Love Is Liberation: Five Contemplations for Daily Ethical Living

A courageous call forward from BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ Buddhist practitioners to transform the cycle of societal suffering through ethical choices and action from a place of belonging and love--the ultimate liberation--in this companion to Thich Nhat Hanh's Five Mindfulness Trainings

The five precepts of traditional Buddhism--not to kill, steal, lie, ingest harmful substances, and to refrain from sexual misconduct--are universally applicable ethical foundations for a happy life for people of all religions and none. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Five Mindfulness Trainings reframe these guiding principles as positive steps that, followed wholeheartedly, open the way to transform the suffering of ourselves, our communities, and the planet.

Aware of the interconnection of all people, and the truth that we are all affected if even one person lives on the knife-edge of systemic social oppression and discrimination, authors and Dharma teachers Valerie Brown and Marisela B. Gomez address the suffering of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, who face disproportionate levels of violence, poverty, sickness, displacement, and death. Sharing their contemplations on the Mindfulness Trainings, they conclude with the voices of five BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ mindfulness practitioners sharing how each Mindfulness Training impacts their daily lives, celebrating the powerful transformative potential of each training:

• reverence for life,
• true happiness,
• true love,
• loving speech and deep listening,
• and nourishment and healing.

Through sharing their lived experience of the Five Mindfulness Trainings for ethical living, the contributors to this treasure of a book call us all forward toward individual and collective awakening.

Author: Valerie Brown,Marisela B. Gomez
Publisher: Parallax Press
Published: 09/29/2026
Pages: 128
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
ISBN13: 9781967175178
ISBN10: 1967175179
BISAC Categories:
- Mind, Body, Spirit | Mindfulness & Meditation
- Religion | Buddhism | Zen (see also Philosophy | Zen)
- Philosophy | Zen

About the Author
Valerie Brown, JD, transformed her twenty-year, high-pressure career as a lawyer-lobbyist into human-scale, social equity-centered work, guiding leaders and organizations to foster greater understanding, authenticity, compassion, and trust. She was ordained as a Dharma teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village tradition of Engaged Buddhism and is a member of the Society of Friends.
Marisela B. Gomez, MD, is a cofounder of the mutual aid center Village of Love and Resistance in Baltimore, Maryland, US, organizing for power, healing, and the reclamation of land. She is a meditation teacher, physician-scientist, and holistic health practitioner. She is the author of Race, Class, Power, and Organizing in East Baltimore and coauthor of Healing Our Way Home, along with other scholarly, political, and spiritual writings.