The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors

Lama Rod Owens, a Buddhist teacher and intersectional thought leader, offers a guide for creating a more just and ethical world. He argues that saints—known in various traditions as bodhisattvas, tzaddikim, or spiritual warriors—are ordinary people who share a wish to free others from suffering. They are not distant, idealized figures but humans doing things anyone can learn to do. Owens teaches that our time requires saints who speak to the present moment and integrate both social and spiritual liberation. The New Saints combines personal stories, traditional teachings, and instructions for contemplative and somatic practices to help readers become effective agents of justice, peace, and change. Each chapter explores our interdependency, enabling service to collective well-being, access to spiritual guidance, and connection with others who share similar struggles and hopes. Owens contends that existing systems are breaking down. He calls on those willing to let their hearts break, disrupt systems of violence, and allow authentic care to guide their actions to become spiritual warriors—humans serving a vision of a world shaped by love.