Seth Zuiho Segall - Flourishing With a Buddhism That Actually Works in Real Life

Seth Zuiho Segall is a Zen Buddhist priest, clinical psychologist, and writer.  He has served on the clinical faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine for nearly three decades. He is also a science writer for the Mindfulness Research Monthly, a contributing editor for Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and a review editor for The Humanistic Psychologist. Seth has been engaged with meditation and Buddhism for almost thirty years and is ordained in the White Plum lineage. He currently leads Pamsula Zen of Westchester and guest teaches at the New York Insight Meditation Center. He is also the author of several books, including “Buddhism and Human Flourishing” and his latest, “The House We Live In”. He writes consistently on his blog, The Existential Buddhist, covering a range of Buddhist topics from a naturalized, pragmatic, eudaimonic, and cosmopolitan perspective. In this episode, we explore Seth’s unique journey into Buddhism as well as his pragmatic and naturalistic understanding of it, the relationship between virtue, wisdom and pluralism, the foundations of flourishing, navigating political polarization, ethical ideals and the myth of the perfect person, better ways of thinking about enlightenment and why Seth became a Zen priest.🔗[Links & resources] 🔗Seth’s personal siteSeth’s blogSeth’s latest book “The House We Live In”Jon Kabat-ZinnSecular Buddhist NetworkThe Avoidant Dharma by Daniel ThorsonStephen BatchelorLarry RosenbergAndrew CohenParadox of ToleranceMastering The Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel IngramAlready Free by Bruce Tift📝[Show Notes] 📝0:00 - Introduction 2:10 - Unpacking a naturalistic, pragmatic, eudaimonic, and cosmopolitan Buddhism 7:57 - Naturalistic vs. Secular Buddhism12:07 - Agnosticism & Beliefs 13:30 - Exploring Judaism and finding Buddhism 20:20 - Further questioning Secularization and modernization of Buddhism 29:18 - There is no one Buddhism; There are many Buddhisms 33:36 - Virtue, wisdom, and pluralism 36:17 - Has humanity become less violent over time?38:26 - The foundations of flourishing 42:22 - Disagreements on values and vulnerability 45:31 - Facing the dragon at your own pace 48:52 - Navigating political polarization & engaged Buddhism 53:53 - Ethical ideals and the myth of the perfect person 57:33 - The paradox of tolerance & cancel culture 1:03:48 - Better ways of thinking about enlightenment 1:12:15 - Why become a Zen priest 1:17:26 - Engaging with a religious tradition before you critique it*Subscribe to the Insighter Substack to get in-depth articles on the theory and practice of human transformation through a post-conventional lens*Add me on Facebook