This is a special episode announcing the release of my new book, as a Substack serial book: Living Life As It Is: An Honest Narrative of My Challenges Practicing Right View I started writing my second book in 2020. But along came the Covid-19 pandemic and so much after that. So here I am still writing what was to be my second book, focused on Right View. The stumbling block in getting it done was things in life kept changing faster and faster, and I had no idea whether I had any sense of Right V...
Feb 13, 2025•27 min•Ep 114•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I talk with Nate Klemp, PhD. Nate is a bestselling author and formally trained philosopher. He is the author of the new book OPEN: Living With an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World . Nate is also the coauthor of the New York Times Editors’ Choice, The 80/80 Marriage: A New Model for a Happier, Stronger Marriage , and the New York Times Bestseller, Start Here: Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing . He has been featured in The LA Times , The New York Times , The Times London , ...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep 113•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I invited Scott Snibbe to join me for a conversation about Buddhist responses to the anxiety, apprehension, insecurity, fear, dread, anger … and on and on … that some people are feeling now. Scott Snibbe is a twenty-five-year student of Tibetan Buddhism whose teachers include Lama Zopa Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is the author and host of the How to Train a Happy Mind book and podcast. Scott leads meditation classes and retreats worldwide in a style that will bec...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I talk with Natalie Baker. Natalie is a psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher , with more than 30 years of personal practice and 2+ decades of teaching experience. She is the founder of Neurofeedback Training Co. and a practicing psychotherapist in New York City, Natalie blends the wisdom of Buddhist psychology with modern therapeutic techniques, empowering individuals to navigate life's challenges with mindfulness, compassion, and resilience. Natalie teaches from the strength of ...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I talk with Nadia Colburn. Nadia is the author of the poetry books, I Say the Sky and The High Shelf , and her poetry and prose have appeared in more than eighty publications, including The New Yorker , American Poetry Review , T he Kenyon Review , Spirituality & Health , Lion's Roar , and The Yale Review . She holds a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University, is a yoga teacher and serious student of Thich Nhat Hanh, and is the founder of Align Your Story Writing School, which b...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep 110•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I talk with Scott Snibbe, the creator and host of the popular podcast, A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment and the author of the new book, How To Train a Happy Mind, with foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Scott is a twenty-five-year student of Tibetan Buddhism whose teachers include Lama Zopa Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He leads meditation classes and retreats worldwide in a style that will become evident in our upcoming conversation. His light-hearted approach...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I talk with Cindy Rasicot, about her new book, This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkuni Dhammananda. Cindy is an award-winning author of the memoir Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter's Spiritual Quest to Thailand . Cindy also hosted a weekly YouTube series that welcomed people from all walks of life to explore their spiritual practice in conversation with Venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammananda. Guests have included Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Boorstein, Joan Halifax, and many ot...
Jun 18, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast Celebrate the Everyday Sangha by listening to this special bonus re-release of episode 26, Why Sangha? Bringing Buddhism to Life. This re-released episode is the first episode I talked about the Three Treasures, The Three Jewels, or the Triple Gem of Buddhism. Back in April of 2019, I released this episode to announce the launch of our Everyday Sangha. I'm re-releasing it today, in a bow of gratitude to the sangha, which has grown into a wonderful community. I am celebrating the sangha and the 1...
May 31, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I talk with Oren Jay Sofer about his new book, Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity & Love. Oren teaches meditation and communication internationally. He holds a degree in comparative religion from Columbia University and is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for the healing of trauma. Oren has practiced meditation in the early Buddhist tradition since 1997,...
Apr 11, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast Join me for a delightful conversation with Steve Kanji Ruhl about his book, Appalachian Zen: Journeys in Search of True Home, from the American Heartland to the Buddha Dharma , the 2023 Gold Prize winner for Memoir in the Nautilus Book Awards. Steve Kanji is a Zen Buddhist minister ordained in the Zen Peacemaker Order, now teaching independently and instructing Zen students through his Touch the Earth cyber-sangha. Reverend Kanji received his Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University and...
Mar 13, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep 106•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, I welcome back Rebecca Li to talk about her new book, Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No Method . Rebecca and I had a conversation in May of 2021, about her previous book, Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times. Rebecca is a meditation and Dharma teacher in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen and founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community, a Chan Buddhist practice and study community made up of individuals committed to cultivating ...
Feb 14, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast This week, over at my new premium Substack podcast, Words From My Teachers, I released Episode 6, continuing readings from the book, The Center Within by Rev. Gyomay Kubose. In the episode I read the following essays: Middle Way, Water, Purposeless Purpose, No Mind, and How the Buddha Taught. As a special bonus episode for the Everyday Buddhism podcast, I am sharing the reading of the essay Purposeless Purpose. It's a wonderful essay to reflect on, as they all are in The Center Within , but I'm ...
Jan 26, 2024•7 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast As a special bonus episode for the Everyday Buddhism podcast, I am sharing the reading of the essay Purposeless Purpose. It's a wonderful essay to reflect on, as they all are in The Center Within , but I'm releasing it here on the Everyday Buddhism podcast as a companion piece, which you will find in the next episode, 104. But as a special introduction to the bonus episode, I am adding new content in this re-release of an episode I did in June of 2022, called Why Nonsense Makes the Most Sense , ...
Jan 26, 2024•33 min•Ep 103•Transcript available on Metacast 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 t...
Dec 23, 2023•39 min•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast I n this episode of Words From My Teachers, an Everyday Buddhism podcast, I am reading the first five chapters from The Center Within by Rev. Gyomay Kubose: Awareness A Shining Star Buddha Nature and Gassho Buddhism Is Everyday Life Empty-Handed I hope you enjoy these readings and I hope you will take my suggestion and cue to do some reflection at the end of each essay. As my teacher, Rev. Koyo Kubose taught, "Don't just read. Ask yourself how you can use what you heard? How can you add it to yo...
Dec 11, 2023•24 min•Ep 101•Transcript available on Metacast Introducing Words From My Teachers , a premium, weekly Everyday Buddhism podcast. Words From My Teachers features readings from the books written by and about my teachers from the Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism and the Kubose Dharma Legacy … Rev. Gyomay Kubose, Rev. Koyo Kubose, and Haya Akegarasu. This is the first of 2 episodes that will be offered as public podcast episodes … then make sure to sign up to receive them weekly through the Substack link. In this first episode, I will give...
Dec 08, 2023•25 min•Ep 100•Transcript available on Metacast Introducing Words From My Teachers , a premium, weekly Everyday Buddhism podcast. Words From My Teachers features readings from the books written by and about my teachers from the Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism and the Kubose Dharma Legacy … Rev. Gyomay Kubose, Rev. Koyo Kubose, and Haya Akegarasu. I started the Everyday Buddhism podcast in June of 2018 so that I could share the everyday approach to Buddhism that was instilled in me by my teacher Rev. Koyo Kubose and the Bright Dawn Lay ...
Dec 05, 2023•4 min•Ep 99•Transcript available on Metacast What a delight it is to have James Crews joining me for a conversation about the book, The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace & Renewal , which he edited. James is the author of the essay collection, Kindness Will Save the World , and editor of several bestselling poetry anthologies, including The Wonder of Small Things , Healing the Divide , The Path to Kindness , and How to Love the World . He has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition , and in People Magazine , The Boston Globe , The New ...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep 98•Transcript available on Metacast I am very happy to share the wisdom of Gemma Naturkach, a member of our Everyday Buddhism Community and Sangha. I asked Gemma to join me for a conversation on the podcast, after listening to her share her reflections and insight about her experiences as a refugee from Ukraine . It really helps give us a bigger perspective—a perspective from the real-life experience of a woman trying to make sense of everything that happened to her and her family, who were driven from their home and country becau...
Oct 29, 2023•2 hr 37 min•Ep 97•Transcript available on Metacast I am delighted to share this conversation with Roshi Eve Myonen Marko about The Book of Householder Koans: Waking Up in the Land of Attachments, which she co-wrote with Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao. It was released in 2020 but I'm sure glad I finally found it! It's become one of my new favorite books and a real treasure as a practice tool. Roshi Eve Marko is a Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, with her late husband, the renowned Roshi Bernie Glassman. She is also the resident teacher at ...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep 96•Transcript available on Metacast This is a special encore episode with Rev. Marvin Harada, the Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America. It also includes a new introduction highlighting the upcoming study of The Pure Land Sutras in our Everyday Sangha ... and why sutra study is so important in Buddhist practice. Come join us! In the re-released episode with Rev. Harada, we discuss what makes Shin Buddhism a truly "everyday Buddhism" , meditation, mindfulness, chanting, ritual, and about the teachers we have in common and what...
Sep 03, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep 95•Transcript available on Metacast I am thrilled to share this conversation with Rainn Wilson—Yes, that guy … the actor best known for his role as Dwight Schrute in The Office . In the conversation we talk about his recent book, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. Rainn Wilson is a NY Times Bestselling author and three-time Emmy nominated actor best known for his role in NBC’s The Office . Besides his many other comedic and dramatic roles on stage and screen, he is the co-founder of the media company SoulPancake and ho...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep 94•Transcript available on Metacast You're in for a treat in this episode. At least it was a treat for me to have a conversation with Clark Strand. Clark is a former Zen monk, author, Haiku teacher, and communicator of all things spiritual and religious. He has studied and actually practiced within many, many spiritual and religious traditions so he speaks from actual experience. The focus of today's conversation is on his book, Waking the Buddha: How The Most Dynamic and Empowering Buddhist Movement in History is Changing Our Con...
Jul 26, 2023•2 hr 55 min•Ep 93•Transcript available on Metacast A special mini episode, celebrating our interdependence. Listen as I share a reflection on what I call my "Buddhist-Born-Again moment." I finally learned what the Buddha taught. I finally saw that one of—if not THE most important foundations of Buddhist practice—is becoming aware of your inherent ignorance and the limitations of self. It is surprisingly freeing to realize that we are NOT really the masters of our destiny, because the choices we make about the thoughts we think and the actions we...
Jul 04, 2023•10 min•Ep 92•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, I begin with a brief celebration of the 5th anniversary of this podcast and 1 million unique downloads, then move to a reflection on conditioned existence through the lens of climate change and the pandemic. The Buddha taught that we suffer because of change and conditioned existence. In other words, we suffer because we have a nature that is impermanent and and changeable, based on the conditions that affect us. Because of the truth of conditioned existence, there is nothing fo...
Jun 24, 2023•32 min•Ep 91•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I am honored to talk with Satish Kumar , a peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, who has been inspiring global change for more than 50 years. As a child, Satish renounced the world and became a wandering Jain monk. Then in his 20s, he undertook a pilgrimage for peace, walking for two years without money, from India to America, for the cause of nuclear disarmament. Now in his 80s, Satish has devoted his life to campaigning for ecological regeneration, social justice,...
May 31, 2023•49 min•Ep 90•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, I celebrate May Day with a re-release of Episode 13 of this podcast, Right Effort: Joyful Balance . I originally released the episode for Labor Day 2018. I thought back on it during the last couple of weeks as I struggled to be still and relax, while recovering from oral surgery during the first week of warm weather. I was restless because, despite the beautiful smells, sounds, and feelings of the NOW of spring around me, I wasn't really there. My attention was on another time w...
May 01, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep 89•Transcript available on Metacast Don't miss this fascinating episode where I talk with Cindy Rasicot, an award-winning author of Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter's Spiritual Quest to Thailand and creator of Casual Buddhism , a weekly YouTube series that welcomes people from all walks of life to explore their spiritual practice in conversation with Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni. The focus of the conversation is Cindy's spiritual life—especially her relationship with Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, the first woman to be or...
Apr 06, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep 88•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode I talk with Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison, an author, Zen teacher, and Jungian psychotherapist who has devoted his life to the study and application of psychotherapy and Buddhism. In our conversation, we discuss Koshin's latest book, Untangled: Walking The Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion . Among many other things, we talk about: * The needy Cookie Monster in him, myself, and maybe many of you. * The power of perspective in helping you to recognize when your old s...
Mar 08, 2023•54 min•Ep 87•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to a special BONUS podcast, introducing our first "Chat with Everyday Buddhism" YouTube videocast on our Everyday Buddhism YouTube channel and now as an audio version for the podcast. It is our very first episode of "Chat with Everyday Buddhism" where we are planning a series of chats with our sangha leaders, our sangha members, and special guests. In the first chat, join a conversation with Wendy Shinyo Sensei, the host of the Everyday Buddhism podcast and leader of the Everyday Sangha;...
Feb 25, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep 86•Transcript available on Metacast 
