Lodro Rinzler: Basic Goodness in a World on Fire
How do you hold true to your convictions to be good in a world that’s on fire?
This week, Tami Simon speaks with Lodro Rinzler—Buddhist meditation teacher, founder of the Basic Goodness Collective, and author of seven books including the international bestseller The Buddha Walks into a Bar—about his new book, You Are Good. You Are Enough: Free Yourself from the Trap of Doubt and Return to Basic Goodness. Together, they move through the book’s three arcs: seeing the goodness in ourselves, in others, and in society itself.
Join Tami and Lodro to explore:
- The concept of basic goodness—what it actually means, where it comes from in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and why you don’t have to be a Buddhist to recognize it in yourself
- How capitalism profits from the lie of not-enoughness—and what it would mean to collectively stop believing it
- The “trap of doubt”: that insidious inner voice that keeps us striving, comparing, and withholding self-acceptance
- How to extend compassion toward people who drive us crazy—including world-threatening politicians—without excusing harm or collapsing into Pollyanna thinking
- The parrot and the forest fire: a jataka tale about what it means to name what’s broken and show up anyway
- Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s teaching that seeing the phenomenal world as sacred is “the first and last practice of all”
- A closing guided meditation to help listeners touch basic goodness in their own direct experience
Whether you’ve been carrying shame for decades or are simply exhausted by a world that feels on fire, Lodro offers something rare: not a pep talk, but a genuine shift in view.
Listen now and find your way back to what was always there. →
This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.
