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by Susan Piver
Buddhism Beyond Belief is a podcast from Susan Piver, a 30 year student of Tibetan Buddhism and founder of the Open Heart Project, an online meditation community with close to 20000 members.With Susan as a friend and guide, we will look at traditional teachings like the four noble truths and the six paramitas–but not from an academic standpoint. Rather, we will talk about how to make it all personal and relevant in everyday life. This podcast is not about Buddhist doctrine. It’s about how anyone can bring the profound wisdom of the dharma into their real life: at home, at work, and in love. The foundation for it all is meditation as a spiritual practice, not the latest life hack. Let’s go beyond the science and celebrity testimonials to discover the true power of meditation which is not based in self-improvement but in self-discovery.
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Send us Fan Mail The spiritual path asks you to open up, and the more you do so, the more you feel everything: your tenderness, things you’ve been avoiding, your deepest longings. It’s important to stay open to all of this but being open takes judgment. I know people say you shouldn’t judge but I say, hell yes, you’ve got to judge. The deepening vulnerability of the journey requires discernment and self-protection. In this episode, I explore the fourth principle from my new book, Inexplicable...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I explore one of the most persistent misunderstandings about meditation: that it is supposed to make you feel better. From my experience, meditation does not numb heartbreak or smooth out emotional life. It opens us more fully to our experience. I talk about why vulnerability is not a failure of practice, but a sign that something real is happening. I also share thoughts on heartbreak as a path of awakening, the connection between heartbreak and compassion, a...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I reflect on a recent meditation and writing retreat where participants explored grief, heartbreak, violence, loss, and the experiences that shape us most deeply. I talk about why the personal is not an obstacle to spiritual practice but the very material of the path itself. I explore how teachings on egolessness can become distorted into self-erasure, and why real transformation begins by turning toward our experience with curiosity, courage, and love....
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I explore why spiritual practice becomes sustainable through ritual, not force. I share the story of a month-long meditation retreat where I discovered an unexpected sense of ease in both meditation and writing, and how that experience led me to begin teaching meditation and writing retreats myself. I also introduce the first principle from my new book, Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics: We engage in daily ritual. Through the Buddhist teaching ...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I reflect on a recent conversation in the Open Heart Project sangha about scientific research on meditation. Yes, meditation can improve brain function and mood. But if we stop there, we may miss the point. There’s a much older, deeper body of “research” drawn from lived experience over thousands of years. Meditation is not just about feeling better. It’s about waking up, opening fully to life, and discovering a freedom that goes far beyond conventional thoug...
Send us Fan Mail Here is a new episode after an unexpected pause. I’m moving to a new house and that has stirred disorientation, emotional complexity, and a break from familiar patterns. The truth is, I just didn’t know if I had anything of use to say. Also, I was in a bad mood? Needy! It happens! It turns out that this unsettled place provided a good context to consider a question raised in our Open Heart Project sangha: do Buddhists pray? If so, to whom? In a non-theistic tradition, rather ...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I bring all eight steps of the Noble Eightfold Path together. This teaching is a way of living, not a project of self-improvement. This is about how we relate to experience and how that shapes suffering or freedom. Highlights Right ViewSeeing clearly begins in the present moment.Meditation helps us loosen our grip on thoughts and recognize we don’t truly know.What we seek arises when there is space, not through more thinking.Right IntentionIntention matters m...
Send us Fan Mail This week we arrive at the final step of the Noble Eightfold Path: Right Samadhi, often translated as concentration or absorption. If the earlier steps help us see clearly and act with intention, this final step gathers the mind into a unified experience. Right Samadhi is not about forcing the mind to focus. It begins with learning to place attention on one thing and come back when it wanders. From there, it deepens into the ability to give your attention fully to another per...
Buddhism Beyond Belief is a podcast from Susan Piver, a 30 year student of Tibetan Buddhism and founder of the Open Heart Project, an online meditation community with close to 20000 members.With Susan as a friend and guide, we will look at traditional teachings like the four noble truths and the six paramitas–but not from an academic standpoint. Rather, we will talk about how to make it all personal and relevant in everyday life. This podcast is not about Buddhist doctrine. It’s about how anyone can bring the profound wisdom of the dharma into their real life: at home, at work, and in love. The foundation for it all is meditation as a spiritual practice, not the latest life hack. Let’s go beyond the science and celebrity testimonials to discover the true power of meditation which is not based in self-improvement but in self-discovery.
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