Buddhism Beyond Belief with Susan Piver

The Noble Eightfold Path: Step Two: The Power of Intention

Send a textWhen I first started my own business years ago, I was full of doubt, excitement, fear, and hope, often all at the same time. Out of nowhere, a major opportunity landed in my lap that could have launched everything forward. There was just one problem. I did not respect the work of the person offering it. In this episode, I reflect on that moment and how a single sentence from my meditation teacher changed the way I understand right intention, karma, and the mysterious consequences of our actions.This conversation explores right intention through personal experience and Buddhist teachings, moving from practical self examination to a much larger, more mysterious view of how our actions ripple through the world. I also share a personal story about illness, healing, and what it means to work with karma without knowing how or when it will resolve.HighlightsThe early days of my business and an opportunity that forced a difficult ethical decisionA Tibetan Buddhist teaching that reframed how I think about success and failureWhat right intention really means beyond good outcomesRight view and the radical idea of interconnectednessThe three cycles of Buddhist teaching and how each understands intentionHow our actions move into the world like wave forms, not straight linesA personal story about injury, illness, and how it impacted my view of karmaThree ways to understand right intention in daily lifeLetting go of expectations while still acting with care and responsibilityMusic After PartyI share one of my all time favorites, Bobby Blue Bland’s recording from 1961, Two Steps from the Blues. I talk about why this album is such a turning point in blues and R & B history, and why Bland’s voice remains unforgettable to me. I also reflect on hearing him live while working at Antone’s in Austin, the reverence he inspired, and the joy of recently meeting his son, Rodd Bland, who continues the legacy in his own powerful way.You can also listen here.Watch this episode on videoIf you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.Ask me a questionYou can send your questions via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.Fearless Creativity: A Meditation and Writing Retreat Join me If you enjoyed this episode: Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path. For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me. If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com. Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com Produced by Citizens of Sound Music by: Derek O'Brien©Open Heart Project

The Noble Eightfold Path: Step One: Seeing Clearly

Send us a textIn this episode, I begin a conversation about the Fourth Noble Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path, and its first step, Right View. I review the first three Noble Truths and reflect on how Buddhism is often misunderstood as a tool for stress reduction, when it is actually a profound path of liberation from suffering. I explore how suffering arises not simply from loss or disappointment, but from grasping. I share why Right View is the essential foundation that allows the rest of the path to unfold with coherence and meaning.HighlightsWhy Buddhism is more than mindfulness or stress reductionThe Four Noble Truths and suffering as dissatisfaction rooted in graspingRight View as the foundation of the Noble Eightfold PathRelative and absolute perspectives on loving kindness and non-dualityMeditation as letting go, presence, and opennessMentionsThe Four Noble Truths and The Middle Way: Foundations of the Journey, episode 5 of Buddhism Beyond BeliefThe Four Noble Truths of Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Relationships by Susan PiverThe Heart of Unconditional Love: A Powerful New Approach to Loving-Kindness Meditation by Tulku ThondupThe Play Of Thought by Kyabje Dudjom RinpocheMusicI share a personal story about how Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” changed my life, and I offer the song as this episode’s after party music.You can also listen here.Watch this episode on videoIf you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.Ask me a questionYou can send your questions via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.Fearless Creativity: A Meditation and Writing Retreat Join me at Drala Mountain Center in the Colorado Rockies for Fearless CreativityIf you enjoyed this episode: Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path. For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me. If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com. Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com Produced by Citizens of Sound Music by: Derek O'Brien©Open Heart Project

Strength in a Time of Crisis: What Helps?

Send us a textThis morning, the Open Heart Project Sangha gathered as we do every day to meditate and reflect together. The group was larger than usual, a clear sign of how shaken many of us are by what is happening in the United States right now.I began by saying there is nothing I can offer that makes this moment acceptable or less horrifying. There is no teaching that explains it away. What we can do is see and feel the suffering clearly, without denial or false comfort.We talked about the exposure of cruelty and hypocrisy, while also remembering that this country has held real goodness alongside real harm. I explored the three poisons that distort our response to crisis: grasping, delusion, and aggression. Although we must act and resist, aggression only breeds more aggression. Now what?Drawing on Buddhist teachings about the realms of existence, I focused on the human realm as the place where we can wake up and respond with sanity. During times that I cannot defeat my enemies, I can still strengthen my friends. That shift restores strength and energy.I closed by underscoring the importance of continuing to imagine a sane and compassionate world, no matter how far off it may feel. Without the ability to envision what is possible, we lose the ability to create it. We dream on behalf of others.Highlights:Why this moment calls for community rather than answersThe danger of responding from grasping, delusion, or aggressionRemembering both the harm and the goodness in our collective historyThe human realm as a source of strength and responsibilityStrengthening friends when you cannot defeat enemiesWhy imagining a better world is crucialMixing sanity into situations of profound crueltyMusicFor the after party, I share “Say It’s Not So” by Angela Strehli, my favorite female blues singer. The track features Derek O’Brien, who also composed the music for this podcast. This song is deeply personal to me, and it cuts straight to the heart every time.You can also listen here.Watch this episode on videoIf you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.Ask me a questionYou can send your questions via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.Fearless Creativity: A Meditation and Writing Retreat Join me at Drala Mountain Center in the Colorado Rockies for Fearless Creativity, a meditation and writing retreat offeIf you enjoyed this episode: Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path. For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me. If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com. Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com Produced by Citizens of Sound Music by: Derek O'Brien©Open Heart Project

Four Karmas: Actions That Protect the Mind

Send us a textIn this episode, I introduce the Four Karmas—pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying—as practical actions for meeting chaos, conflict, and confusion without losing clarity or heart. In this Buddhist framework, karma means action, not fate. These are not strategies for getting your way, but ways to protect the mind, deepen compassion, and interrupt ignorance in real time.I also explore the “ Māras ,” the obstacles that can distort each karma, and why wisdom sometimes needs to be gentle—and sometimes fierce. Drawing on the story of the Buddha under the Bodhi tree, I reflect on how distraction, shame, and aggression show up in our own lives, and how these four actions help us meet them skillfully.HighlightsKarma as action, not reward or punishmentThe Four Karmas as tools for clarity and compassionHow wisdom can be peaceful or wrathfulKnowing when to add, wait, attract, or let goThe Four Karmas (Briefly)Pacifying: Settling down to see clearly, often through deep listening rather than fixing. Obstacle: Spiritual bypassing.Enriching: Adding what genuinely increases vitality and connection, based on what’s actually needed. Obstacle: Accumulating without applying.Magnetizing: Receptivity—allowing insight, creativity, and help to come toward you. Obstacle: Emotional reactivity that obscures perception.Destroying: Ending or pruning what no longer serves, without aggression. Obstacle: Total shutdown instead of skillful cutting.Closing MusicI end the episode with “Waloyo Yamoni (We Overcome the Wind)” by Christopher Tin—a piece that feels vast, direct, and deeply human.If you found this episode meaningful, please share it or leave a review. It truly helps.During this episode, I mentioned my upcoming retreat on meditation and writing, Fearless Creativity. You can learn more here.Watch this episode on videoIf you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.Ask me a questionYou can send your questions via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.Learn to Teach MeditationThe Open Heart Project Meditation Teacher Training returns this January.If you enjoyed this episode: Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path. For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me. If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com. Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com Produced by Citizens of Sound Music by: Derek O'Brien©Open Heart Project

Three Qualities of Awakening

Send us a textAs we move into a new year, how do we deepen our understanding: of ourselves, our relationships, and our spiritual practice? In this episode, we explore the three essential steps of learning in the Buddhist tradition: hearing, contemplating, and meditating.Highlights:Why the first step, hearing, is more than listening: it’s opening to what’s being offered without judgment or projection.How contemplating allows teachings to be tested, weighed, and integrated through experience rather than accepted blindly.What it means to meditate in the deepest sense: living a teaching, letting it shape your being.A story from a meditation student learning to let go of constant vigilance and just breathe.Reflections on Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness and integrating wisdom into daily life.If you want to learn something deeply—whether meditation, spiritual practice, or life itself—these three steps are your path.Podcast After Party – Song Feature:We celebrate music as a form of transmission and joy with a performance by the legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum (also spelled Oum Kalsoum, Om Kalsoum, Umm Kalsoum, Om Kulthoum, Oum Kulthoum, and Umm Kolthoum). Her song Lelat Hob (Night of Love) showcases the power of live music, devotion, and cultural adoration. For the full version of this song, you can listen here.Watch this episode on videoIf you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.Ask me a questionYou can send your questions via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.Learn to Teach MeditationThe Open Heart Project Meditation Teacher Training returns this January.We begin January 17th, 2026. I teach every session. It’s intimate, rigorous, supportive—and it’s for anyone who wants to help others work with their own minds and hearts.Click here to learn more & sign up.If you enjoyed this episode: Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path. For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me. If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com. Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com Produced by Citizens of Sound Music by: Derek O'Brien©Open Heart Project