Doug has Covid, Jon has a bad microphone, but they're chatting about the Buddha and voting anyway, as well as Buddhist practice and voting. What does 2024 bring for us in the voting booth, and how should we frame our political choices?

To register to vote, and check voter registration in the US:
https://vote.gov/

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A recent podcast series at the Financial Times discussed serious problems several meditators have had at one popular ten-day Vipassana retreat system. Jon and Doug discuss this and some important work by Brown psychology professor Dr. Willoughby Britton.

Links:
The Retreat — an investigative podcast into the perils of meditation [Financial Times] -- https://www.ft.com/content/b3ec8e57-5cf9-4f96-9267-56c3bcd9c102
The Hidden Risks of Meditation — Dr. Willoughby Britton | The Tim Ferriss Show — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdmvoX1RZWA

Cheetah House: Help for Meditators In Distress -- https://www.cheetahhouse.org/

Book: Trauma Sensitive MIndfulness, David Treleaven

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With Jon's impending move to Chicago Jon and Doug discuss the beneficial practice of renunciation. What do we really need?

Video: George Carlin talks about "stuff" -- https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLac

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Silence is so important to Buddhist practice. Jon and Doug discuss how silence impacts practice as well as some of the early tradition around silence.

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How do we bring our Buddhist practice into our relationship with the arts and entertainment? The early Buddhist teachings, in particular, seem to look askance at this area of life. Doug and Jon discuss this interesting topic and how they integrate practice into their own interests in the arts.

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The Bodhisattva ideal really blossomed in the Mahayana traditions but the idea of the Bodhisattva was certainly present in the earlier traditions. Perhaps not in name but certainly in expression. When the Buddha spoke about himself before his Enlightenment, he referred to himself as a Bodhisattva. And, of course, the fact that he taught for 40 years after his Awakening points to his desire to awaken all beings. But how is the ideal expressed in us?

Two papers:
Bhikkhu Anālayo, Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal — https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/genesis-bodhisattva.pdf

Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas” — https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/arahantsbodhisattvas.html

Videos from Doug's Dharma:
What is a Bodhisattva? -- https://youtu.be/bs1XtNrNXpM
The Early History of the Bodhisattva Ideal -- https://youtu.be/ECI_3ytgxcQ

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Stream-entry, once returning, non-returning, and arahantship are the traditional four stages of progress along the Buddhist path. What do they mean? Are they historical? Are they necessary for us to know about? Jon and Doug dive into this topic, which always raises questions about the value and the pitfalls.

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The Buddha described humanity as tangled like string, knotted like a ball of thread. This tangle is a result of not seeing clearly the dependent co-arising— paticca-samupadda-- of phenomena. This is one of the most important of the early teachings. It can be seen through the lens of individual dissatisfaction and of course, through social, political and cultural dissatisfaction.

Doug and Jon explore the teaching and how we bring it into our practice.

Dhivan Thomas Jones's book: This Being, That Becomes

Videos:
Playlist on dependent origination at Doug's Dharma: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0akoU_OszRjcEvO6Gt2MSKF-u7Y8XaNc

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Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/