Everyday Buddhism: Making Everyday Better

In this episode, I share my journey into baldness caused by Alopecia Areata. September is Alopecia Awareness month, so I'm happy to share this episode now. No matter what our hair looks like or changes to, we are never satisfied. Hair seems one of the most prominent marks of our self. We seem uniquely attached to our hair as self.

My hair loss first started in mid-December 2021, then paused and seemed to start growing back, then in April it was on a steady downward trend. And by July, I began to make peace with the fact that I was losing so much hair there wasn't much of a point in trying to hide it, so I shaved it all off.

This was a process of working to accept things as they are, called Arugamama, from Morita Therapy in Japanese Psychology.

Listen to this episode to see how I've come to accept my new bald self. *****************

Book, Diamond Sutra by Red Pine, mentioned in this podcast: The Diamond Sutra - Translation & Commentary by Red Pine

My book, mentioned in this podcast: Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices For Real Change

*****************

Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits! https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism

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 Concept of Religion, but Clark is also the author of Seeds From a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey, Now Is the Hour of Her Return: Poems In Praise of the Divine Mother Kali, co-author, with Perdita Finn, of The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary, and many other books on poetry, spirituality, and ecology. He is the co-founder of an international, non-sectarian rosary fellowship with members across the world.

I invited him on the podcast to talk about Nichiren Buddhism, Soka Gakkai, and chanting, in general. It is a subject I haven't covered on this podcast and the timing was sparked by the recent passing of Tina Turner who was a very public Soka Gakkai practitioner.

Although the focus of the conversation began with the Soka Gakkai, it became a fascinating journey to many other areas, due to Clark's wide reach and his spiritual depth.

Among many other things, we talked about the folk traditions within all religions. Or, as Clark said, "there is always a religion within a religion." ...

About how the Soka Gakkai became virtually the only ethnically and racially diverse Buddhist organization religion in the world...

About why Clark states that spirituality needs to be about "ecology not theology" and that the reason the thread that runs through his spiritual experience IS ecology and the folk traditions...

And, for fellow Pure Land and Shin practitioners, about how the Pure Land tradition is the only tradition deeply grounded in ecology...

About Haiku...

About the divine feminine, the Divine Mother, and the rosary as a spiritual and NOT a religious practice ... and is, essentially, a tantric mantra practice...

About the 12-Steps program...

About chanting and how it gives voice to one's intentions, dreams, or hopes ... and is the most ancient form of spiritual practice...

Listen and enjoy the journey...

Learn more about Clark: https://wayoftherose.org/ https://tricycle.org/author/clarkstrand/ Buy the books: Waking the Buddha: How the Most Dynamic and Empowering Buddhist Movement in History Is Changing Our Concept of Religion Seeds from a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey: 25th Anniversary Edition: Revised & Expanded The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarkstrand/ https://www.instagram.com/way_of_the_rose/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clarkstrand/ Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism 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

In this podcast I'm talking with Noah Rasheta of the Secular Buddhism podcast and author of the books: Secular Buddhism and No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions About Core Buddhist Teachings.

Noah has a great story to share about a crisis of faith, existential angst, and a wondering if everything was falling apart. You won't be disappointed in his story of how he discovers how you can be comfortable in uncertainty through his exploration of Buddhist teachings and practice. You can find out more about Noah on his website: https://secularbuddhism.com/

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.

Book by Amanda Ripley referenced in podcast (Amazon affiliate link): High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism 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 Subscribe to my premium Substack feed and podcast, Words From My Teachers: Subscribe to "Words From My Teachers" 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

When you consciously try to build mindfulness into your day, what you notice is that sometimes NOT speaking and NOT acting is the best possible action ... the RIGHT Action.

Our culture, we are hard-wired to respond to everything that happens to us, or around us, with either activity or speech. It is nearly impossible to deprogram ourselves from that. Even in situations where there is absolutely nothing we can do, we still impulsively try to do or say something. But sometimes non-action is the smartest action. Certainly mindfulness is.

As my social media promotion for this podcast expressed for Lao Tzu: "Do you have the patience to wait...till your mud settles and the water is clear?"

We don’t have to act immediately, just because we have an internal reaction. We can pause, not act, breathe. We can watch this urge to act irrationally arise, then let it go away. Sometimes that takes a few seconds, other times it means we should remove ourselves politely from the situation and let ourselves cool down before we respond.