Pragmatic dharma teacher and host Michael W. Taft feel the power of the dark side, talk about nirvana, deconstruct the concept of nirvana, dive deep into the reality of death, look at the denial of death, and probably scare away all listeners.

Kenneth Folk is an instructor of meditation who has received worldwide acknowledgement for his innovative approach to secular Buddhist meditation. Learn more about him and his work at Kenneth Folk Dharma.

Show Notes

0:25 – Introduction and overview

2:20 – Preferring to be conscious or not conscious

5:28 – Avoiding eternalism and entertaining the possibility of death…or immortality

11:33 – The enjoyability of oblivion/nirvana (and establishing a definition of both)

19:15 – The Buddha presents a life extinction program, not a life improvement program

25:28 – Fear and denial of death, and rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic

33:15 – The relief of accepting the reality of death

34:48 – Enlightenment as a real-time report about what’s arising in experience

37:52 – The limitations of coming to meditation as a life improvement program

41:10 – Kenneth’s current practice assessing mindfulness, checking for tightness and temporarily suspending the self model

48:45 – The preposterousness of eradicating the self

53:41 – The Dharma Overground forums and posters having bad days after attaining some level of enlightenment

58:31 – How do know anything? Does Kenneth feel like he has any special or ultimate knowledge?

1:03:53 – Certitude is just another feeling on a level playing field with all others

1:12:10 – Awakening experiences invalidating each other: the second awakening erodes some of the truth of the first

1:14:10 – The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you

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