Secular Buddhism

What happens when we die? This is a common question I hear when I'm teaching workshops or seminars. The short answer is "change". Change is what happens when we die. In this episode, I will discuss the Buddhist perspective of death and the thoughts behind it.

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Have you ever felt stuck between a rock and a hard place? It's difficult to be aware while we're experiencing difficulties and yet that is the very moment that awareness can change everything for us. In this short episode, I will share the zen story of the strawberry and explain how I view this story to be a powerful lesson about awareness.

Explore more at eightfoldpath.com: full transcripts, guided meditations, courses, and Noah AI, an AI you can chat with about any episode or teaching.

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What does it mean to practice non-attachment? Rather than thinking of non-attachment as not attaching to things, think of it as not allowing things to own you. What things own you? Those are the things you're attached to. In this episode, I will discuss the concept of non-attachment and I will attempt to make this idea more accessible and easy to understand.

Explore more at eightfoldpath.com: full transcripts, guided meditations, courses, and Noah AI, an AI you can chat with about any episode or teaching.

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Gratitude is the key to happiness but gratitude requires practice. In this episode, I will discuss how we can develop a practice of gratitude. “The root of joy is gratefulness...It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” ― David Steindl-Rast

Explore more at eightfoldpath.com: full transcripts, guided meditations, courses, and Noah AI, an AI you can chat with about any episode or teaching.

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One of the most common questions I hear when I'm teaching is "Is Buddhism a Religion?" People are typically expecting a simple "yes" or "no" but I've found that the answer is a bit more complex than that. In this episode, I will share my view of why I see Buddhism as an applied psychology or a philosophical way of life more than a religion.

Explore more at eightfoldpath.com: full transcripts, guided meditations, courses, and Noah AI, an AI you can chat with about any episode or teaching.

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Life is a journey and the journey is the goal. What would life be like if we did things for the sake of doing them? In this episode, I will explore the idea of learning to enjoy the journey instead of always focusing on destinations.

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We want to win and we don't want to lose. The problem is that there is no winning without losing. There is no good without bad, no right without wrong. This is the basic understanding of non-duality. We are free to be what we are free to be but that also means we are not free to be what we are not free to be. In this episode, I will discuss the illusion of free will and how the greatest sense of freedom you will ever discover is the freedom to become what you already are. You!

Explore more at eightfoldpath.com: full transcripts, guided meditations, courses, and Noah AI, an AI you can chat with about any episode or teaching.

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In life, difficulties arise. This is a universal aspect of the human experience. Knowing this, how do we deal with difficult emotions? We don't like feeling angry, sad, or afraid, but these are normal and natural emotions just like happiness or joy. Emotions, like everything else, are impermanent and interdependent. In this episode, I will discuss the topic of dealing with difficult emotions.

Explore more at eightfoldpath.com: full transcripts, guided meditations, courses, and Noah AI, an AI you can chat with about any episode or teaching.

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We are continually making comparisons, this vs that, good vs bad, here vs there, etc...In this episode, I will discuss the topic of perfection and the problems we run into when we compare things. The understanding of non-duality permeates through all Buddhist teachings. In order to properly understand perfection, we must not compare to anything else.

Explore more at eightfoldpath.com: full transcripts, guided meditations, courses, and Noah AI, an AI you can chat with about any episode or teaching.

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How do we make sense of the atrocities that are committed every day in the world? Is there a source of evil behind such things? In this episode, I will discuss the Buddhist understanding of non-dichotomy in relationship to good and evil. How does our understanding of interdependence influence our way of understanding the horrible things we see happening in the world? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Explore more at eightfoldpath.com: full transcripts, guided meditations, courses, and Noah AI, an AI you can chat with about any episode or teaching.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.