Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

This episode is about FREEDOM: freedom from sorrow giving others freedom freedom from the past In other words, we look at how to lessen our habit of attachment. This exploration of attachment is in the context of an ordinary, modern life with marriage, children, jobs and family. Attachment is a habit of mind, like anger and jealousy are habits of mind. Attachment is the habit of viewing something...

This episode begins with an explanation of how meditation works. The seven factors of awakening guide us in how to meditate on an object and adjust the mind when we notice ourselves becoming distracted or sleepy. Secondly we delve into the most profound meditation object of Buddhism, the meditation on reality itself. This meditation on ultimate truth, or emptiness, helps us to wake up little by li...

The Eight Worldly Concerns represent the attachments and aversions that keep us trapped in a cycle of suffering and elation, with an unstable mind that is like a balloon in the wind. The 8 Worldly Concerns consist of the following four pairs: pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame, and fame and shame. When we experience pleasure, gain, praise and fame we are happy, but when we experien...

Everyone looks for refuge or relief from their pain. This is natural, but when we turn to the wrong types of refuge it causes us more problems. For example, when people turn to drugs or alcohol for refuge from suffering, sometimes they become addicted and a host of problems follow. If we eat ice cream to relieve our anxiety, this is an incorrect refuge because it does not solve our difficulty. The...

Most cultural forces drive us toward thinking that happiness awaits us in the realization of wealth, success, fame and other worldly measures. The Buddha taught the opposite. Buddha taught that the pleasure from things like wealth, fame, and all external sources is actually the experience of "changing suffering". For example, ice cream is a source of pleasure, but only when it relieves some hunger...

Suffering happens. Sometimes people experience periods of chronic suffering, as when a loved one passes away or a physical illness debilitates them. We must find a way to transform our suffering into something meaningful. The practice of karma therapy provides three ways to meaningfully transform suffering. These ways of thinking apply to lesser pain, like a frustrating coworker, as well as deeper...

A fool suffers, thinking, "I have children! I have wealth!" One's self is not even one's own. How then are children? How then is wealth? --Buddha, The Dhammapada, verse 61 Buddha said that all things are like dreams, like illusions, and like a mirage that appears to be water but is not water. While things appear to exist from their own side, independent of our mind's perception, independent of the...

The Buddha advised us to choose our companions well because they affect us greatly, for better or ill. If we want a peaceful life, then we must surround ourselves with people and conditions that are conducive to peace. No omniscient, holy being, looking down on all the world, would want two beings to suffer together when one could go the way alone and heal. That leaves us with a choice about an un...

In this episode and weekly practice, we first try to diagnose why we are having a particular problem in our life. Then, we begin the healing process by applying spiritual teachings to solve our problem. We also look into the meaning of terms like nirvana, samsara, and dharma and see what practical application they have for solving our problems. "Nirvana" is the state of everlasting peace and bliss...

Karma therapy Part II is the practice of trying--every chance we get-- to abandon selfishness. Ultimately this is refraining from actions that create negative karma (actions that harm ourselves or others). Karma Therapy Part I is trying--every day--to create as much good karma as possible. Karma Therapy has the power to transform us into truly happy, peaceful people. To enable such a powerful tran...

Karma therapy is the practice of trying--every day--to create as much good karma as possible. Karma therapy is also refraining from actions that create negative karma, namely, actions that harm ourselves or others. In the daily practice that follows this episode, we are mainly engage in this practice by seizing every opportunity to do good, help others, cherish others, or engage in spiritual pract...

In this episode we try to discover whether or not this is true: Our problems are inside our mind. Our problems are not outside of our mind. If problems are inside our mind, we can change our mind and problems can disappear. If problems are outside the mind (a.k.a. our colleagues, partner, children, neighbor, the weather, even our health) we have no control over these external things and no ability...

This episode is about living like you might be living your last day. We are not guaranteed the next moment, day, month or year. If you knew this was your last day on earth, would you mend relationships? Would you be mad at your partner because they left their dishes in the sink? Would you spend more quality time with your friends or family? This contemplation is supposed to light people up to prac...

In this episode, we try to get a feeling for emptiness, Buddha's most profound teaching and the realization that leads to enlightenment. Buddha taught that the ultimate nature of all things is emptiness. When we say our glass is empty and ask for more, the glass is empty of something. This is the same with the emptiness of reality; it means our reality is empty of something. We ask then, "reality...

The Bodhisattva and Cherishing Others   In this episode we look at the Bodhisattva wish to become an awakened person for the benefit of all beings. Does this wish to help all beings resonate with us; could this be our own journey? While we pose these profound questions to ourselves, we take a practical step in that direction and make the intention to cherish others. With the mantra "May you be hap...

In this episode we look at how to develop immeasurable equanimity, which is an even-minded love for all living beings. The mind of equanimity is free from attachment to some and aversion to others. It is said that on the ground of equanimity, we pour the waters of love, sow the seeds of compassion, and we will reap a bountiful harvest of enlightenment.   "Neither father nor mother, Nor any relativ...

Whatever an enemy may due to an enemy, Or haters, one to another, Far worse is the harm From one's wrongly directed mind."                                                     - Buddha,           The Dhammapada, verse 42 Buddha must have known there would be haters one day, and "haters gonna hate hate hate." It is hard when people criticize us or don't like us. I remember my mother saying to me whe...

Buddha said that all phenomena are like dreams, like illusions, and like the reflection of the moon in a clear lake. In this episode, we look at the meaning of this and how this wisdom can help us change difficult or painful situations. Our reality is not as it seems. Our life, our self, and our reality appear to exist independent of our own mind. However, like a dream, our life is the projection...

In this episode we look at how to improve our consideration for others. Consideration for others is defined as a distinct mental factor that avoids actions that harm others for their sake. It enables us to restrain from harmful physical, verbal and mental actions. Consideration for others acts as the basis for maintaining pure ethical conduct, prevents others from losing faith in us, and causes jo...

"Those who harbor the wish to harm others are no followers of mine" --Buddha. In this episode JoAnn Fox teaches about the virtuous mental factor "sense of shame", also sometimes translated as "self-respect. To practice this virtuous mind is to begin by examining our life with the question,  "Is there something that I'm doing that is causing harm to others or to myself?" We then develop a sense of...

EPISODE 11 RECORDED 10.18.18 Buddhist Psychology   Buddhist Teacher JoAnn Fox explains how the mind creates every moment of consciousness. By understanding the way the mind works we can learn to control our own mind. We can create a beautiful, happy world for ourselves, even if our world is currently dark or painful.   The five all accompanying mental factors (feeling, discrimination, intention, c...

Attachment is an often misunderstood concept of Buddhism. Attachment is not about having things or relationships. Attachment is about reacting to things we find pleasant or desirable in such a way that it makes us suffer. In relationships, it is attachment habits that cause many of our problems. Love is the opposite of attachment. Love asks "What can I do to make you happy?" Attachment asks, "What...

This episode offers a method to free ourselves from attachment that is causing pain and problems in our life. Attachment is a state of mind that arises from paying inappropriate attention to a desirable object until the mind becomes unpeaceful and uncontrolled and we feel we can not be happy without that object. Whether it is attachment to someone other than our partner, to drugs or alcohol, or to...

In this episode, we learn the magical practice of taking and giving, known in Tibetan as tonglen. This meditation quickly awakens universal compassion, which is the wish to take away the suffering of all living beings, without exception. JoAnn Fox shares how to practice this meditation in formal meditation and in daily life, with eyes wide open. The verses of the Dhammapada , by Buddha, we study i...

In Buddhism, confidence is necessary for a person to change deeply for the better. Buddha taught that humans have infinite potential for change. A person who is presently unhappy can become someone with a positive and happy disposition. Someone who is addicted to something can become and stay sober and be an inspiration for others to follow. A person who is habitually angry can become patient. The...