The World Through Zen Eyes Podcast

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion This video is about Bonus Tracks Support the show Dr. Ruben Lambert can be found at wisdomspring.com Ven. MyongAhn Sunim can be found at soshimsa.org

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Support the show Dr. Ruben Lambert can be found at wisdomspring.com Ven. MyongAhn Sunim can be found at soshimsa.org

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion You know how to show respect when it’s obvious and ceremonial. The harder question is what you do when it’s ordinary, messy, and nobody is watching including how you treat your own mind. We start with kongyang, the Buddhist practice of offering, and strip it down to its real function. Incense, fruit, water, flowers, chanting, even the way we prese...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion No guest, no co-host, no listener questions, and somehow we still end up with a full map of the mind. I’m MyongAhn Sunim flying solo while Dr. Lambert is tied up, so I reach for the most honest material I have: a stack of poems and rants that hold my earlier urgency, my current doubts, and the small moments that keep practice real. We start with “...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Your mood might not be “you” as much as it is weather, sleep, hormones, and the stories your mind tells about all of it. We dig into the hidden drives that push us day to day and how seasonal change can amplify everything from motivation to irritation, especially during spring and fall. When climate change stacks disruption on top of normal cycles...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion A Zen question isn’t a polite request for information. It’s a blade that can cut straight into the habits that keep us stuck. We talk about the role of questions in Zen Buddhism, from the way sutras begin with someone asking the Buddha, to the strange training stories where a teacher makes you “earn” the right to ask. Why would a master demand eff...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Your mind can make a shadow feel like a fact. We start with a deceptively simple rule from a spiritual teacher about driving and turn it into a Zen-sized key for modern life: greet each moment as if it is the first time, before habit tells you it already knows how everything ends. That shift sounds small, but it changes how we learn, how we love,...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Love isn’t broken when it changes; it’s speaking a new dialect. We open a listener’s letter about long‑term relationships and use a Zen lens to rethink what keeps couples close over time. Instead of treating impermanence as doom, we explore it as the engine of growth—why trying to freeze your partner in the honeymoon phase backfires, and how accep...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What if “new year, new you” is the wrong frame—and what you really need is a revolution against your own autopilot? We open the door with a tour of many new years—solar, lunar, and the 24 seasonal nodes—and show how older cultures tied renewal to nature’s rhythms, community responsibility, and gratitude for the chain that feeds us. Those rituals w...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What if “selfless caring” isn’t the ideal we think it is? We return from a short hiatus with a provocative lens on compassion, questioning why so much giving feels like loss and how burnout sneaks in when the mind keeps score. Instead of turning care into a transaction—time out for thanks in—We explore a Zen-infused view where helping is not a her...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What if impermanence isn’t a reason to detach, but a reason to care more deeply right now? We take a clear-eyed look at grief, loss, and the practice that carries us when ideas don’t. A surprising story at a garbage dump becomes a Zen lesson: repulsion is a label, value hides in messy places, and steady effort—keep digging—reveals what cynicism wo...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Grief can make the world feel smaller, louder, and strangely unreal. We open that tight space with a clear, compassionate tour of how Zen teachings and modern psychology help us face loss without sliding into nihilism. Rather than treating death as an ending, we talk about change as the constant of life, and how that perspective—grounded in the th...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Missed us? We’re back with fresh momentum, an international precept ceremony under our belt, and a major access upgrade: live Zoom captions so students can follow teachings in their own language. We share how opening our doors wider reshapes practice—removing excuses, tightening community bonds, and letting curiosity turn into daily discipline no...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Support the show Dr. Ruben Lambert can be found at wisdomspring.com Ven. MyongAhn Sunim can be found at soshimsa.org

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion The journey through wisdom begins where intellect ends. This episode explores the transformation of the five roots in Buddhism into active powers that can fundamentally change how we navigate life's challenges. At its core, wisdom in Zen isn't merely intellectual understanding but a profound shift in perception. Host Myung Han Sunim unpa...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What prevents us from accessing the stillness that already resides within us? MyongAhn Sunim tackles this profound question in our continuing exploration of the Five Roots, focusing today on Jong Kun—the root of meditation, stillness, and quietude. This episode unpacks a revolutionary perspective: we already possess everything needed for transform...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What if the determination you're seeking isn't something you need to find but something you already possess? In this third installment of their mini-series on the five roots, Jörgen Sonnen and Dr. Ruben Lambert explore the fascinating concept of perseverance (jongjin) and how we can transform this innate quality into a conscious power. T...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Have you ever caught yourself in a full-blown adult tantrum over something as trivial as a parking space? That moment of sudden awareness—when you realize you're behaving exactly like the child you just scolded for crying over where to place their shoes—might be your first encounter with the transformative power of Yom Gun, the Buddhist root...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What if the beliefs running your life right now are operating completely outside your awareness, pulling your strings like an invisible puppet master? We dive deep into the ancient Buddhist concept of Ogun - the five hidden roots that shape every decision you make, every fear you feel, and every dream you pursue or abandon. Far from abstract philo...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What happens when we stop viewing Buddhism's focus on suffering as pessimism and instead see it as the path to profound joy? In this illuminating conversation, Milan Sinim and Dr. Ruben Lambert respond to listener feedback questioning Buddhism's seemingly negative outlook, revealing how understanding suffering ultimately creates the cond...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion "All Buddhism does is talk about suffering. What a drag." This common misconception reveals a profound misunderstanding of the Buddha's teachings and prevents many from discovering the transformative wisdom at the heart of Buddhist practice. The Buddha wasn't a pessimist fixated on suffering—he was more like a physician diagnos...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion Words fail us at the mountain's peak. That deafening silence—somehow both empty and filled with something profound—defies language yet demands our attention. This paradox sits at the heart of our exploration into Zen's complex relationship with language. Many seekers stumble when they encounter Buddhism's warnings about the limitati...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What does true freedom really mean? In our milestone 20th episode, we unpack this deceptively complex question, revealing how our understanding of freedom often remains superficial until we achieve liberation from our own mental habits and patterns. Freedom isn't simply doing whatever we want. From a Zen perspective, genuine freedom only emer...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion What happens when we numb ourselves to life's subtle symphony, constantly seeking louder experiences? This question forms the heart of our exploration into numbness—a concept that emerged from a casual conversation after Sunday service but quickly revealed itself as fundamental to understanding human suffering and awakening. Numbness takes ma...

FAN MAIL - Send us a comment or a topic suggestion The statement "everything is created by the mind" might seem deceptively simple, but as explored in this thought-provoking bonus track, it contains profound implications about how we perceive and interact with reality. Drawing from a personal experience teaching a meditation workshop, we witness the stark contrast between someone who imm...