[This episode originally aired on April 11, 2023]  An important transition point on the Buddhist path occurs between the foundational stage, where we focus on our own development, and the mahayana tradition, where the focus is directed toward the cultivation of compassion and concern for others  •  what makes this vitally important transition possible is training in shamatha and vipashyana, or mindfulness and awareness  •  shamatha is about taming our mind; it is about cutting through mental speed, neurotic patterning, discursiveness, and distracted mind  •  shamatha enables us to be more present; it brings about a quality of gentleness or making friends with oneself, and frees us from aggression  •  vipashyana frees us from ignorance, denial, and looking the other way; it creates a foundation of clarity and intelligence and interest and inquisitiveness, and a kind of positive doubt and questioning  •  this opening into the mahayana, based on a strong hinayana foundation, comes from a different place than simply feeling good about ourselves for being helpful; it comes from a point of joy.

[This episode originally aired on April 4, 2023]  Meditation practice doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it happens in the context of our life, and our life situations can vary tremendously  •  in extreme situations it can be easy to lose our connection to practice  •  one extreme is when our situation is really cozy and going really well  •  the other extreme, which I would like to focus on here, is when our lives take a dramatic turn and we are faced with dire situations of pain and loss  •  the idea is to bring our practice to bear, no matter what the situation is  •  there's a saying that goes “whatever you meet, join with practice”  •  this does not mean laying on some kind of idea of practice as a band-aid to avoid the harshness of the situation; it means that our practice cannot be separated from the immediate experience, from each moment, no matter how painful or difficult that experience may be  •  mindfulness practice trains us in the ability to bring our minds back so we can face what's happening on the spot  •  the practice of cultivating loving kindness and compassion allows us to make a deeper connection with others through our own pain.

[This episode originally aired on March 28, 2023]  Buddhism’s emphasis on facing the reality of suffering could lead to the perception that the Buddhist path is only focused on what's wrong; but the Buddha also taught how to free ourselves from suffering  •  facing the reality of suffering straightforwardly can actually be a tremendous relief  •  when I first encountered Buddhist teachings, I never went to a talk where people didn't just burst into laughter from time to time  •  there was a sense that you could laugh and find humor and lightness, even when discussing the heaviest of topics  •  joy is an essential part of Buddhism; it is a hidden gift within the sometimes difficult discipline of meditation practice  •  but joy’s twin is doubt—the doubt that we can do it  •  joy and doubt arise together and counterbalance each other  •  if we get carried away by the joy of discovery, we can lose our ground; but if we're just wallowing in doubt and distress all the time, we can begin to feel like giving up  •  so doubt arises as a kind of playful interruption; as we gradually begin to trust ourselves more, we become more grounded in a kind of quiet joy.

[This episode originally aired on March 21, 2023]  The teachings of the Buddha are often divided into three components: intelligence or discriminating awareness; discipline; and meditation  •  there can be so much emphasis on sitting practice that there is less discussion of the importance of cultivating knowledge and discipline — what it actually takes to put the teachings into action in our everyday life  •  being able to observe what is going on with some precision and insight is extremely important; this includes ordinary knowledge, self-knowledge, and psychological knowledge  •  Trungpa Rinpoche pointed out the difference between discriminating awareness and comfort-seeking mind  •  he talked about the earthy quality of discriminating awareness, in contrast to the dreamy quality of trying to escape and go somewhere else  •  we have all sorts of ways to try to make ourself cozy and comfortable, but they are missing the point; comfort-seeking mind is not about enhancing the clarity and precision of our awareness, but about blanketing it in a kind of cozy cocoon.  

[This episode originally aired on March 14, 2023]  The great teacher Shantideva emphasized the importance of vigilance, of protecting our minds  •  at the same time, tremendous emphasis is placed on maintaining an open, welcoming mind  •  so what's the difference between vigilance and just closing our mind in a negative or unhelpful way?  •  one way of looking at this is to think of your mind as a house  •  inside your house are your children or maybe a safe with all your resources in it  •  someone knocks on the door, and you have to decide whether to let them in  •  you want to be willing to accommodate what comes at you, but you also want to be willing to reject that which is threatening something as precious as your little children or the sanity of your own mind  •  but we’re not just closing off anything that's bothering us; in this case, we're only closing off the many ways we run away from our own inherent awakening  •  the qualities of mindfulness and awareness are powerful and precious, but they are easily lost; that is why vigilance is so important. 

[This episode originally aired on March 7, 2023]  It may seem odd to talk about the benefits of “don't know mind” in a tradition that places such value on learning and on study, and the harm that comes from lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, lack of critical thinking  •  so how is don't know mind different from delusory mind or ignorance?  •  the main difference is that don't know mind is about opening out, whereas ignorance is about shutting down  •  Trungpa Rinpoche warned about developing a mind like an iron kettle, as though we could pour all sorts of teachings into that kettle and hold tight and have them as some kind of a possession  •  he taught that the proper way to relate to learning as having a mind like a sieve, where you don't hold onto anything  •  it points to a paradox: with awareness, you can be so sharp, so on the spot, that you don’t have to hold onto anything at all.

[This episode originally aired on February 28, 2023]  The Buddhist path includes many methods for reminding us to wake up — from our blurriness, our sleepiness, and the busyness and distractedness of life  •  it's easy to get lost in the woods; reminders help us find our way back to the path  •  traditionally there are what are called the four basic or fundamental reminders  •  the first reminder is acknowledging the amazing opportunity of having this human life, how precious it is to be embodied in this particular realm of reality  •  the second reminder is the reality of death; it is a reminder about the reality that everything comes to an end  •  the third reminder is about cause and effect or karma; it is a reminder that our actions have consequences  •  the final reminder is about suffering — how much suffering is interwoven into the fabric of life  •  it is about opening our hearts to suffering, not closing down, but recognizing how pervasive that is in our experience, in experiences of all living beings; it is a part of the package deal of being here on its earth.

[This episode originally aired on February 21, 2023]  Is there a way to make a sane relationship with our bad deeds and our regrets?  •  it's not easy to face up to all that we've done; it's not easy to find a way between wallowing in guilt and evading responsibility  •  in the Buddhist monastic traditions, there is a practice that provides a way of directly facing and working with the harm we have caused  •  the starting point is remorse; we feel bad about what we have done, and we want to do something about it  •  remorse leads us to the second step: acknowledging our harmful actions, confessing them, and seeking to purify them  •  the third step is making amends, counteracting the harm we've done by doing something beneficial, which could include asking for forgiveness  •  acknowledging and working with our mistakes is so much better than just holding onto a big pool of regret  •  we can include everything, all of our experiences, to the enrichment of our journey.

[This episode originally aired on February 14, 2023]  Images of the Buddha sitting in meditation posture give the impression that the buddhist path is quiescent and still; but actually it's a very dynamic, ever-evolving, and important journey  •  personally, I connect this idea of journey with a sense of something within us that we have lost and are trying to get back to  •  I think of this missing thing as our “heart of hearts”  •   it’s as though we are grieving the loss of something sweet and tender and vulnerable, a kind of childhood innocence that we have become estranged from  •  we learn over time to cover it up, to guard it and armor it and hide it away  •  one could describe the path of dharma as one of recognizing or getting a glimpse of that tender heart, experiencing the pain of estrangement from it, and the longing to bridge that gap, to reconnect and re-integrate it  •  we're not talking about returning to a naive innocence, but to an intelligent naivete — to a trust in our heart of hearts, which is our true nature.

[This episode originally aired on February 7, 2023]  Early Buddhist meditators spent quite a lot of time alone in retreat in remote, rugged areas  •  as a result, they were very much in tune with the the five basic elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space  •  they observed that everything inside is mirrored by what is outside, and everything outside is mirrored by what is inside  •  the earth element has the quality of being solid, embodied, unmoving  •  the water element has a quality of flowing, cleansing, and cohesion  •  the element of fire is connected with warmth, compassion, and burning through obstacles  •  the element of wind is powerful and energetic; it is connected with movement in our nervous system, a constant energizing and moving quality  •  finally, the element of space is like the sky: it is vast, unbounded, open  •  in life and in our practice we can bring these elements into balance and harmony for the benefit of ourselves and all beings.