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Continue our discussion of Thich Nhat Hanh's Understanding Our Mind.

Continue our discussion of Thich Nhat Hanh's Understanding Our Mind.

Continue our discussion of Thich Nhat Hanh's Understanding Our Mind.

Continue our discussion of Thich Nhat Hanh's Understanding Our Mind.

We discuss the first fifteen chapters of Thich Nhat Hanh's Understanding Our Mind.

The final episode of our 2026 Summer Book Club!

Learn more about how you can help share the Dharma with those seeking Refuge behind bars.

https://buddhist-correspondence-course.org/

https://www.baus.org/en/activities/prison-programs/

How does it change the story of Amrapali if we remove the cultural and historical context of what it means to be a Nagarvadhu?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarvadhu

This week, our Book Club opens the chapter of Great Disciples of The Buddha dedicated to the women who influenced the early Sangha.

See also:

https://tricycle.org/article/q-lt-jeanette-shin-us-militarys-first-buddhist-chaplain/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houn_Jiyu-Kennett

https://brightwayzen.org/practice/zen-teachers/teachersbio/

https://dharmateacherorder.org/

https://sravastiabbey.org/

https://thubtenchodron.org/

Follow along with our Book Club's discussion of Mahakaccana's chapter in Great Disciples of The Buddha.

Continuing our Book Club's reading of Great Disciples of The Buddha with the chapter on Anuruddha.

The Virtual Sangha Book Club discusses Ananada's chapter in Great Disciples of the Buddha.

This chapter includes the Buddha's response to requests for establishing an order of nuns. For a deeper look at that particular discourse, check out the Zen Studies Podcast episodes:

https://zenstudiespodcast.com/buddhas-sexist-discourse-part-1/

https://zenstudiespodcast.com/gotami-sutta/

En este episodio, Elena Bravocruz, sacerdote y maestra principal de la Orden de Maestros de Dharma, nos presenta una oportunidad transformadora: un curso integral de budismo impartido completamente en español. Esta sesión informativa está diseñada para cualquier persona interesada en aprender sobre esta tradición milenaria, sin importar su nivel de conocimiento previo o afiliación religiosa.

Descubre cómo el budismo ofrece herramientas invaluables para cultivar la paz interior, manejar el estrés y fomentar el bienestar emocional a través de la Ética, la Meditación y la Sabiduría. Elena nos explica la importancia de acceder a estas enseñanzas profundas en nuestro idioma natal para facilitar su asimilación y construir una comunidad acogedora.

Follow along with this sutta reading: https://suttacentral.net/sn22.100/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=main&notes=none&highlight=false&script=latin

https://virtualsangha.org

From our Book Club reading of "Great Disciples of the Buddha."

Join in at https://virtualsangha.org

https://virtualsangha.org

The first half of the account of Mahamoggallana, from Great Disciples of the Buddha.

Let's review the account of Sariputta, from Great Disciples of The Buddha.

Upali goes to the Buddha for Refuge. The Buddha replies: "slow down Upali, think about this first..."

How do you know when you're ready to take Refuge in the Triple Gem? Keep listening to the Dharma until your confidence outweighs your doubts.

Lemmy offers a traditional prayer for the cultivation of the Awakening Mind.

Read along: https://suttacentral.net/snp3.2/en/nyanamoli?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false

Lemmy gives a summary of this week's reading for our Book Club.

How can "Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legaсy" serve as an inspiration for our lives, our work, and our legacy?

In this episode, Mike reintroduces the Virtual Sangha Mission Statement, talks about how he overcame secularism to embrace traditional faith, and kicks off our Summer Reading Book Club 2026 with "Great Disciples of the Buddha."

Venerable Subhūti brings the young monk Saddha to meet the Buddha. The Buddha goes on to teach the manifestations of faith. Read along: https://suttacentral.net/an11.14/en/sujato

The Lalitavistara Sūtra is a Sanskrit Mahayana Buddhist sutra that tells the story of Gautama Buddha from the time of his descent from Tushita until his first sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath near Varanasi. The term Lalitavistara has been translated "The Play in Full" or "Extensive Play," referring to the Mahayana view that the Buddha's last incarnation was a "display" or "performance" given for the benefit of the beings in this world.

Read along: https://84000.co/translation/toh95

Mike was asked to participate in an interview about Buddhism.

This is an extremely brief intro to the Five Hinderances. My hope is that it can provide an entry point for your reflection and further study in understanding which obstacle may be holding back your practice at any moment.

The Buddhist "Devil," Mara, aka The Wicked One, reads the Buddha's bucket list and encourages the Fully Enlightened One to leave our world behind.

Can lay folks also make progress in the path? Read along:

https://suttacentral.net/an8.23

https://suttacentral.net/sn41.5

Mike reads Chapter 2 of the Vimalakirti Sutra.

https://virtualsangha.org

The Buddha gives advice for lay people, how they can have happiness in this life and the next.

Read along: https://suttacentral.net/an8.54/en/sujato

Join in our morning practice, modeled after our regular practice at the temple. Follow along at https://virtualsangha.org/practice

Incense Offering, Three Refuges, Heart Sutra, Five Precepts, Meditation with Gatha, Sharing the Merit

https://virtualsangha.org

Mike learns about Jay's journey. They discuss the importance of connecting with a community, and how they experience the relationship between secular and traditional Buddhism.

Why keep the precepts?

Study and practice with our online Buddhist Sangha at https://virtualsangha.org

Chris shares a talk on the subject of Right Effort.

Study and practice with our online Buddhist Discord at https://virtualsangha.org.

Always avoid speech that is untrue, pointless, or harmful, and be mindful of proper timing when explaining what you know to be true and beneficial.

Right Intention, samma-saṅkappa, also called Right Thought, is the wholesome application of the mind, described in MN 19.

Read along at https://virtualsangha.org/right-intention-mn-19/

Nick-Chöden shares his deep connection to both Buddhism and Christianity. His Buddhist roots trace back to his mother's practice of Nichiren Shōshū, which was followed by a decades-long practice of Tibetan Buddhism that began in his early thirties. The pinnacle of his Tibetan practice was his ordination as a novice monk in 2012 by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in India, who granted him the ordination name Tenzin Chöden. Nick-Chöden is also a dedicated participant in the Thích Nhất Hạnh Plum Village Zen tradition. Complementing his Buddhist path, he holds a Master of Divinity degree from the San Francisco Theological Seminary, was ordained a Reverend in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and currently an Associate Pastor in San Francisco as a self-described Buddhist-Christian.

Warning: This episode contains a description of self-harm. If you or someone you know is struggling, please visit https://virtualsangha.org/helpline

This is how we chant the Heart Sutra at our English services.

Pam and Mike talk about the Dhammapada.

Check out Pam's Dharma Art Journal at:

https://www.dharmaartjournal.com/

Dhammapada app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intradarma.dhammapada.en_buddharakkhita&pcampaignid=web_share

Join the discord at https://virtualsangha.org

How important is Right View? What does Right View even mean?

Read along in the suttas and find out:

https://suttacentral.net/an1.306-315/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=none&highlight=false&script=latin

https://suttacentral.net/mn9/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=none&highlight=false&script=latin

Find other resources and connect with our Buddhist Discord server at https://virtualsangha.org

Mike here... feeling burnt out today. Let's take another look at SN 45.8, especially the section on Right Effort, and see if I can take some motivation from it.

https://virtualsangha.org

https://suttacentral.net/sn56.11/en/bodhi?lang=en&reference=main&highlight=false

Join our Buddhist Discord: https://virtualsangha.org

Mike reads the discourse on non-self, and the heart sutra.

Maybe you've heard of the Eightfold Path: Right view, right intent, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

But have you heard of the Threefold Training? This divides the Eightfold Path into three sections:

• Paññā (wisdom, as in wise view and wise intention),
• Sīla (moral ethics, as in ethical speech, ethical action, and ethical livelihood), and
• Samadhi (meditative practice, such as meditative effort, meditative mindfulness, and meditative concentration).

When those three are perfected, the path is realized, and freedom (vimutti) is attained.

In this sutta, the Buddha teaches about these four things: Panna, Sila, Samadhi, and Vimutti.

Read along: https://suttacentral.net/an4.1/en/kovilo?lang=en&layout=linebyline&reference=main&notes=sidenotes&highlight=false&script=latin

Join our Buddhist Discord: https://virtualsangha.org/

The Buddha spends a night in the woods, confronting fear.

https://suttacentral.net/mn4/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

Is "the path" endless?

https://suttacentral.net/sn51.15/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

https://suttacentral.net/mn21/en/sujato

Even is someone is trolling your Discord server, you should train like this: ‘My mind will not degenerate. I will blurt out no bad words. I will remain full of sympathy, with a heart of love and no secret hate. And with them as a basis, we will meditate spreading a heart like the earth to everyone in the world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will.’ That’s how you should train.