Episode 92 :: Tony Bernhard :: Culture Independent Buddhist Retreats

Tony Bernhard Tony Bernhard speaks with us about facilitating a-cultural Buddhist teaching and retreats. Hi, everyone. As we’ve seen in the growth and popularization of Buddhism in the West, the teaching and practice takes on forms that may not fit with the cultural background from which they’ve come. Our commitment to Buddhism does not, as…

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Episode 91 :: Noah Levine :: The Heart of the Revolution

Dharma Punx founder Noah Levine speaks with us about his new book, The Heart of the Revolution.

Many of us who come to a Buddhist practice in contemporary Western society, come to it from many directions. We’re interested in the culture of Japan. We have a martial arts practice. We have some suffering in our life, and whatever we’ve been doing just isn’t working. Often this suffering manifests in unhealthy ways, increasing our pain rather than helping us find release.

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Uncertain Minds: How the West Misunderstands Buddhism

Stephen Batchelor and John Peacock address the challenges of Buddhism in the west, how it differs from traditions, how Buddhism was misunderstood from the very start, partly because it was viewed through the filter of Christianity. Please join us in discussion below …

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Gautama Buddha: Man or God?

Vishvapani Blomfield’s Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One is one of a new breed of Buddha biographies. For centuries there was really only one. Ashvaghosha’s epic poem Buddhacarita (Acts of the Buddha), written some three hundred years after the Buddha’s death, paints the Buddha myth familiar to generations of Buddhists. A…

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Episode 90 :: Dana Nourie :: Secular Buddhist Association Website

Dana Nourie Hi, everyone. As we mentioned last week, today’s episode is going to be dedicated to the new Secular Buddhist Association website, some of the reasons why we’ve created a new and improved web presence for our secular Buddhist community, and what the features are to address those needs. I’m also very happy to…

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Buddhism Before the Theravada (Audio, John Peacock) & Comments

I’ve  listened to the first audio recording of a series of six talks called Buddhism Before the Theravada, speaker John Peacock, held at the Insight Meditation Center. This talk is fascinating! John Peacock gives a really great history of the times Gotama lived in, and additionally he relates the importance of that history as context…

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Episode 89 :: Ken McLeod :: Unfettered Mind

Ken McLeod Ken McLeod speaks with us today about humanity in institutions, and his organization Unfettered Mind. Hi, everyone. Glad you’re here, particularly for this episode. There have been some very positive things happening recently, including the podcast having over 100,000 downloads, and our Halloween episode last week with our friend David Chapman being referenced…

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