Unpacking the Buddha’s notions of self and nonself, transience and suffering, Joseph Goldstein leads listeners into the heart of liberation.

This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein illuminates:

- Why the Buddha paid so much attention to the concept of self

- How a felt sense of self traps us in desire and attachment

- Seeing the term ‘self’ as a designation rather than something that exists in and of itself

- Slight adjustments to our language during practice: ‘the body breathes’ rather than ‘my breath’

- Using the template of The Five Aggregates to describe experience

- Genuine experiences of momentary peace as a peak into Nirvana

- Taking an interest into the landscapes of our own minds

- Transience and the way that things are always becoming otherwise

- The ungovernability of the mind, the body, and all aspects of reality

- How selflessness can lead to both Dukkha and freedom

This episode was recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and originally published on Dharmaseed

"As long as we are caught up, identified, and entangled in the view of self, then we spend our lives defending it, gratifying it, grandiosing it, judging it; we have all these responses that come out of this felt sense of the self." –Joseph Goldstein

Gil Fronsdal explores practicing in accord with nature, showing how mindfulness and honesty help us release resistance and move with the natural flow of the Dharma.

This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal lectures on:

- Being in accord with the dharma, with truth, and with nature

- The painful attitudes that we often bring to change

- Accepting our feelings rather than pushing them away

- How resistance to reality causes more suffering

- Mindfulness: creating the ideal conditions for the natural process of healing

- Floating down the stream of Dharma rather than struggling up a mountain

- Studying nature rather than rushing into conclusions

- Becoming an observer of our own lives with child-like openness and adult-like resolve

About Gil Fronsdal:

Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed

"We're in this stream of the dharma, this stream of practice. It is not fighting up a mountain and struggling so much. It is finding a place to rest in the stream and we find ourselves being carried along beautifully into the ocean. The ocean is so big it can hold all of us. Isn't that nice? It's not like you're going to be king of the mountain. We're all going to be brothers and sisters in this great ocean of the dharma." –Gil Fronsdal

Navigating boundaries through self-honesty and staying grounded, Ramdev teaches listeners how to say no with an open heart.

This week on Healing at the Edge, RamDev discusses:

- The seven chakras throughout our development

- Feeling worthy of receiving the profound blessings in each moment

- The psychological perspective of boundaries: saying no lovingly

- Getting into the energetic body of boundaries

- The necessity of being centered & grounded in order to set boundaries

- Opening to God and others without being overwhelmed

- Leaving behind fear, guilt, and shame in order to accept love and keep the heart open

- Practicing self-honesty and mindfulness so that we can set strong boundaries

“It's pretty easy to say no with a closed heart. It's pretty easy to say yes with an open heart. But, can you say no with an open heart?" –RamDev

About RamDev Dale Borglum:

RamDev Dale Borglum founded and directed the Hanuman Foundation Dying Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the first residential facility in the United States to support conscious dying. He has been the Executive Director of the Living/Dying Project in Santa Fe and since 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the co-author with Ram Dass, Daniel Goleman and Dwarka Bonner of Journey of Awakening: A Meditator’s Guidebook, Bantam Books and has taught meditation since 1974.

RamDev offers lectures and workshops on the topics of meditation, healing, spiritual support for those with life ­threatening illness, and on caregiving as spiritual practice. He has a doctorate degree from Stanford University. RamDev’s passion is the healing of our individual and collective fear of death so that we may be free.

From Mindrolling Podcast Ep. 637 – Beyond the Veil of Normal Perception with Dakota Wint & Raghu Markus

Dakota Wint meets Raghu beyond the veil of normal perception to explore mysticism, altered states, and the fringe of spirituality.

This time on Mindrolling, Raghu and Dakota explore:

- The Aghori people of India and seeing the occult side of Hinduism

- Dr. Robert Svoboda’s trilogy on the Aghori people: At the Left Hand of God

- Differentiating real prayer from performative rituals

- Faith and seeing beyond the veil of our normal perception

- Considering the limits of spirituality and how it is expressed across cultures

- Dissolving polarities and seeing the universality of all beings

- Taking wisdom from Ram Dass through his posthumous book, There is No Other

- Realizing that wisdom and spirituality does not require travel or psychedelics

- Dakota’s experience with plant medicine in the Amazonian jungle

- Faith and remembering the mystery in day-to-day life

- The eternal light of the Sadhu and reaching enlightened states without substances

You can find Dakota’s documentary, Aghori: Holy Men Of The Dead, free on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDyNvfBQ4Cs&list=PLQxHaGVLAzc45wODdC0jxue56o3U93kPI&index=4

About Dakota Wint:

Dakota Wint is a documentary filmmaker, vlogger, podcast host, and spiritual teacher from Detroit, Michigan. His films and podcasts revolve around current events, strange spirituality, and taboo traditions. You can subscribe to his podcast, A Place for Humans, HERE. Dakota grew to fame as an internet personality via his popular YouTube channel, Dakota of Earth. Dakota hosts retreats around the world and runs a non-profit focused on cultural and language preservation. Learn more about current happenings on his website

“I am just trying to figure out what spirituality is, what the limits of it are, how it expresses itself, are we all talking about the same thing, what can you show me? I go to these places that have these big practices. What do you have to offer? Especially in India, where all these gurus make these big claims, what can you show me? That's what I've been asking myself and anyone I meet.” –Dakota Wint

Author, speaker, and harm reduction advocate Ryan Hampton discusses the importance of addressing the social needs of individuals struggling with addiction.

Learn more about Ryan’s perspective on the overdose epidemic in America through his 2024 book, Fentanyl Nation.

This time on The Indie Spiritualist, Chris and Ryan chat about:

- The state of the world and the ongoing opioid and overdose epidemic

- Harm reduction and how recovery has changed throughout the generations

- The peer support model and the critical role of community in addiction recovery

- Promoting harm reduction initiatives as a life-saving alternative to punitive approaches

- Psychedelic therapy and integration sessions

- Balancing clinical addiction treatment with addressing social determinants like poverty and homelessness

- Short term solutions to addiction versus long term sustainable strategies for recovery

- Tackling the root causes of addiction instead of focusing solely on substance use

- Releasing the identities we cling to pre-recovery

- Freedom of thought and freedom of choice

“The act of reducing harm in any fashion should never be under political assault...I believe in bodily autonomy. If somebody is consciously making those decisions, then let's help them make better decisions so they are not harming other people and themselves, or reducing harm to themselves. We can support harm reduction, or, we can support death.” –Ryan Hampton

About Ryan Hampton:

Ryan Hampton is a national addiction recovery advocate, author, media commentator, and person in long-term recovery. He has worked with multiple non-profits nationwide to end overdose and served in leadership capacities for various community organizing initiatives. Hampton is in recovery from a decade of active opioid use and is a leading voice in America's rising recovery movement. He is the author of Unsettled, American Fix, and Fentanyl Nation. Ryan lives in Nevada with his husband, Sean, and their two boxer dogs.

Celebrating the release of All in This Together, Jack reflects on learning to bow to life’s mystery—and how doing so opens a path to liberation, love, and inner peace.

Ram Dass answers questions about spirituality and money, being indecisive, ego trips, listening for your unique manifestation in life, and more.

This episode of Here and Now comes from a Q&A session with the “unique manifestation” group at a retreat in 1989.

The first question is about whether it’s possible to grow spiritually and be financially prosperous. Ram Dass talks about playing with our desires and our attachments to worldly things.

Next up are questions around listening for your unique manifestation in life, how to tell if you’re on an ego trip, and finding your next stage of purpose.

Ram Dass tells a story about his “Eight-Fold Bath of the Upper Middle Way”.

The next question is about whether being indecisive can be part of your unique manifestation. We end by revisiting the first question about spirituality and money. In this society, we’re all up to our eyeballs in desire systems.

The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox.

“You have to be ready to know that what you hear at one moment about unique manifestation is gonna constantly be changing and changing and changing. And you’ve gotta be listening afresh all the time. You’re listening for a unique manifestation, meaning that form of expression that will be… it’s the confluence between your karma and your dharma.” – Ram Dass

About Ram Dass:

Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him.

From Tibetan Buddhism to Bhakti Yoga, Raghu and author Vincent Thibault explore reshaping the mind in our chaotic world.

This time on Mindrolling, Raghu and Vincent journey through:

- Vincent’s early exposure to literature and the roots of his interest in Eastern philosophy and contemplative traditions

- Navigating digital overwhelm and content overload in the modern age

- How busyness and productivity culture can numb us to collective suffering

- Parkour: a physical, artistic, and spiritually metaphorical discipline

- Suffering as a path to transformation and deeper connection with God

- Drawing connections across many different wisdom traditions

- Positive attachment versus attachment that traps us

- Those who inspire the trust of our own pure minds

- Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the value of learning from multiple teachers

- Raghu’s lineage of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion

- The Tibetan translation of devotion: interested humility

- Training the mind, training the heart, and learning to relate to both inner and outer phenomena

-Learn more about Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche HERE and check out his book on karma

“Be it just on the cushion for a few minutes a day, if you find a way to make that switch and see difficulties as opportunities, then you can slowly learn to turn everything into the path of enlightenment.” –Vincent Thibault

About Vincent Thibault:

A man of ideas and actions, an amazed traveller, and a defender of what could be called lucid optimism, Vincent Thibault is a Quebec writer and screenwriter. Vincent’s writing takes on many forms, including fantasy, psychological or adventure novels, comic or dramatic scenarios, travel stories, literary short stories, philosophical essays, and translations of Buddhist texts. While his work is incredibly diverse, it revolves around the same key themes: integrity, the quest for wisdom, the relationship to uncertainty, the reconciliation between tradition and modernity, and the power of benevolence in a noisy and busy world.

Check out more of Vincent’s writing on his website which includes both a French and English section. You can also keep up with Vincent on Facebook.

"Causes have an effect and vice versa, an effect has causes. There are also conditions and circumstances; there are many things to consider. But, it would be nihilistic to think that we can do anything and it doesn't have an effect whatsoever. Things have consequences and they can be positive or not. We have to find a balance between being too cerebral and being too nihilistic." –Vincent Thibault

We are starting a special mini-series featuring Ram Dass and guests from his Satsang on Maui.

This episode kicks things off with Kirtan by Uma Reed, as Ram Dass humorously explores the wonder of aging and seeing the entire world as God.

“Aging is wonderful, all you have to do is stay conscious.” –Ram Dass

In this Satsang with Ram Dass, the group talks about:

- Dealing with pain, injury, illness, and other effects of aging

- Seeing the body as simply a vehicle for this plane of reality

- Ram Dass’s book Still Here and aging with awareness

- Focusing on our consciousness rather than concerning ourselves with the body’s decline

- Ram Dass’s story of seeing Krishna in a police officer

- Playing our roles while we are in this worldly plane

- Karma Yoga and seeing the entire world as God

This talk was recorded in 2008 at one of Ram Dass' quarterly Sunday Satsang gatherings in Studio Maui.

“I’m learning the aging process has to do with the body and my consciousness need not be concerned with my body. The body is a car, it’s a transport for this plane.” –Ram Dass

The Buddha taught a path of awakened living, but how does that manifest in today’s world of constant connectivity and widespread suffering?

How do we keep our hearts open without being defined or hardened by the pain that surrounds us, whether personal, collective, or historical? How do we navigate the paradox of holding both pain and joy, without mistaking suffering for punishment or personal failure? Can we infuse our compassion with wisdom and perspective to find the agency to take meaningful action in our communities? In her new series, Engaged Compassion, Sharon delves into these questions and more, engaging in candid conversations with a diverse group of teachers, activists, and changemakers.

For the inaugural episode, Sharon’s speaks with longtime friend and colleague, Jerry Colonna—a renowned coach, writer, and speaker who specializes in leadership, business, and the practice of radical self-inquiry. Jerry is the Co-founder and CEO of Reboot.io, a company inspired by the belief that work need not destroy us. He is also the author of two books: "Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up" (2019) and "Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong" (2023). For more than two decades, Jerry has championed the idea that work should be non-violent to the self, the community, and the planet. This marks his third appearance on the Metta Hour Podcast.

In this conversation, Sharon and Jerry speak about:

- Suffering and the end of suffering

- The Four Noble Truths

- Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel

- Holding many things at once

- Where resilience comes from

- How generosity can appear in extreme loss

- Jerry’s time in India after an earthquake

- The dynamics of hope and fear

- How we actually “get over loss”

- Misunderstanding karma

- Control veiled as “magical thinking”

- How unworthiness leads to isolation

- Compassion is not hierarchical

- The Dalai Lama winning a Grammy

- Suffering versus Extra Suffering

- Facing our helplessness

- The fixation with fixing things

- Finding fuel for the long haul

- Facing our nihilism