May 25, 2017
Is it really necessary to participate in a Sangha, or Buddhist community? What are the benefits, joys, and challenges of doing so? You may be surprised by some of the aspects of Sangha practice I talk about in this episode (it's not all about enjoying the pleasant company of enlightened people!).
May 18, 2017
Liberation from self-concern is central to all forms of Buddhism, although the methods used to achieve that liberation differ widely. In this episode, I present a classic Zen teaching on not-self: Zen Master Dogen’s statement that “To study Buddhism is to study the self.”
The Zen take on the self definitely grows...
May 11, 2017
From the beginning, the Buddha's teachings featured the Three Characteristics of Existence: anicca (impermanence), dukkha (dissatisfactoriness), and anatta (not-self). This episode introduces the Three Characteristics and then goes into the teaching of not-self in detail - what it means and doesn't mean. For example,...
May 4, 2017
The practices of acceptance and non-attachment are critical to Zen and Buddhist practice, but they are easily misunderstood. It can sound like we're being asked not to care about things, or not to try to change things for the better. Fortunately, this is not what Zen means by acceptance or non-attachment, because 1)...