In Memory of Reverend Dr. Larry Ward
True Great Sound
January 30, 1948—August 19, 2025
Beloved community,
We offer this page in memory of Reverend Dr. Larry Ward, True Great Sound—beloved Dharma teacher, Lotus Institute co-founder, ordained minister, celebrated poet, activist, and dear friend.
Larry devoted his life to cultivating healing, belonging, and awakening in the world. Through his teachings, writing, mentorship, and unwavering commitment to justice and compassion, he touched countless lives across generations, cultures, and faith traditions. His presence continues to ripple through the communities he helped nurture especially those in the BIPOC communities of the United States.
A devoted spiritual practitioner, Larry often spoke of beginning each morning with the Five Remembrances, contemplating his and our impermanence and interbeing. Best done before your feet touch the ground.
Larry is a lighthouse of love, laughter, no-nonsense wisdom, and courageous truth-telling. His voice—the lion’s roar—called people toward deeper presence, greater compassion, and a more honest engagement with suffering. Drawing from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jungian psychology, and other wisdom traditions, he shared the Dharma in a way that was accessible, fearless, practical, and deeply human.
Alongside his wife and teaching partner, Dr. Peggy Rowe Ward, Larry helped pioneer the path of lay Dharma teaching within the Plum Village tradition. Together, as a Dharma team, they became influential pillars within the Plum Village tradition, mentoring monastics and lay practitioners of all ages and from all corners of the world.
He was ordained as a lay minister in 1994 and as a Dharma teacher in 2000. On Christmas Eve of 1994, Thich Nhat Hanh—known lovingly as Thay—bestowed upon Larry the Dharma name True Great Sound. Stories also say that he was actually given the name True Great Voice.
In Love’s Garden: A Guide to Mindful Relationships, co-written with Peggy, Larry invited readers to reflect deeply on their relationships with partners, family members, and loved ones. Through stories, insights, and practical exercises, he encouraged the cultivation of joy, understanding, and love in everyday life.
In his acclaimed book America’s Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal, Larry called readers to confront the enduring legacies of racism, colonialism, and intergenerational trauma while remaining rooted in the possibility of collective healing. He envisioned a beloved community grounded in truth, compassion, and freedom from the illusion of separateness.
His Dharma talks continue to illuminate moments of uncertainty and difficulty, while his poetry gives voice to the unspoken truths of our hearts—in morning birdsong, ancestral footsteps, fairytales, and the bodhisattvas of justice and belonging. Many students still remember the warmth of his familiar greeting: “Greetings, beloved ones. A poem for you…”
At Lotus Institute, he often encouraged us to step outside, spend time in the company of birds, deer, and trees, and rest in the natural wonder of Mother Earth. In a world that so often pulls us toward urgency and worry, Larry invited us to slow down, pay attention, and remember what matters most. “Aah, don’t worry so much.”
What follows is a collection of tributes, memories, and reflections shared by students, colleagues, Lotus members, friends, and loved ones. Together, they offer a glimpse of Larry’s legendary life and the countless ways his teachings, presence, and compassion continue to live on in the world.
With a grateful heart and a great belly laugh,
Matt Dorma
Friend, colleague, and student
Here is a picture of the moon that I drew for Larry. I have wanted to send something after he passed.
I really like ink, and keep drawing moons over and over again. Larry’s poem, Morning Night, inspired me to send you this drawing.
Larry's dharma talks have shaken me up in a good way. I am grateful for Thay that I have found you all.
—Lotus member, Hanna
Written Tributes & Reflections
Plum Village
Honouring the Light of Larry Ward
Mindfulness Bell
Breathing Together in Memory of Dr. Larry Ward
Lion’s Roar
True Great Sound: The Life & Teachings of Larry Ward
Tricycle
Musical Tributes
Short Films
After Larry’s passing, our dear friends at the Plum Village app asked if they could create short teaching films taken from Dharma talks that Larry offered over the years. The full length talks can be found on our YouTube channel.
“This is the Reisha that I did to honor Larry's 49th Day Ceremony. It was a cold and windy day. The distance to the target was 92 feet. I missed it for the first arrow. The wind gusted for the second shot that hit the target. Larry was the wind and I believe guided the arrow.”
—Raymond Chin
A poem for you, dear Larry
Dear Kyoto
Larry and Peggy on tour in Kyoto, Japan
The Fedora Jizo
A Larry sighting in Japan, photo by Mary Zinkin
Memorial Ceremonies
To honor the life and legacy of Dr. Larry Ward, we held a series of ceremonies in the time since his passing. These sacred ceremonies brought together people from Buddhism and beyond.
Every year, on August 19, we will hold a Dharma festival to commemorate the anniversary of Larry’s passing. Subscribe to our newsletter or follow on Instagram to stay up to date.
More recordings:
Meet the Mighty Ones
by Larry Ward
I join my hands and pray,
may all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
in every space and time, come together and arise in this hour.
So many of us are hurt.
Wounded by what we have endured and witnessed,
sometimes we doubt the very purpose of life itself.
I invite all of us to meet the mighty ones, who scatter every fear,
the kind ones, who offer a balm of relief to all beings,
and the patient ones, guardians of wandering beings,
who stay home with the candlelight of love still burning in the dark night.
So many of us are tired and weary,
our bones are aching for rest.
Yes, we have seen the true frailty of goodness,
and in the quiet hours, we may question humanity's worth.
However, I invite all of us to enter the unremitting stream of wholesome merit—indestructible, eternal—so that even during distraction and deep sleep, it may flow toward the ocean of goodness.
This householder life is not easy.
So many things pulling at us—family, work, relationships, economy, politics—it all seems like a constant theater of the absurd,
and yet…
This noble mind of goodness still courses through our veins.
This holy attitude, this eternal energy of enlightenment,
that can free us from the prison of a small self.
So, I invite all of us today to be our true calling.
To be a presence of love in this world.
To remember your footsteps shall not be repeated.
Your tears, like moon drops, will continue to nourish the great pines reaching toward the blue sky—they too are precious.
I invite all of us into the delight of a life well lived, a song well sung, reflecting the Dharma light across the mysteries of time and space.
Dharma Talks
Below are just a few of the Dharma talks Larry gave over the years. To watch more, visit our YouTube channel. To watch even more, explore our Membership plans, where we share a video library of all of Larry’s teachings.