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231 – Spiritual Inquiry Part 1: What Spiritual Questions Are and Why They Matter
Episode 231
There are many aspects of Buddhism which suggest you ought to have deep spiritual questions – questions which are not merely intellectual, but which …
3 years, 5 months ago
The Importance of Bodhi-Mind, or Way-Seeking Mind
Episode 230
Buddhism is based on seeking – seeking freedom from suffering, greater wisdom and compassion, greater skillfulness in benefiting beings, and a more a…
3 years, 6 months ago
One Reality, Many Descriptions Part 1: Emptiness
Episode 229
Teachings like Emptiness, Buddha-Nature, Suchness, Absolute and Relative, and Mind-with-a-capital-M are challenging, and sometimes people wonder if t…
3 years, 6 months ago
Skillful Self-Discipline Part 2: Clarity of Purpose and Patient Determination
Episode 228
If we live without self-discipline – without clarifying aspirations, forming intentions, or training ourselves – our lives are unlikely to go in the …
3 years, 7 months ago
Skillful Self-Discipline Part 1: Balancing Discipline and Gentleness
Episode 227
If we live without self-discipline – without clarifying aspirations, forming intentions, or training ourselves – our lives are unlikely to go in the …
3 years, 7 months ago
How to Relate to Worldly Pleasure as a Buddhist – Part 2
Episode 226
In Part 1 I defined what I mean by "worldly pleasure," and then discussed five drawbacks of such pleasure as described in Buddhist teachings, and in …
3 years, 7 months ago
How to Relate to Worldly Pleasure as a Buddhist – Part 1
Episode 225
Traditionally, the ideal of Buddhism is the renunciate monastic who forgoes worldly pleasures because they are fleeting and distract us from practice…
3 years, 7 months ago
Human Nature: Why Aren't We Born Enlightened?
Episode 224
Why aren't we just all born enlightened and avoid suffering? Or, we could ask: Why are human beings the way they are? Why did they evolve to cause so…
3 years, 8 months ago
Integrating Insights
Episode 223
On the meditation seat and off, we may experience significant insights - realizations that shift our perceptions of ourselves and world, and help rel…
3 years, 8 months ago
222 – Confronting the Buddha's Sexist Discourse – Part 2
Episode 222
I explore how - for some of us - explaining, dismissing, or justifying the story of the Buddha's resistance to ordaining women (told in the Gotami Su…
3 years, 8 months ago