This isn’t just an episode on dating, though we spend substantial time there. What we’re really straining at is a glimpse of love — a word that can feel as flaccid and overused as a discarded tissue — as a particular, substantive force that we can cultivate in our relationships. Borrowing from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart, our guests Venerable Tien Nguyen and Jonathan Makransky translate Buddhist principles to the many situations in modern dating where love and care seem persistently absent — rejection, hook-ups, ghosting, failed relationships, and the endless agony of waiting.

This likely isn’t your first time philosophizing about what love is and it certainly won’t be your last, but add this conversation to your queue for a wise, fresh, and rejuvenating answer to sociological observations of waning love attachments and modern pessimism about dating.

Jonathan Makransky and Venerable Tien Nguyen met as students at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) several years ago. Now, Jonathan works for HDS coordinating Multi-religious Ministry Initiatives, and Venerable splits his time between two Buddhist temples, one in Boston and one in Providence, RI.

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