Diggin' the Dharma

These are difficult times, and our practice can be a true refuge and an opportunity to recharge.  However, it's also possible for meditation to become a means of escaping or bypassing what's happening in the world or our personal experiences.  Ideally,  true refuge recharges us and increases our capacity to face the world and with what Bhikkhu Bodhi calls “conscientious compassion.”  Jon and Doug have a lively discussion about how our practice supports us in these times.Link to Bhikkhu Bodhi's Commentary on Protecting Human Dignity and the Threat of Moral Nihilism: https://www.lionsroar.com/commentary-protecting-human-dignity-from-the-threat-of-moral-nihilism/Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Jon and Doug discuss the Buddhist practice of acceptance. How would the Buddha have framed it? How can we work with acceptance today, and how might an attitude of acceptance make our lives better?Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The Buddha taught that guarding the sense doors is an essential part of practice.  Of course, social media didn't exist 2500 years ago.  These days it's so easy to get caught in the vortex of social media.  Jon and Doug discuss how they guard (or not) the sense doors in the current media reality.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Jon and Doug discuss the role of faith or confidence in Buddhist practice, how it can be useful and also how it can be misused.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Silence and solitude are two forms of Buddhist practice of great depth, but also some difficulty for many. Jon and Doug discuss how they appear in the early texts, and how we can practice with them today.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Joy is an essential aspect of Buddhist practice. And boy do we need joy right now! Jon and Doug discuss how joy can arise for us, and what attitudes and practices can help joy to arise.Jon's Talk on Joy for TricycleSupport the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Jon has been on pilgrimage in India over the last few weeks. He reports in about all he's been experiencing at various Buddhist and other sites. Links:Jon's blog posts: JonAaron.net/musingsWhere Are You Going:  Ajahn Sucitto and Nick Scott https://whereareyougoing.podbean.com/Doug's video: King Asoka: Buddhism's Great Political Modernist -- https://youtu.be/V4894Ug8Y3c Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

How do we perceive time, and what can we learn from Buddhist teachings about it? How do we frame the past and the future, not to mention the present? Jon and Doug discuss this topic, inspired by the fact that Jon is currently in India, which is 9.5 hours ahead of the East Coast of the U.S., where Doug is.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Jon and Doug have a wide-ranging chat with the dharma teacher and peace activitist, Stephen Fulder, founder of Tovana, the Israel Insight Society.  We discuss his work in Israel and his new book, How to Thrive in Hard Times.You can find his book here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Thrive-Hard-Times-Buddhist/dp/1915672740/Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

What is the role of community in our practice? The sangha is one of the traditional three refuges or jewels of Buddhism. The Buddha also advised at the end of his life to hold the self as our island and refuge, with the dharma as our island and refuge. Jon and Doug discuss how we reconcile these ideals.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Three key aspects of the seven enlightenment factors are investigation, energy, and joy. What are they, and how can we touch them in our practice?Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The final aggregate in the set of five is consciousness. What is meant by  consciousness/ As an aggregate of clinging, when does it get in the way?Jon and Doug discuss.Doug's Video:The Problem(s) of Consciousness -- https://youtu.be/W1Pn65QZiZsSupport the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

In Buddhism the root of karmic action is in sankharas, a word with many uses in the dharma.  As we practice, we can see the sankharas taking shape and then realize we have choices.  But even the choices are related to other sankharas and the "wow' of this mind. Jon and Doug discuss them and how we can view their role in our lives.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Two days after the US Election, Doug and Jon discuss how they are handling the results. They also discuss how our practice can support us as we look to the future political landscape in the US and the world.Jon offered this poem by Rilke as a support:Let This Darkness be a Belltower Rainer Maria RilkeQuiet friend who has come so far,feel how your breathing makes more space around you.Let this darkness be a bell towerand you the bell. As you ring,what batters you becomes your strength.Move back and forth into the change.What is it like, such intensity of pain?If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.In this uncontainable night,be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,the meaning discovered there.And if the world has ceased to hear you,say to the silent earth: I flow.To the rushing water, speak: I am.Doug's Video:No Local Meditation Group? Six Solutions -- https://youtu.be/-rEKVKsV2iUSupport the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Feeling tone, the pleasure or pain we take in experience, is a central part of dharma.  As an aggregate, a foundation of mindfulness, a link in the chain of dependent origination,  appreciating, understanding, and directly experiencing Vedana is a key to experiencing freedom.Jon and Doug have a lively discussion on this topic.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Doug and Jon continue to explore the Five Aggregates of Clinging (to self) and this week explore Form.    How do we cling to form and at what point, does this clinging become suffering?  Are doesn't it?Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Jon and Doug discuss perception and how it's mediated by past experience and the stories we tell. How does it become misperception? How can we work with our perception to live more skillfully and fully?*this quote is attributed to the Roman poet Phaedrus but it is often used by various Zen teachersSupport the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

How does our concept of ourselves and others create suffering?  What would it be like to soften this "conceit of self".  Understanding and seeing through this conceit, is the last of the higher fetters, which needs to the released before awakening. Jon and Doug discuss how this comes up in practice.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The Buddhist attitude of "nibbidā" or "disenchantment"/"disgust" is central to the early teaching. What is it and how can it help us navigate our lives? Jon and Doug discuss.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Doug and Jon discuss what forgiveness means in the contact of Buddhism.  Is it Buddhist?  It's a powerful and important practice but it doesn't seem to appear anywhere in the teachings.Information on the Class offered by Jon:Watering the Seeds of ForgivenessSupport the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Doug has Covid, Jon has a bad microphone, but they're chatting about the Buddha and voting anyway, as well as Buddhist practice and voting. What does 2024 bring for us in the voting booth, and how should we frame our political choices?To register to vote, and check voter registration in the US:https://vote.gov/Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

A recent podcast series at the Financial Times discussed serious problems several meditators have had at one popular ten-day Vipassana retreat system. Jon and Doug discuss this and some important work by Brown psychology professor Dr. Willoughby Britton.Links:The Retreat — an investigative podcast into the perils of meditation [Financial Times] -- https://www.ft.com/content/b3ec8e57-5cf9-4f96-9267-56c3bcd9c102The Hidden Risks of Meditation — Dr. Willoughby Britton | The Tim Ferriss Show — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdmvoX1RZWA Cheetah House: Help for Meditators In Distress -- https://www.cheetahhouse.org/Book: Trauma Sensitive MIndfulness, David TreleavenSupport the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

With Jon's impending move to Chicago Jon and Doug discuss the beneficial practice of renunciation. What do we really need?Video: George Carlin talks about "stuff" -- https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLacSupport the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Silence is so important to Buddhist practice. Jon and Doug discuss how silence impacts practice as well as some of the early tradition around silence.Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

How do we bring our Buddhist practice into our relationship with the arts and entertainment?  The early Buddhist teachings, in particular, seem to look askance at this area of life.  Doug and Jon discuss this interesting topic and how they integrate practice into their own interests in the arts.Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The Bodhisattva ideal really blossomed in the Mahayana traditions but the idea of the Bodhisattva was certainly present in the earlier traditions.  Perhaps not in name but certainly in expression.  When the Buddha spoke about himself before his Enlightenment, he referred to himself as a Bodhisattva.  And, of course, the fact that he taught for 40 years after his Awakening points to his desire to awaken all beings.  But how is the ideal expressed in us?  Two papers:Bhikkhu Anālayo, Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal — https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/genesis-bodhisattva.pdf Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas” — https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/arahantsbodhisattvas.html Videos from Doug's Dharma:What is a Bodhisattva? --  https://youtu.be/bs1XtNrNXpMThe Early History of the Bodhisattva Ideal -- https://youtu.be/ECI_3ytgxcQ Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Stream-entry, once returning, non-returning, and arahantship are the traditional four stages of progress along the Buddhist path. What do they mean? Are they historical? Are they necessary for us to know about? Jon and Doug dive into this topic, which always raises questions about the value and the pitfalls.Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The Buddha described humanity as tangled like string, knotted like a ball of thread.  This tangle is a result of not seeing clearly the dependent co-arising— paticca-samupadda-- of phenomena.   This is one of the most important of the early teachings.   It can be seen through the lens of individual dissatisfaction and of course, through social, political and cultural dissatisfaction.  Doug and Jon explore the teaching and how we bring it into our practice. Dhivan Thomas Jones's book: This Being, That BecomesVideos:Playlist on dependent origination at Doug's Dharma: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0akoU_OszRjcEvO6Gt2MSKF-u7Y8XaNcSupport the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Equanimity- Upekkha has an important place in many of the key Buddhist teachings.  It's the fourth of the Divine Abodes, the seventh Factor of Awakening, the last step of the 16 Step teaching in the Mindfulness of Breathing and in the 10th of the Parami- the Perfections of the Heart.  Doug and Jon discuss the various facets of this important quality.Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

How can we work with our thirst for clinging and identification that seems unquenchable? We will discuss various aspect of letting go related to desire and thirst.Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

We can't let go of letting go so we continue discussion from the prior episode.Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

What is Insight (Vipassana) practice? Doug and Jon discuss its origins and how it orients our approach to the dharma. They also discuss  some exciting potential developments with livestreaming the podcast.Book:Erik Braun, The Birth of InsightOur new YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8HnYof8CejuOkLsr86EjRQSupport the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Right Livelihood is one of the factors of the Buddha's Eightfold Noble Path.  Of course, times have changed in the last 2500 years, so what does this mean today?  Doug and Jon look at the teaching and do some head-scratching over certain parts of it.Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The refrain in the teaching on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness refers to contemplating internally, externally, and internally and externally.    Jon and Doug talk about how they receive that part of the teaching, which doesn't appear in any obvious way in other suttas but is actually a very important part of mindfulness. Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

What is free will? Do we have free will? What does it mean to be free, and what does this have to do with our ethical and karmic responsibility?Support the Show.Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Truthfulness is one of the Paramis or perfections of the heart.  In this episode we  dig into what it means to not only be factually true but how the truth finds expression in appropriate ways-- both in our external and internal speech.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Buddha Nature: what is it and how is it a controversial concept in some understandings? Jon and Doug discuss this as well as concepts and words generally.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The second noble points to the cause of dukkha—craving and clinging. It's also related to the uncertainty of life and the desire for it to be otherwise. Sometimes, the wisdom we gain, even after years of practice, seems to vanish when confronted with the inevitable change. Our discussion was sparked by Jon's pending move to Chicago and the dukkha this has manifested.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Doug and Jon discuss the   "Golden Rule" (do unto others as we would have them do unto us) and its role in Buddhist practice and the precepts. Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The recent death of Alexei Navalny sparked this discussion on courage.   Navalny is one example-- similar to people like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Nelson Mandela.    We see acts of courage from many daily but don't necessarily consider them in the same way.  What is courage, and does it play a role in our practice?  Can meditation and the dharma, cultivate and strengthen this quality? Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

If one were to describe a word that illustrates the meaning of onomatopoetic,  papañca fits the bill.   There are a number of words in Pali that do this, but papañca which means mental proliferation, is one of the best.  In this episode, Doug and Jon look at this familiar pattern of the mind and how to work with it. Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

In our last few episodes, we've been discussing the Buddha's Noble Eight-Fold Path.  The last three factors of the path are about meditation.  It's always good to remind ourselves why we meditate and what meditation actually is.    What meditations are presented in the early Buddhist teachings, and why are they important?   Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Right Effort --one of the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path is an important aspect of the practice of meditation, and the teachings related to this are worth looking into. Jon and Doug discuss strategies and practices that may be useful for us to consider along the path.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The Rubin is an important institution in New York with a very significant collection and many special exhibitions of Tibetan and Himalayan art, specifically related to Buddhism and Buddhist culture in that part of the world.  We received the sad news recently that they are closing the New York space and basically becoming a virtual and traveling museum.    Jon and Doug discuss the closing and the nature of anicca-- impermanence.https://rubinmuseum.org/Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The Eightfold Path, the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, lays out a map to become free from suffering.    In our last episode, we explore the second fact  on the Right Intention. In this episode, we discuss Right View and how we generally hold views.  After all, if you don't have the right view, if you don't know where you're headed, you'll likely get lost along the way.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

As we continue our wondering through the Noble Truths we discuss aspects of the Fourth Truth the 8-Fold Noble Path with a particular interesting Right Intention. This is the second factor, but who says we need to start with the first?Japanese Bowl, Poem by Peter MayerVIdeo on the Art of KantsugiSupport the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

The New Year is a good time to return to the core teachings.  And it's good to start with the Four Enobling Truths, from which much becomes clear.  In this episode, we spend most of the time talking about the first two,Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

In this episode for the last day of 2023, we look at concepts of time from a Buddhist perspective in the relative and absolute sense.    It's a fun topic and seemed appropriate as we move into 2024-- at least in some calendars.George Carlin on TImeSupport the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Perhaps this is a perennial question, but it's always worth asking.   What's so special about Buddhism and why have we chosen it as a guide for how we live?  We speak about our personal experience ask questions that might be helpful for you.Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

What is meant by re-birth?? Who is reborn and when? There are a number of interpretations and Doug and Jon explore some of them.   More important is how our understanding of rebirth and death impacts the way we live now. Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/

Depending on your interpretation of what a miracle is, there are certainly times when miracles seem to happen due to our practice.  In fact, one of the most-read books on Buddhism and mindfulness is Thich Nhat Hanh's classic Miracle of Mindfulness.  Do you notice miracles happening?  What did the Buddha have to say about this?Support the showGo to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/