Everyday Buddhism: Making Everyday Better Wendy Shinyo Haylett

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 is infused with humor, science, and the realities of the modern world.
Scott is a new media artist whose installations have been incorporated into museums, public spaces, and performances. He has collaborated with musicians and filmmakers including Björk, Philip Glass, Beck, and James Cameron, and his work can be found in the collections of New York MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other institutions.
Listen as we talk about Scott's new book and how you really can build positive habits founded on ancient Buddhist practices, leading to a happy mind. And if you're a skeptic, no problem, Scott has you covered. Check out our conversation and I'm convinced you'll want more!
In this conversation, we talk about:
The Lam-Rim, a 1000-year old Tibetan teaching tradition that is as effective today in training a happy mind. Analytical meditation—a practice both Scott and I credit for significant transformation in our lives … A practice of pointing the mind at the mind, training our thinking to be a friend and not a distraction.

Buddha Nature—What is it? And so much more…  
Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link):
How to Train a Happy Mind: A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment
 
Learn more about Scott:
https://www.snibbe.com
 
A Skeptics Path to Enlightenment YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcf_cNAKoiIuGilQYL51ow
 
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https://www.instagram.com/ssnibbe/
 
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https://twitter.com/snibbe
 
Scott Snibbe LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/snibbe/



 
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If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here:
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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 others. The conversations showcase Venerable Dhammananda's wise and warm teaching style.
In this conversation we talk about Venerable Dhammananda and her amazing and inspirational life journey from academic to activist to spiritual leader. She is an advocate of serious reform for monastic and lay Buddhists, including—of course—the reestablishment of the Bhikkhuni order. She also speaks out, urging all genders and classes to be advocates of equality for women.
We also talk about some of the direct teachings found in 10 chapters of Cindy's book, This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkuni Dhammananda. Teachings that include meditation, forgiveness, loneliness, grasping, uncertainty, and ageing—among others.
 
Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link):
This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkhuni Dhammananda
 
Learn more about Cindy Rasicot:
https://cindyrasicot.com/
 
Learn more about Venerable Dhammananada and her monastery, Sondhammakalayni Temple:
https://cindyrasicot.com/about-venerable-dhammanda/
 
https://www.songdhammakalyani.com/
 
Casual Buddhism YouTube:
www.youtube.com/@casualbuddhism
 
Cindy Rasicot Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/cindy.rasicot
 
Cindy Rasicot Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/cindy.rasicot.author
 

 
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:
https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism
 
Join the Everyday Sangha:
Join the Everyday Sangha
 
Join the Membership Community:
https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity
 
If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here:
https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations

 

Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism
 
Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch:

https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism
 
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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 16 sangha members who are going for refuge and receiving Dharma names in the non-sectarian, Mahayana lineage of Bright Dawn Buddhism/Kubose Dharma Legacy this Saturday, on June 1st in a special TiSarana Ceremony. These 16 will officially take refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
So, congratulations to the those 16 taking refuge and a huge thank you to the Everyday Sangha for being such a special group!
I think many connect with the *jewel* or treasure aspect of the Buddha and Dharma, but Sangha? The Buddha taught the Dharma as an experiential path. His advice is to try it for ourselves, rather than taking his or anyone else's word for it. 
It is Sangha that moves Buddhism beyond a study or philosophy to something lived and alive. But you have to practice or it doesn't work. Sangha is where you perfect your practice with others doing the same thing.
We come just as we are. Working on practices, not being people who are already perfect. The Sangha accepts us and supports us so that we can become more honest with ourselves and others. We learn to accept ourselves AND others. We accept our humanity, together.

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, beginning his studies in Bodh Gaya, India, and later spending 2-1/2 years living as an renunciate at branch monasteries in the Ajahn Chah Thai Forest lineage. He is a long-time student of Joseph Goldstein, Michele McDonald, and Ajahn Sucitto, and is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher’s Council.
Oren is also the author of the best-seller Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication and two books on teaching mindfulness to adolescents: The Mindful Schools Curriculum for Adolescents and Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Teens.
His teaching has reached people around the world through online communication courses and guided meditations, combining classical Buddhist training with the accessible language of secular mindfulness
In our conversation we talked about, among other things:
How our hearts REALLY are made for these times … Our hearts were made to awaken and if we can practice—in small steps—turning toward suffering, we enter a portal to transformation. How the world shapes our hearts in ways not best for us and how we can practice shaping our own hearts. How getting in touch with our true values will guide us through these challenging times. How we need to consciously "change the channel" of our thoughts to be more aligned with our true values.  
Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link):
Your Heart Was Made for This
 
Learn more about Oren Jay Sofer, his teaching, courses, and special events:
https://www.orenjaysofer.com/
 
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/orenjaysofervideo
 
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/orenjaysofer
 
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/OrenJaySofer/
 
X/Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/OrenJaySofer/
 
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/orenjaysofer/
 

 
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:
https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism
 
Join the Everyday Sangha:
Join the Everyday Sangha
 
Join the Membership Community:
https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity
 
If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here:
https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations

 

Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

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 is a Buddhist chaplain at Deerfield Academy, a Buddhist Adviser at Yale University, and faculty member of the Shogaku Zen Institute.
Kanji has been a guest speaker or workshop facilitator at Harvard’s Center for World Religions, Yale Divinity School, the International Conference on Socially Engaged Buddhism, the Omega Institute, and elsewhere.
In addition to Appalachian Zen, he is the author of Enlightened Contemporaries: Francis, Dogen & Rumi—Three Great Mystics of the Thirteenth Century and Why They Matter Today and has recently finished writing a new book about his personal experience of spirituality and wellness called The Whole Earth is Medicine: Science, Zen, and Healing Body and Mind in a Journey through Cancer. He has also published two volumes of poems, The Constant Yes of Things and Paintings of Rice Cakes Satisfy Hunger.
In his book, Appalachian Zen, Kanji takes us on a 30-year journey through his search to find his "true home" in lilting and lyrical prose and poems that move the story from Appalachia through academia—constantly asking: What is home? What is this? What is life? Death? What is real? … The questions Buddhism never answer but continue to ask.
In our conversation we talked about, among other things:
-Childhood memories
-The search for self and the search for losing the self
-Being a foolish being and Shin Buddhism
-The contrast between Western and Eastern philosophical and spiritual worldviews
-Mystical Christianity and the similarity to the direct experience of the sacred in Buddhism
-Buddhist lay ministers as compared to Buddhist monastics, priest, and the "guru model"
-Kanji's teaching of "Be Clear, Be Kind, Be Present"
 
Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link):
Appalachian Zen
 
Buy the book from the publisher:
Appalachian Zen
 
Learn more about Steve Kanji Ruhl, his teaching, spiritual guidance, and special events:
http://www.stevekanjiruhl.com
 

 

 
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Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:
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Join the Everyday Sangha
 
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If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here:
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Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

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 wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings.
Rebecca has two decades of Dharma and meditation teaching experience, leading retreats or teaching at Buddhist centers in North America, Europe, and Asia. She has been featured in several Buddhist publications, including Tricycle, Lion's Roar, and Buddhadharma. 

She is also one of the founding board members of The GenX Buddhist Teachers Sangha where she continues to serve as a board member. Rebecca is a sociology professor and lives with her husband in New Jersey.
In Allow Joy into Our Hearts, Rebecca wrote about Chan Practice and she continues to teach the path of Chan Buddhism in the book we will discuss today, Illumination. In Illumination, she dives deeper into the Chan meditation of Silent Illumination and deeper still into what causes our suffering and how Silent Illumination can help us identify and help decrease the causes of our suffering.
In her book, Rebecca takes us on a fascinating, deep-dive into the method of no method in silent illumination and guides us in the mechanics of this type of practice. In our conversation we talked about, among other things:
How, in our meditation, we turn thoughts into enemies, rather than allowing thoughts and feelings to be fully experienced and felt …

About how tend to try to "achieve" as meditators, as if a sport …

And about the modes of operation: craving, aversion, trance, problem-solving, intellectualizing, quietism, and forgetting-emptiness …  
Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link):
Illumination: A Guide to the Method of No-Method
 
Learn more about Rebecca Li and her Dharma talks, guided meditation offerings, and retreats:
https://rebeccali.org/
 

 

 
*Special Everyday Buddhism Substack / Words From My Teachers podcast subscription promo code:
Redeem by 3/31/2024 for 20% subscription for 1 year!
 
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:
https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism
 
Join the Everyday Sangha:
Join the Everyday Sangha
 
Join the Membership Community:
https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity
 
Register for the Introduction to Buddhism Course (by February 22, 2024):
Register for the Introduction to Buddhism course
 
If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here:
https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations

 

Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism