Explore every episode of the podcast Diggin' the Dharma
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Path of Practice | 24 May 2026 | 00:31:58 | |
Jon and Doug discuss the Buddhist Path, and how we can bring it into our lives. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Space Element | 17 May 2026 | 00:28:49 | |
Jon and Doug discuss the element of space in Buddhist dharma, and how we can practice with it. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Mothers and the Dharma | 10 May 2026 | 00:31:55 | |
This episode will be out on Mother's Day, so Jon and Doug discuss the complex role of mothers in the dharma, particularly the early dharma. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Practicing for Wisdom | 03 May 2026 | 00:34:07 | |
The first two factors of the Noble Eightfold Path are the wisdom factors of Right View and Right Intention. As we practice meditation and bring our practice to life, we gain “wisdom” which refines our view. But what is wisdom really and do we know when we have it? Jon and Doug have a lively and mostly wise discussion Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Practicing With Language, Languaging Practice | 01 Mar 2026 | 00:27:56 | |
Jon and Doug discuss how language can both help and hinder our practice. Doug's Dharma Video: A Poem That Isn’t: Buddhist Mindfulness and Rumi's "Guest House" -- https://youtu.be/1E79pU6GzNs Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Finding Humor in Our Practice and the Teachings | 22 Feb 2026 | 00:25:08 | |
Sometimes we take ourselves (particularly our minds) too seriously. Jon is taking stand-up comedy classes in Chicago, so he and Doug discuss the role of humor in our practice. Doug's Dharma video: Playfulness on the Path: The Buddha and Humor -- https://youtu.be/toZ-U26iCbc The Late Wes 'Scoo' Nisker's - Crazy Wisdom Saves the World (again) Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Realms of Existence | 15 Feb 2026 | 00:26:54 | |
Jon and Doug discuss the idea of the "realms of existence" in Buddhism. What are they, and how can we work with them? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Engaging in Compassion: A Chat with Ben Connelly of the Minnesota Zen Center | 08 Feb 2026 | 00:33:26 | |
How do we manifest peace and compassion in the face of state brutality? Jon and Doug discuss with their special guest Ben Connelly, guiding teacher at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| How Much is Too Much . . . News! Guarding the Sense Doors | 01 Feb 2026 | 00:27:38 | |
The news nowadays can be overwhelming. Jon and Doug discuss ways we can practice with it, and some tips from Buddhism that can help us with navigating today's media landscape. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Walking as Practice: The Buddhist Peace Walk | 25 Jan 2026 | 00:27:56 | |
Jon and Doug discuss the Buddhist peace walk from Texas to DC that is underway now. How can it inspire us in our practice? Walk for Peace Blog Page Interested in taking a class with Jon? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Investigating Investigation | 18 Jan 2026 | 00:29:36 | |
Jon and Doug discuss the role of "investigation" in our practice, one of the key factors of enlightenment or awakening. What are we actually investigating and how does this investigation lead provide energy and even joy? Interested in taking a class with Jon? Check out: When the Sh*t Hits the Fan- Broken Heart Dharma Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Taking Refuge in a New Year | 11 Jan 2026 | 00:26:11 | |
Refuge is an evergreen topic in our practice. How can reorienting ourselves towards refuge help in the new year? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Finding a Teacher, Relating to Teachers, Being a Teacher | 07 Dec 2025 | 00:29:55 | |
In this episode, Jon and. Doug discuss different styles of teaching meditation and dharma; how to find a teacher, and what it means to be a teacher. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Practicing Kindness with Guest Bodhipaksa | 23 Nov 2025 | 00:43:41 | |
Jon and Doug discuss practicing kindness and elements of the other Brahmavihāras with their guest Bodhipakṣa, who has a new book out: The Heart’s Awakening: 108 Steps to a Life of Love. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Secular-Traditional Divide Examined: Four Guys Talk Dhamma | Roundtable with Clear Mountain Monastery | 09 Nov 2025 | 01:01:02 | |
This week is a special episode, recorded thanks to Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho at Clear Mountain Monastery. Our conversation touched on themes Secular Buddhism vs Traditional Buddhism, the sacred, belief in rebirth, saddhā (faith), Mundane Right View vs Transcendent Right View, attachment to views, and much more! Clear Mountain Monastery will release a video of this discussion on their YouTube channel in December. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Devas, Nagas, Yakkhas, a Halloween Episode | 02 Nov 2025 | 00:26:39 | |
It's Halloween as Jon and Doug record their episode, so the discussion is about the supernatural beings in Buddhism, their history, how they reflect our own inner and outer states, and how we can practice with them. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Getting Lost in Our Stories | 26 Oct 2025 | 00:28:29 | |
Mental proliferation or "papañca" is one key way the mind works overtime to keep us agitated and stressed out. Jon and Doug discuss how we get lost in our stories, and how sometimes it's good to spend time figuring them out, and other times it's best to figure out how to let them go. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Knowing Equanimity Without Falling Into Indifference | 28 Sep 2025 | 00:27:42 | |
In many respects our practice aims towards equanimity. But if we force it, we may end up in indifference instead. Jon and Doug discuss these very different states and how our practice can help us navigate through them. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Bringing Our Practice to the Hospital | 14 Sep 2025 | 00:30:28 | |
Practice can often be most helpful when things in our life go sideways. Jon and Doug discuss practice in the context of doctors, dentists, and hospital visits. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Approaching Meditation | 07 Sep 2025 | 00:29:32 | |
What are we doing when we "meditate"? It seems like there are so many different styles and approaches. Jon and Doug discuss ways to frame and understand the practices. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Many Paths, One Destination. . Working with Different Traditions | 20 Jul 2025 | 00:31:06 | |
There are many different approaches to practice within Buddhism, not to mention outside of Buddhism. How can we work with these different approaches? What are some of their key differences? Doug's Dharma Video: Do All Religions Lead to the Same Goal? -- https://youtu.be/moGPUNfO8no With One Voice- a film about different spiritual traditions lead to the same place. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Dharma of Independence (Day) | 06 Jul 2025 | 00:26:11 | |
With the US holiday of July 4th upon us, Jon and Doug discuss dependence, independence, what freedom really means, and how to practice towards it. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Gladdening the Mind | 29 Jun 2025 | 00:23:06 | |
The actual instruction to "gladden" the mind is sdd in the Anapanasati (Mindfulness of In and Out Breathing) Sutta, in the third tetrad about the Mind. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Letting Go Is Hard to Do | 22 Jun 2025 | 00:26:05 | |
The second noble truth addresses the cause of Dukkha (suffering) as our nature to cling to our desires (or push away that which we don't want). The opposite of this is letting go. Ajahn Chah, the venerable Thai forest monk and teacher to many of today's wonderful teachers-- would say often: Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Practice as Refuge and Recharge | 15 Jun 2025 | 00:26:47 | |
These are difficult times, and our practice can be a true refuge and an opportunity to recharge. However, it’s also possible for meditation to become a means of escaping or bypassing what’s happening in the world or our personal experiences. Ideally, true refuge recharges us and increases our capacity to face the world and with what Bhikkhu Bodhi calls “conscientious compassion.” Jon and Doug have a lively discussion about how our practice supports us in these times. Link to Bhikkhu Bodhi's Commentary on Protecting Human Dignity and the Threat of Moral Nihilism: https://www.lionsroar.com/commentary-protecting-human-dignity-from-the-threat-of-moral-nihilism/ Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Practicing Acceptance | 08 Jun 2025 | 00:27:35 | |
Jon and Doug discuss the Buddhist practice of acceptance. How would the Buddha have framed it? How can we work with acceptance today, and how might an attitude of acceptance make our lives better? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Guarding the Sense Doors and Practicing with Social Media | 01 Jun 2025 | 00:29:19 | |
The Buddha taught that guarding the sense doors is an essential part of practice. Of course, social media didn’t exist 2500 years ago. These days it’s so easy to get caught in the vortex of social media. Jon and Doug discuss how they guard (or not) the sense doors in the current media reality. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Role of Faith or Confidence in Our Practice | 27 Apr 2025 | 00:28:29 | |
Jon and Doug discuss the role of faith or confidence in Buddhist practice, how it can be useful and also how it can be misused. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Silence and Solitude | 09 Mar 2025 | 00:27:45 | |
Silence and solitude are two forms of Buddhist practice of great depth, but also some difficulty for many. Jon and Doug discuss how they appear in the early texts, and how we can practice with them today. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Finding Joy Through Practice | 23 Feb 2025 | 00:25:57 | |
Joy is an essential aspect of Buddhist practice. And boy do we need joy right now! Jon and Doug discuss how joy can arise for us, and what attitudes and practices can help joy to arise. Jon's Talk on Joy for Tricycle Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Pilgrimage and Spiritual Seekers | 16 Feb 2025 | 00:29:47 | |
Jon has been on pilgrimage in India over the last few weeks. He reports in about all he's been experiencing at various Buddhist and other sites. Links: Jon's blog posts: JonAaron.net/musings Where Are You Going: Ajahn Sucitto and Nick Scott https://whereareyougoing.podbean.com/ Doug's video: King Asoka: Buddhism's Great Political Modernist -- https://youtu.be/V4894Ug8Y3c Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| It's About Time in Buddhism | 12 Jan 2025 | 00:27:59 | |
How do we perceive time, and what can we learn from Buddhist teachings about it? How do we frame the past and the future, not to mention the present? Jon and Doug discuss this topic, inspired by the fact that Jon is currently in India, which is 9.5 hours ahead of the East Coast of the U.S., where Doug is. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Dharma Chat with Stephen Fulder-- Practicing in Challenging Times | 22 Dec 2024 | 00:33:20 | |
Jon and Doug have a wide-ranging chat with the dharma teacher and peace activitist, Stephen Fulder, founder of Tovana, the Israel Insight Society. We discuss his work in Israel and his new book, How to Thrive in Hard Times. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Refuge in Practice: Self or Sangha? | 15 Dec 2024 | 00:27:35 | |
What is the role of community in our practice? The sangha is one of the traditional three refuges or jewels of Buddhism. The Buddha also advised at the end of his life to hold the self as our island and refuge, with the dharma as our island and refuge. Jon and Doug discuss how we reconcile these ideals. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Investigation, Energy, and Joy | 08 Dec 2024 | 00:26:54 | |
Three key aspects of the seven enlightenment factors are investigation, energy, and joy. What are they, and how can we touch them in our practice? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Conscious of Consciousness | 24 Nov 2024 | 00:34:01 | |
The final aggregate in the set of five is consciousness. What is meant by consciousness/ As an aggregate of clinging, when does it get in the way? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Sankharas, What Are They? Volitional Formations/Constructions/etc.? | 17 Nov 2024 | 00:27:36 | |
In Buddhism the root of karmic action is in sankharas, a word with many uses in the dharma. As we practice, we can see the sankharas taking shape and then realize we have choices. But even the choices are related to other sankharas and the "wow' of this mind. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Bringing Our Practice to an Unwanted Outcome | 10 Nov 2024 | 00:28:14 | |
Two days after the US Election, Doug and Jon discuss how they are handling the results. They also discuss how our practice can support us as we look to the future political landscape in the US and the world.
Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Talkin' 'bout feeling (Vedana) | 03 Nov 2024 | 00:29:30 | |
Feeling tone, the pleasure or pain we take in experience, is a central part of dharma. As an aggregate, a foundation of mindfulness, a link in the chain of dependent origination, appreciating, understanding, and directly experiencing Vedana is a key to experiencing freedom. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Aggregate of Form: Body and World | 27 Oct 2024 | 00:29:13 | |
Doug and Jon continue to explore the Five Aggregates of Clinging (to self) and this week explore Form. How do we cling to form and at what point, does this clinging become suffering? Are doesn't it? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| "Things Aren't as the Seem , Nor are they Otherwise*"-- Perception and Mis-Perception | 20 Oct 2024 | 00:28:20 | |
Jon and Doug discuss perception and how it's mediated by past experience and the stories we tell. How does it become misperception? How can we work with our perception to live more skillfully and fully? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Fetter of Conceit | 06 Oct 2024 | 00:30:59 | |
How does our concept of ourselves and others create suffering? What would it be like to soften this "conceit of self". Understanding and seeing through this conceit, is the last of the higher fetters, which needs to the released before awakening. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Disenchantment: It's not really what it sounds like, or is it? | 29 Sep 2024 | 00:24:39 | |
The Buddhist attitude of "nibbidā" or "disenchantment"/"disgust" is central to the early teaching. What is it and how can it help us navigate our lives? Jon and Doug discuss. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| A Buddhist View on Forgiveness | 22 Sep 2024 | 00:28:52 | |
Doug and Jon discuss what forgiveness means in the contact of Buddhism. Is it Buddhist? It's a powerful and important practice but it doesn't seem to appear anywhere in the teachings. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Buddha in the Voting Booth 2024 | 15 Sep 2024 | 00:28:26 | |
Doug has Covid, Jon has a bad microphone, but they're chatting about the Buddha and voting anyway, as well as Buddhist practice and voting. What does 2024 bring for us in the voting booth, and how should we frame our political choices? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Is Meditation Dangerous? | 08 Sep 2024 | 00:26:01 | |
A recent podcast series at the Financial Times discussed serious problems several meditators have had at one popular ten-day Vipassana retreat system. Jon and Doug discuss this and some important work by Brown psychology professor Dr. Willoughby Britton. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Renunciation | 18 Aug 2024 | 00:23:53 | |
With Jon's impending move to Chicago Jon and Doug discuss the beneficial practice of renunciation. What do we really need? Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Value of Silence | 09 Aug 2024 | 00:30:24 | |
Silence is so important to Buddhist practice. Jon and Doug discuss how silence impacts practice as well as some of the early tradition around silence. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| Experiencing Art and Entertainment in the Context of the Dharma | 04 Aug 2024 | 00:27:20 | |
How do we bring our Buddhist practice into our relationship with the arts and entertainment? The early Buddhist teachings, in particular, seem to look askance at this area of life. Doug and Jon discuss this interesting topic and how they integrate practice into their own interests in the arts. Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||
| The Bodhisattva Ideal | 28 Jul 2024 | 00:27:21 | |
The Bodhisattva ideal really blossomed in the Mahayana traditions but the idea of the Bodhisattva was certainly present in the earlier traditions. Perhaps not in name but certainly in expression. When the Buddha spoke about himself before his Enlightenment, he referred to himself as a Bodhisattva. And, of course, the fact that he taught for 40 years after his Awakening points to his desire to awaken all beings. But how is the ideal expressed in us? Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas” — https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/arahantsbodhisattvas.html Go to our website to leave a comment, buy us a coffee, or see further notes and links: https://digginthedharma.com/ | |||