What can ancient Sanskrit poetry of love and longing teach us about our own deepest spirituality? Join host Michael Taft as he explores this question with professor, author, and teacher Rick Jarow. Further topics include… Read More »Eco-Aesthetics and the Poetry of Longing, with Rick Jarow
Host Michael Taft speaks with Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton about her recent work with the 21 manifestations of the Goddess Tara, some aspects of Green Tara, and especially the role of vision and visualization in… Read More »Vision, Visualization, and Vajrayana, with Chandra Easton
People often talk about effortlessness in meditation, but would you even know what effortless meditation would even like? Let’s try an experiment right now. Hold your dominant hand out where you can see it. Now… Read More »Exploring Effort vs. Non-Effort in Meditation
Zen teacher, author, and poet Henry Shukman talks with host Michael Taft about Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Henry’s series on the Waking Up app, meditation for awakening vs. meditation as a “band aid,” the role… Read More »Talking about Zen Koans, with Henry Shukman
Nondual Guided Meditation by Michael Taft Emotions are incredibly odd things. So often we take them as given. We see them not only as “the way it is,’ but even as “the way it’s going… Read More »Radiating Buddha Love in All Directions
Host Michael Taft talks with teacher and author Ken McLeod about his insights into Vajrayana, spiritual practice as “choosing a way to live,” the Tibetan idea of lam khyer, the power of prayer as a… Read More »Vajrayana as a Living Practice with Ken McLeod
Nondual guided meditation with Michael Taft Emptiness does not mean something doesn’t exist. Even the Buddha refused to say that emptiness means non-existence. Rather, emptiness is the recognition that an apparent phenomenon is present as… Read More »Emptiness of All Arisings
Host Michael Taft talks with meditation teacher and author Tina Rasmussen about ways to understand nondual awareness and the progress of nondual meditation, including her own unique comparison between the Formless Realms of early Buddhist… Read More »Dimensions of Nonduality, with Tina Rasmussen
Nondual guided meditation by Michael Taft Shamatha (i.e. calming and focusing) and Vipashyana (special insight) are two different practices that can be used in combination to increase the effectiveness of both. In shamatha practice we… Read More »Shamatha and Vipashyana Support Each Other
Nondual Guided Meditation by Michael Taft Lots of you have been highly trained in vipassana meditation. Vipassana is a word in Pali (a dead language used only in ancient Buddhist scriptures) which means “investigation” or… Read More »How to Do Nondual Vipashyana
Shinzen Young talks with host Michael Taft about his new ideas around how we can apply the systematic mindset of mindfulness meditation to the many challenges of human communication and miscommunication. Topics include the coming… Read More »Meditation and Communication with Shinzen Young
Host Michael Taft talks about the phenomenon of spiritual bypassing, what it is, what it means for our practice, and whether it is as big of an issue as many seem to think, as well… Read More »Spiritual Bypassing and the Spiritual Friend
The mandala (the word is Sanskrit for “circle”) is an ancient symbol of wholeness. Virtually every culture worldwide has at some point used a mandala to illustrate some aspect of completeness or unity. The Vajrayana… Read More »Learning the Mandala Visualization