- What I Got Wrong About Buddhism (And What Changed Everything)
Doug reflects on five key lessons he wishes he had understood earlier in his Buddhist practice: misconceptions about meditation, the importance of testing teachings rather than accepting them on faith, treating the Dhamma as tools rather…
- Free Will Worth Wanting: the Buddha's Radical Answer
The free will dilemma: are we mere puppets of our past conditioning? Or are we somehow magically able to rise above all causes to act with pure spontaneity? The Buddha rejected both these alternatives, and provided us with a third answer:…
- Why Does the Buddha Emphasize Contentment?
Does searching for contentment in Buddhism mean settling for less out of life? How do we balance contentment with an aspiration for personal growth? We will consider such questions, as well as relate contentment to equanimity in early…
- Early Buddhist Philosophy of Mind
What was the philosophy of mind in early Buddhism? I'll look at several different aspects of the Buddha's analysis of the mind, including a couple of topics that are important in a Western philosophical context but that the Buddha didn't…
- The Buddha on "Magic"
The Buddha had a nuanced view on magic and the supernatural. We'll look at one crucial aspect of that view, corresponding to what we might term "conversion magic" or magical means used to convince and convert. Recorded before our house…
- Buddhism's Non-self: How Do You Know? Looking at a Critique
How do we come to know the truth of non-self in early Buddhism? Do we come to it through deep meditative insight, or by other means? We'll look at a recent critique of the claim that we come to know non-self through deep meditative insight.
- The Gradual Training: An Early Buddhist Map of the Path
What is the "gradual training"? It's a map of the path we find in early Buddhism, leading from our first inkling of the dharma up to nirvana itself. We will discuss "gradual training" as an idea, and then turn to the map itself, pointing…
- Devotion in Early Buddhism
Many people pursue a devotional Buddhist practice. We will look at what the Buddha had to say about devotion, both in a general sense and with respect to himself.
- Seven Factors of Awakening: Ordinary or Altered Consciousness?
What are the seven Factors of Awakening in early Buddhism? We will look at their importance to the path, and grapple with a couple of different ways they can be understood.
- The Buddha's Competitors: Unearthing the Dharma
In the early texts the Buddha speaks of six main teachers of his day with whom he disagrees. We will look at those six, and their ideas as presented in the early canonical material. We'll also take a look at a seventh major competitor to…
- Was the Buddha Bald?
We usually think of the Buddha as having a full head of hair, but it may not always have been so. Today we'll look at some of the history of Buddhist iconography, and take some lessons about how viewpoints can change over time.
- The Buddha and Free Will
What might the Buddha have thought about free will? To answer that question we'll look at the history of the concept in Western philosophy, and then consider how it applies to early Buddhism. We will find that the Buddha would have…