Everyday Buddhism: Making Everyday Better

I am delighted to have another conversation with James Crews, a return guest who is joining me for a conversation about his book, Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Mindfulness, Courage, and Self-Compassion. James is the author of the essay collection, Kindness Will Save the World, and editor of several bestselling poetry anthologies, including The Wonder of Small Things (winner of the New England Book Award), Healing the Divide, The Path to Kindness (winner of the Nautilus Books for a Better Life Award), and How to Love the World, which has over 140,000 copies in print. He has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, and in People Magazine, The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, The Sun Magazine, and The Washington Post. He is the author of five prize-winning books of poetry, including Unlocking the Heart, and his poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The New Republic, and other journals. James lives with his husband in the woods of Southern Vermont. At the end of September, James surprised me with the gift of his book, Unlocking the Heart and what a gift it was! I'll talk more about it in our conversation, but the book really did help unlock my heart. During February and a time of reflection on my transformative experience after falling and time in the hospital in December, I worked with the book, reflecting on the poems and James' thoughts about them, and using the writing prompts to journal. Being opened to vulnerability and held by the poems in the book was a special gift. As you will no doubt hear, James is a gentle soul whose conversation about poetry, spirituality, and life is healing. Both the words he uses and the tender way he speaks them is a balm for our painful and anxious times. Among other things, we talked about: How we are all poets … And, as James said, "We are all going around having moments and those moments are asking for expression. Our materially focused culture has caused us to be separated from spiritual practice and poetry can help us build a practice if we keep showing up. Writing poetry is about noticing and giving space to what you're noticing. Reading poetry trains you in the practice of noticing. Take some time to ease into this episode. I promise you will be soothed and come away craving more poetry in your life….   Learn more about James & to sign up for free weekly poems & writing prompts, visit: https://www.jamescrews.net/.   Buy his books, including, Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Mindfulness, Courage, and Self-Compassion.All books: Amazon Author page Unlocking the Heart: Unlocking the Heart   Substack / Podcast: https://substack.com/@jamescrews   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/james.crews.poet   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crewspoet       Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism     Check out my Substack for ongoing chapter releases of my new serial book, Living Life As It Is and the weekly podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism   Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism   NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

This is a special episode announcing the release of my new book, as a Substack serial book: Living Life As It Is: An Honest Narrative of My Challenges Practicing Right View I started writing my second book in 2020. But along came the Covid-19 pandemic and so much after that. So here I am still writing what was to be my second book, focused on Right View. The stumbling block in getting it done was things in life kept changing faster and faster, and I had no idea whether I had any sense of Right View anymore or if I was helplessly lost in delusion. But I recently had an idea that would help me focus and share my writing in the midst of life and all its confusion and delusion—in the middle of life as it is. The idea is this: Why not write this long-hoped-for second book in real time? Why not write for my Substack audience, releasing essays/chapters as I go so that you, kind subscribers, can read as I write—and comment too. And that is what I've done. I published the first chapter on February 7, 2025 and plan to release a new essay/chapter every Friday. I thought I'd share that first chapter as a podcast episode and here it is ...

In this episode I talk with Nate Klemp, PhD. Nate is a bestselling author and formally trained philosopher. He is the author of the new book OPEN: Living With an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World. Nate is also the coauthor of the New York Times Editors' Choice, The 80/80 Marriage: A New Model for a Happier, Stronger Marriage, and the New York Times Bestseller, Start Here: Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing. He has been featured in The LA Times, The New York Times, The Times London, and has appeared on Good Morning America and "Talks" at Google. Nate co-founded the mindfulness training company Life Cross Training and holds a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy from Stanford University and a PhD from Princeton University. I cannot think of a better guest to have on the podcast during these uncertain, catastrophic times. His new book, OPEN: Living With an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World is an important antidote to the ongoing trauma and division of the times. He offers the remedy of opening our minds and hearts despite our instinct to close them. Stay tuned as we talk about: How we're living in a time of closure: closing in through our screens and closing to each other. "Annihilating the power of the smart phone." The practice of skillful closing when things get too intense. How our mindset is contagious and how it reinforces our environment of closure. How we talk to each other about politics in either "strategic mode" where we're trying to 'win' or "communication" mode where we're trying to understand. Non-drug psychedelic experience and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Mindfulness, meditation, and the practice of open-awareness (like Dzogchen) meditation.  And more! I'm sure you'll enjoy the conversation with Nate as much as I did. He is wise, funny, and a delightful conversation partner!   Learn more about Nate: https://www.nateklemp.com   Buy the book, Open: Open - Amazon affiliate link   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_klemp/   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpncjN_woj6Xrth0i-bGp7w   Nate Klemp, Ph.D. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-klemp-phd-6901b72b   x/Twitter: https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fnateklemp     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism     Check out my Substack and weekly podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism   Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism   NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I invited Scott Snibbe to join me for a conversation about Buddhist responses to the anxiety, apprehension, insecurity, fear, dread, anger … and on and on … that some people are feeling now. Scott Snibbe is a twenty-five-year student of Tibetan Buddhism whose teachers include Lama Zopa Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is the author and host of the How to Train a Happy Mind book and podcast. Scott leads meditation classes and retreats worldwide in a style that will become evident in our upcoming conversation. His light-hearted approach is infused with humor, science, and the realities of the modern world. Scott is a new media artist whose installations have been incorporated into museums, public spaces, and performances. He has collaborated with musicians and filmmakers including Björk, Philip Glass, Beck, and James Cameron, and his work can be found in the collections of New York MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other institutions. Listen in as we talk about how the Dharma can help us see things as clear and non-reactive as possible. In this conversation, we talk about: The key to non-violent communications is listening. You don't have to agree with someone to understand them. The antidote to anger is curiousity. No matter what other people believe, each is driven by a desire for happiness. Radical acceptance and how acceptance IS transcendence. And so much more…   Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): How to Train a Happy Mind: A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment   Learn more about Scott: https://www.snibbe.com   How to Train A Happy Mind YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcf_cNAKoiIuGilQYL51ow   Scott Snibbe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ssnibbe/   Scott Snibbe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottsnibbe/   Scott Snibbe Twitter: https://twitter.com/snibbe   Scott Snibbe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snibbe/   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism   Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism   NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I talk with Natalie Baker. Natalie is a psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher, with more than 30 years of personal practice and 2+ decades of teaching experience. She is the founder of Neurofeedback Training Co. and a practicing psychotherapist in New York City, Natalie blends the wisdom of Buddhist psychology with modern therapeutic techniques, empowering individuals to navigate life's challenges with mindfulness, compassion, and resilience. Natalie teaches from the strength of her own Buddhist practice, sharing the transformative power of mindfulness and meditation with others. In addition to her psychotherapy practice, Natalie has been instrumental in bringing neurofeedback—a cutting-edge brain training technology—into the mainstream. Neurofeedback is often described as "meditation for the limbic brain", helping individuals achieve greater mental clarity and emotional stability by training the brain to self-regulate. Stay tuned as we talk about some of my favorite subjects, including: Mindfulness and meditation Buddha Nature as basic goodness or fundamental sanity Finding the brilliance in the energy of fear Fearlessness and gentleness as key tools for self-healing and self-discovery Connecting with our warm heart And more!   Learn more about Natalie: https://buddhistpsychotherapyny.com   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neurofeedbacktrainingco/   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiQ-_zRCvrL3GdEq7k6rIGQ   Natalie Baker LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-baker-0a025212/     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   Check out my Substack and podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism   Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism   NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I talk with Nadia Colburn. Nadia is the author of the poetry books, I Say the Sky and The High Shelf, and her poetry and prose have appeared in more than eighty publications, including The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Spirituality & Health, Lion's Roar, and The Yale Review. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University, is a yoga teacher and serious student of Thich Nhat Hanh, and is the founder of Align Your Story Writing School, which brings traditional literary and creative writing studies together with mindfulness, embodied practices, and social and environmental engagement. The school has a community of over 30,000 mindful writers. Nadia lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and two children. Stay tuned as we listen to Nadia read some poems from her book and talk about, among many other things: The relationship between Buddhist / meditation practice and writing. Poetry and literature as a companion or an offering as a mirror to yourself. Literature as a place where people can speak truths that are sometimes uncomfortable but not talked about all the time. Writing as therapy and healing. And much more! Sit back and enjoy the flow of conversation and poetry with the delightful Nadia Colburn.   Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): I Say the Sky   Learn more about Nadia: https://nadiacolburn.com   Free writing and meditation resources: https://nadiacolburn.com/free-resources/   Free 5-day meditation and writing challenge:  https://nadiacolburn.com/free-mindful-writing-challenge/   Nadia Colburn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadia.colburn/   Nadia Colburn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alignyourstory/     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   Register for the next Introduction to Buddhism course (virtual-Zoom), beginning Thursday, August 29, 2024! Register NOW to get the first readings and reflections in your email, before the class! https://www.everyday-buddhism.com/p/introduction-to-buddhism-course-and-registration-1/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism   Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism   NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I talk with Scott Snibbe, the creator and host of the popular podcast, A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment and the author of the new book, How To Train a Happy Mind, with foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Scott is a twenty-five-year student of Tibetan Buddhism whose teachers include Lama Zopa Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He leads meditation classes and retreats worldwide in a style that will become evident in our upcoming conversation. His light-hearted approach is infused with humor, science, and the realities of the modern world. Scott is a new media artist whose installations have been incorporated into museums, public spaces, and performances. He has collaborated with musicians and filmmakers including Björk, Philip Glass, Beck, and James Cameron, and his work can be found in the collections of New York MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other institutions. Listen as we talk about Scott's new book and how you really can build positive habits founded on ancient Buddhist practices, leading to a happy mind. And if you're a skeptic, no problem, Scott has you covered. Check out our conversation and I'm convinced you'll want more! In this conversation, we talk about: The Lam-Rim, a 1000-year old Tibetan teaching tradition that is as effective today in training a happy mind. Analytical meditation—a practice both Scott and I credit for significant transformation in our lives … A practice of pointing the mind at the mind, training our thinking to be a friend and not a distraction. Buddha Nature—What is it? And so much more…   Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): How to Train a Happy Mind: A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment   Learn more about Scott: https://www.snibbe.com   A Skeptics Path to Enlightenment YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcf_cNAKoiIuGilQYL51ow   Scott Snibbe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ssnibbe/   Scott Snibbe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottsnibbe/   Scott Snibbe Twitter: https://twitter.com/snibbe   Scott Snibbe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snibbe/   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism   Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism   NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I talk with Cindy Rasicot, about her new book, This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkuni Dhammananda. Cindy is an award-winning author of the memoir Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter's Spiritual Quest to Thailand. Cindy also hosted a weekly YouTube series that welcomed people from all walks of life to explore their spiritual practice in conversation with Venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammananda. Guests have included Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Boorstein, Joan Halifax, and many others. The conversations showcase Venerable Dhammananda's wise and warm teaching style. In this conversation we talk about Venerable Dhammananda and her amazing and inspirational life journey from academic to activist to spiritual leader. She is an advocate of serious reform for monastic and lay Buddhists, including—of course—the reestablishment of the Bhikkhuni order. She also speaks out, urging all genders and classes to be advocates of equality for women. We also talk about some of the direct teachings found in 10 chapters of Cindy's book, This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkuni Dhammananda. Teachings that include meditation, forgiveness, loneliness, grasping, uncertainty, and ageing—among others.   Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkhuni Dhammananda   Learn more about Cindy Rasicot: https://cindyrasicot.com/   Learn more about Venerable Dhammananada and her monastery, Sondhammakalayni Temple: https://cindyrasicot.com/about-venerable-dhammanda/   https://www.songdhammakalyani.com/   Casual Buddhism YouTube: www.youtube.com/@casualbuddhism   Cindy Rasicot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cindy.rasicot   Cindy Rasicot Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cindy.rasicot.author     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism   Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism   NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

Celebrate the Everyday Sangha by listening to this special bonus re-release of episode 26, Why Sangha? Bringing Buddhism to Life. This re-released episode is the first episode I talked about the Three Treasures, The Three Jewels, or the Triple Gem of Buddhism. Back in April of 2019, I released this episode to announce the launch of our Everyday Sangha. I'm re-releasing it today, in a bow of gratitude to the sangha, which has grown into a wonderful community. I am celebrating the sangha and the 16 sangha members who are going for refuge and receiving Dharma names in the non-sectarian, Mahayana lineage of Bright Dawn Buddhism/Kubose Dharma Legacy this Saturday, on June 1st in a special TiSarana Ceremony. These 16 will officially take refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. So, congratulations to the those 16 taking refuge and a huge thank you to the Everyday Sangha for being such a special group! I think many connect with the *jewel* or treasure aspect of the Buddha and Dharma, but Sangha? The Buddha taught the Dharma as an experiential path. His advice is to try it for ourselves, rather than taking his or anyone else's word for it.  It is Sangha that moves Buddhism beyond a study or philosophy to something lived and alive. But you have to practice or it doesn't work. Sangha is where you perfect your practice with others doing the same thing. We come just as we are. Working on practices, not being people who are already perfect. The Sangha accepts us and supports us so that we can become more honest with ourselves and others. We learn to accept ourselves AND others. We accept our humanity, together.

In this episode I talk with Oren Jay Soffer about his new book, Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity & Love. Oren teaches meditation and communication internationally. He holds a degree in comparative religion from Columbia University and is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for the healing of trauma. Oren has practiced meditation in the early Buddhist tradition since 1997, beginning his studies in Bodh Gaya, India, and later spending 2-1/2 years living as an renunciate at branch monasteries in the Ajahn Chah Thai Forest lineage. He is a long-time student of Joseph Goldstein, Michele McDonald, and Ajahn Sucitto, and is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher's Council. Oren is also the author of the best-seller Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication and two books on teaching mindfulness to adolescents: The Mindful Schools Curriculum for Adolescents and Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Teens. His teaching has reached people around the world through online communication courses and guided meditations, combining classical Buddhist training with the accessible language of secular mindfulness In our conversation we talked about, among other things: How our hearts REALLY are made for these times … Our hearts were made to awaken and if we can practice—in small steps—turning toward suffering, we enter a portal to transformation. How the world shapes our hearts in ways not best for us and how we can practice shaping our own hearts. How getting in touch with our true values will guide us through these challenging times. How we need to consciously "change the channel" of our thoughts to be more aligned with our true values.   Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): Your Heart Was Made for This   Learn more about Oren Jay Soffer, his teaching, courses, and special events: https://www.orenjaysofer.com/   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/orenjaysofervideo   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orenjaysofer   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrenJaySofer/   X/Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/OrenJaySofer/   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orenjaysofer/     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

Join me for a delightful conversation with Steve Kanji Ruhl about his book, Appalachian Zen: Journeys in Search of True Home, from the American Heartland to the Buddha Dharma, the 2023 Gold Prize winner for Memoir in the Nautilus Book Awards. Steve Kanji is a Zen Buddhist minister ordained in the Zen Peacemaker Order, now teaching independently and instructing Zen students through his Touch the Earth cyber-sangha. Reverend Kanji received his Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University and is a Buddhist chaplain at Deerfield Academy, a Buddhist Adviser at Yale University, and faculty member of the Shogaku Zen Institute. Kanji has been a guest speaker or workshop facilitator at Harvard's Center for World Religions, Yale Divinity School, the International Conference on Socially Engaged Buddhism, the Omega Institute, and elsewhere. In addition to Appalachian Zen, he is the author of Enlightened Contemporaries: Francis, Dogen & Rumi—Three Great Mystics of the Thirteenth Century and Why They Matter Today and has recently finished writing a new book about his personal experience of spirituality and wellness called The Whole Earth is Medicine: Science, Zen, and Healing Body and Mind in a Journey through Cancer. He has also published two volumes of poems, The Constant Yes of Things and Paintings of Rice Cakes Satisfy Hunger. In his book, Appalachian Zen, Kanji takes us on a 30-year journey through his search to find his "true home" in lilting and lyrical prose and poems that move the story from Appalachia through academia—constantly asking: What is home? What is this? What is life? Death? What is real? … The questions Buddhism never answer but continue to ask. In our conversation we talked about, among other things: -Childhood memories -The search for self and the search for losing the self -Being a foolish being and Shin Buddhism -The contrast between Western and Eastern philosophical and spiritual worldviews -Mystical Christianity and the similarity to the direct experience of the sacred in Buddhism -Buddhist lay ministers as compared to Buddhist monastics, priest, and the "guru model" -Kanji's teaching of "Be Clear, Be Kind, Be Present"   Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): Appalachian Zen   Buy the book from the publisher: Appalachian Zen   Learn more about Steve Kanji Ruhl, his teaching, spiritual guidance, and special events: http://www.stevekanjiruhl.com       *Special Everyday Buddhism Substack / Words From My Teachers podcast subscription promo code: Redeem by 3/31/2024 for 20% subscription for 1 year!   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode, I welcome back Rebecca Li to talk about her new book, Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No Method. Rebecca and I had a conversation in May of 2021, about her previous book, Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times. Rebecca is a meditation and Dharma teacher in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen and founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community, a Chan Buddhist practice and study community made up of individuals committed to cultivating wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings. Rebecca has two decades of Dharma and meditation teaching experience, leading retreats or teaching at Buddhist centers in North America, Europe, and Asia. She has been featured in several Buddhist publications, including Tricycle, Lion's Roar, and Buddhadharma.  She is also one of the founding board members of The GenX Buddhist Teachers Sangha where she continues to serve as a board member. Rebecca is a sociology professor and lives with her husband in New Jersey. In Allow Joy into Our Hearts, Rebecca wrote about Chan Practice and she continues to teach the path of Chan Buddhism in the book we will discuss today, Illumination. In Illumination, she dives deeper into the Chan meditation of Silent Illumination and deeper still into what causes our suffering and how Silent Illumination can help us identify and help decrease the causes of our suffering. In her book, Rebecca takes us on a fascinating, deep-dive into the method of no method in silent illumination and guides us in the mechanics of this type of practice. In our conversation we talked about, among other things: How, in our meditation, we turn thoughts into enemies, rather than allowing thoughts and feelings to be fully experienced and felt … About how tend to try to "achieve" as meditators, as if a sport … And about the modes of operation: craving, aversion, trance, problem-solving, intellectualizing, quietism, and forgetting-emptiness …   Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): Illumination: A Guide to the Method of No-Method   Learn more about Rebecca Li and her Dharma talks, guided meditation offerings, and retreats: https://rebeccali.org/       *Special Everyday Buddhism Substack / Words From My Teachers podcast subscription promo code: Redeem by 3/31/2024 for 20% subscription for 1 year!   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   Register for the Introduction to Buddhism Course (by February 22, 2024): Register for the Introduction to Buddhism course   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

This week, over at my new premium Substack podcast, Words From My Teachers, I released Episode 6, continuing readings from the book, The Center Within by Rev. Gyomay Kubose. In the episode I read the following essays: Middle Way, Water, Purposeless Purpose, No Mind, and How the Buddha Taught. As a special bonus episode for the Everyday Buddhism podcast, I am sharing the reading of the essay Purposeless Purpose. It's a wonderful essay to reflect on, as they all are in The Center Within, but I'm releasing it here on the Everyday Buddhism podcast as a companion piece to Episode 103.   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Subscribe to my premium Substack feed and podcast, Words From My Teachers: Subscribe to "Words From My Teachers"   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

As a special bonus episode for the Everyday Buddhism podcast, I am sharing the reading of the essay Purposeless Purpose. It's a wonderful essay to reflect on, as they all are in The Center Within, but I'm releasing it here on the Everyday Buddhism podcast as a companion piece, which you will find in the next episode, 104. But as a special introduction to the bonus episode, I am adding new content in this re-release of an episode I did in June of 2022, called Why Nonsense Makes the Most Sense, which was built on the essay, Purposeless Purpose. The new addition is some insight about meditation that is related to the purposeless-purpose message.   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Find out more and register for the Introduction to Buddhism course: Introduction to Buddhism course information and registration   Join the Everyday Buddhism Membership Community: Join the Membership Community   Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha   Subscribe to my premium Substack feed and podcast, Words From My Teachers: Subscribe to "Words From My Teachers"   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In the spirit of the holiday season, I am re-releasing a popular episode from 2019: The Boundless Heart - Bodhicitta. It is my wish that we all try to practice being a Bodhisattva during this holiday season … Starting with me! ;) Stating the obvious, it's been a rough 7 years or so. Years marked by war, pandemic, social injustice, tribalism and, overall, something called "high conflict" made popular by Amanda Ripley's book of the same name, where conflict is the ruling energy and that leads to the stress, fear, anxiousness, and despair most of us have been feeling. She writes: The challenge of our time is to mobilize great masses of people to make change without dehumanizing one another. Not just because it's morally right but because it works. Lasting change, the kind that seeps into people's hearts, has only ever come about through a combination of pressure and good conflict. Both matter. That's why, over the course of history, nonviolent movements have been more than twice as likely to succeed as violent ones. It with this in mind I offer the replay of this 2019 episode, a reflection on bodhicitta, the good heart—something we can all practice even if we don't participate in nonviolent movements or the "good conflict" Amanda Ripley refers to. I know it's been far too easy for me to react in anger when I'm really just afraid and to dismiss instead of disagreeing, which is a dehumanizing activity. So, in the spirit of holiday peace, good will, and reflection, I will remember the bodhicitta. Bodhicitta characterizes the path of a Mahayana practitioner. It is Bodhicitta that creates a Bodhisattva and it is Bodhicitta that ultimately creates a Buddha. In Tibetan, compassion is translated as the nobility or greatness of heart which implies wisdom, discernment, empathy, unselfishness, and abundant kindness. Bodhicitta is compassion working with a mind awakened by right view. It is the joining of compassion and emptiness. We'll examine how to use the Four Bodhisattva Vows to supercharge Right Intention with Right View and discover the same spacious freedom of a flower that blooms despite its circumstances. Please join me as you listen to this "best of" episode.   Book by Amanda Ripley referenced in podcast (Amazon affiliate link): High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out       Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Subscribe to my premium Substack feed and podcast, Words From My Teachers: Subscribe to "Words From My Teachers"   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode of Words From My Teachers, an Everyday Buddhism podcast, I am reading the first five chapters from The Center Within by Rev. Gyomay Kubose: Awareness A Shining Star Buddha Nature and Gassho Buddhism Is Everyday Life Empty-Handed I hope you enjoy these readings and I hope you will take my suggestion and cue to do some reflection at the end of each essay. As my teacher, Rev. Koyo Kubose taught, "Don't just read. Ask yourself how you can use what you heard? How can you add it to your spiritual toolbox?" This is the last of the episodes released in full as public episodes, so be sure to subscribe to receive 5 essay readings weekly. And please share this feed using the convenient "Share" button on the Substack post. Subscribe to Words From My Teachers Premium Podcast ***************************************** For more about Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism: Bright Dawn.org

Introducing Words From My Teachers, a premium, weekly Everyday Buddhism podcast. Words From My Teachers features readings from the books written by and about my teachers from the Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism and the Kubose Dharma Legacy … Rev. Gyomay Kubose, Rev. Koyo Kubose, and Haya Akegarasu.   This is the first of 2 episodes that will be offered as public podcast episodes … then make sure to sign up to receive them weekly through the Substack link.   In this first episode, I will give a background of Bright Dawn, based on an article I wrote some years ago. I called it The Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism: Buddhism with Attitude—Keeping it REAL and ALIVE. It summarizes the history of the Kubose family and Bright Dawn and I have shared a link to a PDF of the original article in my Everyday Buddhism Substack feed.   Rev. Koyo Kubose and his father, Rev. Gyomay Kubose, continued the mission started by the Japanese Pure Land teachers, Honen and Shinran—bringing the Dharma to everyone in their everyday lives. Rev. Gyomay Kubose's lifework was dedicated to promoting Buddhism in America, so that the Dharma could be part of the lives of those in a Western culture, where Buddhism was not native.   It is my hope that this Words From My Teachers podcast will help keep Rev. Gyomay's and Rev. Koyo's voices alive by bringing them to listeners not familiar with the Bright Dawn teachings and reinforcing them to those who already appreciate them.   Stay tuned for the next episode, with a reading from Rev. Gyomay Kubose's book, The Center Within, that will be offered as public podcast episodes … then make sure to sign up to receive them weekly, on Mondays, by subscribing to my Everyday Buddhism Substack premium content.   Subscribe to Words From My Teachers Premium Podcast ***************************************** For more about Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism: Bright Dawn.org

Introducing Words From My Teachers, a premium, weekly Everyday Buddhism podcast. Words From My Teachers features readings from the books written by and about my teachers from the Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism and the Kubose Dharma Legacy … Rev. Gyomay Kubose, Rev. Koyo Kubose, and Haya Akegarasu. I started the Everyday Buddhism podcast in June of 2018 so that I could share the everyday approach to Buddhism that was instilled in me by my teacher Rev. Koyo Kubose and the Bright Dawn Lay Ministry program. It is an approach that was not widely taught or communicated at the time … and, honestly, it still isn't. The lineage from which the Bright Dawn teachings derived is unique in the Dharma-sphere and its teachings are what I built my podcast and virtual sangha approach on. It is my hope that this Words From My Teachers podcast will help keep Rev. Gyomay's and Rev. Koyo's voices alive by bringing them to listeners not familiar with the Bright Dawn teachings and reinforcing them to those who already appreciate them. Stay tuned for the first 2 episodes that will be offered as public podcast episodes … then make sure to sign up to receive them weekly by subscribing to my Everyday Buddhism Substack premium content. Subscribe to Words From My Teachers Premium Podcast

What a delight it is to have James Crews joining me for a conversation about the book, The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace & Renewal, which he edited. James is the author of the essay collection, Kindness Will Save the World, and editor of several bestselling poetry anthologies, including The Wonder of Small Things, Healing the Divide, The Path to Kindness, and How to Love the World. He has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, and in People Magazine, The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, The Sun Magazine, and The Washington Post. He is the author of four prize-winning books of poetry, and his poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The New Republic, and other journals. As you will no doubt hear, James is a gentle soul whose conversation about poetry, spirituality, and life is healing … His words and the tender way he speaks them is a balm for our painful and anxious times. Among other things, we talked about: How we turn to poetry during difficult times like these precisely because as James expresses it, "poems are such small but spacious containers that hold so much with just a few powerful sensory details" …. And, he says, "Poetry heals because it is so embodied." Poetry as spiritual practice. How poets do what they do with language. How poetry helps us transcend dualistic thinking. How poetry creates connection and compassion. Take some time to ease into this episode. I promise you will be soothed and come away craving more poetry in your life, even if you never appreciated it before.   Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): The Wonder of Small Things book   Learn more about James Crews, course offerings, and subscribe to weekly email: https://www.jamescrews.net/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/james.crews.poet   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crewspoet     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

I am very happy to share the wisdom of Gemma Naturkach, a member of our Everyday Buddhism Community and Sangha. I asked Gemma to join me for a conversation on the podcast, after listening to her share her reflections and insight about her experiences as a refugee from Ukraine. It really helps give us a bigger perspective—a perspective from the real-life experience of a woman trying to make sense of everything that happened to her and her family, who were driven from their home and country because of war. Gemma is a U.S. Army vet and member of a three-culture family. She is an ICF and iPEC certified coach and founder of Social Media for Coaches. She is deeply committed to using her experiences to champion the voices of those who have been uprooted from their homes. Her wisdom was sharpened through her own experience as she and her family made their way from Ukraine to Wisconsin in February 2022. After asking her to be guest on the podcast, I found out that Gemma has written a book, called  Surviving Patriotism, targeted for release in 2024.This work serves as a testament to her emotional journey during her and her family's evacuation and subsequent resettlement. Among other things, we talked about how home and community is where you make it … the complex emotions of hating and then trying not to hate the "enemy" … how rage doesn't think, reflect, or consider … how war is romanticized … and how we feel pressured to pick a side, labeling one as bad and the other as good … and ways we might help when we feel helpless. I am positive Gemma's reflection on her experience … her honest sharing of what she went through and her thoughts along the way … may help you see war, anger, and propaganda from a broader and clearer lens … a lens outside our cultural or tribal bubbles. I know it did me! * Note: Correction - Near the end of the episode, I mistakenly referred to Palestine as Pakistan.     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

I am delighted to share this conversation with Roshi Eve Myonen Marko about The Book of Householder Koans: Waking Up in the Land of Attachments, which she co-wrote with Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao. It was released in 2020 but I'm sure glad I finally found it! It's become one of my new favorite books and a real treasure as a practice tool. Roshi Eve Marko is a Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, with her late husband, the renowned Roshi Bernie Glassman. She is also the resident teacher at the Green River Zen Center in Massachusetts. Roshi has trained spiritually-based social activists and peacemakers in the US, Europe, and the Middle East, and has been a Spiritholder at retreats bearing witness to genocide at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Rwanda, and the Black Hills in South Dakota. Before that she worked at the Greyston Mandala, which provides housing, child care, jobs, and AIDS-related medical services in Yonkers, New York. Koans have always been a favorite practice of mine but I had drifted away from them off and on … and off for the last few years until this book. If you've listened to earlier episodes of this podcast, then you may have heard my back-to-back episodes about Zen Koans. This is unlike any book about koans I've ever read. It drills deep into your "hiding places" … doing what koans do perfectly: They stop you in your tracks, as they mess with your conceptual thinking, and shake your false trust in the stability of what we think we know. Being drawn into questions, without the comfortable ground of "knowing" offers a practice that can help us pause in our everyday rush to stress and anxiousness caused by trying to be somewhere other than where we are at this moment. I just loved this conversation with Roshi Eve! Among many other things, we talked about…The importance of "not knowing" … About the surprise factor in the situations we find ourselves in life and how they help the mind "make leaps" … And about how we should try to enter life with out whole selves—our bodies, not just our minds. So, don't miss this one! One of my favorite Buddhist subjects and one of the best books I've read in a very long time.   Buy the book, read the reviews, and learn more about Roshi Eve:   https://www.monkfishpublishing.com/products-page-2/buddhism/book-householder-koans/   Website and Blog: https://www.evemarko.com/   Zen Peacemakers: https://zenpeacemakers.org/   Green River Zen Center: http://www.greenriverzen.org/   Interview with Roshi Eve Myonen Marko: https://www.zlmc.org/blog/interview-with-roshi-eve-myonen-marko     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

This is a special encore episode with Rev. Marvin Harada, the Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America. It also includes a new introduction highlighting the upcoming study of The Pure Land Sutras in our Everyday Sangha ... and why sutra study is so important in Buddhist practice. Come join us!   In the re-released episode with Rev. Harada, we discuss what makes Shin Buddhism a truly "everyday Buddhism", meditation, mindfulness, chanting, ritual, and about the teachers we have in common and what made them special.   I know you'll enjoy this talk with Rev. Harada as much as I did talking with him. He is down-to-earth and delightful, if you can't tell by his giggle! if you've never heard of Shin Buddhism—or don't know too much about it—this episode is for you.   Pure Land Buddhism is one of the most widely practiced forms of Buddhism in East Asia, and in Japan, Shin Buddhism, or Jodo Shinshu, is actually the largest school of Buddhism in Japan.   CORRECTION TO THE INTRODUCTION OF REV. HARADA: Rev. Harada served as a minister for the Orange County Buddhist Church, but did not serve as head minister throughout the entire 33-year period.   Find out more about the Buddhist Churches of America: https://www.buddhistchurchesofamerica.org/   Find out more about the BCA "Everyday Buddhist" program mentioned by Bishop Harada: https://www.everydaybuddhist.org/       Join the Everyday Sangha: https://donorbox.org/supporters-bonus-content-membership   Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity   Find out more about or register for the Introduction to Buddhism Course: https://www.everyday-buddhism.com/p/introduction-to-buddhism-course-and-registration-1/   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

I am thrilled to share this conversation with Rainn Wilson—Yes, that guy … the actor best known for his role as Dwight Schrute in The Office. In the conversation we talk about his recent book, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. Rainn Wilson is a NY Times Bestselling author and three-time Emmy nominated actor best known for his role in NBC's The Office. Besides his many other comedic and dramatic roles on stage and screen, he is the co-founder of the media company SoulPancake and host of the docuseries Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss. Rainn is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy, as well as the coauthor of SoulPancake: Chew on Life's Big Questions. Some of this you may already know about Rainn, I'm sure, but something you may not know—but will learn from this conversation—is that, in addition to Rainn being a practitioner of the Baha'i faith, he is deeply spiritual, has studied many religions, and has a unique ability to capture the deepest of existential philosophy and social behavior in common cultural references and everyday language. Among many other things, we talked about what spirituality is ... what soul is ... who or what God is or isn't ... The two aspects of spirituality as demonstrated by the 1970's TV shows, Kung Fu and Star Trek ... What is sacred and where can we find it? Rainn's new book took me deep into reflection but also kept me giggling. It's the same with our conversation. So, keep listening … I promise Rainn will open your mind, open your heart, and—of course—make you laugh. The conversation starts now …   Buy the books (Amazon affiliate links): Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution   Soul Pancake: Chew on Life's Big Questions The Bassoon King: Art, Idiocy, and Other Sordid Tales from the Band Room   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/RainnWilson/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/rainnwilson   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rainnwilson/       Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

You're in for a treat in this episode. At least it was a treat for me to have a conversation with Clark Strand. Clark is a former Zen monk, author, Haiku teacher, and communicator of all things spiritual and religious. He has studied and actually practiced within many, many spiritual and religious traditions so he speaks from actual experience. The focus of today's conversation is on his book, Waking the Buddha: How The Most Dynamic and Empowering Buddhist Movement in History is Changing Our Concept of Religion, but Clark is also the author of Seeds From a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey, Now Is the Hour of Her Return: Poems In Praise of the Divine Mother Kali, co-author, with Perdita Finn, of The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary, and many other books on poetry, spirituality, and ecology. He is the co-founder of an international, non-sectarian rosary fellowship with members across the world. I invited him on the podcast to talk about Nichiren Buddhism, Soka Gakkai, and chanting, in general. It is a subject I haven't covered on this podcast and the timing was sparked by the recent passing of Tina Turner who was a very public Soka Gakkai practitioner. Although the focus of the conversation began with the Soka Gakkai, it became a fascinating journey to many other areas, due to Clark's wide reach and his spiritual depth. Among many other things, we talked about the folk traditions within all religions. Or, as Clark said, "there is always a religion within a religion." … About how the Soka Gakkai became virtually the only ethnically and  racially diverse Buddhist organization religion in the world… About why Clark states that spirituality needs to be about "ecology not theology" and that the reason the thread that runs through his spiritual experience IS ecology and the folk traditions… And, for fellow Pure Land and Shin practitioners, about how the Pure Land tradition is the only tradition deeply grounded in ecology… About Haiku… About the divine feminine, the Divine Mother, and the rosary as a spiritual and NOT a religious practice … and is, essentially, a tantric mantra practice… About the 12-Steps program… About chanting and how it gives voice to one's intentions, dreams, or hopes … and is the most ancient form of spiritual practice… Listen and enjoy the journey... Learn more about Clark: https://wayoftherose.org/   https://tricycle.org/author/clarkstrand/   Buy the books: Waking the Buddha: How the Most Dynamic and Empowering Buddhist Movement in History Is Changing Our Concept of Religion   Seeds from a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey: 25th Anniversary Edition: Revised & Expanded   The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarkstrand/   https://www.instagram.com/way_of_the_rose/     Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clarkstrand/       Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

A special mini episode, celebrating our interdependence. Listen as I share a reflection on what I call my "Buddhist-Born-Again moment." I finally learned what the Buddha taught. I finally saw that one of—if not THE most important foundations of Buddhist practice—is becoming aware of your inherent ignorance and the limitations of self. It is surprisingly freeing to realize that we are NOT really the masters of our destiny, because the choices we make about the thoughts we think and the actions we take are a product of a complex web of experiences, surroundings, and relationships—of which everyone else is a part. It is a seeming paradox that accepting our dependence on others can provide our ultimate freedom. In that humble, yet active acceptance we embrace what my late teacher, Rev. Koyo Kubose, expresses as “acceptance IS transcendence.” In doing so, we are declaring our interdependence.   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode, I begin with a brief celebration of the 5th anniversary of this podcast and 1 million unique downloads, then move to a reflection on conditioned existence through the lens of climate change and the pandemic. The Buddha taught that we suffer because of change and conditioned existence. In other words, we suffer because we have a nature that is impermanent and and changeable, based on the conditions that affect us. Because of the truth of conditioned existence, there is nothing for sure ... absolute ... unchanging. We suffer because we expect and/or desire things to be otherwise. In thinking about the smoke from wildfires and the Covid pandemic, we see that we're collectively facing the truth of life: that we have little control over the things that happen to us. The only thing we can control is our response to the things that happen to us. Listen as I share a reflection on how these times of change and uncertainty are a time of opportunity. An opportunity to change our perspectives from habits of fear, despair, grief, or anger to more noble, compassionate responses to everyone and every being we share our world with.   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode I am honored to talk with Satish Kumar, a peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, who has been inspiring global change for more than 50 years. As a child, Satish renounced the world and became a wandering Jain monk. Then in his 20s, he undertook a pilgrimage for peace, walking for two years without money, from India to America, for the cause of nuclear disarmament. Now in his 80s, Satish has devoted his life to campaigning for ecological regeneration, social justice, and spiritual fulfillment. Over the decades, he has been the guiding spirit behind a number of internationally respected ecological and educational ventures, as well as a world-renown author and international speaker. But the focus of today's conversation is his new book, Radical Love: From Separation to Connection with the Earth, Each Other, and Ourselves. You will be inspired and uplifted by this conversation with Satish, where he talks about life as a pilgrimage … and the Trinity of soil, soul, and society … How we are "soil beings"… and how activists must become optimists—wonderful inspiration in this age of doom scrolling and climate despair. Learn more about Satish and the book: https://www.parallax.org/authors/satish-kumar/   https://www.resurgence.org/satish-kumar/   Buy the book: https://bookshop.org   https://shop.resurgence.org/product/view/REBK111/radical-love   Browse more books by Satish Kumar: https://bookshop.org/search?keywords=Satish+Kumar   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqSqU_pPRPR/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/page/52728482105/search/?q=Satish%20Kumar     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode, I celebrate May Day with a re-release of Episode 13 of this podcast, Right Effort: Joyful Balance. I originally released the episode for Labor Day 2018. I thought back on it during the last couple of weeks as I struggled to be still and relax, while recovering from oral surgery during the first week of warm weather. I was restless because, despite the beautiful smells, sounds, and feelings of the NOW of spring around me, I wasn't really there. My attention was on another time where I was accomplishing things on my mental to-do list. I narrate my recent experience trying to understand Right Effort in an intro to the longer episode from 2018. In this chock-full episode, I review the whole Eightfold Path but focus on ways to create a joyful balance around effort. I talk about the Five Hindrances, especially one of my own battles: restlessness. I think many of you will agree. Even in meditation, we can't wait to "get at it." We are bored while we're working and agitated while relaxing. Let my restlessness and inability to relax and enjoy the beginning of summer serve as an example for you. A time to pause and consider whether your "efforts" in life are "right"? Are they in balance? Are you trying to be perfect? Are you so consistently acting from the habit of self-perfection and achievement that you're unable to relax? It all hinges on paying attention; about noticing. That is the hard part. Adjusting your habits isn't as hard. Listen to find ways to help in creating "joyous effort" through "The Five Daily Guidelines" offered by The Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism: The Five Daily Guidelines: The Five Daily Guidelines   Join me and Bob Unyo Ahlander Sensei, virtually on Zoom, for the first session of the next Introduction to Buddhism Course starting Wednesday, May 17th, 2023 at 7:30PM. Find out more: Introduction to Buddhism info and registration   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

Don't miss this fascinating episode where I talk with Cindy Rasicot, an award-winning author of Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter's Spiritual Quest to Thailand and creator of Casual Buddhism, a weekly YouTube series that welcomes people from all walks of life to explore their spiritual practice in conversation with Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni. The focus of the conversation is Cindy's spiritual life—especially her relationship with Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, the first woman to be ordained in Thailand. We talk, of course, about Venerable Dhammananda and her amazing and inspirational life journey from academic to activist to spiritual leader ... and about women in Buddhism. We discuss how Buddhism can be "caught not taught" to be, first, experiential, then conceptual, which is Cindy's experience with Buddhism. We also talk about the importance of healing the mother-daughter relationship … And the riches of experiencing multiple spiritual traditions, as is modeled by Venerable Dhammananda. Learn more about Cindy Rasicot and the book: https://cindyrasicot.com/   Buy the book (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3KnnM5s   Instagram: https://instagram.com/cindy.rasicot Facebook: https://facebook.com/cindy.rasicot.author   Casual Buddhism YouTube Series: Casual Buddhism - Youtube.com   Casual Buddhism with Wendy Shinyo & Venerable: https://youtu.be/9jjq_jKnYX8   Ted Talk with Venerable Dhammanada: Ted Talk: Dhammananda Bikkuni, "Empowering Our Potentiality"   Learn more about Venerable Dhammananda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhammananda_Bhikkhuni   Venerable Dhammananda's Songdhammakalyani Monastery: https://www.thaibhikkhunis.com/en/     Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode I talk with Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison, an author, Zen teacher, and Jungian psychotherapist who has devoted his life to the study and application of psychotherapy and Buddhism.    In our conversation, we discuss Koshin's latest book, Untangled: Walking The Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion.  Among many other things, we talk about: * The needy Cookie Monster in him, myself, and maybe many of you. * The power of perspective in helping you to recognize when your old stories resurface. * The 3 kinds of minds: Grandmotherly Mind, Great Mind, and Joyful Mind. * Self-clinging as a deep form of stealing. * And how everything, everywhere is a  "place of practice."   I was thrilled to have this conversation with Koshin. Keep listening and you'll know why … you can actually hear the twinkle in his eyes and his beaming smile.     Learn more about Koshin and the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care:   About Koshin: https://zencare.org/sensei-koshin-paley-ellison/   New York Zen Center: https://zencare.org/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zencare   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newyorkzencenter/   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/new-york-zen-center-for-contemplative-care/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/nyzencenter   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@newyorkzencenterforcontemp4985   **************   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

Welcome to a special BONUS podcast, introducing our first "Chat with Everyday Buddhism" YouTube videocast on our Everyday Buddhism YouTube channel and now as an audio version for the podcast.   It is our very first episode of "Chat with Everyday Buddhism" where we are planning a series of chats with our sangha leaders, our sangha members, and special guests. In the first chat, join a conversation with Wendy Shinyo Sensei, the host of the Everyday Buddhism podcast and leader of the Everyday Sangha; Bradley Jinaiyo Sensei and Terry Hosken, practice leaders of the Everyday Sangha.   In this episode we talk about what Everyday Buddhism is all about and the benefit of finding community with a sangha. If you would like to ask a question or suggest a subject for us to discuss on upcoming "chat with buddhism" casts, you can do so by leaving me a voice mail on the everyday buddhism website or send an email. Go to www.everyday-buddhism.com/contact to send am email or click on the tab on the sidebar to leave us a voice mail message that is no longer than 2 minutes.   **************   Check out the conversation on our YouTube channel:https://youtu.be/L1cydaz03fg Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode, I talk with Emma Varvaloucas, an editor and writer with a decade+ focusing on discovering and publicizing underreported good news in the nonprofit media space.   Emma is the executive director of The Progress Network, where she writes the popular What Could Go Right? weekly newsletter and is co-host of the What Could Go Right? podcast. She was formerly the executive editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and the editor of two books from Wisdom Publications.   In a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss how we can train our minds to not overreact to the negative and scary things that are happening in the world so that we might respond with equanimity rather than join the chorus of divisiveness and despair.   Among many other things, we talk about the news, social media, polarization … and a non-grasping way of thinking about progress as not a utopia just around the corner but more a noticing of the gradual arc of improvement in people's lives by focusing less on the click-bait negative headlines and more on what is going right.     Learn more about The Progress Network:   Website: https://theprogressnetwork.org/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/progressntwrk   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/progressntwrk   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/progressntwrk/?hl=en   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-progress-network/   TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@progressntwrk?_t=8VeFaR9Zyxq&_r=1   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI2_M_Y7-PyJurGXbTuThtw   **************   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

Enjoy a special release of a Members Only Feature: Bonus Contemplation Podcasts. These are short podcasts for you to use as subjects for contemplation or analytical meditation. I've released this contemplation, "Impermanence", as a birthday gift to my podcast audience, in celebration of my 70th birthday. It is by my friend and fellow Buddhist teacher, Kaspa Thompson. It purposely follows the episode, "Navigating Grief and Loss" by Kimberly Brown. Kaspa directs the Bright Earth with their partner, Satya, and works as a psychotherapist. They has been a Buddhist teacher for more than a decade and has a special interest in outside practice. They are a committee member of the Eco Dharma Network, and Chair of the Network of Buddhist Organisations UK. I am publicly releasing another bonus podcast, at the same time. It is a reflection on the Five Remembrances and presented by my dear friend and Everyday Buddhism Sangha leader, Bradley Jinaiyo Nussbaum. These bonus contemplation podcasts will be released regularly and presented by myself or some of my Bright Dawn Lay Minister/lay ministry student friends and colleagues. To be sure you don't miss any of them, join the Everyday Buddhism Membership Community or Everyday Sangha: https://www.everydaybuddhismcommunity.com/join-community-or-sangha.html For more about Kaspa and the Bright Earth Pure Land Buddhist Temple, check out these websites: https://www.brightearth.org/ http://www.kaspathompson.co.uk/ ***************** Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits!https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism

Enjoy a special release of a Members Only Feature: Bonus Contemplation Podcasts. These are short podcasts for you to use as subjects for contemplation or analytical meditation. I've released this contemplation, "The Five Remembrances", as a birthday gift to my podcast audience, in celebration of my 70th birthday. It is by my dear friend and Everyday Buddhism Sangha Leader, Bradley Jinaiyo Nussbaum. It purposely follows the episode, "Navigating Grief and Loss" by Kimberly Brown. I am publicly releasing another bonus podcast, at the same time. It is a reflection on Impermanence and presented by my friend and fellow Buddhist teacher, Kaspa Thompson. These bonus contemplation podcasts will be released regularly and presented by myself or some of my Bright Dawn Lay Minister/lay ministry student friends and colleagues. To be sure you don't miss any of them, join the Everyday Buddhism Membership Community or Everyday Sangha: https://www.everydaybuddhismcommunity.com/join-community-or-sangha.html ***************** Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits!https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism

In this episode, I celebrate my 70th birthday, which was yesterday, with the release of 2 special bonus contemplations on impermanence. I saved a couple of Members-only bonus episodes for release following episode 81, "Navigating Grief and Loss" with Kimberly Brown. They are Impermanence with Kaspa Thompson (Inspired by Shan Tao) and "The Five Remembrances" with Bradley Jinaiyo Nussbaum. I know many of you have more of your life ahead of you rather than behind you, the truth is, we can never know. That's the thing about impermanence and that's what these two contemplations are helping us to reflect on. It becomes harder to ignore impermanence as you age, yet I still find plenty of ways to forget about it. Not as many ways as when I was 35, but there are still plenty of ways to try to run from it. Please enjoy the contemplations and thank you to both Kaspa and Bradley for their wonderful reflections. To be sure you don't miss any of the bonus contemplations, join the Everyday Buddhism Membership Community or Everyday Sangha: https://www.everydaybuddhismcommunity.com/join-community-or-sangha.html ***************** Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits!https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism  

In this episode, I talk with Kimberly Brown about her new book, Navigating Grief and Loss:25 Buddhist Practices to Keep your Heart Open to Yourself and Others, where she shares an approachable pathway to personal and collective well-being through real-life, contemporary meditations based on traditional practices.   We talk about the power of love for reducing mental suffering … the illusion of control and remembering things are not all up to us … being present for and taking care of anger and other mental poisons … and how to skillfully let go of hope and fear … Among many other things.   During this holiday time, I know many have a hard time keeping their hearts open and enjoying the season due to the pain of loss and grief. I hope listening to the gentle wisdom Kimberly offers in our conversation will help you discover new ways to "navigate" the pain you feel.   Buy her books through my affiliate links: Navigating Grief and Loss: 25 Buddhist Practices to Keep your Heart Open to Yourself and Others   Steady, Calm, and Brave: 25 Practices for Resilience and Wisdom in a Crisis   Find out more about Kimberly Brown: Website: https://www.meditationwithheart.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberlyjbrown/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meditationwithheart/     **************   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, "Everyday Buddhism"

In this special "best of" episode, we celebrate Bodhi Day, the traditional celebration of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni's enlightenment. Yet, listen as we discover how it is a celebration of our enlightenment, too. The message of the December darkness is a messenger of our own enlightenment. Without darkness, we couldn't know light. Shakyamuni's enlightenment experience is ours. He proclaimed, "I and the great earth, and all beings are naturally and simultaneously awakened." We don't chase the darkness away through external ritual or stringing lights, but by looking inside to find our own light. ****************** Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, "Everyday Buddhism"   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Or say "Hi, I enjoy your podcast by buying me a coffee!" Buy Me a Coffee

In this episode, I get lost in a conversation with Deborah Eden Tull, who I wished I could have talked with for hours! Deborah Eden Tull is a Zen meditation and dharma teacher, author, public speaker, and sustainability educator.   In our conversation we discuss her latest book, Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown, a deep book bridging the Dharma, personal awareness, and transformation—through the lens of darkness and all that word connotes, like uncertainty, change, grief, and fear.   I know you'll enjoy this episode, as we meander through a conversation about spirituality, living in inquiry, leading in the dark AND being LED by the dark ... and showing up as we are, in our strength and vulnerability.   And I'm sure you will be inspired by Deborah Eden Tull, as she shares a way for all of us to "navigate the uncertainty of our times" and welcome the presence of life "as it is."   Buy the book through my affiliate link: Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown   Find out more about Deborah Eden Tull and her upcoming retreats and workshops: https://www.deborahedentull.com/   On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MindfulLivingRevolution/   **************   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, "Everyday Buddhism"

In this episode, I have a far-ranging and fascinating conversation with Melissa Moore, Ph.D., a teacher of Buddhism and Contemplative Psychology. In it we talk about her book, The Diamonds Within Us: Uncovering Brilliant Sanity Through Contemplative Psychology, a treasure of a book that weaves the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism with psychology, producing a guidebook of real-life practices to address our internal struggles and the reactions we have to the daunting times we live in.   I know you'll enjoy this talk with Melissa, who openly shares her own personal challenges and personality in talking about how we can train ourselves to "go toward emotional energy and open to it for the wisdom that is innate with the messiness of feelings." She truly has her finger on the pulse of our reactive emotions and how they actually can be helpful in discovering our "intrinsic health."   I'm sure you will be inspired by the approach Melissa uses in Karuna Training, teaching that our vulnerabilities is where we will find our greatest strengths. In her book we learn that when we go towards discomfort and rest in not knowing, it becomes a great teacher.   Buy the book through my affiliate link: The Diamonds Within Us: Uncovering Brilliant Sanity Through Contemplative Psychology   Find out more about Melissa Moore, Ph.D. and Karuna Training: https://karunatraining.com/   On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karunatraining/   On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karunatraining/   **************   Check out my Substack posts for more everyday Buddhism: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, "Everyday Buddhism"

I am honored to present this podcast episode with Rev. Marvin Harada, the Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America. In it we discuss what makes Shin Buddhism a truly "everyday Buddhism", meditation, mindfulness, chanting, ritual, and about the teachers we have in common and what made them special.   I know you'll enjoy this talk with Rev. Harada as much as I did talking with him. He is down-to-earth and delightful, if you can't tell by his giggle! if you've never heard of Shin Buddhism—or don't know too much about it—this episode is for you.   Pure Land Buddhism is one of the most widely practiced forms of Buddhism in East Asia, and in Japan, Shin Buddhism, or Jodo Shinshu, is actually the largest school of Buddhism in Japan.   Find out more about the Buddhist Churches of America: https://www.buddhistchurchesofamerica.org/   Find out more about the BCA "Everyday Buddhist" program mentioned by Bishop Harada: https://www.everydaybuddhist.org/   ****************************************************   If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations   Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, "Everyday Buddhism"

Enjoy another special preview of a Members Only Feature: Bonus Contemplation Podcasts. These are short podcasts for you to use as subjects for contemplation or analytical meditation. This contemplation, "Loved Just As I Am", is by my dear friend, Satya Robyn, and purposely follows the episode where I share my journey into baldness due to Alopecia Areata. Satya directs the Bright Earth with her partner, Kaspa, and works as a psychotherapist and a writer. These bonus contemplation podcasts will be released regularly and presented by myself or some of my Bright Dawn Lay Minister/lay ministry student friends and colleagues. To be sure you don't miss any of them, join the Everyday Buddhism Membership Community or Everyday Sangha: https://www.everydaybuddhismcommunity.com/join-community-or-sangha.html For more about Satya and the Bright Earth Pure Land Buddhist Temple, check out these websites: http://www.brightearth.org/ www.satyarobyn.com or at www.dearearth.co.uk ***************** Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism

In this episode, I share my journey into baldness caused by Alopecia Areata. September is Alopecia Awareness month, so I'm happy to share this episode now. No matter what our hair looks like or changes to, we are never satisfied. Hair seems one of the most prominent marks of our self. We seem uniquely attached to our hair as self. My hair loss first started in mid-December 2021, then paused and seemed to start growing back, then in April it was on a steady downward trend. And by July, I began to make peace with the fact that I was losing so much hair there wasn't much of a point in trying to hide it, so I shaved it all off. This was a process of working to accept things as they are, called Arugamama, from Morita Therapy in Japanese Psychology. Listen to this episode to see how I've come to accept my new bald self. ***************** Book, Diamond Sutra by Red Pine, mentioned in this podcast: The Diamond Sutra - Translation & Commentary by Red Pine  My book, mentioned in this podcast: Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices For Real Change

Join me for a conversation with Jack Huynh, a long-time Buddhist practitioner and the founder of the https://beyondthecushion.com/ website. Jack is a first-generation immigrant to the U.S. from the Vietnam War and found his own path in the Dharma, different from his parents who are also Buddhist practitioners. Jack's website explores the diversity of Buddhist lay practice in a complex modern life. The idea for it was born from Jack's own curiosity and longing to ask lay practitioners about their practice, after years of attending retreats and not having a local sangha. In exploring the compelling personal stories of the practitioners highlighted on the site, you'll find that despite the Buddhist schools, lineages, geographic location, and stages of practice, all Dharma is Dharma. It's an inspiring journey, as is the conversation in this episode. Check out the website: https://beyondthecushion.com/   Visit Jack's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackhuynh/   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, "Everyday Buddhism"

Join me for a special summer mirror episode of the podcast, Zen At The Sharp End by Mark Westmoquette where I was invited to talk about my experience with "troublesome Buddhas." The Zen At The Sharp End podcast focuses on how to turn difficult people and relationships into your best teachers. In each episode, Mark and guests discuss how Buddhist and mindfulness practices can help us see our difficult people or situations as troublesome Buddhas, our greatest teachers. I am sharing this episode of Mark's podcast on my podcast because I think what Mark has to teach with this method is something everyone of my listeners can benefit from. I am painfully honest in the episode, so I debated sharing it directly with you, but I believe it is in our shared vulnerability that Buddhist practice comes alive. Check out Mark's podcast: Zen at The Sharp End   Buy his book: Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People: How to Learn from your Troublesome Buddhas Learn more about Mark by visiting his website: https://markwestmoquette.co.uk/   Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book: Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change

Join me for a very special conversation with Ashley Lynn Olson, the author of the book, Confined to Align, and the author of a life that has consistently defied the odds. And that is, in no small part, due to her unbelievable spirit and ability to steer her thoughts, emotions, … and your life into the positive. As you will hear, Ashley has overcome the most obstacles in her life that would knock many of so far down we would have trouble ever looking up again, including a car accident that killed her father and paralyzed her when she was fourteen-years-old. But she demonstrates an amazing attitude—dare I say a "Buddhist" way of seeing life—evident from this quote from her book: "Choose to choose. Feeling confined is a choice…. Choose compassion for yourself and those around you. Choose to see your situation as an opportunity to expand internally, or better yet, as a moment in time-space to re-align and focus on your path of well-being and purpose…." Click play to listen to a conversation with Ashley you won't soon forget! Buy the book: Confined to Align: A Journey to Wellbeing Learn more about Ashley by visiting her website: https://wheelchairtraveling.com/ Her YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/user/wheelchairtraveler08 And her Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/wheelchairtraveling/ ***************************************************************** Click here to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices For Real Change  

In the next two episodes, Episode 72 and Episode 73, I am in conversation with two amazing women who demonstrate with their lives how we can actively accept what seems unacceptable. Although these episodes represent something out of the ordinary for this podcast, they illustrate, in sharp detail, how everything changes and things that we don't want to happen to us WILL happen to us. After these two episodes, look for another Bonus Contemplation on the Five Remembrances for members of the Community and the Sangha, presented by Bradley Nussbaum. Join the Membership Community or Everyday Sangha now if you want to catch each of the upcoming Bonus Contemplations: Join Membership Community | Join the Everyday Sangha  

Enjoy a preview of a NEW Members Only Feature: Bonus Contemplation Podcasts. These are short podcasts for you to use as subjects for contemplation or analytical meditation. They will be released regularly and presented by myself or some of my Bright Dawn Lay Minister/lay ministry student friends and colleagues. To be sure you don't miss any of them, join the Everyday Buddhism Membership Community: Join the Membership Community or the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha

Rev. Gyomay Kubose, my teacher's father, wrote about "purposeless purpose." He said: "Too much intelligence or too much efficiency can create trouble. So, we must learn non-intelligence, which is super intelligence." Does that sound nonsensical? Our sangha is studying The Diamond Sutra now and it is filled with reasoning (or non reasoning?) like that. It is the the superpower of the Dharma because the wisdom it contains is transcendent. You can't "get there" from here, by what is normally considered intelligence. You can only get there by learning "non-intelligence", as Rev. Gyomay teaches. My overall word of advice for enjoying being a student of the Dharma is to relax and not try to "figure it out." One of the main points of practicing with the Prajnaparamita sutras is to NOT try and understand it. That is what these sutras are teaching: It's NOT understanding. It's NOT about concepts. It's about living. Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, "Everyday Buddhism" Red Pine's translation and commentary of The Diamond Sutra And books from Rev. Koyo Kubose and Rev. Gyomay Kubose: Bright Dawn: Discovering Your Everyday Spirituality Everyday Suchness: Buddhist Essays on Everyday Living The Center Within

In the past year I've noticed a feeling of "disappearing" in the world ... and to the world. A sense of my slipping relevance to the people and world around me. Yet, the good news about seeming to disappear is that it reveals the absolute truth of things as they are. Am I disappearing or am I transcending? It's a simple twist of the head. A change in perception. A change in awareness that I realize through an understanding of emptiness, Japanese psychology, and the experience of meditation. Listen as I talk about my incredible disappearing self that happens through meditation and through the understanding that active acceptance is the key to transcending. Holding on to what I think I might be losing keeps me suffering like a shimmering ghost that is unable to let go. Actively accepting the naturalness of this disappearance kills me completely. Book, by Karl Brunnholzl, mentioned in this podcast: The Heart Attack Sutra: A New Commentary on the Heart Sutra My book, mentioned in this podcast: Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices For Real Change  

My teacher, mentor, and friend, Rev. Sunnan Koyo Kubose passed away suddenly last month. In his honor, I'm replaying Episode 20, a special interview with him, as the first of a series of episodes dedicated to honoring my teachers. It is through Bright Dawn and my Sensei, I learned how to bring Buddhism into the everyday. Listen as we discuss what the Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism and its Lay Ministry program is all about, from Rev. Koyo's perspective ... its historical influences, its mission, vision, and special niche as a program bringing the Dharma to everyone in an ordinary, everyday way. We'll talk about the balance of gratitude, humility, ambiguity, uncertainty, perfect studentship, and — most importantly — naturalness, in Bright Dawn and it's lay ministers, as they bring the Dharma to everyone. Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, "Everyday Buddhism" And books from Rev. Koyo Kubose and Rev. Gyomay Kubose: Bright Dawn: Discovering Your Everyday Spirituality Everyday Suchness: Buddhist Essays on Everyday Living The Center Within