A key step that can help us begin to settle ourselves when we are profoundly unsettled is to come home, to ourselves in this moment, whatever is happening. This is one way of speaking about mindfulness, or being present: coming home to ourselves. When we bring our mind back to our body we come home. We could consider this state as our true home. This home inside of us is a home no one can take away from us, and it cannot be damaged or destroyed. No matter what happens around us, if we can find this home inside of us, we are always safe.
Kaira Jewel Lingo, MA
Residential Retreat Teacher
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage and teaches vipassanā in the Insight tradition. She is a member of the Plum Village North American Dharma Teachers’ Council of Elders. She has been practicing mindfulness since 1997 and teaching since 2007, and she is a graduate of the four-year Spirit Rock teacher training. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, drawing inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her father’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 and vipassanā traditions. She offers spiritual mentoring and leads meditation courses, retreats, embodied practices, and trainings that integrate mindfulness with creative expression, social and racial justice, and care for the Earth. Her teaching invites deep presence, relational inquiry, and embodied wisdom as foundations for personal transformation and collective liberation.
Based in New York, she is faculty in a Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy training and a guiding teacher of One Earth Sangha. With her partner, Adam Bucko, she is founding a center for engaged contemplation, The Beloved Community for Engaged Spirituality, in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York. She is the 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. More information about her teachings and events can be found at www.kairajewel.com.
Kaira Jewel Lingo's Upcoming Programs
Short Program | Online
Saturday, December 5 | 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Spiritual Radicals: The Engaged Spirituality of Buddhist and Christian Saints and Bodhisattvas
In a world facing crises—climate change, war, and deepening polarization—many of us seek to respond with an open heart. This daylong gathering invites participants into contemplative practice that leads to wise action. Drawing inspiration from contemporary Buddhist and Christian teachers like Thich Nhat Hanh, Desmond Tutu, Dipa Ma, and Joanna Macy, we’ll cultivate fearlessness and compassion. Through meditation, prayer, and intimate dialogue, we’ll connect with the “mystic heart,” discovering our unique callings to meet these times with integrity and love.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Kaira Jewel Lingo through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.