Be Here Now Network

Sharing the wisdom of beloved Buddhist teacher Ajahn Chah, Jack Kornfield describes experimenting with life and accepting things as they are.

This Dharma Talk from Jack Kornfield was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

"What he was pointing to was that we can see with great honesty our circumstance, with great compassion, and in the middle of it laugh. This too is a part of our humanity...there is a wisdom that is so much greater than the things we get caught up in." – Jack Kornfield

Multidimensional artist, podcaster, and comedian Ramin Nazer rejoins Raghu for an episode on wisdom givers, death, and the eternal 'I am'.

Ramin Nazer is a multi-talented artist, podcaster, comedian, game creator and musician based out of LA. He is best known for his consistent stream of unique, psychedelic-spiritual, bite-sized art for the social media age, as well as his podcast, with comedian Shane Mauss, Mind Under Matter, where they take a hilarious and scientific approach to human behavior. You can tap into Ramin’s steady flow of art on his Instagram, tap into his solo podcast Rainbow Brainskull, and peer into his myriad offerings at RaminNazer.com.

“It’s all about the giving, the spreading, the charging others with it. And it’s not like it leaves you, it can only grow. It’s not by giving it away that you are losing the crystal—it’s helping it multiply. A positive virus in a way.” – Ramin Nazer

In a discussion on materiality, willpower, and desires, Krishna Das plants seeds of wisdom for us to find balance.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenow

Willpower is what directs our energy. Many of us have issues with directing our energy and going after things. We usually use willpower to go towards things we desire or to steer away from the things we think might hurt us. This, however, is actually just reactive. It is not really conscious willpower. Krishna Das says that developing willpower is a part of becoming more aware and taking accountability for all of our actions. Practice definitely helps us open up and find our inner strength.

“Every time we come back from dreamland to the chant or the mantra or to our breath, or whatever our object of concentration is, we recommit to being with the mantra, to listening to the mantra, to hearing the mantra. That is an act of will.” – Krishna Das

Joseph Goldstein talks about the nature of fear, how it’s conditioned in the mind, how we can work with it, and embracing the possibility of transforming fear into wisdom and freedom.

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/insighthour

This dharma talk from October 11, 2000, at the Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center, was originally published on Dharma Seed.

“At these times, great courage is needed. And courage here is not an absence of fear. Courage does not mean an absence of fear, it means an acceptance of fear.” – Joseph Goldstein

Leaning into the qualities of an awakened heart, Jack Kornfield teaches us the perfection of truthfulness and how it will set us free.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom

In a society that does not promote the truth among its citizens, government, or economy, we have to work hard on our individual honesty. Sometimes that may mean something quite surface-level. Jack says that there are levels of truth. We may see the truth of someone's personality, their job, and their costume. Or, we may see a deeper, soul level of truth. Meeting someone in their true spirit, from our true spirit, allows everyone to be fully seen.

"The truth really becomes married with compassion and our words then become a part of something that awakens not just ourselves but everybody else." – Jack Kornfield

Joseph Goldstein explores the mental factors of doubt, restlessness, and sloth, which are three hindrances that can cause a lack of vision and knowledge, and lead us away from Nibbana.

This dharma talk from November 2002 at the Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center was originally published on Dharma Seed.

“This skeptical doubt, this indecision, this bewilderment, in terms of our meditation practice, is actually quite a dangerous mind state. Because unnoticed, if we’re not mindful of it, it brings our practice to a standstill.” – Joseph Goldstein

Exploring relativity and ultimate truth, Ethan Nichtern and Author Caverly Morgan discuss reconciling what we learn in our practice with the noise of the world.

Caverly Morgan is a meditation teacher, author, speaker, and nonprofit founder. She is the founder and Lead Contemplative of Peace in Schools—a nonprofit which created the nation's first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. She is also the founder of Presence Collective, a community of cross-cultural contemplatives committed to personal and collective transformation, creating spaces for wisdom exchange and belonging. Caverly is the author of A Kid’s Book About Mindfulness. Her new book for adults, The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together, will be released through Sounds True November 29th and is now available for pre-order.

“I knew intuitively that the relative experience of reality was not separate from the absolute and that I longed for a pathway that could allow me to articulate how that is so.” – Caverly Morgan

Word Woman, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, returns with Raghu to dive deep into poetry, spirituality, silence, grief, love, trust, and listening. 

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer lives in Southwest Colorado with her family, served as the third Colorado Western Slope Poet Laureate (2015-2017) and was a finalist for Colorado Poet Laureate (2019). Her poetry has appeared in O Magazine, on A Prairie Home Companion and PBS New Hour, in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry, in back alleys and on river rocks. Rosemerry is the co-host of Emerging Form, a podcast on creative process; and teaches and performs poetry for addiction recovery programs, hospice, mindfulness retreats, women’s retreats, teachers and more. For more info, poetry books, and daily poetry offerings please visit, WordWoman.com

"To be a wide open listener, that's the real invitation of any poem. People say they need to find their voice; actually we need to be wide open listeners. That's what's really being asked of us. How widely can you listen? How openly can you listen?" – Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Closing the gap between ourselves and God, RamDev shows us the tantra of loving one thing so much that we can not help but love it all.

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“Our true nature, the nature of everybody, and the true nature of everything is what we were invoking in the first place. Everything is the play of pure consciousness.” – RamDev

Krishna Das helps us sift through emotional reactions, dust off our hearts, and remember the vital importance of having a spiritual practice.

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“How important is taking the name, how important is spiritual practice? It is about as important as breathing. Without the breath you've got no life and without practice, without turning towards the spirit in one way or another and calming the mind or emotions, your heart will never open.” – Krishna Das