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. Mixing scholarship, memoir, and a deep reverence for the spiritual insights of two of the greatest writers and thinkers of the 20th century, Dr. Vesely-Flad's newest work approaches Buddhist teachings from an angle that is deeply human, literary, and personal. How did these two great authors touch on such dharmic topics as the truth of suffering, relative and ultimate reality, and much more? Fans of literature and Buddhism will enjoy this conversation and new book deeply. This conversation belongs to one of Ethan's favorite categories: "Things you didn't know were Buddhist."
In 2025, with your subscriptions to The Road Home, we were able to release more episodes than any previous year. This was only possible with your subscriptions. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber here.



Rima Vesely-Flad, PhD, is the author of Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation (NYU Press, 2022) and Racial Purity and Dangerous Bodies: Moral Pollution, Black Lives, and the Struggle for Justice (Fortress Press, 2017). She is the founder of the Initiative for Black Buddhist Studies and the recipient of grants from the Fetzer Institute, the Henry J. Luce Foundation, the Fredrick P. Lenz Foundation, the Crossroads Program, and the US Department of State Fulbright program. You can follow her work at www.blackbuddhiststudies.org.
 


 


 
Paid subscribers to The Road Home will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Thursday Meditation Group happens each week at 8am ET on Thursdays, and a guided audio meditations are released monthly. Another bonus podcast for paid subscribers discussed a mindful take on intuition, and Ethan also offered instruction in the RAIN method for working with emotions with self-compassion. These are all available to paid subscribers. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
Free RAIN Meditation Workshop on February 12th via A Mindful World!
A new free video course on a classic Buddhist contemplation called The Five Remembrances is available at this link.
Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor A Mindful World!

What is the relationship between Metta (lovingkindness practice) and developing, or rediscovering, a childlike innocence? How can Buddhist meditation help both kids and adults with emotional regulation and resilience? Is there anything about the way kids meet thoughts and emotions that we grown-ups can learn from? And, as Ethan wonders, are all children Democratic Socialists? Ethan welcomes dear mentor and friend Sharon Salzberg—now author of a children's book called Kind Karl (and it's an excellent one)—for a discussion about kindness, mindfulness, and rediscovering our innocence.
Sharon Salzberg is one of America's leading spiritual teachers and authors. A practitioner of Buddhist meditation for over fifty years, she is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society.
Paid subscribers to The Road Home will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! In 2025, with your subscriptions, we were able to release more episodes than any previous year. This was only possible with your subscriptions. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The Thursday Meditation Group happens each week at 8am ET on Thursdays, and a guided audio meditations are released monthly. Another bonus podcast for paid subscribers discussed a mindful take on intuition, and Ethan also offered instruction in the RAIN method for working with emotions with self-compassion. These are all available to paid subscribers. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
2026 Yearlong Buddhist Studies program starts tomorrow! Find out about the 2026 Yearlong Buddhist Studies program at this link!
A new free video course on a classic Buddhist contemplation called The Five Remembrances is available at this link.
Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download at Dharma Moon.

Ethan continues recent conversations on tech, mindfulness and dharma to examine how much of our karma (ie "habit energy" according to the late master Thich Nhat Hanh) is determined by pre-chosen and manipulative algorithms. How can we use our mindfulness practice to understand the internal and external forces influencing our patterns of behavior, and use our dharma practice to create more gaps of genuine awareness, gaps in which our intention and agency create a space for right action, or at least not doing exactly what the seemingly almighty algorithm wants us to do?
In 2025, we were able to release more episodes than any previous year. This was only possible with your subscriptions. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber here.
Find out about the 2026 Yearlong Buddhist Studies program—which begins next Tuesday—at this link!
Find out about the Advanced Buddhist Studies program—which begins next Wednesday—at this link!
Paid subscribers to The Road Home will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Thursday Meditation Group happens each week at 8am ET on Thursdays, and guided audio meditations are released monthly. Another bonus podcast for paid subscribers discussed a mindful take on intuition, and Ethan also offered instruction in the RAIN method for working with emotions with self-compassion. These are all available to paid subscribers. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
A new free video course on a classic Buddhist contemplation called The Five Remembrances is available at this link.
Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download at Dharma Moon.

At a recent event in support of Dharma Moon's Yearlong Buddhist Studies program on January 6th, Ethan was joined by the great Roshi Joan Halifax, to discuss the practice, history and theory of Engaged Buddhism. Why is this integrated approach to the dharma so crucial now? Ethan begins with an impassioned plea after the ICE murder of the Renee Good in Minneapolis to come together as sangha and practice engaged dharma this year. And every time the thought arises "I could do something but it won't really make any difference," please label that thought thinking.
Roshi Joan Halifax is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya, a center which focused on Engaged Buddhism in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her vision for the Zen Center embraces comprehensive Buddhist studies, meditation, service, dharma art, and environmental action as integrated paths cultivating peace and interconnectedness. She is also the author of multiple books including Standing at The Edge and Being With Dying.
In 2025, with your subscriptions, we were able to release more episodes than any previous year. This was only possible with your subscriptions. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber below
Paid subscribers to The Road Home will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Thursday Meditation Group happens each week at 8am ET on Thursdays, and a guided audio meditations are released monthly. Another bonus podcast for paid subscribers discussed a mindful take on intuition, and Ethan also offered instruction in the RAIN method for working with emotions with self-compassion. These are all available to paid subscribers. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
Find out about the 2026 Yearlong Buddhist Studies program at this link!
A new free video course on a classic Buddhist contemplation called The Five Remembrances is available at this link.
Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download at Dharma Moon.

Ethan welcomes back bestselling author and Buddhist Astrologer Juliana McCarthy (Ethereal Culture, The Stars Within You) to dive headfirst into a discussion of the momentous year ahead. They break the discussion into four areas: spiritual practice, creative practice, technology and politics. Juliana predicts big personal and collective moments ahead in February, April and especially in July 2026, including a massive revolutionary placement of planets that coincides directly with July 4th, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence (Which Ethan wishes was called the Declaration of Interdependence!). Juliana also talks about why "thick karma" is not a problem. These conversations are always fun, and this one might have been the most impactful of them all. Enjoy!
In 2025, with your subscriptions, we were able to release more episodes than any previous year. This was only possible with your subscriptions. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



Paid subscribers will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Thursday Meditation Group happens each week at 8am ET on Thursdays, and a guided audio meditations are released monthly. Another bonus podcast for paid subscribers discussed a mindful take on intuition, and Ethan also offered instruction in the RAIN method for working with emotions with self-compassion. These are all available to paid subscribers. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
Check out about upcoming live events like a New Year's Eve Intention-Settingworkshop and a live talk with Ethan and Roshi Joan Halifax January 6th!
You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Ethan's Website, etc).
Find out about the 2026 Yearlong Buddhist Studies program at this link!
A new free video course on a classic Buddhist contemplation called The Five Remembrances is available at this link.
Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download at Dharma Moon.