302 – Preguntas y Respuestas: Defender lo Correcto y Zazen vs Disociación y Trance

302 – Q&A: Standing Up for What’s Right, and Zazen Versus Dissociation and Trance

by | May 16, 2025 | Listener's Questions

In this extemporaneous Q&A episode, I address these questions: What is the responsibility of Buddhists to stand for what is right? What is the difference between the Buddhist goal of “detaching from clinging and aversion” and the pathological states of detachment from reality called “dissociation?” How would you describe the desirable level of overlap between shikantaza (the zazen of just sitting) and trance?

301 – Teisho: Tienes Que Ver Tu Naturaleza

301 – Teisho: You Have to See Your Nature

by | Apr 30, 2025 | Buddhist Teachings, Zen Teachings

This episode is a Teisho, an encouragement talk that’s meant to be listened to while you are sitting quietly. Zen teachers give Teisho during sesshin, and this amounts to a more formal kind of Dharma talk, almost like a meditation. It’s not meant to be educational. I’m curious as to how it will come off if you listen to it while walking or driving or doing something else. Maybe it’ll be cool. But I recommend sitting still if you’re able. Teisho are generally only given during sesshin and not recorded, but I recreated one from the sesshin I led last week for you.

298 – Framing Your Dharma Practice in a Helpful Way

298 – Framing Your Dharma Practice in a Helpful Way

by | Mar 31, 2025 | Buddhist Practice

Chances are, whether you’re aware of it or not, you have a certain way of framing your Dharma practice. That is, you function using a conceptual framework that defines your relationship to your practice, the intent of that practice, and what is supposedly being transformed by that practice. When you’re centered in the moment, you can practice without framing, but most of the time you’ll be framing things whether you mean to or not. It’s good to be conscious of your framing and choose a framing that’s helpful.

297 – Investigando la Mente Errante

297 – Investigando la Mente Errante

by | Mar 16, 2025 | Spanish Translations

Category: Práctica Budista ~ Translator: Claudio Sabogal Click here for audio + English version of Episode 297   Casi todos los que practican meditación o atención plena se encuentran con el fenómeno de la mente errante: cuando, a...
297 – Investigando la Mente Errante

297 – Investigating the Wandering Mind

by | Mar 15, 2025 | Buddhist Practice

Almost everyone who practices meditation or mindfulness encounters the phenomenon of the wandering mind – when, despite your conscious intention, your mind is filled with thoughts that have nothing to do with your current experience. You can employ various techniques to let go of the thoughts and “bring the mind back” to your meditative object or to the present moment, but often these techniques are applied as if all mind wandering was of the same nature. I investigate different reasons your mind wanders and how they call for different responses.

296 – Preguntas y Respuestas: Paramis, Atención Plena, Karma y Disfrute

296 – Q&A: Paramis, Mindfulness, Karma, and Enjoyment

by | Mar 8, 2025 | Listener's Questions

This is an extemporaneous question-and-answer episode. Do you know the difference between a parami and a paramita? Do I still like to think of mindfulness as “undivided presence?” What about when Buddhists use the idea of karma as an excuse not to take compassionate action? Why can’t our practice include more activities aimed at the cultivation of joy, creativity, and other positive experiences?

295 – El Poder de la Ecuanimidad

295 – El Poder de la Ecuanimidad

by | Mar 1, 2025 | Spanish Translations

Category: Práctica Budista, Enseñanzas Budistas ~ Translator: Claudio Sabogal Click here for audio + English version of Episode 295   La ecuanimidad es un poderoso estado del ser que no sólo reduce nuestro estrés y sufrimiento, sino...
295 – El Poder de la Ecuanimidad

295 – The Power of Equanimity

by | Feb 28, 2025 | Buddhist Practice, Buddhist Teachings

Equanimity is a powerful state of being that not only reduces our stress and suffering but also enables us to respond effectively. However, in our efforts to achieve some measure of equanimity, we may end up stuck in the tentative calm of denial or in the coldness of indifference. True equanimity is clear-eyed, undefended, compassionate, and inclusive – but how do we cultivate it? I explore the virtue of equanimity from a Buddhist perspective.

294 – Diez Campos del Zen, Campo 10 – Conectando con lo Inefable, o lo que es más Verdadero

294 – Ten Fields of Zen, Field 10 – Connecting with the Ineffable, or What Is Most True

by | Feb 17, 2025 | Buddhist Practice, Ten Fields of Zen

The tenth Field of Zen is Connecting with the Ineffable. Zen is not based on a belief in God in a theistic sense. However, at its core there is a strong emphasis on a much more profound, inspiring, significant, and hopeful Reality than the bleak, mundane, and discouraging one people sometimes experience in their ordinary daily lives. Call this “greater reality” anything you like – God, the Divine, That Which is Greater, Other Power, the Ineffable, the Great Mystery, the Great Matter of Life and Death – but you have tasted it at peak moments of your life. Zen encourages you to explore and deepen your relationship with the Great Matter.

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