We all want to lead lives that are happy, meaningful, and beneficial.

We want to love and be loved.

We want to live in a harmonious and peaceful human community.

We want these things because of our natural goodness.

If leading such a life is the universal goal of the human journey, there are many ways to get there.

At Lion’s Roar, we offer different paths—Buddhist and secular, accessible and in-depth, modern and timeless—to serve different people’s needs and preferences. But they all start with four basic things we believe are true.

1. We and the world we experience are naturally good. Our mind is naturally aware, our heart is loving, our world is vivid and joyful. We don’t need to change or improve ourselves. We just need to be who we really are.
2. We can understand the temporary problems—the confusion, distraction, and mistakes—that separate us from our natural goodness and cause great misery for ourselves and others.
3. We have the power, by working with our minds, our hearts, and our lives, to realize our natural goodness and lead the happy, meaningful, and beneficial lives we want. Because obstacles can be cleared away and our natural goodness is always present, the journey is doable, the goal is reachable.
4. There are many effective paths and methods to cultivate our natural goodness and manifest it in our lives. The basic path that Lion’s Roar offers is one of meditation, insight, ethical living, and compassion.

Of course, as the leading Buddhist media organization in the English language, we are dedicated to offering Buddhism’s profound and effective teachings, philosophy, and meditation techniques. From experts to beginners, we aspire to serve everyone who can benefit from Buddhism, and we do that through our full range of content.

Yet that’s not enough. To truly benefit the world and as many people’s lives as possible, we also need to present universal human truths—ones Buddhism teaches so effectively about—in ways that anyone can relate to and benefit from, no matter what their beliefs are.

The complete path of mindfulness, presented in this issue, is one attempt to do so. The five components of complete mindfulness—meditation, insight, ethics, compassion, and community—are both the path to a good human life and essential parts of it. None of these is inherently Buddhist, or necessarily religious at all.

Through the brilliant work of the secular mindfulness movement pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn, millions of people are enjoying the benefits of a regular mindfulness meditation practice. As we do at Lion’s Roar, secular mindfulness often draws on Buddhist teachings. After all, the Buddha was the world’s first mindfulness teacher, and Buddhists are the world’s mindfulness experts.

Yet mindfulness meditators know that what they are doing is not Buddhist or non-Buddhist, spiritual or secular. They are simply training, and benefiting from, the universal human ability to pay attention. Similarly, our ability to see reality clearly, to live ethically, to be kind and compassionate, and to live in community are simply parts of who we are as human beings.

Cultivated together, these five keys complete the path that begins with mindfulness practice, deepening and expanding it. Reflecting our natural goodness, beyond any religion or belief system, they are a path to the happy, meaningful, and beneficial life that is the goal of the human journey.