Lodro Rinzler: Basic Goodness in a World on Fire

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June 16, 2026

Lodro Rinzler: Basic Goodness in a World on Fire

Lodro Rinzler June 16, 2026


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.

Author Info for Lodro Rinzler Coming Soon

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Founded Sounds True in 1985 as a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. She hosts a popular weekly podcast called Insights at the Edge, where she has interviewed many of today's leading teachers. Tami lives with her wife, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Rasberry and Bula, in Boulder, Colorado.

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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.

Lodro Rinzler: Meditation and Kindness: Two Keys to Cr...

Lodro Rinzler is an author and renowned meditation teacher who has led trainings at Google, Harvard, and the White House. His many books include The Buddha Walks into a Bar and How to Love Yourself. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Lodro discuss the Shambhala tradition of Buddhism that Lodro teaches in—specifically, its goal of creating an enlightened society. They speak on how to truly cultivate kindness and what it takes to be a mindful leader during difficult times. Lodro comments on what he calls “The Four Exhilarations” and “The Four Dignities,” and in a culmination of the discussion, explains his overarching mission in teaching meditation to the world. (62 minutes)

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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.

Jasper Young Bear: Prophecies for This Time: When Moth...


Something is shifting in the world—and the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island have seen it coming for generations.

This week, Tami Simon speaks with Jasper Young Bear—wisdom keeper, storyteller, founder of the Medicine Lodge Confederacy, and member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation—about the sacred oral teachings he was entrusted to carry, and why he has chosen this urgent moment to share them with the world. Jasper is the featured teacher in a new medicine film and four-part audio series, The Creation Story, available to watch and listen to for free at thecreationstory.co.

Join Tami and Jasper to explore:

  • The Seventh Generation prophecy—and why we are living inside its fulfillment right now
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  • The importance of forgiving the unforgivable—and how it opens the frequency of true freedom
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  • Why Jasper believes love—not systems, not ideology—is ultimately what will heal the human family

This interview is unlike most. Tami listens more than she asks. And what Jasper Young Bear offers is truly a transmission: a vision of where we are, where we’re headed, and what each of us can do to become a worthy ancestor for the generations yet to come.

Watch and listen to The Creation Story for free at thecreationstory.co.

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.

Andrew Holecek: Stop, Drop, and Be Held in the Dark


What if the most transformative place you could go isn’t a retreat center or a therapist’s office—but complete and total darkness?

This week, Tami Simon speaks with Andrew Holecek—interdisciplinary scholar, longtime practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, and author of the new Sounds True book Total Eclipse of the Mind: Unleashing the Power of Darkness for Creativity, Healing, and Transformation—about the practice of dark retreat: full immersion in sealed, lightless environments used by yogis for centuries to accelerate inner transformation.

Holecek calls it the single most transformative practice of his fifty years of meditation, psychedelic exploration, and three-year Tibetan retreat—and in this interview, he explains why.

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  • What actually happens to the mind in extended darkness—and the neurological science behind why it’s so transformative
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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.

This episode is sponsored by Omega Institute, a global gathering hub for lifelong learning and spiritual exploration. Located in upstate New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley, Omega offers weekend workshops, special events, rest and rejuvenation retreats, professional trainings, online learning, and more. Discover what calls to you at eomega.org/true.