European Buddha

Henk Barendregt, a Vipassana expert from the Netherlands with a background in mathematical logic, shares insights on blending meditation with analytical thinking. The discussion includes the fundamentals of Vipassana, focusing on sensory awareness during meditation and techniques to navigate mental distractions. Henk recounts his personal journey, revealing how a Japanese monk's teachings shaped his life. The conversation also offers practical strategies for integrating mindfulness into daily routines, helping listeners cultivate awareness and inner peace.

This time we asked Žarko to present a practice that can be linked to the theme of the podcast episode. He introduced a contemplation exercise that includes objects as well as sense perceptions. A great exercise that could be done shortly or for a longer period of time. Try it out!

In this episode we connected with Chan master Žarko Andričević who currently lives in Zagreb, Croatia. In the #BasicTruthSeries category, we want to shed light on various core concepts of Buddhism and exchange with experienced practitioners about their meaning. So we began our journey with the first noble truth, dukkha, suffering. In the conversation with Zarko we found that the translation of the sanskrit term “dukkha” as “suffering” is rather inadequate. How can we understand this teaching of the Buddha and why is it important to face it?

In this episode we connected with Lama Rita Pichlhöfer. What is like to be a young female Austrian Lama? Probably we are thinking about wise old men when we hear that title. Rita spoke with us how she came across the dharma, why the teachings of the buddha work for her and how she handles the responsibility of being the representative in Europe for her lineage.

In this episode we connected with Dharmavidya David Brazier who currently lives in the countryside in France. What is Buddhism about? A big question, but we were sure that David Brazier would be a suitable guest for this inquiry. We talked about some famous encounters between the Buddha and the madwoman Patacara or the murderer Aṅgulimāla. Although we know the Buddha in his famous cross-legged lotus position, he was on his feet most of the time and was involved in world affairs. Why didn’t the Buddha get burned out? We found out.

In this episode we met with Lama Dondrup who connected with us from the countryside of Spain. To continue our journey on meditation and mindfulness we wanted to ask an experienced meditator if it is possible to be mindful all the day. During our conversation it became quite clear that other people and our day to day emotions are a big help in order to live a more mindful and compassionate life. The main contents of the episode - Mind is the past appearing in your mind in the present moment - Your mind is learning all the time - Fear is not the problem - the problem is that you don´t have control over yourself - Buddhism helps us to be our most luminous version - Being in society is a huge help to get enlightened!

In this episode we met with Martine Batchelor. We asked Martine Batchelor, why meditate? She told us about her experience with many kinds of people encountering mindfulness and meditation, how she became a nun in Korea and what the difference is - between meditating in a monastry and every day life.

In this episode we met with Kirsten Deleo who connected with us from the West-Coast of Ireland. We spoke about why death is so „creepy“ and what we can do for those who are facing the process of dying. Kirsten is a meditation teacher, author and trainer in the field of contemplative care offering training programs and retreats worldwide. With many years of experience in that field she emphasizes the importance of kindness and love when it comes to this central topic of our human existence.

In this episode Emilia Raunio and Martin Landschein discuss with Dario Doshin Girolami one of the three marks of existence: Impermancene. It is also a keyfeature of our current world situation and we were happy that he found time for us to reflect upon this topic with his years of experience as a Zen-monk and chaplaincy work.

Three people talking about a new podcast called European Buddha. Is one of them the European Buddha or what is the idea of this podcast? In this short trailerepisode Ron Eichhorn, President of the European Buddhist Union and the two hosts of the podcast, Emilia Raunio and Martin Landschein, speak about its purpose. The EBU wants to invite different voices and traditions to the show and display the whide area of buddhism and how it is practiced in "the West". The podcasts starts with different core topics about buddhim and special guests related to the topic.