American Buddhist Poetry Radio

Bonus track is above — “The World Is Still Here.” Start there if you want. This episode of American Buddhist Poetry Radio is about mindfulness, but not the way we usually hear it talked about. Not as branding. Not as a product. Not as some little stress tool to help us get back to the machine. This is about what mindfulness still really is. A return. A real breath. Direct contact with life again....

Bonus track is above — “When the Silence Breaks.” You can start there first if you want. It carries the ache under this whole piece, but also the turn. This episode is about negative silence. Not sacred silence. Not wise pause. Not stillness. The other kind. The kind that lives in the jaw, in the short answer, in the drive home, in the phone glow, in the house where nobody says the real thing. The...

The bonus track is above — “I Came Back for You.” Listen to that first. It came out beautiful, and it says something I’ve been carrying for a long time. In a lot of ways, it’s a song-story about me, about adoption, loneliness, and what it means to come back for the child you once were. This week’s episode of American Buddhist Poetry Radio is personal too. It’s about children living through foster...

The bonus track is above: “Better Than the Promise.” This week’s episode of American Buddhist Poetry Radio sits with a hidden American wound. Not just money. Not just politics. Not just the daily noise. Something deeper. The quiet fear that the future a lot of people were moving toward no longer feels solid. The rent, the groceries, the pressure, the broken promises, the way the old dream keeps sl...

Bonus track is above this text. If you want the song first, start there. If you want the commentary first, keep reading. Either way, the bonus track belongs to this episode. Tonight’s episode is The Loneliest Generation. This one is about love, loneliness, and the strange distance between us. About what it feels like to have more ways to reach each other than any generation in history—and still go...

Bonus track is above: “The Noise Under the Skin.” If you want the feeling first, start there. If you want the words first, keep reading. Either way, this episode and that song belong together. Tonight’s episode is Anxiety in America. Not the trendy version. Not the watered-down version. The real thing. The kind that lives in the chest. The kind that rides with you to work. The kind that shows up i...

Bonus track is at the top of this post (above this text). If you want the full emotional arc—fear → steadiness → courage—start with the bonus track, then drop into the episode. Episode 11 is for anyone feeling that war-drum in the body right now. That tight chest. That quiet panic you don’t say out loud. That scrolling that doesn’t even feel like scrolling anymore—just trying to make sure the worl...

Bonus track is above this text. I put it there on purpose—if you want the feeling first, hit play on that before the episode. This episode is about fear—not the fake kind, not the movie kind. The real kind. The kind that crawls into your chest when you wake up, open your phone, and the world is already screaming. It’s not that the phone is evil. It’s a tool. But the way it’s being used right now—b...

Bonus track is above.

Bonus track is up top, right under the episode audio. It’s the same message in song form—less explaining, more feeling. Tonight’s episode is Children of a Nervous Country. And yeah… this one’s heavy. Not because kids are “soft.” But because the world we’ve built around them has been loud for a long time. A lot of our children are growing up inside a constant alarm system. Not always sirens outside...

This episode is heavy — because the truth is heavy. ICE isn’t just “an agency.” It’s a machine. A whole system built to turn human movement into fear, profit, and punishment. And if you’ve been watching what’s happening lately — the videos, the raids, the chaos, the people getting pulled out of cars, families getting split, kids learning terror before they learn safety — you already know this isn’...

America’s running hot right now. Everybody feels it—no matter where you live, who you voted for, what you drive, what you believe, what you’ve been through. So tonight I’m doing something different. Just… imagine. And before you read any further—there’s a bonus track above this post. A full song built for this episode. Let it play while you scroll, or save it for after. Either way, it’s part of th...

Some days aren’t “great.” They’re just good enough to keep you here. Radio Bonus Track (Full Song): Hard Life, Good Day A full song made for this episode — same mood, same truth, just music. Welcome back to American Buddhist Poetry Radio. This episode is about a specific kind of relief — not the kind that fixes your whole life, but the kind that lets your shoulders drop for a second. A good day in...

Some wars don’t end at the airport. For a lot of us, they just change uniforms. This episode of American Buddhist Poetry Radio is about that second war — the one that starts after you turn in the gear, sign the papers, and try to build a life in a country that doesn’t really know what to do with you. I’m talking about the quiet war: * going from leading people to scanning boxes in a warehouse * wa...

Some nights your brain feels like a broken fire alarm. Noisy. Constant. Way too hard to switch off. You try scrolling it away, zoning out, or pretending you’re fine. But the thoughts keep circling, the heart keeps sprinting, and your body stays on high alert even when nothing “big” is happening. This video is a quiet rebellion against that. Drawing from the Lotus Method and real nervous-system sci...

This one is personal and bigger than me at the same time. I grew up poor in America before I even knew the word “poverty.” I just knew the feeling of being behind before you walk into a room, of wearing clothes that don’t fit, of watching people you love grind themselves down just to stay one bill away from disaster. Later, as a soldier, I saw other kinds of poverty overseas and it changed how I s...

We were raised inside a system that worships speed, noise, and never-ending urgency. But there’s another road — the one that opens the moment you stop running. This teaching breaks down the hidden cost of modern life, the burnout engine beneath our daily routines, and the quiet rebellion of choosing stillness over survival mode. A reminder for anyone who feels exhausted, overstimulated, or spiritu...

This episode is about something most of us never talk about: how this country teaches you to stay in motion until you forget what breathing even feels like. I wanted to sit with that. Not to complain or point fingers — just to name the reality a lot of us live in. The pressure. The pace. The exhaustion that shows up in the body before it shows up in the mind. Then I offer a poem — a small reminder...

We grow up believing that holding tighter keeps us safe. Hold the moment. Hold the person. Hold the dream. Hold the identity. Hold the light. But no one tells us the truth: A closed fist can’t receive anything. A closed heart can’t breathe. A closed mind can’t see. This teaching is one of the oldest in Buddhism, but Gen Z and Millennials know it better than anyone: the world trains us to grasp. Li...

Some wounds breathe. They don’t want perfection — they want honesty. Listen here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monkmodesociety.substack.com/subscribe

Tonight I’m opening something new: American Buddhist Poetry Radio — a quiet room where truth is spoken without decoration. This first episode sits with a wound many of us carry in silence: the wound of unraised children. Not just fatherlessness or motherlessness, but the deeper ache of growing up without the presence, protection, or guidance we needed. This poem is my story — and the story of coun...

When the world feels like a storm of noise and distraction, the answer isn’t escape—it’s presence. This short Dharma talk dives into the heart of Street-Level Dharma: the discipline of finding stillness without leaving the world behind. It’s for the ones who practice alone in loud rooms— for the seekers, the burned-out, the compassionate warriors. Watch the full six-minute film below, then drop in...

Words don’t disappear once spoken. They ripple outward — shaping hearts, families, and the world around us. In this Dharma talk, I explore Right Speech not as a rule to obey but as a living force: how silence, honesty, and compassion in our words can either heal or wound. Originally recorded for Insight Timer, I’m sharing it here in full so the echo can travel further. This is a public episode. If...

This is the full sermon — longer than the IG cut — offered here so it can be heard in full. Gen Z has inherited a burning world: climate crisis, endless wars, fractured families, online bullying, the crushing weight of comparison, the loneliness of screens, and the silence of adults who don’t know how to listen. The Dharma of the Broken Generation is not just about naming these wounds — it’s about...

India gave us Theravāda. China gave us Chan. Japan gave us Zen. Tibet gave us Vajrayāna. And now, America gives us a new head of Buddhism. Born not in temples of stone, but in rooftops and streets. Forged in silence, struggle, rebellion, and compassion. This is not an imitation. This is a declaration. MMS and ALS call it what it is: American Buddhism. Not an escape from America’s suffering, but a...