loader from loading.io

Episode 108: One Who Harms No Living Being

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

Release Date: 07/18/2021

Episode 214 - The Dalai Lama's Secret to Lasting Happiness show art Episode 214 - The Dalai Lama's Secret to Lasting Happiness

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

We chase happiness like it’s just around the corner. Could our final destination, “happiness,” be hidden in a new relationship, job title, city, or home? But His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with his childlike laugh and mountain-like presence, has let us in on a little secret: the true source of happiness isn’t getting what we want. It’s cherishing others. It’s being kind.  The Dalai Lama says, “The basic source of all happiness is a sense of kindness and warm-heartedness towards others.” Buddhist teachings remind us again and again that when we shift the spotlight from...

info_outline
Episode 213: How to Be Mentally Strong When Things Go Wrong show art Episode 213: How to Be Mentally Strong When Things Go Wrong

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

This episode is about those moments when life doesn't go according to plan: when things go wrong, fall apart, or just feel too heavy to bear. At these times, mental strength becomes our most valuable refuge. But what does it really mean to be mentally strong? How can we cultivate that strength without becoming rigid or emotionally shut down? We'll be exploring one of my favorite quotes from the great Buddhist master Shantideva: "If something can be done, why worry? If nothing can be done, why worry?" This deceptively simple teaching holds the key to freedom from anxiety, overwhelm, and...

info_outline
Episode 212 - How To Be Calm Amidst Chaos show art Episode 212 - How To Be Calm Amidst Chaos

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

“Praise and blame, fame and shame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all.” ― Buddha We're exploring a truth so simple yet profound it almost feels like a secret; every problem we have comes from just one thing, our own mind. Specifically, our problems come from misperceiving reality: we see our worries, fears, and stresses as big, immovable mountains. In reality, they're more like clouds, shifting and changing with the winds of the mind. Nothing is as fixed as it seems. Everything depends on perception...

info_outline
Episode 211 - Let Love and Hope Rewrite the Story show art Episode 211 - Let Love and Hope Rewrite the Story

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

We're exploring a truth so simple yet profound it almost feels like a secret; every problem we have comes from just one thing--our own mind. Specifically, our problems come from misperceiving reality: we see our worries, fears, and stresses as big, immovable mountains. In reality, they're more like clouds, shifting and changing with the winds of the mind.   Nothing is as fixed as it seems. Everything depends on perception (even that thing you're stressing about right now). Could we change our perception and enjoy whatever arises? Buddhist Teacher, JoAnn Fox, offers two ways to practice...

info_outline
Episode 210 - Aṅgulimāla: Practicing Non-violence show art Episode 210 - Aṅgulimāla: Practicing Non-violence

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

In this episode, we practice one of the most powerful antidotes to anger and aversion: compassion. I know—when we’re irritated, hurt, or downright fuming, compassion is usually the last thing on our minds. But in Buddhism, compassion isn't weakness—it’s strength. It’s the most powerful way to interrupt the cycle of harm and start creating peace, inside and out.  The Story of Aṅgulimāla The Buddha’s radical teachings on non-violence reveal how to respond rather than react when things get heated. I also share the story of Angulimala—yes, the guy who was literally collecting...

info_outline
Episode 209 - No Self: Discovering Limitless Potential show art Episode 209 - No Self: Discovering Limitless Potential

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

Who—or what—are you, really? If you start peeling back the layers, things get interesting fast. You have a body, but you’re not just your body. You have thoughts, but if you were your thoughts, wouldn’t you have disappeared the last time your mind went blank? And if you were your emotions, who were you before that bad mood showed up? Buddhism teaches that the self we cling to so tightly—this solid, unchanging “me”—is actually empty of independent existence. That doesn’t mean you don’t exist; it means you exist in a far more fluid, interconnected, and expansive way than you...

info_outline
Episode 208 - Smells like dukkha show art Episode 208 - Smells like dukkha

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

The Buddha taught that dukkha—suffering and dissatisfaction—doesn't come from the outside world. Our problems don't arise from difficult people or hardships. Our problems come from within our own mind, from the way we react to life. The same is true for happiness.   We spend so much of our lives trying to control the world around us—fixing this, avoiding that, chasing after happiness like it's some rare butterfly. But what if we've been looking in the wrong place? What if the source of both our problems and our joy has been inside us all along? in this episode, we explore how...

info_outline
Episode 207 - Giving as an Antidote to Attachment show art Episode 207 - Giving as an Antidote to Attachment

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

Attachment has a sneaky way of making us hold on too tightly—to things, to people, to our own comfort zones. We cling, we grasp, we hesitate to let go, fearing we might lose something essential. But what if the very act of giving could set us free? In this episode, we explore the transformative practice of giving as an antidote to attachment. Discover how generosity can help you break free from the things that hold you back.  Buddhism teaches that generosity is not just a nice thing to do; it is a powerful practice of liberation. From the bodhisattva’s perfection of giving to the four...

info_outline
Episode 206 - The Buddhist Practice of Giving show art Episode 206 - The Buddhist Practice of Giving

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

Giving, or dāna, is one of the most fundamental and beautiful practices in Buddhism. In this episode, we explore how giving is not just an act of generosity—it is a path to freedom, a way to dissolve the tight grip of self-centeredness and open our hearts to others. The Buddha taught that giving benefits both the giver and the receiver, creating the karmic cause for an abundance of whatever we give, be it materially, love, Dharma, or fearlessness. Giving also reduces attachment, and deepens our sense of interconnectedness. Four Ways to Practice Giving: - Materially - Dharma - Fearlessness -...

info_outline
Episode 205 - Antidotes to Attachment show art Episode 205 - Antidotes to Attachment

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

Attachment is like a rope that binds us—tying our happiness to people, possessions, and circumstances. In Buddhism, attachment isn’t just about clinging to things we love; it’s the grasping, craving, and fear of loss that keep us trapped in cycles of dissatisfaction. The tighter we hold on, the more suffering we create.   But don’t worry—there are antidotes to this challenging habit of attachment! In this episode, we’ll uncover practical tools from the Buddhist path to help us shift from attachment to true freedom. How can we love without clinging? Enjoy without suffering?...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

In this episode, we explore non-harmfulness. Non-harm is so central to Buddhism, the two can not be separated from each other. Our own inner peace is dependent upon lessening and eventually eliminating the harm we do to others. Inner peace is the great victory and prize for removing this harm from our actions of body, speech and mind. 

 

-----------------------------------------

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (270) of this book, with reference to a fisherman named Ariya.

 

Once, there was a fisherman who lived near the north gate of Savatthi. One day through his supernormal power, the Buddha found that time was ripe for the fisherman to attain Sotapatti Fruition. So on his return from the alms-round, the Buddha, followed by the bhikkhus, stopped near the place where Ariya was fishing. When the fisherman saw the Buddha, he threw away his fishing gear and came and stood near the Buddha. The Buddha then proceeded to ask the names of his bhikkhus in the presence of the fisherman, and finally, he asked the name of the fisherman. When the fisher man replied that his name was Ariya, the Buddha said that the Noble Ones (ariyas) do not harm any living being, but since the fisherman was taking the lives of fish he was not worthy of his name.

 

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

 

Verse 270: He who harms living beings is, for that reason, not an ariya (a Noble One); he who does not harm any living being is called an ariya.

At the end of the discourse the fisherman attained Sotapatti Fruition.

--Buddha, The Dhammapada

 

------------------------------------------------

Mindfulness practice:

  1. Watch our mind for harm we do to others, even subtle harm. 
  2. What causes us to harm? Can you notice what precedes the wish to strike out?

------------------------------------------------

 

4 of Noble Eightfold Path include not harming through:

Right thought

Right speech 

Right action 

Right livelihood 

------------------------------------------------

"A monk decides to meditate alone.

 Away from his monastery, he takes a boat and goes to the middle of the lake, closes his eyes and begins to meditate.

 After a few hours of unperturbed silence,

 he suddenly feels the blow of another boat hitting his.  With his eyes still closed, he feels his anger rising and, when he opens his eyes, he is ready to shout at the boatman who dared to disturb his meditation.

 But when he opened his eyes,

 he saw that it was an empty boat, not tied up, floating in the middle of the lake ...

 

 At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization and understands that anger is within him;

it simply needs to hit an external object to provoke it.

 

 After that, whenever he meets someone who irritates or provokes his anger, he remembers;

 the other person is just an empty boat.

 Anger is inside me.  "

 

---Thich Nhat Hanh

------------------------------------------------------

 

On most mornings I see all the little birds eating at my birdfeeder. A squirrel comes, a rabbit, and also a huge glossy Ibis all eat together peacefully. Now when a hawk is nearby all the birds scream and warn each other. Sometimes the mockingbirds or the Blue Jays band together and gang up on the hawk to drive him away. I always find it curious that even though the ibis is as big as the hawk or perhaps larger, the little birds all know that the Ibis won’t harm them. They gather together in harmony and without fear. Somehow they know that the ibis is not a danger to them. I can’t help but dream of a world where the animals know that humans are not a harm to them or a danger. Currently they know that we are a danger to them and that causes me great pain. I long to see a day when humans are the caretakers of the earth and all her species. When humans are the protectors of those more vulnerable and the environment, not a source of fear and destruction.

 

Links and References

Buddha. The Dhammapada: Verses and Stories. Translated by Daw Mya Tin, M.A. Edited by Editorial Committee, Burma Tipitaka Association Rangoon, Burma, 1986. Courtesy of Nibbana.com. For free distribution only, as a gift of dhamma. Link: https://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=270