Everyday Buddhism: Making Everyday Better

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.

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…

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.

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 Sofer 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.