Episodes
-
Making a Case for Compassion with Guest Sara Schairer
Making a Case for Compassion with special guest Sara Schairer This month, we are excited to have Sara Schairer, compassion educator, as our guest. Sara Schairer is the founder and executive director of Compassion It®, a nonprofit organization and global social movement whose mission is to inspire...
-
The Unexpected Gifts of Groundlessness
The Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron says, in relation to contemplative practice, “We are being encouraged to remain open to the present groundless moment, to a direct, unarmored participation with our experience… How many of us feel ready to interrupt our habitual patterns, our almost instinctual...
-
Reclaiming Joy
What is the role of joy on the spiritual path? The bodhisattva path and the path of compassion require us to have an awareness of the suffering of beings – are joy and compassion contradictory? Or can joy be used to sustain our spiritual path and practice? Join us for an exploration of the theme […]
-
Cultivating Emotional Balance with guest Dr. Eve Ekman
Our emotions bring us our greatest joys and our deepest sorrows. We wouldn’t survive without them, and yet they can also cause us to harm others and ourselves. What is the purpose of emotions, and how can we cultivate more emotional balance? Join us for this conversation with well-known emotions...
-
The Case for American Pluralism
The motto of the United States, E pluribus unum (“Out of Many, One”) speaks to a pluralistic democracy with protections for every citizen, and a freedom from the religious tyranny that gripped much of Europe during the time of the country’s founding. Yet, for many, this promise is being…
more -
Acceptance is not Complacency
In these uncertain times, our roles as individuals in the sweeping events washing over the world stage can feel deeply unclear, sometimes frightening and frequently overwhelming. It is tempting to respond to these often painful situations by vacillating between anger and complacency. Buddhist...
-
The Four Virtues of the Heart
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has often commented that the foundation of Buddhist practice is cultivating a good heart. As important as mindfulness and concentration meditations are within the Buddhist tradition, it is crucial to balance such practices with the cultivation and development of...
-
The Power of Interconnection
The COVID pandemic has led many of us to feel the hidden epidemic of loneliness more acutely than ever, yet loneliness is not much discussed even though scientists now link it to a number of negative health outcomes. In this episode, Venerable Tenzin speaks with host Mathew Divaris about what...
-
Compassionate Conversations with special guest Sunil Joseph
In this special episode of Reflections on Buddhism, we’re joined by Sunil Joseph, an empathy coach, mindfulness teacher and lifelong Nonviolent Communication (NVC) student, to talk about how we can use the principles of NVC to access our shared common humanity, thereby supporting our practices of...
-
Getting Un-Hooked: Discomfort, Suffering and Consumer Culture
The first Noble Truth of Buddhism is popularly translated as “life is suffering,” which is often misunderstood as a fatalistic view of a hostile world. In this episode, Ven Tenzin and guest host Mathew Divaris delve into the nuances between discomfort, which is inevitable in life, and suffering,...
-
Grief and Gratitude
This month we are joined by local NVC facilitator and coach Kristin Masters For the last several years, local Santa Cruz Non-violent Communication facilitator and coach Kristin Masters has been leading a workshop titled “Grief and Gratitude.” Join us for this conversation with Kristin as we…
more -
The Pitfalls of Pride
Examining pride, confidence and humility through a Buddhist lens Is pride a quality to be cultivated, or avoided? Are there any benefits to feeling pride? How does pride relate to the qualities of confidence and humility? What did the Buddha say, and how do the Buddhist teachings intersect with...
-
Tapping into the Power of Joy
Joyous effort, or enthusiasm, is presented as one of the six “paramitas,” or perfections of the practice of the Bodhisattvas. How do we sustain this enthusiasm for our practice and our service of others in a world that is filled with so much suffering? Are there techniques taught in the Buddhist...
-
Selflessness, Identity, and Inclusion: Balancing the Relative and Absolute
One of the defining characteristics of Buddhism is its explanation of two modes of existence: the absolute and the relative, or conventional. On the absolute level, we say that everything is merely labelled by the mind, nothing exists inherently, or independently. But does this mean that noticing...
-
Celebrating our Interdependence
Western culture places a great deal of emphasis on the individual, yet the reality of our existence is that we are able to do very little — even for our own survival — without relying on others. Charles Darwin’s work on evolution radically changed how we, as humans, understood the history of our...
-
Seeing is not Believing
Many of us were raised with the belief that “Seeing is Believing,” and that our sense perceptions are giving us an objective view of the world around us. However, the mental processes involved are much more nuanced, and our brains have evolved to “thin slice” our sense of reality to make sense of...
-
Buddhist Practice Behind Bars
Ven. Tenzin has been teaching Buddhist meditation and philosophy in prisons for over 15 years. In this episode, Ven. Tenzin talks about how she got involved in this work and some of the unique opportunities and challenges of teaching in prison. The second part of this episode is a conversation…
more -
Awakening Warriors: the Path of the Bodhisattva
You might have heard the word “bodhisattva” used in conversation to refer to someone who is especially kind, or altruistic. “Bodhisattva Vow” was even a song by the Beastie Boys in the mid-90’s. A bodhisattva is defined as someone who aspires to attain full awakening for the benefit of all…
more -
The Unexpected Gifts of Impermanence
This past year has been full of the unexpected –the grief and loss that so many of us have experienced, the uncertainty about what is next and when life will return to “normal,” the upending of our social connections. But are there gifts to be found within this impermanence? In Tibetan Buddhist...
-
Radical Compassion: Transforming Problems into Opportunities
In Tibetan Buddhism the spiritual training of cleansing disturbing attitudes from the mind and replacing them with constructive attitudes is called “lojong” translated as “mind training” or “thought transformation.” But what this practice involves is a radical readjustment of our approach to what...
-
Off the cushion and into the streets: the impact of Buddhism on our daily lives
In this discussion we will talk about the different ways a Buddhist practice can be much more than a few minutes or hours spent meditating. Where do the teachings we study and the insights from our meditation land in the day to day moments of our lives? How does a person with a job and family […]
-
New Year’s Resolutions in Uncertain Times
Our cultural tradition of making “New Year’s resolutions” shares some similarities to the Buddhist practice of setting a motivation before any practice, yet there are also important differences. Many of us found that our plans and goals for 2020 were completely upended by the COVID pandemic, and…
more -
Silent Mind, Holy Mind: A Buddhist Perspective on Christmas.
Christmas is a cultural holiday celebrated here in the United States by many people of various religious traditions, including Buddhists. But does the life of Jesus and the holiday of Christmas have a deeper meaning that Buddhists can also appreciate? How do Buddhists relate to Jesus and his life...
-
The Experience of Diversity in American Buddhism
Many Buddhist centers in the United States have a membership that is mostly white, middle-class and heteronormative. What are the experiences of Buddhist students who identify as BIPOC or LGBTQIA+ in these spaces? We will be joined for this episode by two special guests who are Buddhist students...
-
Why Buddhism? Buddhist Practice on Western Ground
Buddhism is a rich philosophical tradition, but also survived for hundreds of years in Asian countries with cultures very different from those in the countries to which Buddhism has been introduced in the last 100 years, the so-called West. What are some of the challenges in this process of...
-
Environmental Activism through a Buddhist Lens
This episode was conceived and recorded in the wake of the devastating wildfires that were still burning in California and other parts of the West during the late summer of 2020. We discuss the climate crisis and the role of Buddhist practitioners and the relevance of Buddhist philosophy in…
more -
Myths about Happiness, and How Understanding Them Can Help Us Manage the Pandemic
This episode was recorded five months into the COVID pandemic. In it, we explore some of the myths of happiness, and how we might be able to find happiness, meaning and connection these days in some unexpected places.
-
Coping with the Stress of Turbulent Times, Perspectives from Buddhism and Psychology
his episode is an exploration of how to manage our stress during this time of uncertainty, and how meditation can help us transform grief, loneliness and anger. We discuss the roles of compassion (including self-compassion), gratitude, and enthusiasm in our happiness, and how we can access these...
-
The Changing Roles for Women in Buddhism, from Ancient Times to the Modern Day
Buddhism originated in India 2,500 years ago, and flourished for centuries in Asian countries with strictly patriarchal and hierarchical cultures. As Buddhism takes root in the modern world, how is the role of women, both monastic and lay, changing to stay relevant to our modern cultures, in…
more -
Social Justice Activism and the Monastic Life
The ultimate goals of Buddhism are liberation and enlightenment, becoming free of suffering through eliminating its causes, karma and mental afflictions. Some Buddhist practitioners and lineages emphasize focus on these transcendent goals, and don’t think there is any point in addressing…
more -
Coping in Times of Crisis
At the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, our lives changed overnight and in completely unexpected ways. With the implementation of shelter in place orders and workplaces and schools closing down, our entire social and personal lives were completely upended. Are there any tools from Buddhism…
more -
The Roots of Addiction
For this episode, we are joined by Buddhist student and therapist Amy Cayton, who specializes in the treatment of addiction. We discuss the root causes of addiction, both from psychological and Buddhist perspectives, and how understanding the root causes can lead to some of the most effective...
-
The Buddha’s View of How Things Exist
The Buddha said that all of our suffering and dissatisfaction is a result of our misunderstanding of how things exist, and how this misperception leads to disturbing emotions and negative actions, which not only cause suffering in the moment but create the causes for future suffering. Join us for...
-
What the Buddha Taught: The Wisdom of the Four Noble Truths
In the 2500 years since its founding, Buddhism has spread all over the world with a diversity of forms and practices. But one thing is the same, the fundamental teaching of the Buddha which is found in all Buddhist traditions: the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha taught the truth of suffering or...
-
The Four Virtues of the Heart
All Buddhist traditions include the practices of the Four Immeasurables, sometimes known as the Four Brahmaviharas, or the Four Virtues of the Heart. These are loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. In this episode, we discuss these four qualities, which can be cultivated...
-
The Importance of Self-Compassion
What is self-compassion, and what is the difference between self-compassion and self-absorption and plain old selfishness? We define self-compassion as being as kind and compassionate to yourself as your would to a dear friend — but this can be so difficult! In this episode we discuss some of the...
-
Defining Forgiveness
What is forgiveness, and what is the relationship between forgiveness and happiness? Is there anything that is truly not forgivable? In this episode, we discuss what forgiveness is, and what it isn’t: it’s not condoning harmful behavior, being a doormat, or not setting appropriate boundaries. It...
-
The Nature of Happiness and Where to Find It
Featuring Ven Tenzin Chogkyi and Brigitte Reardon (host).
-
Mindfully Managing Despair
Featuring Ven Tenzin Chogkyi and Brigitte Reardon (host).
-
Setting Compassionate Boundaries
Last month we discussed the quality of compassion. But does being compassionate mean always doing what others want? What is the role of self-care if I am striving to be compassionate? How do I guard myself from burnout? In this episode, we will discuss how to practice compassion and to set clear...
-
Transforming Our Lives Through Compassion
Compassion is one of the qualities that is held in high regard in all spiritual traditions. In Buddhism, we say that the natural compassion we feel for our loved ones can be extended to others, eventually to all living beings. How is this possible? What is the nature of compassion? How can we...
-
Non-Attachment Doesn’t Mean Not Caring — Why Is It Important in Buddhism?
One of the things most people know about Buddhism (and the source of many Buddhist jokes) is the importance of non-attachment. But this quality can so often be misinterpreted. Non-attachment does not mean aloofness, indifference, or lack of caring. Join us in this episode as we talk about what...