Podcasts about paramitas

In the context of a recent pilgrimage in India, Elizabeth opens up the topic of “engaged” bodhicitta and the six paramitas. She weaves in the story of Sujata, the young woman known for generously offering a bowl of sweet milk-rice to Siddhartha who was debilitated after years of austerities. Revived and refocused, Siddhartha then made his way to the shade of a pipal tree and attained enlightenment, becoming The Buddha. Join the pilgrimage and explore India's conspiracy of great giving.

In this dharma talk during Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Shinzan thoroughly explores the Ten Paramitas (Perfections) of Mahayana Buddhism. He works backward from the tenth to the first, covering knowledge, powers, vow, […]

Dharma talk given Sunday, April 6, 2025.

The Heart Sutra is a guide for discovering what is most true in the midst of chaos! ★ Support this podcast ★

12/14/2024, Zenki Mary Mocine, dharma talk at City Center. Zenki Mary Mocine asks: How should we practice with dis-ease, fear and even anger? Remember your connection with and compassion for all beings, including yourself.

12/10/2024, Chikudo Catherine Spaeth, dharma talk at Tassajara.

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk and prequel to the upcoming Awakened Action program at Upaya, Dr. Wendy Lau offers a heartfelt reflection on the intertwined relationship between practice and […]

11/03/2024, Eijun Linda Cutts, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. In this practice period talk, Senior Dharma Teacher Eijun asks: how do we practice when we are anxious and fearful —especially when there are great challenges in our life. Back to the basics!

Welcome back to Spiritually Queer! This week, we're diving deep into one of my favorite Buddhist teachings: the Six Paramitas, or Six Transcendent Perfections. These are essential qualities on the path to Enlightenment—and they're valuable for everyone, no matter your spiritual path (or lack thereof!).  In this episode, I'll break down each of the Six Paramitas and share how these teachings resonate with me personally. Whether you're looking to deepen your spiritual practice, connect with yourself in new ways, or simply cultivate more kindness and compassion, there's something here for everyone. ✨Listen in to explore: - The origins and significance of the Six Paramitas in Buddhist philosophy - Practical ways to apply these teachings in daily life - Personal reflections on how these qualities can guide us toward inner peace and self-understanding

This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple by Fall 2024 Practice Period co-leader So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson. This talk centers on the Zen practice of welcoming, rooted in Suzuki Roshi's teachings. We explore how welcoming everything—joy, discomfort, and impermanence—brings us into deeper alignment with the present moment. Through the metaphor "The body is the temple, and awareness is the host," we uncover how zazen allows us to meet life with openness, breaking down the boundaries between self and the world. By fully welcoming our experience, we connect with our true nature and the interconnectedness of all things.

In this episode Andrew Chapman offers a dharma talk on the Buddhist parami of equanimity. The ten paramis are: generosity, ethics, renunciation, insight, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving kindness, and equanimity. Enjoy!Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.orgDONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit:https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donateFollow Us on Socials!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildheartnashville/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildheartmeditation

[This episode originally aired on October 25, 2022]  The six paramitas challenge the mistaken view that we can make ourselves secure by grasping more and more tightly  •  to practice the paramita of generosity, we need to make a point of letting go, of giving away  •  the paramita of discipline challenges our attachment to sloppiness and comfort, to cruising through life in a superficial way  •  the paramita of patience works with our attachment to speed and aggression as a way to sustain or protect ourselves  •  the paramita of exertion addresses our attachment to laziness, inertia, and the avoidance of effort and hard work  •  the paramita of meditation deals with our attachment to our thoughts as solid and real, challenging their power and their influence  •  the prajna paramita is an assault on our deep-rooted tendencies of denial and ignorance  •  each paramita gives us ways to chip away at the deep-rooted habit of trying to secure ourselves through our grasping. 

10/05/2024, Shosan Victoria Austin, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple by Shosan Victoria Austin. When we are challenged by anger, it's easy to react and difficult to respond. How might Zen practices of giving, tolerance and enthusiasm help us let go of relational barriers, transforming them into gateways to increased intimacy? In times of conflict and unwanted change, what tools might the tradition offer to refresh our deeper intention? What do we need to remember and to do, to nourish ourselves, the other, and the space of trust that we share?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - 9/1/24 - Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of the Ango: "Going Straight on an Ever-Twisting Path: The Bodhisattva Path and The Paramitas."

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - 9/1/24 - Hojin Sensei introduces the theme of the Ango: "Going Straight on an Ever-Twisting Path: The Bodhisattva Path and The Paramitas."

Après avoir parlé d'engagement, de disicipline, d'éthique, j'aimerais vous emmener du côté du bouddhisme, où il exitse la même chose. Un petit saut pour élargir son horizon, pour aussi intégrer encore plus ces notions dans notre vie courante.Bonne écoute ! et bel été avec les Petites bulles de l'été 2024 du podcast Au fil du Yoga Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

https://youtu.be/7r8bi_CmVeE

https://youtu.be/CRwXazx3s8Y

Lisa Dale Miller starts this episode with an explanation of why the Groundless Ground Podcast has been on hiatus for the last year. Then the episode presents a dharma talk Lisa gave at Marin Sangha one month ago. Her talk is a reminder that every moment is an invitation to decrease the mass of human suffering by seeding the world with at least one more quiescent, wise, and compassionate mind committed to non-harming. Lisa explicates why cultivation of Bodhicitta is the ultimate path to accomplishing that aim, right in the midst of ordinary daily life. Longchenpa's Finding Rest in the Nature of MindLisa Dale Miller, LMFT, LPCC, SEP specializes in working with high-performing professionals (engineers, scientists, executives, physicians/psychologists, first responders) struggling with unresolved traumatic experiences: particularly medical trauma, C-PTSD, combat and war trauma, moral injury, high-impact injuries, burnout, workplace harassment, traumatic grief, and challenging life transitions.Lisa authored Effortless Mindfulness: Genuine mental health through awakened presence a highly regarded textbook on Buddhist psychology for mental health professionals. Lisa has been an outpatient clinician for the VA San Jose, has taught a variety of Mindfulness-based Interventions, and is an AAMFT Clinical Fellow. Lisa is a Buddhist teacher and has been a yogic and Buddhist meditation practitioner for over four decades.

https://youtu.be/d4jiZHX_bWo

03/03/2024, Thiemo Blank, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. In this talk Thiemo Blank uses a scene from "Harry Potter" to playfully teach about penetrating the "Walls" in our lives as a journey of liberation.

Bright on Buddhism Episode 82 - What are the paramitas in Buddhism? How ought one cultivate them? How do understandings of them change over time? Resources: Bodhi, Bhikkhu (1978). The All-Embracing Net of Views. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society.; Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (1978, 2005). Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (1988). The Heart Sutra Explained: Indian and Tibetan Commentaries. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-589-7.; Cantegreil, Mathieu; Chanana, Dweep; Kattumuri, Ruth, eds. (2013). Revealing Indian Philanthropy (PDF). Alliance Publishing Trust. ISBN 9781907376191. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2023-07-05.; Bodhi, Bhikkhu (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. Somerville, Mass.: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.; A Chanting Guide. Dhammayut Order in the United States of America. 1994. Archived from the original on 2009-03-06.; Nandisena, Bhikkhu (2000). "Khantivadi Jataka". El Centro Mexicano del Buddhismo Theravada. J 313. Archived from the original on 2000-06-21. Retrieved 2007-07-08.; Cowell, E.B., ed. (2006) [1895]. The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births. Vol. II. Translated by Rouse, W.H.D. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.; "Kakacupama Sutta: The Simile of the Saw (excerpt)". Access to Insight. Translated by Thanissaro, Bhikkhu. 1997c. MN 21. Retrieved 3 Jul 2007.; Federman, Asaf (2009), "Literal means and hidden meanings: a new analysis of skillful means" (PDF), Philosophy East and West, 59 (2): 125–141, doi:10.1353/pew.0.0050, S2CID 574336; Matsunaga, Daigan and Alicia (1974). The concept of upāya in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy, Japanese Journal of Buddhist Studies 1 (1), 51–72; Pye, Michael (1978). Skilful Means - A concept in Mahayana Buddhism. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-7156-1266-2; Snellgrove, David (1987). Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists & Their Tibetan Successors (2 volumes). Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Shambhala Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-87773-311-2 (v. 1) & ISBN 0-87773-379-1 (v. 2); Schroeder, John (2001) Skillful Means: The Heart of Buddhist Compassion. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2442-3; Tatz, M., trans. (1994). The Skill in Means (Upayakausalya) Sutra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass; Blo-gros-mthaʼ-yas, Koṅ-sprul; Taye, Lodro; Rinpoche, Bokar (2003). Śes bya mthaʼ yas paʼi rgya mtsho [Complete Explanation of the Pratimoksha, Bodhisattva and Vajrayana Vows – Buddhist Ethics]. Treasury of Knowledge. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-191-X. OCLC 52906881.; Panchen, Ngari; Gyalpo, Pema Wangyi; Rinpoche, Dudjom (1996). Sdom gsum rnam ṅes [Perfect Conduct: Ascertaining the Three Vows]. Translated by Gyurme Samdrub; Sangye Khandro. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-083-6. OCLC 34669418.; Rinpoche, Bokar (1997). Vœu de Bodhisattva [Taking the Bodhisattva Vow]. Translated by Christiane Buchet. San Francisco: ClearPoint Press. ISBN 978-0-9630371-8-3. OCLC 42015705.; Rinchen, Sonam; Chandragomin (2000). Sonam, Ruth (ed.). Bodhisattvasaṃvaraviṃśaka [The Bodhisattva Vow]. Translated by Ruth Sonam. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-150-2. OCLC 44026191.; Tson-Kha-Pa (1986). Asanga's Chapter on Ethics, with the Commentary of Tsong-Kha-Pa: The Basic Path to Awakening – The Complete Bodhisattva. Translated by Mark Tatz. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-88946-054-X. OCLC 605654078 Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brightonbuddhism/message

Learn the principles, laws, or qualities of the soul as explained within Christic Buddhism: 1. DANA, the key of charity and love immortal. 2. SHILA, the key of Harmony in word and act, the key that counterbalances the cause and the effect, and leaves no further room for Karmic action. 3. KSHANTI, patience sweet, that nought can ruffle. 4. VIRAG, indifference to pleasure and to pain, illusion conquered, truth alone perceived. 5. VIRYA, the dauntless energy that fights its way to the supernal TRUTH, out of the mire of lies terrestrial. 6. DHYANA, whose golden gate once opened leads the Narjol toward the realm of Sat eternal and its ceaseless contemplation. 7. PRAJNA, the key to which makes of a man a god, creating him a Bodhisattva, son of the Dhyanis. ―The Voice of the Silence The final lecture of this course explains the Paramitas or Perfections of Mahayana Buddhism in relation to the Christic teachings: the fundamental principles in which a bodhisattva of compassion develops. Through the paramitas, the master sacrifices him or herself for humanity while developing bodhichitta: compassion for humanity and insight into the abstract nature of reality: the profound and limitless emptiness of the Absolute within Hebraic Kabbalah.

This talk, from Beginner's Mind Temple, was given by senior dharma teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. Practicing with the Paramitas brings initially asks us to see the dualistic perspectives of the absence of the virtues of the Paramitas and to practice remedy that lacking. As we bring our lives into alignment with the Paramitas, we start to see how “perfection” and imperfection” are both merely aspects of discriminating mind. Recorded on Nov. 8, 2023.

This talk, from Beginner's Mind Temple, was given by senior dharma teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. As we witness the war in the Middle East and the suffering it creates, it's challenging not to get caught in choosing which side has virtue and which is the aggressor. Practicing with the Paramitas of Mutual Benefit, Ethical Conduct and Patience can help us acknowledge the humanitarian tragedy of war that ravages everyone involved. Recorded on Nov. 4, 2023.

In this talk from Beginner's Mind Temple, Shosan Victoria Austin discusses working skillfully with anger. Many ancient texts mention anger as an unwholesome emotion that undercuts or destroys our relationships and our true intention. However, we can practice using anger in wholesome ways, as an internal warning system for unmet needs, violated boundaries, and withheld respect. Developing skill with the energy of anger, we drop harmful habits of perception and action to cultivate appropriate response in ways that give life, embodying generosity, morality, tolerance and wise effort. Recorded on Oct. 28, 2023.

In this talk from Beginner's Mind Temple, Shosan Victoria Austin discusses working skillfully with anger. Many ancient texts mention anger as an unwholesome emotion that undercuts or destroys our relationships and our true intention. However, we can practice using anger in wholesome ways, as an internal warning system for unmet needs, violated boundaries, and withheld respect. Developing skill with the energy of anger, we drop harmful habits of perception and action to cultivate appropriate response in ways that give life, embodying generosity, morality, tolerance and wise effort. Recorded on Oct. 28, 2023.

Mindfully infused with various Buddhist skills, this episode features a dialogue between Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and Raghu Markus on the many opportunities for practice in our daily lives.This time on Mindrolling, Raghu Markus and Tenzin Palmo explore:Tenzin Palmo's earliest experiences of connecting to The BuddhaThe imminence of deathTenzin's Book, Reflections on a Mountain LakeWhat perfection is and how we can realize itTenzin's journey to the guru in IndiaWomen on the path of BuddhismThe process of starting a nunneryNon-self, the ego, and Becoming nobodyRecommendations from the BuddhaTaming the mindStarting with ourselves when we cultivate compassionThe six paramitas (perfections) of the Bodhisattva pathOpportunities for practice in our daily livesDeath, letting people go, and expressing loveSpirituality as a path of joyA brief mindfulness meditation“During our daily life, we have so much opportunity to practice. To practice being generous, to practice being patient in the face of other people's problems, the opportunity to keep pure ethical conduct and never harm or lie or cause any problems for others. During our day, we have these endless opportunities for practicing these qualities of the heart, so we should be grateful because sitting on a cushion is not an opportunity really to practice being generous, ethical, or patient.” – Tenzin PalmoAbout Tenzin Palmo:Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (born 1943) is a bhikṣuṇī in the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is an author, teacher and founder of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India. She is best known for having spent twelve years living in a remote cave in the Himalayas, three of those years in strict meditation retreat.Links & Recommendations From this Episode:Pick up your copy of Tenzin Palmo's Reflections on a Mountain Lake or one of her other works HERESee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

07/10/2023, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk from Beginner's Mind Temple, Ryushin Paul Haller discusses how taking refuge from the afflictions of desire, aversion and confusion, supports our commitment to take refuge in the wholesome qualities of the six Paramitas. Each of the Three Refuges — refuge in Buddha, refuge in Dharma and refuge in Sangha — has many expressions in practice, all of which can contribute to awakening.

Continuing with the drive-time focus from the last segment is in keeping with the current thrust of UnMind. Each segment consists of a dissertation on issues typical of the USA, and coping with the international scope of global citizenship. Such concerns as over-consumption and the cult of the individual, plus lingering hangovers from 19th- and 20th-century ideas regarding right speech, action and livelihood, the right conduct sided of the Noble Eightfold Path, recur throughout as themes. The halo effect of right meditation proves to be our saving grace, in meeting, and managing to maintain, a genuine Zen practice in the face of daily life in a chaotic world. I would like to key off of one of our Paramitas, or “perfecting practices,” the very first one, concerning Dana, or generosity. I suggest that you might practice generosity with yourself while driving in traffic, which may strike you as an odd concept. But if you can be truly generous with yourself, it is much easier to be generous with others.According to my limited understanding of classical Buddhism, and likely the proto-Hinduism that preceded Buddhism, karmic consequences of our actions may be positive, negative, and even neutral. But there will be consequences, regardless. The judgment call as to whether a consequence may be regarded as positive or negative is based upon human perception and desire. Certain consequences, and outcomes, we want to happen; others we want to avoid like the plague. Incidentally, The first Plague of history turns out to be an unintended consequence of human activity. It was reputedly transmitted by commuters traveling along the Silk Road, with a generous assist from our rat cousins, and their fleas. Nowadays, the greatest threat of pandemics is the enormous scope of human travel by land, sea, and, especially, by air. Every human being is, for the first time in history, one plane ride away from every other human being on the planet.That any karmic consequence may be neutral — rather than necessarily positive or negative — may be a new idea to you. As an instance: if we continue breathing for the next five minutes, we are more likely to continue living. If we stop breathing for the next five minutes, then we will likely die. Whether this is a positive or negative consequence is, again, a judgment call. In most cases, life is preferable to death; but there are exceptions to the rule, which has become more of an issue with the life-extending technology available in modern medicine. The relatively neutral consequence is simply that life goes on, as long as we are breathing. But it may be in a vegetative state.From a general, social perspective, life going on, and increased longevity, is considered a positive consequence, considering the alternative. In that sense, we are all consumers of life. So, the more, the better. From the perspective of Buddhism, we might say that longevity is desirable mainly in that living longer allows us more time, more opportunity, to awaken to the truth. This spiritual awakening is the highest value in Buddhism and Zen. “Buddha” means the “fully awakened one.” A consequence of Buddha's life's work is that we all have now been enabled to become aware of this truth, or Dharma.For example, dukkha, a Sanskrit word usually translated as “suffering,” points to the unsatisfactory nature of this existence, encapsulated as “aging, sickness, and death.” This is the quagmire into which all sentient beings are born, and find themselves enmeshed. The wealthiest person in the world cannot turn back the clock, despite the hopeful claims of the medical and therapeutic professions; the cosmetics industry; plastic surgeons, et cetera. We see caricatures of this aspiration on a daily basis, for instance when certain botox and facelift icons appear on television. Or we see snapshots of the passing pageantry of life in Los Angeles and Manhattan, where women, in particular, as well as men, well into their 50s, 60s and older, strive to age gracefully by maintaining the outer appearance of an ingénue, or a dashing heartthrob. No amount of wealth can prevent some forms of illness, in the final stages of life. Particularly when one's lifestyle itself amounts to a cocktail of causes that accelerate the deterioration of body and mind, such as over-eating, smoking, taking recreational and diet drugs, and drinking alcohol to excess. The lifestyles of the rich and famous are often notorious for this kind of self-destructive dissolution, if you believe the press, which tends to exaggerate.Science fiction to the contrary, no amount of wealth can forestall forever the death of this body and mind, in spite of earnest life-extending efforts in geriatric medicine and cryogenics. The sometimes frantic activities surrounding preservation of life, as witnessed in the Terry Schiavo case, for example, betray a profound fear of death and dying. This fear naturally emerges as a fear of aging, the evidence provided by visible, gradual, long-term, symptoms we see in the mirror each day. Of course, we do what we can, but it is futile to postpone the inevitable. An old Chinese poem includes the line, “Save the body; it is the fruit of many lives.” But we cannot save it in the sense of preserving it forever. Other than as a mummy, which historically has been the fate of some Zen ancestors as well as Egyptian royalty.We who follow Zen do not arrogantly dismiss such fears as baseless. Nor do we pretend that Zen practice will allow us to go quietly into that dark night, though Zen's history is replete with stories of masters dying with great dignity and composure. Zen is not overly optimistic in this regard. It does not present a pollyannaish view of existence, promising a heavenly rose garden after death. Nor is Zen overly pessimistic. We don't bemoan the fact that this existence is, intrinsically, of the nature of suffering, or impermanence, imperfection, and insubstantiality. We don't insist that the natural process of aging, sickness and death is necessarily a negative consequence of existence. It is simply a consequence of existence. And, thus, our physical fate falls into the neutral category of karmic consequences.In this way, Zen is simply realistic about the causes and conditions that we all face in life. Its teachings do not suggest, pretend, or imagine that there could be some other outcome. In Zen, coming to this clarity regarding karma is regarded as a kind of spiritual maturity.We can usefully regard these causes and conditions, the “givens” of the equations of life, as natural koans, illogical riddles. Koans are not to be solved in the sense of finding a logical answer, as I get it. I understand that they are used as a central part of training in the Rinzai sect. In Soto Zen, we don't make programmatic use of the 1700 or so classic koans in the record. But instead we recognize the reality in which we find ourselves, the very spacetime continuum — to borrow Einstein's phrase — in which we are sitting at the moment, whether in the zendo or in the driver's seat, as our immediate koan. This very reality “in front of your face” is the primordial koan. An ancient Chinese poem reminds us: Emptiness here, emptiness there but the infinite universe stands always before your eyes“Emptiness” is used here to name the ideal of Buddhism and Zen: clarity of insight into the dynamic reality of existence. It does not indicate the “void” as the ultimate reality, set against our normal perception of everyday reality as being an illusion. This is not something we recommend obsessing over at full speed, or in bumper-to-bumper traffic. But this infinite universe, standing always before our eyes, is the real koan, the koan of everyday existence. It is the meaning of everyday life that we have to penetrate, whether we realize it or not. There is no choice in the matter. Penetrating to the depths of it may result in realizing that “every day is a happy day; every day is a good day,” another old Zen expression. We should add “regardless” — regardless of circumstance, that is.Most of our conventional cultural memes, as prescriptions for happiness — getting your go-to-hell-money; retiring to a life of travel and playing golf, and so on — can be seen, in this context, as avoidance techniques, evasive maneuvers. This kind of goal orientation amounts to a kind of self-indulgent cognitive therapy, in which we attempt to replace unpleasant thoughts — of failure, indebtedness, and so on — with pleasant ones. In which we attempt to conjure up a comfortable fantasy, in place of our dissatisfactory reality.This is a natural tendency, and actively promoted by the culture, particularly in the West. So we should not beat ourselves up too badly over the fact that we have fallen for this societal scam. Most highly touted concepts of happiness are designed and intended as marketing devices to sell us products and services, as well as alternative lifestyles. Those that most closely match the archetypal American dream come with the highest price tag. But the choices we have are not limited to only those that we think we can afford, within an economic paradigm. Zen is sometimes considered not immoral, but amoral, because it recognizes that we have complete free will at all times, and in every particular situation. That is, as long as we are willing to face the consequences — whether negative, positive, neutral, and unintended — of whatever actions we take. For example, many people are out of work, looking for a job, or changing jobs. The world economy is forcing a re-evaluation of the definition of a “job” as paid employment provided by someone else. A job includes a place of work to which one goes every day, commuting to the office or factory; checking in or punching a time clock, under the watchful eye of management; and after putting in a sufficient effort for the day, returning to the comforts of home. These and other outdated cultural memes, customs and habits can affect our view of reality in subconscious, even insidious, ways.But in our meditation practice, we are encouraged by Master Dogen — founder of Soto Zen in 13th century Japan, to stop the ordinary functions of the mind, setting aside all thoughts of good and evil, right or wrong. It is necessary to point out that this instruction, or advice, is intended to be followed mainly while we are on the cushion. When we leave the cushion, and go into daily life — get into the car, and enter onto the expressway — we are constantly faced with choices of good and evil, right and wrong. We must make judgments regarding the behavior of others, which we cannot ignore beyond a certain point, as well as concerning our own behavior. Once again, in all of these instances, Zen is neither overly optimistic or overly pessimistic. It is simply realistic.So this aspirational idea, that if we could somehow set aside all considerations of good and evil, right and wrong — that we can live blissfully unaware of all the obvious good and evil, right and wrong in the world and thus be happy — is tempered by the pragmatic nature of our Zen practice. Even when we sit on the cushion, we cannot completely avoid suffering, in the sense of the good and evil influences in our lives, and the right and wrong choices that we have made, and that we are forced to make, on a daily basis. The point is that it isour choice. And the consequences that flow naturally from the choice — from the action, or lack of action that we take — are also ours. Whether karmic or not.Some old wise man said, “Through change, consume change.” Change is all there is. But we try to maintain status quo, out of fear of losing control. It is already out of our control.As Ambrose Bierce pointed out in The Devil's Dictionary, what we call an accident is, paraphrasing widely, actually the inevitable result of immutable physical law. So if you become distracted by this podcast, and run into the car in front of you, that so-called accident is the inevitable result of the immutable laws of physics, as well as of the choices you made that led to it. And, while you might have prevented it, if you did not prevent it, still, it was no accident. Your driving in traffic is no accident. Nor is listening to my podcast.So be careful out there. If you consider that the driver of that vehicle that just recklessly cut in front of you may be someone you know and like, who is just under a lot more stress than you are at the moment, it may make it easier to respond to the situation in an appropriate manner, without adding the overlay of anger and condemnation that we reserve for strangers. It may also make you safer in the long run.Once you are safely ensconced back on your cushion, you might remember what it was like when you were on the commute, and come to appreciate your zazen even more.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 07/26/2023 - What does Faith mean and what does it encompass in our Buddhist tradition? In this 3-part series, Shugen Roshi talks about the Aspiration to Awakening Through Faith and its many aspects which are the essentials of Buddhist teachings and practices. In this first talk, Shugen Roshi looks at the aspect of understanding; understanding through practicing the Paramitas.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 07/02/2023 - From Master Wu-men's Gateless Gate, Case 17 - The National Teacher Calls Three Times - Shugen Roshi talks about the koan, trust, faith, the student-teacher relationship; the teachings, and questions that bootstrap us onto the Bodhisattva Path. Our journey here calls for the kind of understanding that supports/inspires/guides our activity. And this activity in turn enriches our understanding and the cycle continues. In that sense the aspects of the Noble 8-Fold Path and the 6 Paramitas are interdependent, actualizing together.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZCNYC 06/25/2023 - Shugen Roshi offers teachings on Patience, the 3rd of the Paramitas. In the Mahayana tradition, there are three forms of patience that are understood to be essential to the Bodhisattva path: practicing how to hold injuries that come to us, to forebear what is difficult, and to face the true nature of the realities in which we live. In the midst of injustice and frustrations of all kinds, the practice of patience is the revolution that opens up our capacity to respond.

Our meditation interlude accents the paramount importance of bodhicitta, the mind of awakening, that informs Mahayana practice. Midway through our series on the Paramitas, Lama Zopa leads meditative inquiry practice, using experiential analysis to explore for ourselves why bodhicitta is called "the noblest motivation." Tibetan singing bowl interludes by Shivnee Ratna PRAJNA SPARKS follows the lunar calendar. Look for new episodes on new and full moon days, and contemplation interludes on the quarter moons. RESOURCES ⁠Meet Lama Yeshe & Lama Zopa, in Tricycle Magazine⁠ https://bit.ly/3xRySck ⁠Listen Contemplate Meditate, by Lama Yeshe, in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Guide⁠ https://bit.ly/3ygFsus ⁠Meditative Inquiry, by Lama Yeshe, in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Guide⁠ https://bit.ly/3xRySck FOLLOW US ⁠Join our Global Community⁠ for regular updates on Prajna Fire events with Yeshe and Zopa Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa offer individual spiritual counsel on formal Buddhist practice as well as innovative ways to integrate Buddhist perspective into your everyday life. ⁠Book Online at Prajna Fire⁠ with immediate confirmation (https://www.prajnafire.com/book-online) Hear Lama Yeshe's story on ⁠Opening Dharma Access: Listening to BIPOC Teachers⁠ https://ihr.fm/3uwqxZW And follow her guided practice of ⁠Tonglen Meditation & Sacred Creativity⁠ https://ihr.fm/3Lk9Kjy EMAIL US sparks@prajnafire.com FIND US on the ⁠Prajna Fire website⁠ (⁠https://www.prajnafire.com/sparks⁠) @prajnasparks on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter ⁠YouTube⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRUzGmU7c4_TJdLhG9R8IDA/videos) ⁠Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa⁠ (⁠www.prajnafire.com⁠) IG: ⁠@karmayeshechodron⁠ ⁠@karmazopajigme⁠ Shivnee Ratna, Tibetan singing bowls (⁠www.shivgauree.com⁠) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/prajna-sparks/message

03/15/2023, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at City Center. How equanimity and patience cultivate the capacity to respond rather than react.

Lamas Yeshe and Zopa present an overview of the Buddhist teaching and practice of the paramitas, the transcendent perfections that traverse the ocean of suffering that is samsara to the other shore, buddhahood, full and complete awakening. Tibetan singing bowl interludes by Shivnee Ratna PRAJNA SPARKS follows the lunar calendar. Look for new episodes on new and full moon days, and contemplation interludes on the quarter moons. RESOURCES Meet Lama Yeshe & Lama Zopa, in Tricycle Magazine https://bit.ly/3xRySck Listen Contemplate Meditate, by Lama Yeshe, in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Guide https://bit.ly/3ygFsus Meditative Inquiry, by Lama Yeshe, in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Guide https://bit.ly/3xRySck FOLLOW US Join our Global Community for regular updates on Prajna Fire events with Yeshe and Zopa Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa offer individual spiritual counsel on formal Buddhist practice as well as innovative ways to integrate Buddhist perspective into your everyday life. Book Online at Prajna Fire with immediate confirmation (https://www.prajnafire.com/book-online) Hear Lama Yeshe's story on Opening Dharma Access: Listening to BIPOC Teachers https://ihr.fm/3uwqxZW And follow her guided practice of Tonglen Meditation & Sacred Creativity https://ihr.fm/3Lk9Kjy EMAIL US sparks@prajnafire.com FIND US on the Prajna Fire website (https://www.prajnafire.com/sparks) @prajnasparks on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRUzGmU7c4_TJdLhG9R8IDA/videos) Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa (www.prajnafire.com) IG: @karmayeshechodron @karmazopajigme Shivnee Ratna, Tibetan singing bowls (www.shivgauree.com) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/prajna-sparks/message

Advayasiddhi explores two chapters from Santideva's passionate and challenging text: The Bodhicaryavatara. Chapter 4 focuses on Vigilance Regarding the Awakening Mind, while Chapter 5 explores The Guarding of Awareness. This talk was recorded at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2022. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! Subscribe using these RSS feeds or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone: donate now! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: YouTube  |  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Soundcloud

Dharma talk by Myo On Susan Hagler on Sunday, November 27, 2022.

We discuss the paramitas, or the virtues of a bodhisattva. Treeleaf (https://www.treeleaf.org/) Jundo Cohen, The Zen Master's Dance (https://amzn.to/3H2vNKp) Paramitas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pāramitā) Episode 31: The Precepts (https://www.zen-of-everything.com/31) Theme music by Kiku Day (http://www.kikuday.com). To submit a question, send an email to podcast@zen-of-everything.com. If you like the podcast, please follow in Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.

The six paramitas challenge the mistaken view that we can make ourselves secure by grasping more and more tightly  •  to practice the paramita of generosity, we need to make a point of letting go, of giving away  •  the paramita of discipline challenges our attachment to sloppiness and comfort, to cruising through life in a superficial way  •  the paramita of patience works with our attachment to speed and aggression as a way to sustain or protect ourselves  •  the paramita of exertion addresses our attachment to laziness, inertia, and the avoidance of effort and hard work  •  the paramita of meditation deals with our attachment to our thoughts as solid and real, challenging their power and their influence  •  the prajna paramita is an assault on our deep-rooted tendencies of denial and ignorance  •  each paramita gives us ways to chip away at the deep-rooted habit of trying to secure ourselves through our grasping. 

Dharma talk by Myo On Susan Hagler on Sunday, October 9, 2022.

09/24/2022, Anshi Zachary Smith, dharma talk at City Center. We discuss the precepts, giving a bit of history, and how they changed as Buddhism was infused with new ideas from the Mahayana philosophers and practitioners. In particular, we talk about the way in which the six Paramitas were proposed, at least in part, as a positive and aspirational adjunct to the Precepts. We also bring along a Koan, in which Dàzhū Huìhǎi remarks that Dana Paramita, the perfection of Generosity, is the key to all the others, as a way of revealing how the two lists inform and support each other.

What is the practice of Mahayana Buddhists? From Zen to Pure Land, Mahayana Buddhists strive to perfect the Six Perfections or "Paramitas". These are the qualities and virtues of the true nature of an enlightened being like a Buddha or Bodhisattva. Learn what they are and how to apply them to your practice! Contact Alan: alanpeto.com/contact Podcast Disclaimer: alanpeto.com/legal/podcast-disclaimer/ Get Alan's free eBook "Buddhism in 10 Steps": alanpeto.com/books/buddhism-10-steps --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/alanpeto/message

09/07/2022, Roger Hillyard, dharma talk at City Center. Using the hindrance of Remorse and the paramita of Generosity.

09/01/2022, Shinchi Linda Galijan, dharma talk at Tassajara.

The Practice of Golden Tara  #3 of the 21 Tara's  Golden Tara is all about realizing your life purpose. She is all about the 6 paramitas or perfections. Generosity, joyful effort, discipline, calm, patience, and meditation. It is thought in Vrajayana Buddhism and this female enlightenment Practice that integrating and realizing the 6 Paramitas, is a sign of enlightenment or awakened awareness. The Blue Lotus of the 3rd emanation represents Self Born Wisdom and the blue pearls are wish fulling, increasing or merit granting jewels of non dual or Tantric awareness. This golden Tara increases life force both physically and spiritually, aiding those that do the Golden Tara practices to bond with the inner perfections and the strength, love and compassion of Tara. Melissa Abbott gives an audio teaching and commentary of this powerful feminine enlightenment Practice. The path of a woman can look very different from a man's or patriarchal experience and the 21 Tara's Practices are exceptional and extraordinary. This 60 min listen would be best done in a quiet place where you can check ncentrate and imbibe fully. #tara #21taras #goldentara #goldentarart #sixparamitas #bluelotus #bluepearl #goldengoddess #wishfullfilling #rigpa #selfbornwisdom #vrajayanabuddhism the third emanation of the 21 Tara PracticesGolden Tara is all about realizing your life purpose. This Tara represent's the 6 paramitas or perfections. Generosity, joyful effort, discipline, calm, patience, and meditation. It is thought that integrating and realizing the 6 Paramitas in your practice is a sign of enlightenment or awakened awareness. The Blue Lotus represent Self Born Wisdom and the blue pearls are wish fulling, increasing or merit granting jewels. This golden Tara increases life force both physically and spiritually, aiding those that do the Golden Tara practices to bond with the inner perfections and the strength, love and compassion of Tara. #tara #21taras #goldentara #goldentarart #sixparamitas #bluelotus #bluepearl #goldengoddess #wishfullfilling #rigpa #selfbornwisdom #vrajayanabuddhism

07/23/2022, Keiryu Liên Shutt, dharma talk at City Center. Guidance from the teachings on how we can stay connected and be supportive to and with each other during these times.

Inevitable —Yet so unnecessary!Enough suffering.* * *As mentioned in the first segment of this series, one Sunday at the Zen center we conducted a dialog on the recent school shootings and general dystopian state of affairs, as a kind of “dharma combat,” an open and frank discussion of how Zen practice does or does not address the ongoing chaos of modern life in America. In this and the two following segments we will close out this discussion, largely quoting the question-and-answer dynamic that transpired online and in person that day. As usual in Zen dialog, the answers more often than not raise more questions than they provide any pat answers.Master Dogen, in Shobogenzo Bendowa — A Talk About Pursuing the Truth — includes a section of questions and his answers at the end. The format I have chosen, “Someone asks: I say:” below is adopted from that approach. After my brief introductory recap of the subject, quoting a couple of the paragraphs from the prior segment, we opened the floor for discussion. The following is what ensued.Someone asks: What is the best we can do in a situation like this? How can we be centered in dharma without being numb to what's going on around us? Where does the rubber meet the road between practice and avoidance?I say: Mastuoka Roshi was once asked this question, regarding “engaged Zen.” He simply took the zazen posture, saying “This is the most you can do.” What I think he meant is that unless you gain clarity on the cushion, and resolve your personal conflicts with regard to life and death, you cannot really enter the fray in the public realm without adding to the confusion. As long as you have preconceptions, or a bias as to the outcomes, you cannot really engage in a balanced and compassionate manner. If on the other hand you can see both sides of the issue — or in today's context, the many sides of the issue — you may be able to help.Clarification is what we go for in zazen, but the path to it is fraught with confusion and frustration. In pursuing clarity in zazen, one thing that becomes clear is our own complicity, and the degree of responsibility we share in the details of our complex lives. We may be complicit in sharing the karma of our community, but not the direct responsibility, e.g. of the shooter as the proximate cause. Both can be true at once. We are complicit in, but not responsible for, the specific event. But we are definitely responsible for what we do about it now. Karma and its consequences continue through the Three Times — past future & present — according to Zen Buddhism. What we do in the present will probably comprise the most appropriate action, if we thoroughly examine the situation in zazen.Zazen is not a panacea. It does not change anything by “spooky action at a distance” or magical thinking. But in terms of psychology it helps us to see ourselves and our place in this situation.Someone asks: Is there any actual realistic thing we can do to face this situation? What can we do?I say: I think we have to take the long view. This is not to say that we should not rise up in arms, and change everything we can change that is part of the problem. But if you look back on Japan — where our Zen teachers come from — during WWII, Japan and the United States were at each other's throats. We witnessed the calamity of dropping nuclear bombs on civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the former of which was Matsuoka Roshi's family home. And which to this day I don't agree had to be done, and a lot of other people disagree with that atrocity as well. Nonetheless, Japan and USA are now allies We're, quote, “friends.” So you have to look back on 50 years and say, Well, what was that all about then? It took generations dying off, for us to recover the relationship on a normalized basis between the two countries.So I think that reflects the kind of patience that we learn to practice in Zen. The kind of patience that is not associated with outcomes. Parents with their children, children with their aging parents, et cetera, practice patience with each other and within society. We do, but it's always connected to the outcome. I am going to count to ten, hold my breath, hold my tongue. I am going to be patient in this situation, because it's going to work out the way I want it to.In Zen I think we practice the kind of patience that says this may never work out the way I want it to. And yet I will practice patience with that, because that's the nature of the beast. It's suffering. It is impermanent, it's imperfect, insubstantial, et cetera — all the teachings of Buddhism apply here.I think what we are doing as practice leaders and practitioners is, as Matsuoka Roshi said, the most you can do. We are hopefully teaching people how to deal with their own ignorance, and potentially how to overcome it, by practicing meditation. It's not passive. It is not a retreat from reality. It's a way of girding your loins to go out and go back into battle, you could say. I think we are training armies of soldiers who can go into tough situations, and do probably closer to the right thing that has to be done.I think that's the mission of Zen. It could eventually lead to world peace, if we survive long enough, if we don't blow the planet up entirely. And I think it's our only hope for world peace, personally. I think that the other religions have largely failed. Not intentionally, not because of any particular fault that they have. Politics has failed, as well. From my perspective, the only thing that we have left is Zen.I think we are already doing what we should do about it. It is just, Can we catch up to it in time? We are training individuals to think independently, and to act interdependently. That is the most we can do. The people we're training, they will go out and take action. It is not my place to tell people what they should or should not do. For my part, I need to spend all my time training people this way. So that they will go out and become political, they will go out and join the movement. But the action they take will be from a more compassionate or wise, universalist kind of perspective, than from trying to help my team win, in this situation. Which is what we see with all of the so-called movements.Matsuoka Roshi taught that Zen can bridge East and West. I think Zen can bridge this problem as well. It takes time, and we all have to do our best. Any chance I get I will speak out, as Matsuoka Roshi did, as you know if you've read his collected talks. He spoke out about Vietnam, about WWII, civil rights. He was very much a peacemaker and bridge-builder. It's incumbent upon us to do everything we can, whatever we can.Someone asks: When it comes to universalism — the ideas of emptiness and compassion — to me it seems logical that they would help people to understand that they don't have to be so selfish, they don't have to be so narcissistic and hateful. But how can we help people like that banish some of those delusions? Is there any way we can help them, even in a gentle way?I say: Again, my opinion is, Zen can help. I've tried things like joining the Fulton County Interfaith committee. I was co-chair of the board of that committee for a year, when I began to see that what I was trying to do was never going to happen. I was trying to get the county to introduce meditation into the schools. I think: get them early. If you start people sitting in meditation when they are young, in middle school, elementary grade levels, then by the time they get to high school they might be more capable of dealing with things like hormonal rage, and all the rejection they receive from people around them. They might be able to have more of a sense of humor about it, and see it for what it is, and not take it personally. I sound like Johnny-one-note, but my answer is, get the kids sitting on the cushions.I spoke about this a little bit on my recent podcast, about the “incels” the “involuntary celibates” at certain ages, adolescents primarily. They watch porn on TV or social media, and see that all the girls “want it” and so forth. And then they turn to their local community, and no one wants to have anything to do with them. And so their frustration mounts. The sexuality, the hormones, the social construct that we have, the religious backdrop, these are all contributing factors, as well as probably the killer, shoot-‘em-up computer games. Everything has something to contribute.And it all seems, to my way of thinking, to be part of the same problem, like different koans. In Zen, there are 1700 classical koans, and they are all pointing to the same truth. The way I look at this problem, every dimension of it, like facets of a diamond, they are all part of it. And so it's very difficult to get to the root cause, to the core of it. But I think Buddha identified that.It's the sense of self, needing to defend that self. Needing to empower and consume, for that person to have power and wealth, and to consume what everybody wants. It's predictable — if you take a bunch of conscripts in their teens and twenties from Russia, and send them to invade a country with weaponry — it's predictable what they are going to do. Because you have to dehumanize the population that you are invading, to begin with.So none of this is surprising. Buddha would not be surprised by any of this. He would just be aghast at the scale of everything. And how, to this point, Buddhism has failed. We have failed to adopt these principles, the Precepts, Paramitas, et cetera. This is why we aspire to buddha nature — to wake up — and not to human nature. We are seeing human nature on display. Some people would probably resent that. They say, No, no, that's inhumane. But look at how we treat the rest of the species — livestock and wildlife — and how we treat the planet. It's human behavior. It's humanity. And that's not pessimistic. It's not overly optimistic, either. It's realistic.To be continued.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Kyōsaku Jon Mitchell

04/27/2022, Chikudo Catherine Spaeth, dharma talk at City Center. This talk explores how in the tradition of Soto Zen awakening, equanimity and vow relate to each other in practice-realization.