86 - Samvega and Pasada: Two Buddhist Emotions Indispensable for Practice
Samvega and pasada keep our practice alive and on course. Samvega is spiritual urgency arising three things: A sense of distress and disillusionment about life as it's usually lived, a sense of our ow...
18 Jan 201921min
85 – I Shouldn't Feel Like This: A Practitioner's Conundrum
Buddhism teaches that you can change the nature of your experience by changing your own mind and behaviors - increasing the proportion of your life spent feeling calm, confident, positive,and compassi...
11 Jan 201925min
84 – Two Paths to Meditative Concentration: Directed Effort Versus Letting Go – Part 2
I propose there are two paths to meditative concentration: directed effort (what the Buddha taught) and letting go (something we do in Soto Zen). One path or the other may work better for some people....
24 Dec 201838min
83 – Two Paths to Meditative Concentration: Directed Effort Versus Letting Go – Part 1
I believe some of our struggles in meditation could be eased if we recognized there are two paths to meditative concentration, or samadhi – directed effort, and letting go – and what works well for on...
14 Dec 201836min
82 - Buddhist History 10: Early Indian Buddhism - Stupas and Devotional Practice - Part 1
It's pretty typical to hear only one side of Buddhist history – that is, the side that focuses on what the Buddha taught, or the Dharma, and on the people who studied and practiced that Dharma. There'...
1 Dec 201826min
81 – Five Steps for Positive Change without Waging War on the Self
It's natural and healthy to aspire to things like having more equanimity, being more generous, and overcoming negative habits – and, in fact, such aspiration is part of the Buddhist path. However, whe...
24 Nov 201824min
80 - Four Foundations of Mindfulness Practice and Similarities in Zen
In the last episode, I introduced the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as the Buddha taught them. Mindfulness means to remember something, or keep something in mind. The Four Foundations are the four c...
17 Nov 201827min
79 - Buddha's Teachings 10: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
One of Buddha's central teachings was the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, about how you walk the Eightfold Path to liberation. Mindfulness, or sati, means to remember or keep in mind, and the four fo...
13 Nov 201828min
