192 – The Eight Worldly Winds: Gain, Loss, Status, Disgrace, Praise, Censure, Pleasure, Pain
According to one of the foundational Buddhist teachings, we are doomed to be "blown about" by Eight Worldly Winds unless we engage in spiritual practice: Gain and loss, success and failure, praise and...
22 Tammi 202239min
191 – Contemplating the Future: The Middle Way Between Dread and Hope
When we contemplate the future, it may seem like we have only two options: dread, or hope. If we can't summon hope, we may avoid thinking about the future at all in order to escape dread. Fortunately,...
6 Tammi 202231min
190 – Leaping Beyond Fear of Rejection: Giving the Gift of Self
The gift of self - such as our time, attention, energy, enthusiasm, perspective, sympathy, and creativity brightens the lives of everyone around us. Although the self is "empty" of inherent, enduring ...
23 Joulu 202132min
189 – Collecting the Heart-Mind: A Celebration of Sesshin – Part 1
Sesshin - a silent, residential, Zen meditation retreat involving a 24-hour communal schedule - is an extremely valuable way to deepen your Zen practice. I discuss why I strongly encourage you to part...
17 Joulu 202130min
188 - What Does Practice Look Like When Your Country Is Broken?
When our country - or global community - is broken, how do we practice? Faced with incomprehensible violence, injustice, lies, greed, and destruction, how do we cope, let alone respond in accord with ...
1 Joulu 202134min
187 - Lotus Sutra 5: Step Right Up to Get YOUR Prediction of Buddhahood
In the Lotus Sutra, thousands of the Buddha's disciples line up, each requesting their own, personal prediction of buddhahood. What is this about? Shouldn't advanced practitioners of the Buddha way be...
20 Marras 202139min
186 - Making Peace with Ghosts: Unresolved Karma and the Sejiki (Segaki) Festival
The annual Buddhist ceremony of "feeding the hungry ghosts," or Sejiki, offers rich mythological imagery as a teaching. Metaphorically, a "ghost" is anything painful or difficult which continues to ha...
12 Marras 202134min
185 – 14 Ways to Enliven Your Zazen – Part 2
I share nine more ways to enliven your zazen without employing methods that introduce dualism and struggle into your sitting. See Episode 184 for why this is important, and for my first five approache...
29 Loka 202128min
