Episode 165 - The Jewel of Spiritual Community
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
Release Date: 04/06/2023
Episode 231 - Reliance on a Teacher
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
In a world obsessed with DIY, YouTube tutorials, and learning everything ourselves, navigating the depths of our own minds can land us not knowing where to start or how to practice. In this episode of Buddhism for Everyone, JoAnn Fox breaks down a foundational practice in Tibetan Buddhism: Relying on a Spiritual Teacher. Far from checking your brain at the door or surrendering your autonomy, relying on a spiritual guide is like hiring an experienced mountain guide before attempting to summit Everest. Having a teacher is genuinely a life-hack that saves you years of trial and error. In this...
info_outline
Episode 230 - Gratitude & Emptiness
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
When we hear the word "emptiness" (shunyata) in Buddhist philosophy, it’s easy to mistake it for nothingness or a bleak void. But true emptiness isn’t an absence of life: it is the absence of separation. It means nothing exists independently. Everything is interconnected. Everything depends on causes and conditions. One of the causes of how things exist is how we perceive them! So, how do we move this beautiful concept from our heads into our hearts? Through the daily practice of gratitude. The Mind as a Creator When we practice gratitude, we vividly see that things don't have a fixed,...
info_outline
Episode 229 - Boundaries in Buddhism
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
In Buddhism, we’re encouraged to cherish others more and deepen our compassion. Some may wonder if there is a contradiction between these heart-opening practices and having healthy boundaries. But here is the truth: even the Buddha set boundaries. In the texts, the Buddha frequently chose who to engage with, when to enter noble silence, and how to protect himself so he could serve the world effectively. In fact, true compassion requires boundaries. Sometimes the kindest thing to do for another is to set a strong boundary. In this episode, JoAnn Fox explores the concept of boundaries through...
info_outline
Episode 228 - Be Love
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
If you’ve ever longed for love—and let’s be honest, who hasn’t?—you’ll recognize the familiar dance our minds do. We build the "ideal" in our heads. We make lists of the qualities we need in a partner. We dissect our past heartbreaks like forensic investigators, trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. We search and search, looking outward for that one person who will finally fill the cup. But what if we’re looking at the map upside down? Buddhist wisdom suggests that the path to fulfillment isn't about finding the perfect love, but about becoming it. We...
info_outline
Episode 227 - Always Rely on a Happy Mind Alone
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
Always rely on a happy mind alone. This Buddhist slogan for training the mind isn't about "positive thinking" or just being happy. A "happy mind" refers to a mind that is peaceful and free from delusions, like like anger, jealousy, pride or attachment. When a delusion like anger is operating in the mind, we no longer see clearly. A delusion is like a warped mirror: everything we see in this mirror is distorted. For example, when we’re hurt we might get angry at someone we love. Anger then makes us see that person as the cause of our pain, a threat, so that we speak and act in...
info_outline
Episode 226 - Tame the Monkey Mind
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
Register for the free classes, Continuing the Walk for Peace: An Inner Peace Toolkit: https://buddhismforeveryone.com/walk-for-peace-toolkit In this episode, we talk about your monkey. The monkey on your back. You know the one. The brilliant, overachieving, slightly unhinged creature swinging through your mind at 2:00 a.m. reorganizing your life, replaying arguments, drafting emails you will never send. In an old Buddhist story, a man is given a magical monkey by his spiritual teacher. The magical monkey can do anything. Grant any wish. At first, it’s amazing. The monkey...
info_outline
Episose 225 - Is your mind the Matrix?
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
In The Matrix, the red pill reveals the truth behind appearances and opens the path to freedom. In Buddhism, a realization of the true nature of reality is the ultimate path to freedom. In this episode, we explore how waking up to reality gives us the ability to reshape who you are because nothing is fixed learn to bend the “rules” of your reality unplug from emotional reactivity Buddha explained the ultimate truth of reality as “emptiness.” Emptiness does not mean nothingness. This teaching doesn’t mean that nothing exists. We have to ask ourselves, what is reality empty of?...
info_outline
Episode 224: Finding Happiness in Others' Joy
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
Imagine feeling a burst of joy every time someone else wins. A friend gets a promotion, your sister finds love, a stranger shares good news, and you feel happiness with them. That spark of delight is the heart of sympathetic joy, or mudita, a Buddhist practice that flips the script on comparison and jeaousy. It turns the happiness of others into a source of our own happiness. It’s not magic, but it feels like it. When sympathetic joy is practiced with the bodhicitta intention to become a Buddha for the benefit of all beings, it becomes "Immeasurable Joy." Immeasurable Joy is a trained...
info_outline
Episode 223 - Feed love or Feed Pain
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
We constantly make small choices that shape the reality of our relationships, whether with our partner, children, friends, or colleagues. They determine whether we deepen connection or cause resentment and distance to quietly grow. Every moment holds a fork in the road: Will I feed love, or will I feed pain? In this episode, we look the difference between love and attachment. Love is the wish that another person be happy. Attachment is the wish that they make us happy. Attachment is the habit of selfishness in relationships that causes pain. The strength of a relationship is directly...
info_outline
Episode 222: Preventing Anger
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
Longtime Buddhist Teacher, JoAnn Fox, explores five powerful Buddhist antidotes to anger and aversion: patience acceptance recognizing karma remembering impermanence seeing other people or challenges as spiritual teachers compassion Learn how to meet challenges with wisdom instead of reaction. Buddha reminds us that peace isn’t about avoiding pain; it’s about understanding it. By practicing a simple yet profound method, W.A.I.T What Am I Thinking, we begin to free ourselves from the fires of aversion and cultivate genuine calm instead. In this way, we can...
info_outlineWealth destroys those who lack in wisdom, But not those who seek the beyond. Craving wealth, those lacking wisdom Destroy themselves As well as others. (355)
Weeds are the ruin of fields; Passion is the ruin of people. So offerings to those free of passion Bear great fruit. (356)
Weeds are the ruin of fields; Ill will is the ruin of people. So offerings to those free of ill will Bear great fruit. (357)
Weeds are the ruin of fields; Delusion is the ruin of people. So offerings to those free of delusion Bear great fruit. (358)
Weeds are the ruin of fields; Longing is the ruin of people. So offerings to those free of longing Bear great fruit. (359)
The Sangha is one of the Three Jewels of Buddhism, alongside the Buddha and the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha). Traditionally, the Sangha is comprised of monastics, spiritual teachers, bodhisattvas and enlightened beings. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is considered the doorway into Buddhism, the way to become a Buddhist. Even if one has no intention of becoming a Buddhist, refuge in a teacher, the teachings, and a spiritual community is a fundamental step towards simply attaining inner peace. But refuge can be seen as the first step, or realization, toward attaining enlightenment, complete liberation from suffering.
The Sangha plays an important role in Buddhist practice. It provides a supportive community for practitioners to learn from and practice with. So we can say that the people we practice with and the teachers we learn from are part of our Sangha, spiritual community.
The Sangha also creates a field of merit. Merit refers to “good karma.” When you have seen people, perhaps on TV, visit monasteries and make offerings to monks and nuns, they are making offerings to the field of merit in order to create exceptionally powerful “good karma.” But we can create good karma towards the field of merit in many ways. For example, the Buddha or any Buddhist spiritual teacher, would be so happy for you to practice patience or compassion as an offering. This episode explains many ways we can create good karma towards the field of merit and practical ways to build or strengthen Sangha, a spiritual community, for ourselves.
Wealth destroys those who lack in wisdom, But not those who seek the beyond. Craving wealth, those lacking wisdom Destroy themselves As well as others. (355)
Weeds are the ruin of fields; Passion is the ruin of people. So offerings to those free of passion Bear great fruit. (356)
Weeds are the ruin of fields; Ill will is the ruin of people. So offerings to those free of ill will Bear great fruit. (357)
Weeds are the ruin of fields; Delusion is the ruin of people. So offerings to those free of delusion Bear great fruit. (358)
Weeds are the ruin of fields; Longing is the ruin of people. So offerings to those free of longing Bear great fruit. (359)
--Buddha, The Dhammapada
References and Links
Buddha.The Dhammapada. Translated by Gil Fronsdale. (Kindle). Shambala, Boston and London, 2011. (Link)
Find us at the links below:
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Buddhismforeveryone
Facebook Group:Join our private group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sanghatalk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buddhism.with.joann.fox