Daily Buddhism

Podcast Episode 24: Taking Refuge & Meditation Welcome back, this is Daily Buddhism audio show number twenty-four. I'm Brian Schell, your host for the show. You can find the text for everything in this show and all past episodes on our website at www.dailybuddhism.com. Keep your questions coming in! Send in your questions on Buddhism to dailybuddhism@gmail.com or phone them in at 937-660-4949. You can also post your thoughts about anything we discuss on the website's blog at www.dailybuddhism.com I did get another phoned-in message; this one had to do with the sound quality of the podcast itself. Here goes: (insert clip) Good suggestion, and one that is easily fixed! When I am finished recording a show, I play it back on the same computer I use for recording, and they usually sound fine to me. Since you let me know about the problem, I'll set the volume on those a little lower from now on. If you have any other comments or suggestions, let me know! I think the sound quality has increased tremendously since the first episode, but I'll be the first to admit there is still plenty of room for improvement. Last week I had to record the entire show twice because Garageband crashed while it was saving the final file the first time. I enjoy doing the show, but doing it twice is no fun at all! We had an interesting assortment of topics this week, so lets get on with the show! [read the past five blog posts or emails for contents of the show] This Week's Links Dhammapada Chapter 8 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/174 Koan: The Muddy Road http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/173 Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/172 Meditation Part 1: Overview & Benefits http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/175 Meditation Part 2: Breath Meditation and Insight Meditation http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/180

Podcast Episode 23: Buddhist Service and Karma Control Welcome back, this is Daily Buddhism audio show number twenty-three. I'm Brian Schell, your host for the show. You can find the text for everything in this show and all past episodes on our website at www.dailybuddhism.com. Many of this week's topics sparked some interesting responses which are posted as comments on the website. Remember, there is more to read at the website than just reposts of the daily emails, you can find many insightful comments by readers there as well. Keep your questions coming in! Send in your questions on Buddhism to dailybuddhism@gmail.com or phone them in at 937-660-4949. There's no question too small or too basic; sometimes the deepest thought goes into the little stuff. You can also post your thoughts about anything we discuss on the website's blog at www.dailybuddhism.com We had an interesting assortment of topics this week, so lets get on with the show! This Week's Links Tao Announcement http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/167 Controlling Karma http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/165 Book: Buddhist Scriptures, by Edward Conze, Ed. http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/166 Dhammapada Chapter 7: The Venerable Arhat http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/170 Koan: A Buddha http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/169 Buddhist Service Obligations? http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/168 Many Comments and input on the topic: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/168#comments

Podcast Episode 22: Zen in the Dark, Hurricane Edition Welcome back, this is Daily Buddhism audio show number twenty-two. I'm Brian Schell, your host for the show. You can find the text for everything in this show and all past episodes on our website at www.dailybuddhism.com . If you have questions or comments, you can post them on the website's blog or email me directly at dailybuddhism@gmail.com I did get one call on the dial-in voicemail line this week, but it was too late to include in this episode, so I guarantee we'll cover that one, and hopefully some new ones next time. Call in with your questions or comments at 937-660-4949 or send in your emails as usual. Not much happened this week since I was out of electricity and the Internet until late Wednesday. Blame Hurricane Ike. This Week's Posts and Links Zen in the Dark http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/161 Koan: The Happy Chinaman http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/162 Dhammapada Chapter 6: The Wise Man http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/163

Podcast Episode 21: Christians, Gurus, Fools, and Business Welcome back, this is Daily Buddhism audio show number twenty-one. I'm Brian Schell, your host for the show. You can find the text for everything in this show and all past episodes on our website at www.dailybuddhism.com . If you have questions or comments, you can post them on the website's blog or email me directly at dailybuddhism@gmail.com Many of this week's topics sparked some interesting responses which are posted as comments on the website. Remember, there is more to read at the website than just reposts of the daily emails, you can find many insightful comments by readers there as well. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of eagerness phoning in your questions. I had hoped to be able to have at least a couple of listener messages to play for you this week, but it seems that no one wants to be the guinea pig. Don't be afraid, somebody has to go first; call in at 937-660-4949 {Audio} Phone Dialing … Crickets Chirping We had an unusual assortment of material this week, so lets get on with the show! This Week's Links Black & White Questions, Grey Answers http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/154 Dhammapada Chapter 5: The Fool http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/159 Koan: The Story of Shunkai http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/158 Buddhist Business Books? http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/157 Christian Bashing http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/156 Copyrights, Privacy, Etc. http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/155

Podcast Episode 20: Phone-Ins, Performance Reviews, and a Dramatic Death And welcome back! This is Episode 20 of the Daily Buddhism, and I am your host, Brian Schell. We had a short week this time because of the holiday, so we only had four topics this week. The big announcement of the week was that we do now have the call-in number. Write this down! You can call 24 hours a day with your questions or topic ideas, your comments and suggestions, or anything else that you think might interest listeners here. The number is 937-660-4949 – Call in and let me know what you think on any topic. And of course you can always send me email at dailybuddhism@gmail.com Stop in at the website, http://www.dailybuddhism.com. Comment on any topic, or sign up for the daily mailing list while you're there. Donating to the site is easy and helps keep things running here better and better. If you'd like to help out without sending money, you can look up the Daily Buddhism in the podcast section of the iTunes Store and leave a review for the show there. I think I only have six reviews up there now, and I know I wrote one of them myself, so that doesn't really count. As far as my other podcasts, the last I checked, no one had ever written a review for the Tao of the Day site, so if you listen to that one and like it, write a review on that one too. And someone just left an amazing review for Arcane Tales on iTunes; a review like that makes doing it all extra rewarding for me. The other sites and shows are fun to do, but Daily Buddhism is my flagship show, and that's were the action really is. Keep your emails and questions coming in, I love doing this! This week's links: Call In Now http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/150 937-660-4949 The Last Poem of Hoshin http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/145 The Karma of Performance Reviews http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/151 Dhammapada Chapter 4: Flowers http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/152

Podcast Episode 19: Christian Karma and Buddhist Dogfood And welcome back! This is Episode 19 of the Daily Buddhism, and I am your host, Brian Schell. I don't have too much in the way of announcements this week, but I do want to point out a few quick things: * Monday is a holiday and I'll be out of town, so there won't be a daily email on Monday. * Not much has changed as far as donations are concerned since last week; but I'm not going to keep harping on it. * This is already Episode 19. Wow; it seems like we've only just started! The good news is that I have material to continue for pretty much forever. The bad news is that all the audio shows cannot stay available online forever. Between web hosting space, and more importantly, bandwidth issues, I am going to start taking down some of the oldest shows starting next week. I hope to be able to leave the past 15 weeks of audio shows online, so each week as I add a new one, I'll take off one from way back. My recommendation for now is that if you don't already have all the back episodes of the show, that you should find the ones you don't already have and download them now while they're still here. Remember, we started out with an episode “zero” for an introductory show. Hmm. I guess that actually makes this the 20th episode. You can find them all here (this week anyway): http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/category/podcasts This week's links: Christian Karma? http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/133 Intoxication: The Last Word (For now) http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/139 Buddhist Jargon and Terminology http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/140 Koan: The Moon Cannot Be Stolen http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/142 Buddhist Dog Food http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/141 Dhammapada Chapter 3: Thought http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/143

Welcome back! This is Episode 18 of the Daily Buddhism, and I'm your host, Brian Schell. Weekly Announcements: I have just a couple of quick announcements today. First, I am now on Twitter. I am not completely sure what it's good for yet, but I'm in the process f playing around with it. If you'd like, you can go to http://twitter.com/DailyBuddhism And click on “Follow” to follow me. I'll do a return follow on anyone who does. If you don't know what Twitter is, it's something like a huge message board or chat room with many very tiny messages. It's hard to describe. But from their FAQ: What is it? Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Again, it's just something I'm playing with. Let's give it a try and see if we can have some fun with it. Next, an update on the donation situation: I did get a few more donations this week, and I can finally say the studio microphone I bought back around episode 7 is now paid off. For the next Daily Buddhism “investment,” I want to get a voice mail phone number so you guys can call in with your questions and I can play your comments “on the air.” I think it would make the show more entertaining, and would allow more people to ask questions; not everyone wants to type up an email question. If you've thought about sending in a donation, it's not too late to help out. Thanks for all your support so far, and keep up the good work. And now, on with the show! [Last Week's messages and comments and articles here] Links from the show: Compassion: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/127 Faith or Not? http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/128 The Pesky Fifth Precept: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/129 Intoxicant Debate was in the comments section of: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/129 and http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/99 (My defense wasn't as good as I would have liked, help me out!) Koan: Great Waves http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/130 Dhammapada Chapter 2: On Earnestness http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/131

Podcast Episode 17 Welcome back, This is episode 17 of the Daily Buddhism, and I'm your host, Brian Schell. Before we get started recapping the week's material, I've got a couple of quick announcements. A few weeks back, I announced that I had audio recordings of the entire Tao te ching available for purchase on the Taooftheday.com website, and starting today, I now have a 2 CD set of the Dhammapada available on the Daily Buddhism site, once again recorded by yours truly. It's available directly from the website and there's a link over on the left hand side of the screen, under the heading “Pages” I'll also include a link in the show notes. Starting this week, we'll be taking a look at the Dhammapada, in my opinion the single most important ancient text in Buddhism. We'll talk a little bit more about the Dhammapada later in this episode. And now it's time for me to make another call for donations. Call it a “pledge drive” if you prefer. Although I've gotten a few donations, I can't say that I am overwhelmed. I absolutely want to thank the people who have sent in donations. I'm still trying to pay off the microphone I bought way back around episode 7, and I had also hoped to get a voice mail number like some other podcasts have, but I don't see that happening without additional support. Sooner or later, I'll need to pay for web hosting for another year. The link to donate is there on the site, it's easy to find. I always enjoy your emails and letters of encouragement, but you know… c'mon guys, out of literally thousands of listeners, this begging shouldn't be needed every week. I've got a specific target goal that I need to reach, and then I can stop pestering…I mean begging, every week. OK, and now on with the show! [Read the five previous daily emails, or the blog posts or listen to the podcast for the rest] Show Links for this week: Buddhist Weddings: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/120 Buddhism and Family Support: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/121 The Accidental Buddhist: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/122 Buy From Amazon: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/accidentalbuddhism Koan: No Loving Kindness: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/123 The Dhammapada Chapter 1 Text: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/125 Order the Full Dhammapada on CD: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/the-dhammapada-on-cd

Podcast Episode 16 Welcome back, I'm Brian your host and this is episode 16 of the Daily Buddhism. Before we get started recapping the week's material, we'll cover a few quick announcements. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had set up a message board or forum for posting questions and answers. Well, there just wasn't much interest in that, and it was getting to be a lot of work simply keeping the spam and crank messages off the board, so I have decided to discontinue the message boards. I think it may have been a little overcrowded with other things anyway. Maybe I'll try something similar at a later date in the future, I don't know yet. But for now, no more forum. If you have questions on anything or want to request that I cover a specific topic, please send me an email, or post your comments right on the website. To make those comments easier, I am now including a link in each daily email to the appropriate place on the website to comment on each topic. That'll make finding the right place easier, especially if a new question comes up on an old topic. Every post on the blog now has a “Share this Article” button on it. If you think something would interest a friend, you can send them a link to the article in question. Technical Questions and "how to's": I have had a few technical questions about things as well. I'm going to try to clarify as many of them as I can now: When I say “the blog,” or “the website,” I am referring to the main website at www.dailybuddhism.com The type of software running there is called a blog, or “web log,” it allows me to post our daily topics there and lets you post comments or questions after each topic. When I discuss “the emails” I usually mean the daily email that I send out with the lesson or subject of the day. There's a sign-up form on the front page of the website if you aren't getting these already. The podcast is of course, this audio file. You don't need an iPod to hear a podcast (although they're great!). If you don't have an iPod or MP3 player, you can download the audio file to your computer and play it with whatever media player you might have on your system. If that's not something you are comfortable with, you can just go to the website and click on the embedded audio player. It's at the top of all the podcast announcement posts, and looks like a little arrow. Click on the arrow and listen to the show right there within your browser. Someone complained that I didn't put the full transcript of the podcast on the site anymore. Actually, I do. I put the announcements and introduction on there (you're reading it now), but the bulk of the podcast is already transcribed in the daily emails. I don't see any reason to duplicate the whole week's emails in one long post. If I were going to do that, I may as well change the name of the site to the “Weekly Buddhism” and that defeats the purpose a little bit. On the other hand, a while back I asked whether or not the listeners wanted a daily podcast as well as the daily emails, and the responses I got were unanimous that once a week was good. I have to agree; I have been subscribed to some daily podcasts and they're very hard to keep current with. So the podcast will stay weekly. Now that our long “series” on basic Buddhism is about done I will be having more and more “standalone” subjects, which will allow me to get the podcast out more regularly every week. OK, that ‘s a LOT of stuff, so lets get on with this week's show! [read blog posts, listen to the audio file, or read emails for the rest of the content that's not repeated here :) ] Episode Links Namaste: “I bow to the Divine in You” http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/108 No-Self or Anatman http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/112 Dependent Origination http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/113 Koan: If You Love, Love Openly http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/114

Podcast 15 Now Online Welcome back! I'm Brian your host and welcome to episode 15 of the Daily Buddhism. As always, past episodes and show notes are available at http://www.dailybuddhism.com. Be sure to sign up for the daily email list while you're there, because not everything always makes it to the podcast. As always, if you have any comments or questions you'd like to email, I am at dailybuddhism@gmail.com If you would like to comment on any of the topics from this week, you are welcome to post your thoughts and opinions on the website itself. As always, its free and no registration is required. OK, so now on with the show! We've got an interesting variety of short topics again this week, so let's roll! [Listen to the podcast or read the website for full text] Links mentioned this week Announcements http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/103 Koan: Obedience http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/101 Gudo Revisited http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/100 Original Gudo Story http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/87 Mandalas, including photos of mandalas http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/102 The Other Precepts http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/99 The Tao Remastered http://www.taooftheday.com/tao-remastered Arcane Tales: http://www.arcanetales.com

Podcast Episode 14 Welcome back! I'm Brian your host and welcome to episode 14 of the Daily Buddhism. As always, past episodes and show notes are available at http://www.dailybuddhism.com. Be sure to sign up for the daily email list while you're there, because not everything always makes it to the podcast. Before we get started, I have a few announcements: As I do a quick mental inventory, I'm thinking we've covered most of what I would consider “essential basic Buddhism.” It may be just about time to start covering more “intermediate” topics. Before we start that, I want to make sure we've covered all the basics. So today, I'm going to put out another call for questions: Have I missed a subject that interests you? Is any topic that I've covered unclear or maybe too shallow? Questions on anything? Do you have any inspiring stories or personal thoughts you'd like to share? Also, if you are a podcast listener: Would you prefer the current format of one show every one or two weeks that covers multiple topics for 20-25 minutes, or would you prefer a short one-topic show every day? I'm hoping to get enough reader and listener questions and calls for topic elaboration to cover the rest of July, and then start the “Daily Buddhism: Book Two” in August. When we do start more advanced topics, what would you like to see? And once again, I need to mention that on the http://www.dailybuddhism.com website, there is a button labeled “Donate.” Buddhists around the world have survived for 2500 years on donations and gifts from others. Who am I to try to break that tradition? If you have enjoyed the emails and podcasts so far, please “drop something in the box.” OK, so now on with the show! I've got a mixed lot of topics this time, so we're going to be all over the place subject-wise. [Listen to the podcast or read the website for full text] Links mentioned in the podcast: The Universe in a Single Atom, By the Dalai Lama (Book): http://astore.amazon.com/askdrarca-20/detail/0767920813/ The Universe in a Single Atom, By the Dalai Lama (Audio Book): http://astore.amazon.com/askdrarca-20/detail/0739322656/

And welcome back!   I'm Brian your host and welcome to the Daily Buddhism podcast number thirteen. Remember that you can find all back issues and episodes of the Daily Buddhism emails and podcasts at www.dailybuddhism.com. Be sure to never miss anything by signing up for the daily email while you're there.   And I will take this opportunity to remind everyone about the companion podcast concerning the Tao Te Ching. The ‚ÄúTao of the Day‚Äù covers a chapter of the Tao every weekday. We're currently about halfway through the Tao, but that's OK, all past shows are still available and easy to download. If you're interested, stop n over at taooftheday.com or do a search on iTunes for Tao (that's spelled T-A-O in both cases).   If you found the show through iTunes, I'd appreciate it if you posted a review of the show there. If you have any comments or suggestions about the show, send me an email at dailybuddhism@gmail.com. If you would like to discuss anything we cover, there are a few ways to do that:   Post comments on the website. Every daily email article is also posted there, so you can post your questions, comments, or thoughts about that topic right there.   If you have a private questions or comment, send me an email at dailybuddhism@gmail.com   And now something new: Due to suggestions from listeners and readers, we now have a message forum. You can post your own questions or topics there, and anyone can respond to them. If there's a topic I haven't covered, you can start your own topics there. It's called the ‚ÄúArcane Things Forum‚Äù and there's a link there from the website, www.arcanethings.com/phpBB3/ And now on with today's show. This time, we're going to cover The Eight Auspiscious Symbols.   Links mentioned in this podcast:     Pictures for all the symbols: http://www.dailybuddhism.com (various posts) Molly Locklear, Poet:   http://www.thatmollygirl.com Previous Discussion of Dharma Wheel:   http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/45 Tao Of The Day http://www.taooftheday.com E-Mail: DailyBuddhism@gmail.com      

[display_podcast] And welcome back! I'm Brian your host and welcome to the Daily Buddhism podcast number twelve. Remember that you can find all back issues and episodes of the Daily Buddhism emails and podcasts at www.dailybuddhism.com. Be sure to never miss anything by signing up for the daily email while you're there. If you found the show through iTunes, I'd appreciate it if you posted a review of the show there. If you have any comments or suggestions about the show, send me an email at dailybuddhism@gmail.com. If you would like to discuss anything we cover, there are a few ways to do that:   Post comments on the website. Every daily email article is also posted there, so you can post your questions, comments, or thoughts about that topic right there. If you have a private questions or comment, send me an email at dailybuddhism@gmail.com And now something new: Due to suggestions from listeners and readers, we now have a message forum. You can post your own questions or topics there, and anyone can respond to them. If there's a topic I haven't covered, you can start your own topics there. It's called the ‚ÄúArcane Things Forum‚Äù and there's a link there from the website, www.arcanethings.com/phpBB3/ And now on with today's show. This time, we're going to cover more of your questions about Buddhism. As always, opinions vary, so my answers may not always fit what you've heard. If you disagree or have learned something different, let me know!   Links mentioned in this podcast: Story of Quang Duc, the Monk who set himself on fire: http://www.quangduc.com/English/vnbuddhism/013quangduc.html Here's a VERY GRAPHIC photo (be warned): http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/rikkuayame/thichquangduc.jpg Dr. Martin Luther King's Message about Thich Nhat Hanh: http://www.iamhome.org/mlkletter.htm Book suggestion by a reader "Introduction to Tantra: The Transformation of Desire" by Lama Yeshe/Thubten Yeshe http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0861711629?tag=askdrarca-20&linkCode=as2        

[display_podcast] The podcast for the first bunch of reader questions is available now.

[display_podcast] This is the podcast of the "Zen" series from last week.Next time's podcast will be on Questions and Answers, so keep those questions coming! http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/53 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/54 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/55 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/57