 election. His reaction to Trump's victory sparked a recognition that he could use his anger to "make space" and work through his own sense of woundedness. He invites readers to tread along a similar path by not shying away from feelings of rage and shares a number of anger-inducing anecdotes from his life, among them many moments in which he encountered racism (both subtle and overt). Writing with generosity and understanding toward those that have inspired his anger, Owens demonstrates the "neutral ground" needed for exploring both society-wide and personal pain. His appealing tone and easy-to-follow instructions on meditation, breath work, processing trauma, and visualization make Buddhist principles open to any reader. By showing how to harness the regenerative, disruptive power of empathy, Owens's welcoming work can help readers turn indignation into healing. (July)

The latest from Owens (Radical Dharma) is an insightful personal narrative steeped in Buddhist wisdom on how he disentangled from rage, specifically, rage created from being a marginalized body living in the United States today. Lama (meaning "teacher") Owens, trained in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, writes accessibly on basic Buddhist philosophy to establish a framework for meditative practices. Interspersed throughout are stories of the author's own experiences with racial profiling, social injustice, and the construct of fear that white society has created around a Black man's rage. His reflections allow readers to understand how engaging with emotion can begin to reveal one's lack of embodiment and help locate emotions, such as anger, that often accumulate from years of oppression. Owens shares how one can create space for healing through a meditation practice that allows for acceptance of emotional wounds as well as acknowledging ancestral wounds. Owens's Buddhist perspective is cultivated through the lens of a queer, Black man who continues to create space for those who feel unaccepted in current society. VERDICT Highly recommended for Eastern philosophy/Buddhism collections; a wonderful resource for social justice advocates.--Angela Forret, State Lib. of Iowa, Des Moines