Charles R. Johnson

Charles R. Johnson

Charles Johnson won the National Book Award for Fiction for his novel Middle Passage. He’s coauthor of the new graphic novel The Eightfold Path.

Recent Articles

Martin Luther King Buddhism Charles R Johnson Philosophy Moral Political

The King We Need: Martin Luther King Jr., Moral Philosopher

He was even more than the civil rights leader he is remembered as today. Charles R. Johnson looks at how Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of America's greatest moral philosophers.

Is Mine Bigger than Yours?

Charles Johnson explores our endless capacity to compare ourselves to others, and the Buddha’s antidote to trying to measure up.

Barack Obama at his final rally before being elected president.

The Meaning of Barack Obama

Even before he was president, Obama was a 21st global citizen, helping us to transcend parochialism, tribalism, and that most pernicious of fictions — race.

Kamadhatu: A Modern Sutra

A reclusive Zen priest. A beautiful American academic. Illusion falls away and original mind is revealed. A short story by Charles Johnson.

Welcome to Wedgwood

Welcome to Wedgwood

Charles Johnson’s new neighbors had hardly settled in when all hell broke loose — or so it seemed.

We Think, Therefore We Are

Review of The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently . . . and Why, by Richard E. Nisbett.

Prince of the Ascetics

Charles Johnson imagines in this short story the very moment Siddhartha became the Buddha.

Dharma for a Dangerous Time

The world may seem particularly dangerous and uncertain, but it’s wise to remember that the ways of history—and the dharma’s response—haven’t changed.

Be Peace Embodied

"And if peace is their goal, they will in the field of politics be themselves peace embodied," Charles R. Johnson on the principles of enlightened politics