Karuna Cayton

Karuna Cayton speaks with us about his new book, The Misleading Mind: How We Create Our Own Problems and How Buddhist Psychology Can Help Us Solve Them.

East meets West. In our global society, that interaction is happening more and more, and the lines between the two are no longer so straight and defined as they once were. There are many reasons for this, of course including the benefits of the digital age in its ability to share information with a geographically dispersed audience. But more than that, it is the people who do the practice and integrate traditional teaching with modern life, that carry the banner of this merging of seemingly different approaches.

For over twenty years, Karuna Cayton has worked as a psychotherapist, business psychologist, and coach to help people achieve a more balanced life. He is the founder of the Karuna Group, a practice in Soquel, California, dedicated to applying Buddhist psychology’s universal principles to transform mental well-being and improve organizational cultures. Karuna spent thirteen years in a Buddhist monastery in Nepal, and is now an active participant in the global Buddhist community.

So, sit back, relax, and have a nice Bigelow English Teatime.

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:: Discuss this episode ::

Quotes

“Because we constantly and immediately superimpose our interpretation upon experience, we never really experience things as they are. We experience things as we are.” — Karun Cayton, The Misleading Mind. Or maybe Anais Nin 🙂

“Similarly, when a terrible accident occurs, we are sometimes asked to see it as “God’s will” or “punishment for our sins” or the workings of “karma.” Not only does this fail to explain events, but it overlooks the real problem: how we should deal with our feelings of grief, rage, and disbelief.” — Karun Cayton, The Misleading Mind

“The rather unconventional, “in your face” Buddhist approach of mind training is to courageously confront all of our dirty little secrets and difficult emotions whenever they come up until we’ve changed the nature of our relationship with them. Then, instead of being bossed around by our worst tendencies and disturbed emotions, we become the boss of our own mind.” — Karun Cayton, The Misleading Mind

“… mind training is not necessarily a religious or spiritual practice. It does not rest on accepting certain religious beliefs or adopting particular terminology. It can be used successfully as an entirely secular practice, or it can be incorporated as a deliverate spiritual practice within any religion.” — Karun Cayton, The Misleading Mind

“There is no religious dogma to follow, and no need, or desire, for the reader to become Buddhist in order to apply these ideas and achieve a highly purposeful and rich life.” — Karun Cayton, The Misleading Mind

“… training our mind and healing ourselves are, I would argue, the only way to bring lasting change to the world around us. We can only do this when we drop blame and simply become accountable for subduing and training our minds and mental attitudes.” — Karun Cayton, The Misleading Mind

Books

Web Links

• The Karuna Group
• Potential Project

 

Music for This Episode

Shakuhachi Meditations

The music heard in the middle of the podcast is from Rodrigo Rodriguez’s CD, Shakuhachi Meditations. The tracks used in this episode are:

• Eleven Waterfalls