Conversation with Samuel Bercholz, founder of Shambhala Publications and my meditation teacher, Part Two
Buddhism Beyond Belief with Susan PiverShow Notes
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I continue my conversation with Sam Bercholz. We talk about bringing the dharma into the modern West without reducing it to either cultural imitation or scientific validation. We discuss the three yanas, emptiness and fullness, egolessness, and devotion. Sam shares a way to understand devotion as appreciation for wakefulness and a willingness to be guided by someone who embodies it. Stay tuned for Part Three next week. Highlights: Why dharma does not re...
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Send us Fan Mail A 2026 Atlantic article explored “The Dark Side of Mindfulness.” They published a similar article in 2014 that also discussed negative results from meditation practice, “The Dark Knight of the Soul”. (Not sure why “knight” was used, tbh.) In this episode, I look at both articles and talk about the risks that I’ve seen arise, not from meditation per se, but from meditation practiced without the guardrails provided by such time-tested (though by no means foolp...
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Send us Fan Mail In Part Three of my conversation with my longtime teacher and spiritual friend Sam Bercholz, we talk about the strange and wonderful ways teachers can enter our lives, and how meditation can help us become more receptive to what is already here. We talk about devotion, wakefulness, Buddhist deities, and faith as something we investigate and put into practice rather than simply believe. Highlights: How Sam and I became spiritual friends more than 30 years agoRecognizing a teac...