Secular Buddhism

By Noah Rasheta

What's Secular Buddhism about?

A podcast for secular-minded people who are interested in learning about Buddhist philosophy.

4.8

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LAST EPISODE

156 - Circle Of Skills

10.11.2021

Within any given discipline, we all have a circle of skills. In order to grow the circle of skills, we need to do things that are just outside the circle and once we master a new skill, that circle grows. ...

Secular Buddhism episodes:

10.11.2021 156 - Circle Of Skills Within any given discipline, we all have a circle of skills. In order to grow the circle of skills, we need to do things that are just outside the circle and once we master a new skill, that circle grows. ...
09.22.2021 155 - The First Meditation In this episode, I will talk about "The First Meditation" a story about an experience that Siddhartha (the Buddha) had when he was 9 years old. I believe this experience shaped his understanding of the importance of experiential vs intellectual ...
08.23.2021 154 - Taking The Long View It can be easy to get caught up "in the thick of thin things" when our perspective is too narrow or zoomed in. When we take the long view, we learn to zoom out and see things from a different ...
08.06.2021 153 - The Beauty Of Not Knowing Zen Master Seung Sahn said "I do not teach Buddhism. I only teach don't know." The beauty of not knowing arises when we understand that reality is unknowable as a complete picture. First, because it's always changing, and second, we ...
07.07.2021 152 - A Liberated State Of Mind Liberation is not a destination we strive to reach, it's a state of mind that is available to us right here and right now. When we fully understand the reality of emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness, we become liberated from the ...
05.22.2021 151 - Observation and Action Observation in Buddhist practice is an active thing, it's not passive and it's not a form of resignation. The skilled observer, observes precisely in order to be able to act more skillfully.
04.21.2021 150 - Buddha Nature In this podcast episode, I share my thoughts about "Buddha nature" and what it means to me. I also share the story of the little rock in my backyard that had a Buddha painted on the rock. When the paint ...
03.31.2021 149 - Firsts And Lasts Every moment that arises is simultaneously the first time and last time that moment exists. I used to value moments based on their pleasantness or unpleasantness but now I see the beauty of the uniqueness of each moment. In this ...
03.04.2021 148 - The Dance Of Life I love thinking about life as a great song, with high notes and low notes and quiet pauses in between each note. I like to think of my relationship to this song as the dance of life. In this episode, ...
02.18.2021 147 - Dharma Cat Life has a funny way of teaching us lessons even amidst circumstances or events that we don't particularly find to be pleasant. In this episode, I will share the story of how we ended up with a 3-legged cat as ...
02.03.2021 146 - The Freedom To Be You In this episode, I will talk about the idea of "branding". The story we have about ourselves is our personal brand and we do a lot to influence the way others perceive us. Practicing non-attachment to our brand may allow ...
12.22.2020 145 - The Quest For Answers In our search for answers to life's big questions, what if the question is actually more important than the answer? In this episode, I will talk about the quest for answers and how it may be more beneficial to focus ...
11.23.2020 144 - The Game Of Emotions In this podcast episode, I will share some thoughts around the idea that we can change our relationship to our emotions by pretending that we're playing a game where the goal is to experience the full range of possible emotions.
10.21.2020 143 - Eye Of The Beholder In this episode, I will talk about perception and the role it plays in how we experience our reality. Reality is in the eye of the beholder. “Dependent on the eye and forms, eye-consciousness arises...The meeting of the three is ...
10.13.2020 142 - Wisdom and Fear "Some see something to fear where there is nothing to fear, and some see nothing to fear where there is something to fear." In this episode, I will talk about fear from a Buddhist perspective. Fear is universal but there ...
09.30.2020 141 - Smarter Not Harder I'm sure you've heard the expression "work smarter, not harder". In this episode, I will share my throughs regarding Skillful Effort of the Eightfold Path and how it pertains to not only mindfulness practice but to everything we do in ...
09.15.2020 140 - Mindfulness For Everyday Life ANNOUNCEMENT...I’m excited to present a new online workshop called "Mindfulness for Everyday Life" available exclusively through Himalaya Learning. Himalaya Learning is a new educational audio platform specializing in audio courses that focus on lifelong learning, business, personal development, and more, ...
09.01.2020 139 - Mindfulness Interview With Dr Sarah Shaw I recently had the opportunity of interviewing Dr Sarah Shaw about her new book "Mindfulness: Where it comes from and what it means". I hope you enjoy the conversation. To learn more about her book, visit: https://www.shambhala.com/buddhist-mindfulness.html
08.19.2020 138 - Sticky Hair Monster In this podcast episode, I will talk about the Buddhist story of Sticky Hair Monster and the prince who tried to battle him. This story points to the battle that often takes place in our minds against our own thoughts, ...
07.30.2020 137 - The Beauty Of Nothing Is nothing something? What happens when we do nothing? In this podcast episode, I will share my thoughts on the concept of nothingness and the beauty of nothing. I will also discuss the koan "every day is a good day".
07.16.2020 136 - Mountains And Rivers In this podcast episode, I will share some of my thoughts regarding the Mountains and Rivers Sutra by Zen master Dogen. This teaching reminds me of the simple yet complex nature of reality.
06.29.2020 135 - Weathering The Storm One of my favorite Pema quotes is the one where she says, "You are the sky, everything else is the weather". In this podcast episode, I will discuss the concept of mental weather patterns and the way I correlate weather ...
06.16.2020 134 - Emotional Enlightenment In this podcast episode, I will discuss the idea of Emotional Enlightenment and what that means for me. We often find ourselves seeking certain emotions and avoiding other emotions. I've found that by giving all my emotions a sense of ...
05.31.2020 133 - Five Daily Life Guidelines In this podcast episode, I will share five daily life guidelines that have been beneficial for me in my personal practice. They are: consume mindfully, practice loving kindness, practice gratitude, discover wisdom, and accept constant change.
05.19.2020 132 - Nowhere To Hide Nothing To Hold In this podcast episode, I will discuss the koan about the great meaning of the Buddha's teaching. I will also discuss some thoughts about the Buddhist approach of theism vs non-theism and how leaves us with nowhere to hide and ...
05.04.2020 131 - The Truth Of Unsatisfactoriness The nature of reality is that difficulties will arise, and we’ll experience suffering. We can begin to embrace that fact by recognizing that suffering, in general, is not personal. It’s simply part of the experience of existence. And we will ...
04.20.2020 130 - Three Approaches for Doubt and Mistrust In Buddhism, doubt is beneficial because it is the first step in weakening our wrong views. The wonderful thing about doubt is that it can propel us in the direction of more skillful views. There is a strong emphasis in ...
04.14.2020 129 - The HALT Method In this podcast episode, I will discuss the HALT Method and share my thoughts on the koan shared in the last episode: "What is your original face before you were born?". I will also leave you with this new koan ...
04.05.2020 128 - No Going Back A key Buddhist principle is a recognition that things are always changing. Life is transient. When we have the feeling of wanting things to return back to normal, we need to remember that normal was always relative, there is no ...
03.29.2020 127 - Becoming Nobody "Good concepts are like a gold chain, bad concepts are like an iron chain, they all equally bind you in the end." The concept we have about who we are is binding. What if instead of trying to become somebody, ...
03.21.2020 126 - Finding Peace Amidst Chaos How do we experience more peace in the midst of chaos? In this podcast episode, I will discuss the koan of the waiving mind and also discuss the idea of expanding our perspective to experience more peace amidst the chaos.
03.15.2020 125 - Keep Calm And Carry On Skillfully In light of the ongoing spread of COVID-19, I wanted to share some thoughts about skillful action. In this episode, I will also share my thoughts about the koan "There is Nothing I Dislike".
03.08.2020 124 - Dealing With People You Dislike We all deal with people or situations we dislike from time to time. In this podcast episode, I will talk about dealing with people we dislike. For me, the recognition of disliking someone is always an invitation to look inward ...
02.23.2020 123 - The Art Of Diving In In this podcast episode, I will discuss my thoughts on the idea of the art of diving in. Life is a lot like a pool and we are learning to dive in, we dive into new relationships, jobs, and countless ...
02.09.2020 122 - Stop Trying to Eliminate Suffering What if the problem with suffering is the idea we have that we shouldn't suffer? Suffering is a word that has become synonymous with the core Buddhist teachings of the 4 Noble Truths. What if our understanding of those teachings ...
02.04.2020 121 - Just Enough To Be Dangerous Sometimes we know something but we haven't mastered it. We only know just enough to be dangerous with what we know. This applies to many aspects of life but also applies to our process of learning to live more mindfully. ...
01.17.2020 120 - Unconditional Joy We normally think of joy as a reaction. Something happens and it causes joy to arise. That type of joy is conditioned. In Buddhism, unconditional joy is always there, covered or hidden by our conditioned mind (ideas and beliefs). We ...
12.30.2019 119 - Endings And Beginnings As we approach the end of one year and the beginning of a new year, I thought I would share some thoughts regarding endings and beginnings from a Buddhist perspective and how these teachings can minimize our fear of pain.
12.15.2019 118 - Revisiting The Parable Of The Raft The Buddha said, "I will teach you the Dhamma compared to a raft, for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding onto." Everything in Buddhism, including Buddhism itself is a tool, a means to an end, ...
12.08.2019 117 - Noble Silence Noble Silence is a term attributed to the Buddha for his response to certain questions about reality. When it came to the big unanswerable questions, the Buddha was notably silent. In this podcast episode, I will discuss what Noble Silence ...
12.02.2019 116 - People Who Don't Exist We all have the tendency to make a picture of reality and of other people. It's like we paint a portrait and then believe that this portrait is a 100% accurate depiction of the real person we painted and we ...
11.10.2019 115 - Unhooking Habitual Patterns What are the things that hook us? In our quest to understand ourselves and to become a better whatever we already are, it’s extremely beneficial to be capable of recognizing our attachments and knowing what it is that hooks us.
11.03.2019 114 - Beware Of Falling Rocks In this podcast episode, I will discuss the idea of attachment in relation to the Buddhist notion of groundlessness. I will discuss how our strong attachment to things can often cause more discomfort than the comfort we thought we were ...
10.28.2019 113 - Right Speech How can we communicate more skillfully? In this podcast episode, I will discuss "right speech", one of the points on the eightfold path. I will discuss three different communication styles: passive, aggressive, and assertive and share a communication formula that ...
10.21.2019 112 - The Importance Of Community In this podcast episode, I will discuss the Buddhist teaching of "taking refuge" and talk about the teaching of the three jewels. I will discuss in greater detail how I hope to build an online community where we can practice ...
10.13.2019 111 - Resisting Our Demons In this podcast episode, I will discuss the Zen Koan titled "The Real Miracle". I will also share the story/teaching of Milarepa and the Demons he resisted in his cave and how that story can help us with our own ...
09.29.2019 110 - Unhappily Headed Towards Happiness Often we find ourselves unhappily headed towards happiness. Thinking that once we arrive, we will suddenly not be how we've been all along. In this podcast episode, I will talk about Bodhidharma's beard and the koan that invites us to ...
09.12.2019 109 - Finding Your True Self What happens when we break through the conceptual fog that often blinds us from seeing ourselves as we really are? In this podcast episode, I will talk about the idea of finding your true self. I will also discuss a ...
09.01.2019 108 - Important Things To Think About Often The Buddha taught that there are five important things we should think about often. These are commonly referred to as the Five Remembrances. In this episode, I will talk about the five remembrances and how remembering these important things often ...
08.25.2019 107 - Learning To Be Silent In this podcast episode, I discuss three more Zen Koans: Joshu's Zen, The Gates of Paradise, and Learning to be Silent. I will share what these koans mean to me and how I interpret the lessons of these koans in ...

Older episodes

Secular Buddhism

What's Secular Buddhism about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Secular Buddhism episodes:

156 - Circle Of Skills

155 - The First Meditation

154 - Taking The Long View

153 - The Beauty Of Not Knowing

152 - A Liberated State Of Mind

151 - Observation and Action

150 - Buddha Nature

149 - Firsts And Lasts

148 - The Dance Of Life

147 - Dharma Cat

146 - The Freedom To Be You

145 - The Quest For Answers

144 - The Game Of Emotions

143 - Eye Of The Beholder

142 - Wisdom and Fear

141 - Smarter Not Harder

140 - Mindfulness For Everyday Life

139 - Mindfulness Interview With Dr Sarah Shaw

138 - Sticky Hair Monster

137 - The Beauty Of Nothing

136 - Mountains And Rivers

135 - Weathering The Storm

134 - Emotional Enlightenment

133 - Five Daily Life Guidelines

132 - Nowhere To Hide Nothing To Hold

131 - The Truth Of Unsatisfactoriness

130 - Three Approaches for Doubt and Mistrust

129 - The HALT Method

128 - No Going Back

127 - Becoming Nobody

126 - Finding Peace Amidst Chaos

125 - Keep Calm And Carry On Skillfully

124 - Dealing With People You Dislike

123 - The Art Of Diving In

122 - Stop Trying to Eliminate Suffering

121 - Just Enough To Be Dangerous

120 - Unconditional Joy

119 - Endings And Beginnings

118 - Revisiting The Parable Of The Raft

117 - Noble Silence

116 - People Who Don't Exist

115 - Unhooking Habitual Patterns

114 - Beware Of Falling Rocks

113 - Right Speech

112 - The Importance Of Community

111 - Resisting Our Demons

110 - Unhappily Headed Towards Happiness

109 - Finding Your True Self

108 - Important Things To Think About Often

107 - Learning To Be Silent

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