In this response to Richard Cleveland’s review of the Special Issue on Mindfulness in Education by Kenneth Tobin (Learn Res Pract 4(1):112–125, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2018.1435039), I follow his call for ‘nonjudgmental scholarship’ by discussing possibilities for engaging in contemplative practices to address the current societal need for healing from racial oppression. I start by revisiting traditional Buddhist ideas and practices of wisdom and compassion, and considering how these ideas and practices can be applied to the goals of resisting racism and enacting individual and collective healing. I then discuss the potential for using arts-based modalities to conduct counter-hegemonic contemplative practices, especially as arts-based modalities draw upon embodiment and affect. To support my discussion, I provide examples from the work of prominent Black Buddhist teachers and my own arts-based contemplative scholarship.