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Episode 110 - Two Paths Before You

Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox

Release Date: 08/13/2021

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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 -...

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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?...

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More Episodes

Buddhism, one could say, is the gradual path to happiness. The essence of all the teachings of Buddha can be summed up by the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The Noble Truths reveal Buddha’s realization that life is pervaded by suffering, the cause of suffering are the toxins in the mind like attachment, aversion and ignorance, and that there is a solution to all suffering. The Eightfold Path is contained within the Fourth Noble Truth and is the guide on how exactly to gradually end our sufferings and reveal an authentic, stable happiness from within.

 

Buddha reveals in the Four Noble Truths that, specifically, life is inseparably mixed with something he calls dukkha. The Pali word dukkha is often translated as suffering, but it means something deeper than suffering and pain. It refers to a basic unsatisfactoriness running through our lives, the lives of all but the buddhas. Sometimes this unsatisfactoriness manifests as sorrow, grief, disappointment or pain. Usually dukka is a sense that things are never quite right, never really meet our expectations. There is an agitation of wanting something more.

 

The eight practices of the Eightfold Path are Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. The Eightfold Path contains three basic parts: ethical discipline, mental discipline, and wisdom.                 

 

Buddha entitled these eight practices the Noble Path. When we think of a path we perhaps  imagine a clearing through dense woods, something that takes us somewhere. When we encounter the teachings of the Buddha,  we stand before two paths: one path is our ordinary path carrying us forward in the same way we basically have been. The other path, the spiritual path, beckons a transformation from dukka to satisfaction and peace. Yet, this path requires dedication, effort, and letting go of our ordinary ways. In the coming weeks’ episodes we will look deeply at each of the eight parts of the Eightfold Path, following along with Buddha’s verses. 

 

Now is the time to ask ourselves:  Do I want to make a change? What would life be like if I followed the spiritual path with great dedication? Am I ready to dedicate myself to the spiritual path?

 

The best of paths is the Eightfold [Path]; 

The best of truths, the Four [Noble Truths]. 

The best of qualities is dispassion; 

And the best among gods and humans 

Is the one with eyes to see. 

 

This is the path 

For purifying one’s vision; there is no other. Follow it, You’ll bewilder Māra. 

Follow it, You’ll put an end to suffering. 

This is the path I have proclaimed, 

Having pulled out the arrows. (273–275)

 

References and Links

Buddha.The Dhammapada. Translated by Gil Fronsdale. (Kindle). Shambala, Boston and London, 2011, pp. 70 (Link)

 

Bodhi, Bhikku. The Noble Eightfold Path. Buddhist Publication Society, 1999.  BuddhaNet. http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/noble8path6.pdf