Episoder
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Jon and Doug have a wide-ranging chat with the dharma teacher and peace activitist, Stephen Fulder, founder of Tovana, the Israel Insight Society. We discuss his work in Israel and his new book, How to Thrive in Hard Times.
You can find his book here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Thrive-Hard-Times-Buddhist/dp/1915672740/Support the show
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What is the role of community in our practice? The sangha is one of the traditional three refuges or jewels of Buddhism. The Buddha also advised at the end of his life to hold the self as our island and refuge, with the dharma as our island and refuge. Jon and Doug discuss how we reconcile these ideals.
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Manglende episoder?
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Three key aspects of the seven enlightenment factors are investigation, energy, and joy. What are they, and how can we touch them in our practice?
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The final aggregate in the set of five is consciousness. What is meant by consciousness/ As an aggregate of clinging, when does it get in the way?
Jon and Doug discuss.
Doug's Video:
The Problem(s) of Consciousness -- https://youtu.be/W1Pn65QZiZsSupport the show
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In Buddhism the root of karmic action is in sankharas, a word with many uses in the dharma. As we practice, we can see the sankharas taking shape and then realize we have choices. But even the choices are related to other sankharas and the "wow' of this mind.
Jon and Doug discuss them and how we can view their role in our lives.Support the show
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Two days after the US Election, Doug and Jon discuss how they are handling the results. They also discuss how our practice can support us as we look to the future political landscape in the US and the world.
Jon offered this poem by Rilke as a support:
Let This Darkness be a Belltower
Rainer Maria Rilke
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
Doug's Video:
No Local Meditation Group? Six Solutions -- https://youtu.be/-rEKVKsV2iUSupport the show
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Feeling tone, the pleasure or pain we take in experience, is a central part of dharma. As an aggregate, a foundation of mindfulness, a link in the chain of dependent origination, appreciating, understanding, and directly experiencing Vedana is a key to experiencing freedom.
Jon and Doug have a lively discussion on this topic.Support the show
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Doug and Jon continue to explore the Five Aggregates of Clinging (to self) and this week explore Form. How do we cling to form and at what point, does this clinging become suffering? Are doesn't it?
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Jon and Doug discuss perception and how it's mediated by past experience and the stories we tell. How does it become misperception? How can we work with our perception to live more skillfully and fully?
*this quote is attributed to the Roman poet Phaedrus but it is often used by various Zen teachersSupport the show
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How does our concept of ourselves and others create suffering? What would it be like to soften this "conceit of self". Understanding and seeing through this conceit, is the last of the higher fetters, which needs to the released before awakening.
Jon and Doug discuss how this comes up in practice.Support the show
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The Buddhist attitude of "nibbidā" or "disenchantment"/"disgust" is central to the early teaching. What is it and how can it help us navigate our lives? Jon and Doug discuss.
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Doug and Jon discuss what forgiveness means in the contact of Buddhism. Is it Buddhist? It's a powerful and important practice but it doesn't seem to appear anywhere in the teachings.
Information on the Class offered by Jon:
Watering the Seeds of ForgivenessSupport the show
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Doug has Covid, Jon has a bad microphone, but they're chatting about the Buddha and voting anyway, as well as Buddhist practice and voting. What does 2024 bring for us in the voting booth, and how should we frame our political choices?
To register to vote, and check voter registration in the US:
https://vote.gov/Support the show
Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/
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A recent podcast series at the Financial Times discussed serious problems several meditators have had at one popular ten-day Vipassana retreat system. Jon and Doug discuss this and some important work by Brown psychology professor Dr. Willoughby Britton.
Links:
The Retreat — an investigative podcast into the perils of meditation [Financial Times] -- https://www.ft.com/content/b3ec8e57-5cf9-4f96-9267-56c3bcd9c102
The Hidden Risks of Meditation — Dr. Willoughby Britton | The Tim Ferriss Show — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdmvoX1RZWA
Cheetah House: Help for Meditators In Distress -- https://www.cheetahhouse.org/
Book: Trauma Sensitive MIndfulness, David TreleavenSupport the show
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With Jon's impending move to Chicago Jon and Doug discuss the beneficial practice of renunciation. What do we really need?
Video: George Carlin talks about "stuff" -- https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLacSupport the show
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Silence is so important to Buddhist practice. Jon and Doug discuss how silence impacts practice as well as some of the early tradition around silence.
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How do we bring our Buddhist practice into our relationship with the arts and entertainment? The early Buddhist teachings, in particular, seem to look askance at this area of life. Doug and Jon discuss this interesting topic and how they integrate practice into their own interests in the arts.
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The Bodhisattva ideal really blossomed in the Mahayana traditions but the idea of the Bodhisattva was certainly present in the earlier traditions. Perhaps not in name but certainly in expression. When the Buddha spoke about himself before his Enlightenment, he referred to himself as a Bodhisattva. And, of course, the fact that he taught for 40 years after his Awakening points to his desire to awaken all beings. But how is the ideal expressed in us?
Two papers:
Bhikkhu Anālayo, Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal — https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/genesis-bodhisattva.pdfBhikkhu Bodhi, “Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas” — https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/arahantsbodhisattvas.html
Videos from Doug's Dharma:
What is a Bodhisattva? -- https://youtu.be/bs1XtNrNXpM
The Early History of the Bodhisattva Ideal -- https://youtu.be/ECI_3ytgxcQSupport the show
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Stream-entry, once returning, non-returning, and arahantship are the traditional four stages of progress along the Buddhist path. What do they mean? Are they historical? Are they necessary for us to know about? Jon and Doug dive into this topic, which always raises questions about the value and the pitfalls.
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The Buddha described humanity as tangled like string, knotted like a ball of thread. This tangle is a result of not seeing clearly the dependent co-arising— paticca-samupadda-- of phenomena. This is one of the most important of the early teachings. It can be seen through the lens of individual dissatisfaction and of course, through social, political and cultural dissatisfaction.
Doug and Jon explore the teaching and how we bring it into our practice.
Dhivan Thomas Jones's book: This Being, That Becomes
Videos:
Playlist on dependent origination at Doug's Dharma: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0akoU_OszRjcEvO6Gt2MSKF-u7Y8XaNcSupport the show
Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/
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