[This episode originally aired on January 3, 2023]  In exploring the idea of transmission, we're looking into how the teachings are passed on, how the teachings are taught, and how the student can access the teachings  •  but what do we mean by transmission?  •  a helpful analogy is to think of music: you can learn to play all the notes in a song, but the music is not there  •  so what makes the actual music?  •  there's a famous jazz phrase: “it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing” •  that “swing” is related to the notion of transmission: it’s something that happens beyond the notes, beyond the words, beyond the videos  •  something alive and essential to what dharma is all about is transmitted, but it’s not the same as the words, the teachers, the students, or the rituals  •  transmission can be thought of as the living essence of a tradition;  that living essence is non-conceptual, but we are pointed to it by various conceptual and physical means  •  it is that direct, non-conceptual understanding that brings the dharma alive, that brings us fully alive, opening and energizing wisdom and compassion for the benefit of ourselves and all beings.

[This episode originally aired on December 27, 2022]   I'd like to introduce three simple short meditation practices that help us tune in to the rich and ongoing process of exchange that marks our lives altogether  •  we're always giving something out to the world and receiving something from it  •  we are affected by others and we affect others in so many ways; and we're also quite susceptible to the energies and the outpourings from those around us  •  in the first practice we begin by looking at the simple and ordinary process of breathing, feeling the qualities of the different rhythms of the breath  •  this is working with exchange at the simple bodily level  •  the second practice is referred to as meeting suffering with kindness and compassion  •  to begin with, you could look within to see how much love and compassion is there  •  how do you experience that? what happens when you send it out? can you send it out? does it flow out or is it more buried within?  •  the third practice is connected with the idea of space  •  here, you relate to the outbreath as letting go into space; when breathing in, you let that outer spaciousness mix completely with the spaciousness within you and your state of mind and consciousness  •  you're simply stirring space and infusing space with tenderness and love. 

[This episode originally aired on December 20, 2022]  One of my favorite nursery rhymes contains quite a bit of wisdom: “Row row, row, row your boat gently down the stream; merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream”  •  if we think of the stream as a stream of teachings, then we could consider the Buddha as the source of the stream  •  from that beginning a great river continues to flow over thousands of years  •  where does this stream flow? It flows into an ocean, which you could say is the awakening of the practitioner  •  you have a boat to carry you down this stream, and you have a set of oars to row with  •  what kind of effort do you apply? it's a steady effort, but it's also a relaxed effort: you're rowing gently, but regularly and persistently  •  and how are you doing all this? you're doing it merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily  •  it's not a big struggle; there's a sense of delight  •  in fact it could be dreamlike because it's not so solid, it's not so frozen  •  we're in a shifting and changing world; it's so dreamlike and so unreal in so many ways, but so beautiful and colorful at the same time. 

[This episode originally aired on December 13, 2022]  We tend to think of hope and fear as opposites, but they are intimately entangled with one another  •  they are both based on our desires and our hopes, our expectations of what the future might bring: what we want to happen in the future, what we don't want to happen, and what we fear might happen  •  sometimes hope describes a positive outlook, one that is connected with a certain kind of confidence  •  but it also could be connected with a certain kind of naivete that things will just work out — just hoping for the best  •  the more positive kind of hope is a present attitude: instead of focusing on what we want to happen and fear that won't, it's a kind of a confidence that whatever happens, we can see it in a positive light  •  it’s useful to recognize the difference between this positive and helpful kind of hope, and one where we find ourselves trapped in the rollercoaster of hope and fear  •  we can acknowledge our wishes, our fears, and all our projections but not get caught in the rollercoaster; we can rest with the current situation as it is right now, right here.

[This episode originally aired on December 6, 2022] Trungpa Rinpoche often spoke about the importance of a sense of humor on the spiritual path, but what did he really mean by it?  •  he was obviously not referring to telling jokes or being some kind of a comedian  •  instead he seemed to be pointing to a kind of a carefree quality or lightness of being — something very different from how seriously we take ourselves and everything we do  • spirituality or religion is often thought of as a very solemn affair, something so deadly serious, so important, that we fall prey to religiosity  •  we don't always know how to have genuine respect for something without getting puffed up about the whole thing  •  there are many examples in the Buddhist tradition of how we could combine a sense of gravitas, a sense of regal, dignified demeanor or quality of being, with a quality of innocence and youthfulness and playfulness and humor  •  I think of a good practitioner, a good teacher, as someone who is incredibly dedicated, but who has a twinkle in their eye  •  so humor plays in a very important role: not only does it serve to cut through our pretensions and our self-absorption, but it transforms our practice from a solemn, grinding drudge to something more vivid and alive.

 [This episode originally aired on November 29, 2022]  Many people associate the practices of Buddhism with stillness; but actually the path of dharma is one of continual movement and growth  •  it's an organic process, one where everything cycles and everything is interconnected  •  it's like having a seed in the earth that grows and bears fruit and flowers and produces new seeds, and then another cycle begins  •  in my tradition, the different ways of moving forward on the path are described as three vehicles, because they carry us along in three stages  •  the first stage is a narrowing down, getting down to bare bones; it is starting with ourselves  •  the second stage is one of opening out, extending our heart, extending our vision  •  The third or final stage is like a great leap of confidence and trust; it is like taking command of the tools that we've been cultivating, and not hesitating to apply them if they are needed and are of benefit.

[This episode originally aired on November 22, 2022]  Continuing our discussion of the sense perceptions, and how they are connected with a subtle kind of grasping  •  in Buddhism we talk about the senses as having three components: the sense organ, the sense object, and the sense consciousness  •  every sense perception we have is a meeting of those three elements  •  it is an active process, one that involves a great deal of selection and interpretation; we are creating our world as much as we are responding to it  •  there is a form of walking meditation that highlights how easily the sense perceptions are distorted  •  you begin by just simply walking outside, without talking, without any particular agenda  • one of the walkers has a bell, and when the the bell is rung, everyone stops  •  you let go of the sense of coming from somewhere and trying to get somewhere, and just stop — just letting the senses sense, instead of trying to observe anything  •  notice the grasping of the sense perceptions and the relaxing of the sense perceptions, the heightened sense of duality and the softening or dissolving of that duality  •  in exploring the senses, we are exploring our way of being in the world altogether.

[This episode originally aired on November 15, 2022]  In Buddhism there is a lot of interest in the sense perceptions  •  traditionally, it is said that there are six senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking  (in Buddhism, the way we perceive thoughts is similar to the way we hear sounds or see sights)  •  the sense perceptions can be compared to the windows of a house: if the windows are clean, you have a clear perception of your world; if the windows are dirty or distorted, the world that you see is also distorted  •  we often think we're just passive receivers through the senses of what is going on in the world around us, but actually that's not the case  •  in addition to the sense organ that comes in contact with a sense object, there is also what is called a sense consciousness  •  if you observe your perceptions closely, you can also see how the senses have little hooks on them: we continually try to capture the world through our senses  •  our sense perceptions can access so much of the power and beauty of our world; but at the same time, the early arising of subtle grasping that links to almost every perception we have is the seed of many of the obstacles and problems that make our life one of struggle rather than of ease.

[This episode originally aired on November 8, 2022]  When we contemplate impermanence, we're basically looking at the facts of life  •  the fact is that we all die; we all have losses, sorrow and heartbreak  •  we don’t contemplate impermanence as a way to overcome it, but as a way to figure out how to live with it—and even how to honor it  •  this is the world that we have, and without this ever-changing world, none of us would be here  •  impermanence is not only about loss; it is also about fresh arising  •  it is about possibility  •  there are occasions—for example, at the moment of birth and at the moment of death—when we encounter that meeting point of the falling away and the fresh arising on the spot, and those moments are very powerful  •  we’re at that edge where the two sides meet  •  the contemplation of impermanence can help bring us to that experience of fresh arising  •  it can help acquaint us with that edge, that non-dual point  •  we can begin to have glimpses that whatever arises is fresh; whatever arises is the essence of realization.

[This episode originally aired on November 1, 2022]  Of all the contemplative practices of Buddhism, it is said that the contemplation of impermanence is the most useful  •  dealing with change isn’t easy: we’d like to put things together and have them stay together  •  we tend to see change as disruption rather than as the way things are  •  but in reality, change is not a disruption, it is fundamental  •  change just is; it is the nature of everything  •  trying to hold onto the non-reality that one can prevent change creates a burden that depletes our strength and energy  •  traditionally, four different ways are presented to contemplate the truth of impermanence: every birth leads to a death  |  every meeting leads to a parting  |  everything created eventually is destroyed  |  every gathering eventually disperses  •  each of these contemplations brings us back to immediate experience, to a deeper understanding of what impermanence is really all about  •  we begin to not only accept change at a deeper level, but to actually appreciate and even celebrate the the vivid, life-filled reality of constant change that marks our existence.