Posts by Ted Meissner
Episode 13 :: Revitalization Movements :: Part One
Linda Blanchard Today’s interview is with the Triple Gem of the virtual secular sangha, Linda Blanchard, Jan Ford, and Dana Nourie. We’ll talk about revitalization movements, and how that’s impacting us in the early stages of the development of secular buddhist practice. Hi, everyone. Happy Vesakha! For those of you not of the buddhisty persuasion,…
Read MoreEpisode 12 :: Juniper :: Buddhist Training for Modern Life
How do you, as a modern human being, approach a practice that’s 2,500 years old? Is it relevant to you, does it help you with your day to day stress, does it foster your personal growth? And most important, does it give you a methodology that enables you to put that growth into practice, and plant more seeds as you go?
Born in London, England, Lawrence moved to the United States as a teenager. He studied business at Indiana University and law at Harvard Law School. A successful career in law and the high technology industry culminated at Pixar Animation Studios, where he was chief financial officer and a board member.
Read MoreEpisode 11 :: Enlightenment Experiences: Validity and Usefulness
Will Davidson Self Dropped Away? Awesome! So Now What? Many people have experiences that we would commonly call “spiritual”, every day. They feel a deep connectedness as self drops away, and there is nothing between them and their direct involvement of the processes of life. A tremendous joy arises, incomparable to any previous feeling they’ve…
Read MoreEpisode 10 :: David Meade :: Skeptical Monastics Unite
Can One Become a Skeptical Monastic? In today’s world, as it was 2,500 years ago in the time of Buddha, there is an interdependence between monastics and the lay community. In Theravadin Buddhism, this has remained unchanged. The specific rules for monastic behavior are the same, and even perplexing restrictions that seem to have little…
Read MoreEpisode 9 :: Spirituality for Atheists :: Part Two
Grant Steves Today we’re presenting the second part of our conversation with Grant Steves about spirituality for atheists, and we’ll get to that in a moment. But first, a question came up from the the previous podcast, part one of that interview. I ran into Jack Caravela this morning at Memorial Blood Centers, we and…
Read MoreEpisode 8 :: Spirituality for Atheists :: Part One
Grant Steves Grant is a retired educator who taught debate, communications, language arts, and more for forty years. At an early age, he started reading books on philosophy and religion that had belonged to his grandfather. It was his introduction to Buddhism. In college he pursued Asian studies, and that was the time in which…
Read MoreEpisode 7 :: John Doshin Taylor :: Irish Meditation
John Doshin Taylor John has been involved in zen practice for about six years, but has been a student of philosophy for many years prior to that. He is currently living in Northern Ireland, and tells us about how he came to Buddhism, what it’s like for practitioners in his area, and provides some insight…
Read MoreEpisode 6 :: Brooks Peterson :: Cultural Intelligence Part Two
Brooks Peterson Brooks Peterson is the founder of Across Cultures, a micro company serving internationally-focussed professionals. An experienced cross-cultural trainer, researcher, and graduate level educator, he has lived and traveled extensively around the world and now lives and works in Minneapolis / St. Paul. He is the creator of a variety of culture tools and…
Read MoreEpisode 5 :: Brooks Peterson :: Cultural Intelligence Part One
Brooks Peterson Brooks Peterson is the founder of Across Cultures, a micro company serving internationally-focussed professionals. An experienced cross-cultural trainer, researcher, and graduate level educator, he has lived and traveled extensively around the world and now lives and works in Minneapolis / St. Paul. He is the creator of a variety of culture tools and…
Read MoreEpisode 4 :: Linda Blanchard, Dana Nourie, Jan Ford :: Virtual Dhamma
Triple Gem of Skeptical Buddhism Online Today’s interview is with the Triple Gem of the virtual secular sangha, Linda Blanchard, Jan Ford, and Dana Nourie. We’ll talk about how they came to have a less religious, but still buddhisty, practice, and the development of the online skeptical buddhist communities on FaceBook and Second Life. Linda…
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