Secular Buddhism

Something whole is comprised of ALL its undiminished parts or elements. We are a combination of our body and mind (hardware and software). The key to feeling whole is to understand and embrace all of the parts that make us who we are. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 5 remembrances are wake-up calls that help us to see more clearly, the nature of reality. They are wake-up calls that help us to live more intentionally and skillfully. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I will share my thoughts about the 84,000 gates and the notion of Emptiness. In the last 2 episodes, I shared my thoughts around Signlessness and Aimlessness and now I will share my thoughts around Emptiness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The three doors of liberation refer to Formlessless, Signlessness, and Aimlessness. In this episode, I will talk about signlessness and what this teaching means to me and how we can practice signlessness in our day-to-day lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The three doors of liberation refer to Formlessless, Signlessness, and Aimlessness. In this episode, I will talk about Aimlessness and what this teaching means to me. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Craving for and attachment to feelings is what leads to suffering; on the flip side of that, awareness and understanding of our feelings can lead to Enlightenment. In this episode, I will share my thoughts around the Buddhist concept of feelings tones / Vedana. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"A student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something every day." What does it mean to "unlearn"? In this episode, I will share my thoughts around the notion of learning and unlearning in the context of practicing Buddhism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the final teachings the Buddha gave, had to do with becoming an island unto yourself. In a way, he was telling his followers that it was time to leave the nest and to take refuge in themselves. In this episode, I will share my thoughts on this teaching. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I will talk about the story of Sundari, an ascetic who was killed in an attempt to frame Sidhartha and bring dishonor to him and his followers. How the Buddha handled this ordeal sheds light on the Buddhist approach to words and accusations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The games we play...some thoughts about Right View. Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Our happiness and the happiness of those around us depend on our degree of Right View. Touching reality deeply -- knowing what is going on inside and outside of ourselves -- is the way to liberate ourselves from the suffering that is caused by wrong perceptions. Right View is not an ideology, a system, or even a path. It is the insight we have into the reality of life, a living insight that fills us with understanding, peace, and love." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The backwards law proposes that the more we chase after something, the more difficult it becomes to catch it and the more disappointed we feel. In other words, the harder we try, the less likely we are to succeed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a culture that tends to feel gratitude for only the pleasant things in our life, the Buddhist approach is to feel gratitude for all things, even the unpleasant ones. Gratitude develops patience and patience is an antidote to the poison of greed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The nature of reality is that things come together and things fall apart and then things come together and things fall apart and that cycle goes on and on. Instead of running from the difficulties and the pain, the Buddhist approach is to move toward the painful situations and become intimate with them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mara is "the personification of the forces antagonistic to enlightenment." Mara wants to be feared. We tend to run from the things that we fear, but what happens when we stop running and we look at Mara and say "I see you, Mara!"In this episode, I will share my thoughts about the interaction between the Buddha and Mara. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dependent Origination is a Buddhist notion that is common among all schools of Buddhism. It's the doctrine that states that all phenomena arise in dependence upon other phenomena. In other words, "this is because that is and this is not because that is not". In this episode, I will share my thoughts about how this concept can be beneficial in our day-to-day lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Within any given discipline, we all have a circle of skills. In order to grow the circle of skills, we need to do things that are just outside the circle and once we master a new skill, that circle grows. The key to safely growing the circle is to go slowly and not attempt skills that are too far outside the current circle we have. I believe this is also the case with how we can approach Mindfulness practice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I will talk about "The First Meditation" a story about an experience that Siddhartha (the Buddha) had when he was 9 years old. I believe this experience shaped his understanding of the importance of experiential vs intellectual understanding and I believe there are some good lessons to be learned by us as we hear this story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It can be easy to get caught up "in the thick of thin things" when our perspective is too narrow or zoomed in. When we take the long view, we learn to zoom out and see things from a different perspective. In this podcast episode, I will talk about taking the long view and also discuss the parable of the lute and the analogy of tuning the strings of an instrument. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zen Master Seung Sahn said "I do not teach Buddhism. I only teach don't know." The beauty of not knowing arises when we understand that reality is unknowable as a complete picture. First, because it's always changing, and second, we are limited in our perspective in terms of space and time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Liberation is not a destination we strive to reach, it's a state of mind that is available to us right here and right now. When we fully understand the reality of emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness, we become liberated from the type of thinking that has us trapped in the prison of our own mind. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.