Dharma on Demand | Ep15. Thanksgiving Blessings

On this Thanksgiving day, we reflect on our blessings and happiness using the Mangala Sutta (Sutra on Happiness). We reflect on what exactly is happiness and what should count as blessings. On this episode we recognize that blessings aren't the things that happen to us, but on the things that we do to create those blessings.

#thanksgiving #blessings #happiness #dharmaondemand #dharmatree

Dharma on Demand | Ep14. Mantras

Mantras. What are they? Why use them? What do they mean? We'll talk about all that and more, and discuss why having a personal mantra is important.

#DharmaOnDemand #Mantras #DharmaTree

Ask a Monk | Do Buddhists Pray?

On this episode, we explore what Buddhist prayer is and why we pray or chant in Buddhism.

Dharma on Demand | Ep13. The Eightfold Path: Right Concentration

Right Concentration (Samyak Samadhi) is to cultivate a mind that is one-pointed. On this episode we will explore the two kinds of concentration and about the Jhanas (mental absorption).

Dharma on Demand | Ep12. The Eightfold Path: Right Mindfulness

Right Mindfulness (Samyak Smriti/Sati) is at the heart of the Buddha's teachings. The Buddha says that the Dharma, the ultimate truth or things, is directly visible, timeless, calling out to be approached and seen. The ultimate truth, the Dharma, is not something mysterious and remote, but the truth of our own experience. It can be reached by understanding our experience, by penetrating it right through to its foundations. This truth, in order to become liberating truth, has to be known directly.

Dharma on Demand | Ep11. The Eightfold Path: Right Effort/Diligence

Right Effort is the kind of energy that helps us realize the Noble Eightfold Path. The purification of conduct established by the prior three factors serves as the basis for the next division of the path, the division of concentration.

Dharma on Demand | Ep10. The Eightfold Path: Right Livelihood

Right Livelihood means that one should abstain from making one's living through a profession that brings harm to oneself or others. The sutras usually define Right Livelihood as earning a living without needing to transgress any of the five precepts; not dealing in weapons, in the slave/human trafficking, the meat trade, or the sale of alcohol, drugs, or poisons.

Dharma on Demand | Ep9. The Eightfold Path: Right Action

Right Action means right action of the body and refraining from unwholesome deeds that occur with the body as their natural means of expression. The Buddha mentions three components of right action: abstaining from taking life, abstaining from taking what is not given, and abstaining from sexual misconduct.