Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for Buddhist Studies and American Culture & Values and Naropa University host an evening lecture with the visiting Lenz Scholar. Kaira Jewel Lingo was the distinguished guest lecturer for 2026.
We Were Made For These Times
March 19, 2026
Link to Sinners (2025) clip referenced in the lecture: youtu.be/5OlFxQHdkiY?si=T6TdCtTA9nh9vpNu
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher with a lifelong commitment to spirituality and social justice. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, and she draws inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, as well as in secular mindfulness, at the intersection of racial, climate and social justice with a focus on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and activists, as well as artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to groups and is author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy and Liberation. Her upcoming events and teachings can be found at www.kairajewel.com.
The Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for Buddhist Studies and American Culture & Values and Naropa University host an evening lecture with the visiting Lenz Scholar. Kaira Jewel Lingo was the distinguished guest lecturer for 2026.
We Were Made For These Times
March 19, 2026
Link to Sinners (2025) clip referenced in the lecture: youtu.be/5OlFxQHdkiY?si=T6TdCtTA9nh9vpNu
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher with a lifelong commitment to spirituality and social justice. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, and she draws inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, as well as in secular mindfulness, at the intersection of racial, climate and social justice with a focus on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and activists, as well as artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to groups and is author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy and Liberation. Her upcoming events and teachings can be found at www.kairajewel.com.
