In this episode I share a lesson and guided meditation I did on the Meditation and Mindfulness Discord Server (https://discord.gg/Fpz9Wu) on the practice of Listening Meditation. The practice of Mindful Listening has infinite depths and layers, but to start with, one must simply learn to rest the attention on the faculty of hearing, without entertaining perceptions and building conceptions on top of them, getting carried away in thought as we usually do. Chan Master Sheng Yen put it this way: "Let’s train ourselves so that our ears become like a sound absorbing board. Simply listen, listen, and listen… If the sound is loud, do not give rise to any resistance; if the sound is weak, do not strain yourself to listen to it. All you’re doing is just listening, accepting everything without any discrimination. Most importantly, do not give the sounds a name. You may hear a girl screaming, a boy cursing, a dog barking around the corner, or a cat meowing on the roof. It could also be that the sounds of birds, chicken, cows, or even sounds of cars, horns honking, televisions, radios, motorcycles, air-conditioners, all present themselves to you at once. Even then, you listen without naming them, without making any discrimination or distinction of the spectrum. Merely play your role as a sound absorbing board, without seeking or following anything, without echoing anything that rings in your ears." Try it out for yourself, by joining this guided practice. 

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In this episode I share a lesson I gave on the Meditation and Mindfulness Discord Server (https://discord.gg/Fpz9Wu) on the topic of Not Self. It's quite usual to hear Buddhist teachers speak of "No Self", but as I describe in detail, this is nothing but teaching nihilism disguised as Buddhism. Nowhere did the Buddha say that there is No self. He simply stated very clearly that what we usually take to be the self, our "egoic" self, is nowhere to be found, and is unfit to be considered a self. We also look at the Surangama Sutra, where the topic of what an actual Self might be comes up. Mostly, it's an episode about explaining why one cannot see one's head, or bite one's teeth. Why the wordless cannot be put in words. Confused? Then listen! 

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The practice of Mindfulness of the Buddha (Chinese - Nianfo), which is most commonly practiced by reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha, is by far the most popular form of Buddhist practice in the world, although not quite yet in the west.

About this most universal and direct method of cultivation, Master Hsuan Hua said: "With Zen and Pure Land, one is like a tiger with horns, A teacher of humans in this life, a Patriarch or Buddha in the next. With Zen but not Pure Land, nine out of ten go astray. With Pure Land but not Zen, ten thousand cultivate and ten thousand go."

In this episode, I share a lesson I gave, where I briefly explain the myth and the psychology of Buddha Recitation, and then guide a short practice.

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Daniel Scharpenburg has said about himself, "Most Buddhist Teachers probably look at me the same way as Vampires look at Count Chokula." I find this very telling, as his humility and lightness of spirit are evident in his approach. In this conversation you'll hear me getting to know Daniel, and we discuss such topics as Studying Buddhism online and the day to day practice of a modern-day Buddhist teacher. To learn more about Daniel, go to https://danielscharpenburg.com, or listen to his podcast here: https://anchor.fm/daniel-scharpenburg. 

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Avshalom Ariel is a composer, producer, guitarist and all-around creative force. Most importantly he's a dear friend of mine of many years. Most recently he's been known as the producer of Netta Barzilai, the 2018 Eurovision Contest Winner. He's truly and magnificently weird, and if you try to understand what genre he fits into, you'll at best end up wasting your time completely, and at worst may end up in a strait jacket. We talked about his hatred of meditation, his discovery that he's been doing it all along, show business, creativity, #metoo, and much much more. To learn more about Avshalom and to enjoy his many great creations, go to https://avshalomariel.com.

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Short but sweet, Buddhist Bits is presented to you by Bodhi&Bass. Bite sized tips for applying mindfulness in everyday life. This time: Compassion. Although this saccharine sounding word has by now been reduced to a stereotype of weakness and naivety, in fact it is quite the opposite. True compassion is simply the understanding that, save for pathology, people act for one reason only: happiness. And yet, all too often we take the wrong route on the way there, and end up causing suffering instead. A wish for all to be free of such suffering, is compassion. In this spirit, Karmapa Rangjung Dorje made this aspiration, "The true nature of beings is always Buddha. Not realising that, they wander in endless Samsara. For the boundless suffering of sentient beings May unbearable compassion be conceived in our being." In this 3 minute episode, we explore compassion, and learn of a new lens through which to view people's motivations and actions. 

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Short but sweet, Buddhist Bits is presented to you by Bodhi&Bass. Bite sized tips for applying mindfulness in everyday life. This time: Blame. We can easily find ourselves feeling indignant, righteous or even angry when we see any type of wrong being committed. We usually transfer the blame onto someone and feel they should pay a price, This is the pervading sentiment behind what our society calls "justice". But what if what's actually going on is us justifying our emotional reactions? In the Dhammapada, the Buddha said: "Indeed, this is an ancient practice, not one only of today: they blame those who remain silent, they blame those speak much, they blame those who speak in moderation. There is none in the world who is not blamed. There never was, there never will be, nor is there now, a person who is wholly blamed or wholly praised." In this 3 minute episode, we rethink blame.

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Short but sweet, Buddhist Bits is presented to you by Bodhi&Bass. Bite-sized tips for applying mindfulness in everyday life. This time we answer the question, "how should we deal with boredom?" In today's world we dread feeling boredom. In fact, most of our entertainment is designed to feed this fear of boredom. But if we get down to it, what exactly is boredom? Why do we experience it, and how can we transform the dissatisfaction and aversion we feel as a result of it? In the Ahara Sutra, the Buddha says: "...And what is the food for the arising of unarisen dullness & drowsiness, or for the growth & increase of dullness & drowsiness once it has arisen? There are boredom, weariness, yawning, drowsiness after a meal, & sluggishness of awareness. To foster inappropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen dullness & drowsiness, or for the growth & increase of dullness & drowsiness once it has arisen." Check out this brief episode for a quick and accessible tip for dealing with boredom in your daily life! 

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I'm often asked about the beads that I wear around my wrist or neck, and so I thought I'd share this as a Buddhist Bit. They have many functions, but most basically, this is the original "fidget spinner". Actually, they can be oh-so much more than that. 

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The Three Poisons (or Roots) that form the basis for all that is unwholesome, that which propels us through life with so much discomfort and suffering, are rendered in English as Attachment, Aversion and Ignorance, or as Greed, Hatred and Delusion. In this Buddhist Bit, I offer three antidotes for dealing with the poisons. These little reminders can be brought to mind with three deep breaths, wherever you might be, and can aid greatly in relieving the grasping, clenched feeling that plagues us so often.

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