Bob Thurman Podcast: Buddhas Have More Fun!

In this podcast Professor Thurman discusses how the ideas of Darwin, Marx and Freud, although brilliant, are based on a rather despondent bottom line assessment: that we as humans are a bunch of helpless robots. But is it true that we can never understand our unconscious? Are we helpless victims of our genes? Are we the victims of our social settings? By contrast, Buddhist ideas incite human beings to take responsibility for their own minds by fully understanding the inter-relatedness in the world, which in turn produces a natural ethical behavior. Professor Thurman then engages his listeners into an interesting discussion of whether there is evidence or lack thereof for former and future lives. Darwin, Marx, Freud & Buddha - Ep. 56 of the Bob Thurman Podcast was recorded was recorded on February 26, 2016. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the monthly support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York. Listen to more archive recordings from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The songs “Trance Tibet” & ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In this episode Professor Thurman talks about a coarse, subtle and super subtle body-mind. He then explains the Tibetan Buddhist concept of "three luminosities": the states of consciousness, which can be experienced either after death, or during sleep. He compares the infinite energy of the clear-light space in our mind with the zero-quantum vacuum energy field. Buddhist Inner Sciences 101: Three Luminosities - Ep. 55 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Image via www. himalayaart.com. Excerpted from a lecture given on November 29, 2015 at Menla Retreat Center, as part of a retreat called "Death & Deathlessness: Buddhist Insights and Practices for Life, Death, and the In-Between" with Dale Borglum & Robert Thurman. This podcast is apart of the Buddhist Inner Sciences 101 Podcast Series taken from the Bob Thurman & Tibet House US archives which are intended to provide an introduction to the yogic, meditative & theoretical practices of the tradition. These recordings are intended to be general overviews & one should be studying with a qualified teacher before attempting or engaging in the practices.

In this episode Robert A.F. Thurman discusses the meditation practices of the mindful revolution from a Buddhist perspective. He discusses its influence on the mind and some different ways it can be practiced: you can count your breath or you can say your mantra. When your mind wanders, you bring it back to the main focus and you disassociate yourself from distracting thoughts. In this way, you gain more control over your reactions and learn to develop a higher concentration. “Why Be Mindful” Episode 54 of the Bob Thurman podcast is an excerpt from the lecture “Igniting the Bliss Within,” given at Jivamukti Yoga Tribe Gathering in New York City, on January 4, 2016. Frank Lipman M.D., Robert A.F. Thurman and Sharon Gannon at Menla photo by Frank Lipman. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. Previews are available on the Tibet House US YouTube Channel + Full Archive Recordings from the 2016 + 2017 Annual Retreat at Menla in the THUS Member Archives. Tibet House US Member Access starts at $2 a Month. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

“We must make miraculous change, and the planet will be better than ever,” – Professor Thurman greets us with this positive message in this special podcast, recorded for the occasion of the Tibetan New Year, Losar. The planet, political systems/structures, society and we personally may experience difficulties and lack of optimism. Nevertheless, he proposes, we should be open to or even insist on miracles. In fact, he continues, they have been happening all along, we just haven’t been paying attention and haven’t noticed. Maybe, some have. These contemplations are followed by the stories about miracles performed by Buddha, known and traditionally celebrated in Tibet at lunar New Year as the Two Weeks of Miracles. He ended by inviting everyone to celebrate the miraculous just for one evening, at THUS’ Annual Carnegie Hall concert. This podcast was recorded by Professor Thurman on February 11, 2016  specially for Losar —Tibetan New Year — at his residence in Catskills, Woodstock, NY.

According to Professor Thurman, the only effective institutional opposition to militarism in the history of humanity has been monasticism. He argues that monastic institutions enable the inversion of warriors. The militancy of the warrior is introverted, so that the monk or nun battles with his or her own inner demons of selfishness, anger, greed, and so on. In this podcast Professor Thurman suggests that dharma practitioners can win the inner battle, and when they constitute a large community, create something like a "peace army" for the society. This episode is an excerpt from the lecture "Tibetan Buddhism: Historical and Philosophical Developments," given at Nalanda Institute in New York City, on October 1, 2015. Universal Militarism Versus Demilitarized Society - Ep. 53 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Photo by Frank Holleman on Unsplash. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The songs “Trance Tibet” & ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In this podcast Professor Thurman talks about the history and meaning of the Pureland Sutra and the Lotus Sutra. Sutras are canonical scriptures, regarded as records of the oral teachings of Gautama Buddha. The Pureland Sutra is the main sutra of one of the most widely practiced traditions of Buddhism in East Asia, the Pureland tradition. The Lotus Sutra is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras of all time, and the basis for several schools of Buddhism. This episode was recorded on October 15, 2015 in a Columbia class taught by Professor Thurman. The Pureland and Lotus Sutras - Ep 52 of the Bob Thurman Amitabha/Amitayus Buddha - Pureland (Sukhavati) Image via www.himalayanart.org. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In this podcast Professor Robert A.F. Thurman shares his knowledge of the history of non-violence & Buddhism and their influence on the social and ethical development in the countries where The Buddha's Teachings have taken root. He talks about mainstream Buddhist societies and counter-cultural Buddhist societies, both of which become devoted to non-violence. This episode was recorded on December 8, 2015 in a class taught by Professor Thurman. To watch + listen to more recordings of past events with Robert A.F. Thurman please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. Learn about joining the Tibet House US Membership Community with a monthly tax-deductible donation by visiting: www.tibethouse.us. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In this episode Professor Thurman explains the concept of emptiness. Sometimes people think if they have an experience where things seem to melt into empty space, that it is a realization of emptiness. It is a valuable experience — as long as it’s not misinterpreted — however, it’s not a realization of emptiness. It can be called a threshold of realization of emptiness: the things that seem to be solid and differentiated melt into this sort of vast space. But then, the space itself is not there obstructing relative things that we perceive. The space itself is a space wherein all the relative things are, and that emptiness, and that space is empty of itself, which is expressed by saying “emptiness of emptiness.” So, a state of being apart from the world is itself empty, because it’s also a relational state. It’s a state into which you departed through a certain diamond-like concentration. This episode was recorded on December 31, 2015 at the “New Year’s Yoga & Meditation Retreat” at Menla Mountain Retreat, taught by Sharon Salzberg, Robert Thurman, Carolyn Christie, & Brooke Myers. To learn about this annual event, please visit: www.menla.us. Emptiness of Emptiness - Ep. 50 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Photo by Jesse Sewell on Unsplash The “Force for Good” Course, which Professor Thurman discussed in the end of the podcast, is available as a Livestream Talk Series with Q & A. ‘A Force For Good’ is a Tibet House US course to further the Dalai Lama’s contemporary world initiatives. This on-going series was inspired by Daniel Goleman’s ‘A Force For Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World‘. To learn more about this year’s Force For Good Series please click the image above or visit: www.tibethouse.us. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In this episode Professor Thurman discusses how to deepen our mental realism about what we are, what our inner world & processes are by applying the famous Buddhist Eightfold Path. There is a great difference between Buddhist psychology and Western psychology (not a religious difference, but a scientific one). Buddhist psychology does not accept that you have to be unconscious, and that you are going to be driven forever by unconsciousness drives and energies. Although the ordinary, habitual, instinctual driven person is driven by a huge unconscious, and Freud made a great discovery about it, yet we can become conscious of our unconscious. That's what mindfulness is about. In this way, the Eightfold Path offers us instruments in how to gain freedom in our inner processes, rather than being driven by the unconscious — in other words, how to be a master of all energies that we are enfolded with. This episode was recorded on January 3, 2015 at the "New Year's Yoga & Meditation Retreat" at Menla Mountain Retreat, taught by Sharon Salzberg, Robert Thurman, Carolyn Christie, & Brooke Myers. To learn about this annual event, please visit: www.menla.us. Becoming Conscious of the Unconscious - Ep. 49 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Photo by m wrona on Unsplash The “Force for Good” Course, which Professor Thurman discussed in the end of the podcast, is available as a Livestream Talk Series with Q & A. ‘A Force For Good’ is a Tibet House US course to further the Dalai Lama’s contemporary world initiatives. This on-going series was inspired by Daniel Goleman’s ‘A Force For Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World‘. To learn more about this year’s Force For Good Series please click the image above or visit: www.tibethouse.us. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In this podcast Professor Thurman shares the stories of great sinners transforming into great saints, of work-ability of the human mind and preciousness of human life. The miracle stories will go well with your celebratory New Year dinner! Opening this podcast with an introduction to the Buddhist perspective human nature and on the individual's ability to transform themselves ethically through understanding and selfless compassion. Podcast includes an exploration of the Tibetan saints (Bodhisattvas) Tilopa, Marpa & Milarepa lineage, the Six Yoga of Naropa, the use of channel grounds as meditative tools and a short history of Buddhist oral teaching traditions. Includes a recommendation of the 100,000 Songs of Milarepa which features the mystical, supra-normal and psychic stories of the Tibetan hemit yogi whom Henry Miller called "the St. Francis of Tibet" by Robert A.F. Thurman. Saints and Miracles - Ep. 48 of the Bob Thurman Podcast was recorded on November 24, 2015 in a class taught by Professor Thurman at Columbia University.   Saints and Miracles : Tilopa, Marpa & Milarepa - Ep. 48 of the Bob Thurman Podcast via www.himaylanart.org. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.