Welcome to the
Zen Studies Podcast!
Study Buddhism Online for Free
- Three new episodes every month
- Listen to episodes in order in specific categories:
Buddhism Today
Buddhist History
Buddhist Practice
Buddhist Teachings
Buddhist Texts
Dharma Talks
Meditation
Zen Teachings
- Start at the beginning: Listen to all the episodes in order – or read the content instead!
- Subscribe via email to be notified of new weekly episodes (see sidebar to sign up)
- Subscribe via a podcatcher (like iTunes) to have the audio delivered to your podcast app (see sidebar)
- Browse and see what interests you! See Categories, Recent Posts, Series, look through the Glossary, or type a topic of interest in the search box.
How Can the Podcast Be Free?
I offer most of the content on the Zen Studies Podcast for free, because I want the Dharma (Buddhist teachings) to be available to everyone. Plus, I enjoy creating episodes – audio and text – about this ancient, incredibly rich spiritual tradition.
However, we all need to make a living, and I spend 10-12 hours a week on the podcast. Members support the podcast with a small monthly pledge. If you want to help me keep generating great content, consider becoming a member!
Recent Episodes
127 – Bearing Witness: Exposing Ourselves to the Suffering in the World (Crisis Buddhism Part 2)
Crisis Buddhism requires us to mindfully balance three essential areas of practice: Bearing Witness, Taking Action, and Taking Care. In this episode I discuss Bearing Witness, or exposing ourselves to the suffering of the world in all its forms in order to make wise decisions, activate our natural compassion, and awaken a sense of urgency. How do we Bear Witness without becoming overwhelmed, depressed, or despairing? We embrace it as a noble practice of compassion and wisdom.
126 – Crisis Buddhism: Sustainable Bodhisattva Practice in a World on Fire – Part 1
Crisis Buddhism is a new formulation of Buddhist practice I’ve come up with that I hope will help you navigate your everyday life as we face ecological and climate breakdown. It asks us to mindfully balance three essential areas of practice: Bearing Witness, or learning about the suffering of the world in all its forms in order to make wise decisions, activate our natural compassion, and awaken a sense of urgency; Taking Action, or participating in a tangible way to help alleviate or prevent the suffering we witness, and Taking Care, or engaging in activities, relationships, and practices that sustain us.
125 – Liberation Through Understanding the Five Wisdom Energies
The Vajrayana teaching of the five wisdom energies is a about five types of energy we all have within us, or five tendencies within a human being. Within each of us, one or two energies tend to predominate, resulting in what we might call “personality,” but at a deeper level these five energies are about five characteristic orientations to the conundrum of human life.
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