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The Practice of Vow 2: Choosing the Direction We Want Our Lives to Take
Episode 141
The practice of vow is central in Buddhism, as I've discussed before. Vows – alternatively aspirations, intentions, or commitments, formal or informa…
6 years, 1 month ago
Sustainable Buddhist Practice: Creating Form But Keeping It Flexible
Episode 140
How do we create a strong and sustainable Buddhist practice outside of a monastery? We create structure for ourselves and build good habits, but then…
6 years, 1 month ago
Suchness: Awakening to the Preciousness of Things-As-It-Is
Episode 139
All religions and spiritual practices have one purpose: To relieve our suffering and give us hope. As Buddhists we sometimes emphasize "relieving suf…
6 years, 1 month ago
Buddhist Images of Fierceness and Compassionate Anger
Episode 138
Despite the placid appearance of most Buddha statues and the Buddhist precept against indulging anger, there is a place for fierceness and compassion…
6 years, 2 months ago
Sustainable Bodhisattva Practice when the World is (Literally) on Fire
Episode 137
Many American cities are on fire - literally - as tensions over systemic racism erupt. How do we enact our bodhisattva vows in the face of all of thi…
6 years, 2 months ago
Grief in Buddhism 2: Some Buddhist Practices Helpful for Facing and Integrating Grief
Episode 136
Grief is love in the face of loss; do you want to stop loving in order to stop feeling grief? Of course not. But we also don't want to be controlled …
6 years, 2 months ago
Mini Episode - A Four "S" Approach to Shikantaza: Sit Upright, Still, Silent, Simply Be
Shikantaza, or the practice of "just sitting," can be challenging. We're asked not to try to control our meditative experience, but are we just suppo…
6 years, 3 months ago
Grief in Buddhism 1: Buddhist Teachings on Grief and the Danger of Spiritual Bypassing
Episode 135
Grief in Buddhism: What are the teachings about it, and how are we supposed to practice with it? It's often easy to suppress or bypass our grief, lea…
6 years, 3 months ago
Lotus Sutra 1: What Is Devotion, and How Does It Fulfill the Buddha Way?
Episode 134
The Lotus Sutra is one of the oldest and most central sutras in Mahayana Buddhism. The sutra states repeatedly that people who perform small acts of …
6 years, 3 months ago
Restoring Wonder: Hongzhi's Guidepost of Silent Illumination - Part 2
Episode 133
I continue in a second episode with my reflections on Chan master Hongzhi's "Guidepost of Silent Illumination. I discuss the interdependence of absol…
6 years, 3 months ago