Who am I? From the Buddhist perspective, there’s a systematic way of asking this question of who you are in the form of a meditation on the ultimate nature of the self, or "emptiness." This meditation is said to be the strongest antidote to our disturbing states of mind and a cause for greater self-awareness, happiness, and connection with others. Episode 43: Guided Meditation — The Interdependent Self From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Ins...
Mar 21, 2023•44 min
Are you your body? Are you your mind? Are you a collection of thoughts, memories, and neural connections that could be uploaded into a computer to live forever? Or are you an old-fashioned soul? This episode probes the nature of the self using the Buddhist notion of emptiness, searching for the partless, independent, unchanging "I" that ordinarily appears to us, and finding a self that's far richer and interconnected with reality and with others. Episode 42: Who Am I? From August 28 to 31, Scott...
Mar 14, 2023•37 min
Last year I had the privilege to participate in a dialogue on compassion with my teacher, Venerable Sangye Khadro who is also well known by her Western name Venerable Kathleen McDonald. Venerable Sangye Khadro is the author of How to Meditate and Awakening the Kind Heart. She's a very active Buddhist teacher and a fully ordained nun, which is the highest level of ordination for a Buddhist monastic. It was wonderful to hear her share wisdom on this topic, touching on many practical ways to deal w...
Mar 07, 2023•52 min•Ep. 129
This is a very special episode in which I had the chance to introduce two of my heroes: Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman and science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson. They shared a lively conversation together that you now have the chance to eavesdrop on (with their permission). In their dialogue, they talk about when violence is legitimate in situations like the Tibetan or Ukrainian invasions, their personal relationships to the Dalai Lama, and how we might make Kim Stanley Robinson's fiction...
Feb 28, 2023•35 min•Ep. 128
The Buddhist understanding of how things exist, called emptiness, breaks objects down into parts, causes, and a mind that bundles them into the illusion of a solid, singular, unchanging entity. When we apply this analysis to an iPhone, we see that it is made up of almost all the elements in the periodic table, and is connected to thousands of hours of hard labor and the entire history of our civilization, planet, and universe. Episode 39. The Interdependent Nature of Reality From August 28 to 31...
Feb 21, 2023•28 min
Buddhist teacher Emily Hsu leads an analytical meditation that explores the inner landscape—texture—of the mind and the differences between constructive and unconstructive mental states. Episode 127: Guided Meditation: Exploring the Texture of the Mind From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a ...
Feb 14, 2023•26 min•Ep. 127
I've known Emily Hsu since she first started teaching Buddhist philosophy and meditation at the Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhism 15 years ago in San Francisco. She's a lucid, humble, and kind teacher who speaks from both deep education and rich personal experience. Emily Hsu completed the seven year FPMT Masters Program at Institute Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy in 2004—a condensed version of the Tibetan Buddhist Geshe studies curriculum—which qualifies her to teach subjects normally taught...
Feb 07, 2023•55 min•Ep. 126
Objects around us ordinarily appear as if they are solid, singular, and separate from us. However, both science and the Buddhist understanding of reality show us that as we examine things more closely, they exist far more subtly and richly than they appear. This meditation focuses on an object most of us have strong feelings toward—our smartphone—breaking it apart into its myriad parts, and giving us a meditative glimpse of how it truly exists. This episode is the second in a series exploring th...
Jan 31, 2023•32 min
The Buddhist view on reality, called emptiness, combines the awe of scientific knowledge with the inner, experiential knowledge that comes from meditation and critical reasoning to arrive at a feeling of interconnectedness. The first in a seven-art series on Buddhism's view of dependent origination looks at how objects exist using the example of that most modern wonder and addiction, our smartphone. Episode 37: How Things Exist From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditatio...
Jan 24, 2023•30 min
Buddhist counselor Richard Prinz leads an analytical meditation on equanimity to develop compassion, introspection, love, and non-attachment for teenagers and their parents. Episode 125: Meditation on Equanimity for Parents and Teens with Richard Prinz From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a ...
Jan 17, 2023•18 min•Ep. 125
Teenagers face a unique and overwhelming set of problems today, from climate change to social media to isolation induced by the pandemic. Richard Prinz is a marriage, child, and family counselor who has worked as a teen counselor in the Cupertino, California public schools for over 20 years. He's also a longtime Buddhist practitioner and a good friend of mine who served as the director of the Vajrapani Institute Buddhist retreat center in Boulder Creek when His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, came to ...
Jan 10, 2023•43 min•Ep. 124
A guided meditation on “universalizing,” a Tibetan Buddhist mind training technique for transforming our everyday problems and pleasures through love and compassion. Episode 32. Guided Meditation: Universalizing our Problems and Pleasures Two years ago, we created A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment to share the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditation in a form that requires no belief beyond what science currently accepts. The first 40 episodes of the podcast gradually go through ...
Jan 03, 2023•16 min
One of the most powerful Tibetan Buddhist mind training techniques is universalizing, a practice that transforms everyday pains and pleasures into profound meditations. From arguing with the family to stuffing yourself with a delicious meal, life’s problems and pleasures can bring anger, guilt, and sadness. The meditation technique of “universalization” transform our everyday experiences of pleasure and pain into engines of love and compassion. Episode 31. Universalizing: Transforming Pain and P...
Dec 27, 2022•25 min
Francesca Hampton leads a loving-kindness meditation suitable for both children and adults alike that helps the mind become calm, loving, and clear. Episode 123: Guided Meditation for Kids From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of...
Dec 19, 2022•16 min•Ep. 123
Francesca Hampton is a writer and lifelong Tibetan Buddhist practitioner who's written a wonderful new children's book on meditation for kids called Leo Learns to Meditate . As a parent myself, I've found it hard to find resources like these, so if you are a parent, I think you'll get a lot out of this episode. Even if you're not, I think you'll find Francesca's advice on meditation—that comes from a lifetime of experience—useful in your own practice, as she talks about how to cultivate concentr...
Dec 13, 2022•35 min•Ep. 122
A 15-minute guided meditation on compassion: the wish to take away others’ suffering. Episode 29. Guided Compassion Meditation Two years ago, we created A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment to share the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditation in a form that requires no belief beyond what science currently accepts. The first 40 episodes of the podcast gradually go through all of these topics, in order, beginning with appreciating the gift of our life and our place in the universe, a...
Dec 06, 2022•17 min
Compassion is starting to rival mindfulness as the next most popular up-and-coming form of secular meditation. But what is compassion? Compassion, from the Buddhist perspective, is not just empathizing with others’ suffering, but actively wishing to take it away. Episode 28. What Is Compassion? Two years ago, we created A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment to share the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditation in a form that requires no belief beyond what science currently accepts. T...
Nov 29, 2022•27 min
As we enjoy the pleasures of our Thanksgiving meals in the U.S., this guided meditations shows how can we use pleasure in our meditation practice. Buddhism offers specific techniques for meditating on pleasure as a way to deepen our qualities of concentration, fearlessness, loving-kindness, and even our understanding of emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality. Episode 85: Guided Meditation on Pleasure Episode 84: Pleasure and Buddhism: Food, Sex and Netflix on the Path to Enlightenment From Au...
Nov 22, 2022•24 min
Professor Robert Thurman, who the New York Times calls “the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism” is back in this week's episode to talk about his wonderful new book Wisdom Is Bliss. Learn why the Buddha was an educator and scientist, not a religious prophet; and why Buddhism isn't a belief system, but a direct experience that reveals the pure beauty and joy of reality itself. Episode 121: Robert Thurman: Wisdom Is Bliss From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditatio...
Nov 15, 2022•44 min
A guided meditation on love, or loving-kindness, the expansive form of love wishing happiness not only to friends and family but to all beings everywhere including our enemies. In the language of Buddhism, metta or maitri. Episode 26. Guided Meditation on Love Two years ago, we created A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment to share the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditation in a form that requires no belief beyond what science currently accepts. The first 40 episodes of the podcast...
Nov 08, 2022•23 min
Love is complex in our culture, tied up with finding a single person to satisfy our huge list of needs and dreams who we then grant the exclusive gift of our affection. But love—loving-kindness from the Buddhist perspective—is simpler, free from attachment. It's wishing others to be happy. Episode 25. What Is Love? Two years ago, we created A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment to share the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditation in a form that requires no belief beyond what science...
Nov 01, 2022•22 min
Rob Preece leads a Buddhist tantra meditation on Green Tara. This powerful feminine figure is an emanation of our own potential for compassionate, wisdom energy. Episode 120: Tantric Meditation on Compassion and Wisdom From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in th...
Oct 25, 2022•18 min•Ep. 120
Author and pyschotherapist Rob Preece shares his extensive knowledge on the sensitive topic of Buddhist tantra, the importance of the body in Buddhist practice, how exercise and nature relate to tantric practices, the role of sex in Vajrayana Buddhism, and how we embrace our different dimensions of gender in meditation and everyday life. Rob Preece is the author of many books bridging the Tibetan Buddhist tradition with Western psychology, including The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra , The Wisdom...
Oct 18, 2022•50 min•Ep. 119
The Buddhist meditation on equanimity teaches a technique to eliminate bias and expand our love and concern from family and friends to strangers and even enemies. It tames our fierce attachment to loved ones and our anger toward enemies for a stabler, happier mind and a more just and equitable world. Episode 23: Guided Meditation: Transforming Bias with Equanimity From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxi...
Oct 11, 2022•20 min
In everyday life we ’ re torn between fierce attachment to our loved ones and anger at those that give us trouble. But Buddhism, democracy, and social justice tell us that all people deserve the same rights and freedoms: we ’ re all equal and we all deserve happiness. The Buddhist meditation on equanimity, applied to our everyday relationships and the painful daily news, teaches us a technique of “ spiritual democracy ” for developing healthy feelings of connection to others — even those we most...
Oct 04, 2022•30 min
Susan Piver leads a breath-awareness meditation on being your authentic self, connecting with yourself through watching your breath and thoughts to open up and discover who you are. This meditation is part two of our interview with her on her new book The Buddhist Enneagram. Episode 118: Being Yourself with Susan Piver From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the de...
Sep 27, 2022•11 min
Bestselling author Susan Piver is a powerful Buddhist teacher who shares her wisdom and guided meditations weekly through her Open Heart Project and community. Her new book is The Buddhist Enneagram in which she helps us understand how differently each of us sees and understands the world. Through her unique Buddhist take on the Enneagram's nine different personality types, Susan shares how understanding our differences can lead to deeper and more compassionate connections with our partners, col...
Sep 20, 2022•44 min•Ep. 117
Dostoevsky once said, “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.” This is the point of meditating on renunciation: to gain a clear-eyed sense of our state of mind right now, with many moments of frustration and anger and impatience and craving: feelings that we'd rather be free from. And turning away from these delusions toward liberation, a the true source of refuge that we can find within our own mind. Episode 18. Guided Meditation - Renunciat...
Sep 13, 2022•25 min
What do The Matrix and Jerry Seinfeld have to do with renouncing suffering? Renunciation, the determination to be free, self-compassion, letting go of suffering—in Buddhism these are all the same thing. Episode 17. The Red Pill of Renunciation - Embracing Reality As It Is Two years ago, we created A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment to share the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditation in a form that requires no belief beyond what science currently accepts. The first 40 episodes of...
Sep 06, 2022•28 min
Venerable Amy Miller leads a Buddhist meditation for healing anxiety. This practice helps you create a safe mental space, reconnect to the positive, and relax your body through breathwork and thought-replacement. Episode 116: Healing Anxiety with Buddhist Mind Training Venerable Amy Miller is a Tibetan Buddhist nun and teacher who's managed several Buddhist retreat centers, including the Vajrapani Institute in California and Vermont's Milarepa Center. She's the co-author of Buddhism in a Nutshel...
Aug 30, 2022•19 min•Ep. 116
