Everyday Buddhism: Making Everyday Better
Religion & Spirituality:Buddhism
In the spirit of the holiday season, I am re-releasing a popular episode from 2019: The Boundless Heart - Bodhicitta. It is my wish that we all try to practice being a Bodhisattva during this holiday season … Starting with me! ;)
Stating the obvious, it's been a rough 7 years or so. Years marked by war, pandemic, social injustice, tribalism and, overall, something called "high conflict" made popular by Amanda Ripley's book of the same name, where conflict is the ruling energy and that leads to the stress, fear, anxiousness, and despair most of us have been feeling. She writes:
The challenge of our time is to mobilize great masses of people to make change without dehumanizing one another. Not just because it’s morally right but because it works. Lasting change, the kind that seeps into people’s hearts, has only ever come about through a combination of pressure and good conflict. Both matter. That’s why, over the course of history, nonviolent movements have been more than twice as likely to succeed as violent ones.
It with this in mind I offer the replay of this 2019 episode, a reflection on bodhicitta, the good heart—something we can all practice even if we don't participate in nonviolent movements or the "good conflict" Amanda Ripley refers to.
I know it's been far too easy for me to react in anger when I'm really just afraid and to dismiss instead of disagreeing, which is a dehumanizing activity. So, in the spirit of holiday peace, good will, and reflection, I will remember the bodhicitta.
Bodhicitta characterizes the path of a Mahayana practitioner. It is Bodhicitta that creates a Bodhisattva and it is Bodhicitta that ultimately creates a Buddha.
In Tibetan, compassion is translated as the nobility or greatness of heart which implies wisdom, discernment, empathy, unselfishness, and abundant kindness. Bodhicitta is compassion working with a mind awakened by right view. It is the joining of compassion and emptiness.
We'll examine how to use the Four Bodhisattva Vows to supercharge Right Intention with Right View and discover the same spacious freedom of a flower that blooms despite its circumstances.
Please join me as you listen to this "best of" episode.
Everyday Buddhism 87 - Untangled with Koshin Paley Ellison
BONUS - Chat With Everyday Buddhism 1
Everyday Buddhism 85 - What Could Go Right with Emma Varvaloucas
BIRTHDAY BONUS PODCAST: Impermanence with Kaspa Thompson (Inspired by Shan Tao)
BIRTHDAY BONUS PODCAST: The Five Remembrances with Bradley Jinaiyo Nussbaum
Everyday Buddhism 82 - Birthday Bonus Intro: Impermanence
Everyday Buddhism 81 - Navigating Grief and Loss with Kimberly Brown
Everyday Buddhism 80 - Bodhi Day: Best of Everyday Buddhism Episodes
Everyday Buddhism 79 - Luminous Darkness with Deborah Eden Tull
Everyday Buddhism 78 - The Diamonds Within Us With Melissa Moore
Everyday Buddhism 77 - Shin Buddhism with Rev. Marvin Harada
BONUS PODCAST: Contemplation - Loved Just As I Am
Everyday Buddhism 76 - Losing My Hair: Alopecia, An Uninvited Teacher
Everyday Buddhism 75 - Beyond the Cushion with Jack Huynh
Everyday Buddhism 74 - My Relationship With Troublesome Buddhas
Everyday Buddhism 73 - Confined to Align with Ashley Lyn Olson
Everyday Buddhism 72 - Walking on Pins and Needles with Arlene Faulk
SPECIAL Intro to Ep.72 and 73 - Dynamic Acceptance of What Seems Impossible
BONUS PODCAST PREVIEW: Contemplation - Not Knowing
Everyday Buddhism 71 - Why Nonsense Makes the Most Sense
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