PODCAST EPISODE

“Jizo Bodhisattva,” Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai

Poet and podcast host Shin Yu Pai shares a deeply moving reflection on her first pregnancy, which ended in miscarriage. Unable to grieve with her partner, Pai lacked closure until the mizuko kuyo—a Japanese Buddhist ceremony during which an unborn child’s symbolic remains are enshrined in a statue of Jizo Bodhisattva. Finally, Pai was able to “look grief in the eye and let it go.” She is among the modern canon of women openly sharing their experiences of pregnancy loss, which has historically been kept in the shadows.

—WBA

---

GUIDED MEDITATION

“Mindfulness Meditation with Kimberly Brown 04/06/2023,” The Rubin Museum of Art

Part of the Rubin Museum of Art’s series of guided meditations that each center on a piece from the collection, this installment highlights “Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the Bardo.” Tashi Chodron, the Rubin’s Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, gives an explanation of the painting and Kimberly Brown leads the meditation. Inspired by the thangka’s depiction of the mind at the moment of death and the six possible realms for rebirth, Brown explores themes of impermanence, bravery, and lovingkindness.

—WBA

---

PODCAST EPISODE

“The Dharma of Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Jasmine Wang & Iain S. Thomas,” Ten Percent Happier

In the past year since ChatGPT first became available to the public, the horrors of a robotic future have become increasingly worrisome. But according to poet Iain S. Thomas and technologist and philosopher Jasmine Wang, AI advancements have also opened up new possibilities in understanding world religions. Host Dan Harris expertly frames the conversation in layperson terms, which should appeal to those of us still trying to figure out what AI is, does, and can eventually do.

—WBA

---

PODCAST SERIES

The Imperfect Buddha Podcast with Matthew O’Connell

If you’re a fan of Tricycle’s in-depth feature articles, you will love this podcast. A proponent of Glenn Wallis’s non-Buddhist philosophy and contributor to the speculativenonbuddhism.com project, host Matthew O’Connell challenges Western popular Buddhism’s anti-intellectualist slant through conversations with the heavy hitters of Buddhist studies, philosophy, history, and criticism. Check your attachments at the door and dine with O’Connell at the cosmic smorgasbord of a truly empty yet marvelous experience. Buddhist geeks, take note!

—FMR-H

GUIDED MEDITATION

“Beautiful Feelings,” Willa Blythe Baker
If you don’t feel like sitting with fear, anger, and pain, you’re not alone. In this 19-minute guided meditation, Willa Blythe Baker, a Tibetan Buddhist lama and director of Boston’s Natural Dharma Fellowship, invites you to gently access difficult feelings in the body. She uses a Mahamudra practice informed by Tsoknyi Rinpoche, prompting you to stay with difficult feelings and extend a handshake to them. You don’t have to be best friends right away; just saying hello and being together is a step in a positive direction.

---

PODCAST

Mental Health Series, Metta Hour Podcast with Sharon Salzberg

This multipart podcast series from Insight Meditation Society cofounder Sharon Salzberg provides a powerful discussion from multiple perspectives. Though we’ve progressed from the “barbaric” ways we’ve treated people with mental health conditions in the past, mental well-
being (or lack thereof) often remains a stigmatized area of our lives. Sharon’s guests—including meditation teachers Reggie Hubbard, Kimberly Brown, and George Mumford—speak on developing emotional intelligence, the role of community in healing, and more.

---

GUIDED MEDITATION

“Notorious N.A.P. Yoga Nidra for Anxiety,” Beth Behrs

Yoga nidra, or yogic sleep, shares similarities to Tibetan dream yoga and the night practices of other contemplative traditions. This ancient practice that invokes a state of consciousness between awake and asleep is enjoying a modern moment, at least based on the number of Insight Timer tracks. Behrs’s 28-minute practice is designed to get you out of your mind and relax your body (you know, what people think you’re doing when you’re meditating) and is perfect for a midday reset or ending a particularly stressful day, paving the way for deep sleep. 

---

MUSIC

“I Can’t Stand the Rain,” Tina Turner

This is the first installment of “What We’re Listening To” since the death of the Queen of Rock and Roll and Soka Gakkai Nichiren Buddhist Tina Turner. Turner’s rendition was released on her 1984 album Private Dancer, and the eighties influence is felt through the raindrops on a synthesizer, big horns, and even bigger vocals. The rawness of the human condition is on display throughout the song—love, loss, and longing for what we once had. And though it’s not an explicit dharma song, we know that Tina weathered the storm, and if she can begin to stand the rain, maybe we can too. 

CHANTING

Pali Chanting, Monks of the Metta Forest Monastery

Chanting connects us to the aspirations and motivations of all the Buddhists who have come before us. But for nonmonastics or practitioners coming from traditions that don’t emphasize chanting, it can be hard to know where to start. Metta Forest Monastery has an extensive library of Pali chants, including morning and evening chanting, reflections, and discourses, along with translation, pronunciation, and intonation guides for you to follow until the verses become a familiar flow.

---

GUIDED MEDITATION

“Practicing Presence,” Dora Kamau, Insight Timer

In this 10-minute practice, Dora Kamau, a meditation teacher and registered psychiatric nurse, calmly connects you to the present moment through guided breathing and body mindfulness. We create presence by building momentum through “being and not doing,” Kamau reminds us. Keep this grounding meditation on hand for days that feel like too much; soft background drumming connects us to our heartbeat, and Kamau gives us powerful prompts that ultimately lead us into being capable of creating peace and stillness for ourselves.

---

DHARMA TALK

“Walking the Tightrope Towards Liberation,” Rime Buddhist Center

In this dharma talk, Lama Matthew Palden Gocha gives listeners a rundown of Buddhist ethics and the essential role that abandoning negative actions plays in eliminating suffering. He explains the ten negative actions we can avoid that, in turn, put our body, speech, and mind “in harmony with natural law.” We have chances throughout our day to regret negative actions and dedicate positive actions to benefit all beings. Lama Matthew also offers a short practice from the 19th-century master Patrul Rinpoche to do at the beginning or end of the day.

---

DHARMA TALK

“No Water, No Moon,” Buddhist Temple of Toledo

In this Zen teaching, Reverend Karen Do’on Weik Sensei riffs on the tale of Chiyono, a 13th-century Japanese servant at a Zen convent who cannot read or write yet desires to practice zazen (Zen seated meditation). Do’on Sensei discusses the baggage that we each bring to practice and the doubts that this baggage can often cause us. But it’s our suffering and baggage that are pushing us toward awakening, constant companions that can accompany us through dark nights and help us develop the realization that everyone else is suffering too. 

DHARMA TALK

“Meditation and Problem Solving,” Zen Confidential, YouTube 

Former Zen monk Shozan Jack Haubner explains that while zazen (seated Zen meditation) shouldn’t be used only for problem solving, it can be helpful in working through personal problems. Haubner’s process for working through both a koan and a personal problem includes, as Zen master Mumon says regarding the koan “Mu,” viewing it as though you’re “drinking a hot iron ball that you can neither swallow nor spit out.” What can follow, Haubner says, is the relief of facing our problems head-on.

---

ALBUM

You Who Are Leaving to Nirvana, Midori Takada, 2022

Legendary percussionist, composer, and ambient music trailblazer Midori Takada partnered with Buddhist monks from the Samgha group of the Shingon school of Koya-san, led by Rev. Syuukoh Ikawa, to record this suite of chants. (Shingon is an esoteric Buddhist tradition founded in Japan by the 8th-century monk Kukai.) After the monks recorded the six liturgical texts, Takada added an experimental sound that Ikawa says elevates the transmission of the texts with a “hidden power that cannot be expressed in words alone.”

---

PODCAST SERIES

“Katrina Spade: Could our bodies help new life grow after we die?” TED Radio Hour episode 

To say that cremation is on the rise in the United States is an understatement: cremation now accounts for more than half of all burials and is projected to keep growing. And while cremation doesn’t introduce harsh chemicals into the soil as traditional embalming does, the process is far from green. Katrina Spade, death-care advocate and founder of Recompose, discusses her company’s new natural burial technique that turns human bodies into compost, using “nature as a guide rather than something to be feared.”

---

ALBUM SINGLE

“Karma,” Taylor Swift, Midnights, 2022 

Do you and karma vibe like that? It’s not often that pop culture correctly portrays the concept of karma, or cause and effect. Prolific singer-songwriter and eleven-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift is an exception with this song (a Buddhist Studies professor has even vouched for it). It’s hard not to put this song on repeat while you think about your karma in terms of Swift’s karma, which she refers to as everything from a god or a queen to her boyfriend, and even “a cat purring in my lap ’cause it loves me.”

GUIDED MEDITATION

“457: What’s Going On When You’re Procrastinating?,” Ten Percent Happier

What if procrastination isn’t something to overcome but an invitation to explore what’s causing us to distract ourselves? That’s the premise of this guided meditation by Jay Michaelson, a meditation teacher and senior content strategist at Ten Percent Happier. Whether you’re in the thick of doing everything but the task at hand or reflecting on a time when you lacked focus, Michaelson invites you to take stock of what is happening in the body and mind so you can get the task done (whatever it is).

---

DHARMA TALK

“Our Daily Practice with Human Suffering and Psychological Trauma,” Yuki Kobiyama

In this dharma talk, Yuki Kobiyama, a monastic at San Francisco Zen Center, explains how every kind of seed sown in our own mind becomes the circumstances of our life. Kobiyama, who grew up in Japan after World War II and was living in the US as a graduate student on September 11, 2001, reflects on these specific experiences, as well as how recent events have fostered worldwide violence and hatred, and how our daily Buddhist practices allow us to stand up to fear, suffering, and other challenges.

---

PODCAST SERIES

“59 Days of Healing,” Prajna Sparks

This podcast series takes on all 59 lojong (“mind training”) maxims in Seven Points for Healing Dualistic Mind, written by Kadampa Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje in the 12th century CE. With one episode for each maxim, hosts Lama Yeshe and Prof. Tania Israel give contemporary commentary and tips on the slogans, which include “Train wholeheartedly” and “Don’t be a drama queen.” Practiced formally on the cushion and informally as we go about our day, the slogans help us shift from habitual ego-based thinking to the cultivation of bodhicitta.

---

PODCAST

“Dad Died by Euthanasia,” Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People, episode 248

Palliative care and assisted dying are two healthcare issues long supported in Buddhist circles. But what would it be like to help your own father through the bureaucratic and emotional process of ending his life? Host Chris Gethard speaks with a woman about her elderly father, who is blind and has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and has attempted to take his life three times. The conversation includes the hurdles of accessing care in Canada, where assisted dying is legal, and how she prepared herself when her father’s death was suddenly scheduled.

DHAMMA TALK

“220509 Your Full Attention,” Short Dhamma Talks by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

If your cup (or mind) runneth over, then this very short dhamma talk from Thanissaro Bhikkhu, an American monk in the Thai Forest tradition and abbot of California’s Metta Forest Monastery, is for you. Than Geoff, as he’s known to his students, explains that by training ourselves to be good observers, we learn to look at our own suffering and become our own teachers—because who knows our suffering better than we do?

---

PODCAST EPISODE

“How to Structure Your Meditation Practice,” Buddhist Wisdom, Modern Life

From sending lovingkindness to the poor souls stuck idling in rush hour traffic to using the Pomodoro Technique to keep your meditation on track throughout the day, this podcast episode has all kinds of gems to inspire a structured home practice. Claire Villarreal, a meditation teacher who holds a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism, talks about short- and long-term practice goals, considers when to stick to your planned meditation and when to follow what comes up, and also has resources to help track your progress.

---

PLAYLIST

“Episode 025: Diaspora Mixtape Vol. 1,” Self Evident: Asian America’s Stories

Self Evident is a podcast dedicated to telling Asian American stories, which you should definitely listen to. We’re recommending their Diaspora Dance Mixtape Vol. 1, awesome music from Asian diaspora communities from Southwest Asia/North Africa, Hawaii, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, interspersed with reflections on how music can connect us across space, time, and borders. Play this at your Labor Day party, your Saturday night dance party of one, or anytime you need a pick-me-up.

---

PODCAST SERIES

Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus

Ghost Church, a series of investigative reports by writer, podcaster, stand-up comedian, and actor Jamie Loftus, offers a fascinating look at American spiritualism in its modern-day form as a religion based on communicating with the departed. Spiritualism had a big moment around the turn of the twentieth century, attracting crowds to public séances. Loftus takes us inside Cassadaga, a Spiritualist community outside Orlando, Florida, and explores the reasons why people continue to seek out the dead and how Eastern concepts like reincarnation have shaped the religion.

GUIDED MEDITATION

“Mindfulness of Breath in the City,” Kei Tsuruharatani

In this practice, Kei Tsuruharatani, a meditation teacher, Vipassana practitioner, and Broadway performer, leads a breath meditation with the occasional New York City sound in the background. After giving instructions for becoming aware of the body and prompts to support a relaxed yet energized posture, Tsuruharatani offers helpful and subtle reminders to keep the attention on the breath. Learn more about Tsuruharatani here.
insighttimer.com

---

PODCAST EPISODE

“Episode 11: Justin Von Bujdoss,” The Reluctant Phoenix

Justin von Bujdoss (Repa Dorje Odzer) is an American Buddhist teacher and lay tantric practitioner in the Karma Kamtsang tradition of Tibetan Buddhism who served from 2016–2021 as staff chaplain on Rikers Island. Von Bujdoss and host Jeff Simmermon, a standup comedian and storyteller, share an intimate conversation on hospice and end-of-life care, von Bujdoss’s role throughout COVID blessing thousands of bodies, and how he planted the seed for a grindcore metal band called Vomit Fist to set a medieval Indian tantric poem to music.
podcasts.apple.com

---

CHANTING

“Chanting the Dhamma with Ajahn Vayama,” Buddhist Society of Western Australia

A beautiful, high-quality recording of Pali chants with English translations and bow prompts to pay homage to the Buddha, keep in mind the Buddha’s teachings, and honor the importance of the sangha and the precepts. The chanting is led by Ajahn Vayama, the founding abbot of Dhammasara Nuns Monastery in Australia, who died in November 2021. (In 2009, Ajahn Vayama was among the first Theravada nuns in Australia to become fully ordained.) The chant is available to download.
https://bswa.org/

---

TALK

“Autism and Buddhism Together,” Joe DaRocha

Joe DaRocha is a Zen Buddhist, meditation teacher, and social worker who has published articles on Zen and social work. He’s also an adult living with autism. In this talk, DaRocha candidly explains his struggles living in a neurotypical world that often doesn’t recognize his needs, and how the Buddhist teachings have been an immense help, along with therapy and medication, in reducing suffering. DaRocha never presents Buddhism as a silver bullet but instead explains how this tradition directly speaks to him and might be of help to others living with autism.
insighttimer.com

Podcast Series

Uncoverage: Growing Up in a Tibetan Buddhist Cult, Una Morera

In this spiritual true crime podcast, host Una Morera shares a story we need to hear in the wake of the sexual abuse accounts revealed in the Shambhala community in recent years. Morera recounts growing up in a world that revolved around Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. It is a moving, creative, and brave account told first through the lens of a little girl and then through that of a young woman disoriented by the disconnect between the teachings and actions of Trungpa and his inner circle.
soundcloud.com/una-morera

---

Guided Meditation

“White Tara Healing Practice: Inviting the Elements,” Michael Lobsang Tenpa

White Tara is one of the 21 iterations of the enlightened goddess who serves as a guide for Vajrayana Buddhists (and all beings). In this guided meditation, Michael Lobsang Tenpa provides a vivid visualization to help you invite White Tara with her qualities that can provide comfort, healing, and protection along the spiritual path. This 30-minute meditation allows enough space to relax the body, invoke White Tara, and balance the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space.
insighttimer.com

---

DHARMA TALK

“Intuitive Mind and Grasping Mind,” Tuere Sala

Are we guiding our practice, or is our practice guiding us? Tuere Sala, a former prosecutor who is now the guiding teacher of Seattle Insight Meditation Society and Capitol Hill Meditation Group, gives a masterful talk on differentiating between the grasping mind, which aims to control, and the intuitive and embodied mind, which is still, curious, and trusting. Are you suffering with the never-ending chatter of the grasping mind? Here you can get better acquainted with your intuitive mind through a practice that is definitely not limited to sitting on your cushion.
audiodharma.org

---

MUSIC

What the Buddha Never Taught: A Rock Opera, music and lyrics by Martin T. Adam and Marc Atkinson

Rock operas have celebrated Joan of Arc, Martin Luther, and, of course, Jesus Christ Superstar. What the Buddha Never Taught adds a new Buddhist tale to the genre with an adaptation of the 1990 book by Tim Ward about his time in a Thai Forest monastery. The show opens June 30 in Vancouver (and online), but you don’t have to wait. A full-length album is already out, featuring such tracks as “Thus I Have Heard” and “Five Simple Rules” (on emptiness and the precepts).
whatthebuddhanevertaught musical.com/

AUDIOBOOK

Beginner’s Mind, Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma’s performances are virtuosic, of course, but perhaps what most draws people to his music is the joy and presence with which he plays. In his new music and storytelling audiobook, Ma explains that this quality of freshness comes from his pursuit of a beginner’s mind. He doesn’t go into the Zen origins of the term (although he says a Buddhist studies professor inspired his Silk Road Project). Rather, he shares anecdotes and performances that show the value of an open mind and leave one wishing to be as receptive as Ma is on stage.
audible.com

—Matthew Abrahams

---

PODCAST SERIES

Astray

The tagline of Astray will resonate with a lot of us: how far would you go to find enlightenment? This nine-part series tells the human stories of Westerners who go missing in India while on spiritual quests. Podcaster Caroline Slaughter provides a nuanced look at these often tragic stories, questioning the theory of the “India Syndrome”—a psychological illness said to arise in Westerners exploring the East—and talking to one seeker who made it back. Each account serves as a cautionary tale on going too deep, too fast, in unfamiliar environments.
podcasts.apple.com

—Wendy Biddlecombe Agsar

---

PODCAST

Awaken, “Preparing for a Journey with Doula Latham Thomas”

Latham Thomas is on a mission to restore the sanctity of the birth process. Guided by the belief that birth should be a moment of transcendence and joy, she accompanies parents on their birthing journeys. In this episode of the Rubin Museum’s podcast Awaken, hosted by the Emmy-winning artist Laurie Anderson, Thomas uses a mandala from the Rubin’s collection to discuss how to make a birth environment holy. The final ten minutes offer a vocal toning practice for using your own voice as a conduit for healing and grace.
rubinmuseum.org

—Sarah Fleming

---

PODCAST

Contemplating Now, “Embodied and Boundless: A Conversation with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel”

“Practicing to be a contemplative, you’re learning to be embodied and to be boundless at the same time,” says Zen teacher, author, and poet Zenju Earthlyn Manuel in this conversation with Cassidy Hall, a pastor and filmmaker (and director of Day of a Stranger, screening in Tricycle’s 2022 Short Film Festival). This wide-ranging episode delves into topics such as the relationship between spiritual practice and social justice, cultural sanctuaries, working with rage on the path, and mysticism.
cassidyhall.com 

—Eliza Rockefeller

Podcast

The Ezra Klein Show, “That Anxiety You’re Feeling? It’s a Habit You Can Unlearn”

Join self-described obsessive worrier Ezra Klein in discovering how we get caught in negative thinking, in this hour-long discussion with psychiatrist/neurologist Judson Brewer, director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center and the author of Unwinding Anxiety. Drawing on the science of pleasure and reward, Brewer outlines his three-step method for breaking cycles of worry, fear, or other painful mental habits. The key to change? Curiosity.
nytimes.com

---

Guided Meditation

Loving Awareness, Jack Kornfield

Insight Meditation teacher Jack Kornfield leads a 25-minute guided practice for troubled times that speaks to beginners and seasoned meditators alike. He recites “In the World,” a short poem by Brigid Lowry with the encouraging words “in the warm arms of our sorrow we sit . . . in the blazing energy of being alive we sit.” Then, with gentle instructions like “Let the breath breathe you with this ocean of air shared by all beings,” Kornfield offers just enough cues to coax the wandering mind back to the breath and restful silence.
jackkornfield.com

—Matteo Pistono

---

Recording

Monastic Love Songs, David John Morris

A nine-month retreat at Gampo Abbey, the Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia, inspired this debut solo album by Morris, songwriter for the British folk-rock band Red River Dialect. The introspective lyrics reflect fresh insights gleaned by the longtime practitioner during his temporary ordination. “This song was once about heartbreak,” he sings in “New Safe,” the first track. “But I found a true and wise dear friend who knew . . . how to open safely from within.” Some songs are devotional: “Gone Beyond” is about awakening. Others explore interpersonal relationships.
piccadillyrecords.com

---

Podcast

Mindrolling (Episode 387), “Word Woman with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer”

Trommer, Colorado Western Slope Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017 and co-host of Emerging Form, a podcast on creative process, discusses poetry as a spiritual path with host Raghu Marcus. Their two-part conversation segues from Trommer’s “Daily Dose of Poetry” on her blog to the ancient wisdom underlying her poem “Compassion” to writing advice. She talks about first writing poetry as “play practice” in childhood and tells how her daily writing practice over the past 15 years has “changed everything about the way that I meet the world.”
beherenownetwork.com