Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

Perhaps we connect deeply with the idea of universal love and compassion? Or we want to become a bodhisattva bound for enlightenment? But then we wonder, "how can I actually develop love for all living beings?" In this episode, we begin the seven point practice to develop bodhicitta, the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings. The seven steps include a practical method t...

  By making cherishing others our main daily practice, we will discover a real source of happiness in our lives. Cherishing others means acting to make others happy. It opposes selfishness. As we deal with the challenges coming from the Coronavirus pandemic, practicing cherishing others will give us some immediate relief from our problems. Below are the some of the results of cherishing others, bu...

What if we could tune our body and mind, like a fine instrument, to peacefulness? What if we could be calm, relaxed and peaceful all the time? In this episode we return to a simple, effective mindfulness practice to de-stress. We also try to strengthen our motivation to become a peaceful person beyond ourselves alone.    Mindfulness Practice to De-stress    Aspire to become a calm and peaceful per...

This is the third of a series to help us with problems, anxiety and fear during these difficult times caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. We can transform our activities into a deeply spiritual practice by having the compassionate intention to alleviate the suffering of others. Simply by remembering that we are staying at home out of compassion for those who might become ill, our same actions have th...

By being present we actually experience life. It is only in this moment that we live. Being present can help us enjoy the gift that is this day, this hour, this sunset, this connection. By the simple practice of reminding yourself to "be present," we can bring ourselves back into the moment and free be from worrying about the future or dwelling on the past. This episode is the second in a series t...

By being present we actually experience life. It is only in this moment that we live. Being present can help us enjoy the gift that is this day, this hour, this sunset, this connection. By the simple practice of reminding yourself to "be present," we can bring ourselves back into the moment and free be from worrying about the future or dwelling on the past. This episode is the second in a series t...

This episode is about a very old Buddhist practice called 'transforming adversity into the spiritual path' and is intended to give quick relief and peace in these challenging times. Our world has changed so much since the arising of the coronavirus pandemic. We can transform our personal struggles and anxiety into the spiritual path by cherishing others . This will bring us inner calm, happiness a...

Attachment is defined as a mental affliction, which is a habit that robs causes us suffering. Attachment arises like this:   We encounter something pleasant + inappropriate attention/exaggerating its good qualities = attachment arises (the feeling we can not be happy without it)   Sometimes we are attached to people being different than they are, to being right, drugs, alcohol, or unhealthy food....

It is so easy to get entangled with the pressures of work, family dramas, relationship issues etc. The body and mind are finely tuned to handle acute stress, but not the prolonged, daily stress we experience from these emotional entanglements. How then do we follow the Buddha's advice, "Don't get entangled with what you long for or dislike"? In this episode, we explore how we turn situations and p...

The ancient meditation known as the 'the magical practice of taking and giving' is a profound method to:   transform our suffering into a tool to help others purify our negative karma make our mind strong and resilient  develop universal compassion eventually attain enlightenment   In this episode, we learn how to do this practice formally, seated, as well as in daily life. This practice can be do...

This episode is devoted to the meditation of loving-kindness, a profound method to develop love for all living beings. It creates immeasurable good karma, diminishes ill will toward others and creates the cause of our own enlightenment. Scientific research has also been done on the results of people practicing this meditation.  Research indicates these benefits: Increases positive emotions. One st...

To bring more joy and lessen the stress in our lives, we can turn to the practice of kindfulness. Mindfulness, the conscious awareness of our thoughts and intentions, tuned into ways to be kind to others is 'kindfulness.' First coined by the monk Ajahn Brahm, kindfulness is a gentle way to more align our life with the law of karma. According to the law of karma, every act of kindness creates the c...

For many, the practice of contentment is a completely new idea. Learning, practicing and becoming good at contentment means  we come to enjoy our life more and more.  In this episode we discover how to practice contentment with ourselves, other people, and our life.  Link to the Character Strength Survey mentioned, https://www.viacharacter.org Health is the foremost possession,  Contentment, the f...

What if we could tune our body and mind, like a fine instrument, to peacefulness? What if we could be calm, relaxed and peaceful all the time? In this episode we return to a simple, effective mindfulness practice to de-stress. We also try to strengthen our motivation to become a peaceful person beyond ourselves alone.    Mindfulness Practice to De-stress    Aspire to become a calm and peaceful per...

Almost everyone wants to be less stressed and more peaceful. Even as our modern world ramps up the external stressors, we can learn to make ourselves calm and relaxed. The Buddha said, "there is no happiness higher than peace". This episode guides us through a simple process to become more peaceful and to de-stress.  Mindfulness Practice to De-stress  Aspire to become a calm and peaceful person, e...

1,200 years ago, the Buddhist Master Shantideva offered a Buddhist approach to lasting change in his Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life . The four powers of effort can be used as steps to making a specific change reaching a goal.   The Four Powers of Effort   Aspiration. A strong wish (aspiration) is a fundamental basis to accomplish an important goal. The most powerful wishes comes when the o...

Within a series of episodes on happiness, we look at how to de-stress. First, we can become mindful of emptiness as an antidote to stress. We can also try to "always do our best" to loosen the grip that busyness has on us and become less attached to outcomes. To always do our best can also mean that we look honestly at where our own ethics or beliefs don't line up with our actions. For a happier a...

The Benefits of Cherishing Others Cherishing others is the cause of all happiness. Good karma is the root cause of every moment of pleasure or happiness, from wealth and beauty to a moment enjoying a magnificent sunset. For example, we gave to others in the past and that created the karma for us to have enough resources in this life. Why did we give to others in the past? Because we cherished them...

How can we be truly happy? We may wonder if it's even possible. Buddhism is a more scientific study of the mind and offers a path to happiness. As we study the chapter called Happiness in the Dhammapada , we look specifically at how to be happy and uproot what causes us misery in our lives. Thus, there is a two-fold solution: address what causes us unhappiness and create the causes of future happi...

The first person harmed by anger is oneself. The Buddha said that harming others in anger is like thrusting a burning torch at another person, but doing it upwind, so that the flames blow and scorch our own face. In this episode we look at an antidote to anger, the practice of loving kindness. Lovingkindness is the intention that wishes another to be happy. A prayer of loving kindness is "May you...

The Bodhisattva Prayer    May I be a protector for the protectorless  A guide for those on the path A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood May I be a light in the darkness A resting place for the weary A healing medicine for all who are sick A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles And for the boundless multitudes of living beings May I bring sustenance and awakening Enduring l...

We've been working for our own happiness our whole lives. Every action we've taken has been to create or restore happiness. If we have put all this effort into a singular objective—our own happiness—and we are still not happy and satisfied, then we must be using the wrong methods. The Buddha taught that our obsessive self concern, which seeks our own happiness alone, actually destroys the causes o...

The Buddha taught The Four Noble Truths to show people a path to lasting peace and happiness. Buddha, like universal doctor, diagnosed why we suffer and have dissatisfaction. The prognosis is good, for there is a cure. The cure lies in the Eightfold Path, a noble, wise and compassionate way of life. This episode offers a mindfulness practice on the right intention, part of the Eightfold Path.    T...

We're always going to refuge to something to solve our problems or alleviate our suffering. We've been doing this our whole life. We might take refuge in drugs, wealth, another person or food. But these are 'false refuge' because they do not provide lasting satisfaction and can even cause more problems. Buddhism speaks of another type of refuge. Traditionally, taking refuge in Buddhism means to tu...