Podcast
Pragmatic Buddhism
Hosted by Pragmatic Buddhism · EN
Welcome to Pragmatic Buddhism, a podcast offering down-to-earth Dharma talks, mindful reflections, and unscripted conversations for curious minds. We explore the intersection of ancient insight and modern life, weaving together Buddhist teachings, psychology, neuroscience, and lived experience.
Whether you're new to meditation or a longtime practitioner, this podcast invites you into a path of authentic awareness, compassionate acceptance, and wise action without dogma, jargon, or perfectionism.
23episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Right View, Right Intention, and the Courage to Let Go
1w ago00:52:06Tap to summarizeWhat does it take to see your own life clearly, and then actually act on what you see? In this episode, Danielle teaches the wisdom basket of the Eightfold Path: skillful view (often called Right View) and skillful intention (Right Intention). She walks through the Four Ennobling Realities, the Pragmatic Buddhist reframe of the Four Noble Truths, and how craving, aversion, and delusion shape what we take to be real. Then the sangha takes over. Members talk through what skillful intention looks like when it gets hard, including the courage it takes to end a friendship and still stay gentle with the person you're walking away from.
Transcribe →Compassion and Wisdom: The Two Wings of Awakening
3w ago00:23:54Tap to summarizeIn this dharma talk from the Order of Pragmatic Buddhists, Curtis explores the relationship between compassion and wisdom, two qualities the Buddha identified as essential to awakening. Curtis argues that compassion without wisdom becomes overwhelming, and wisdom without compassion becomes hollow. The talk closes with reflections from sangha members Josh and Corey on what it means to practice compassion in real life.
Transcribe →A Pragmatic Discussion of the Eightfold Path
4w ago00:52:14Tap to summarizeWhat if Buddhism's core teaching wasn't a set of beliefs to accept, but a diagnosis and a prescription? In this dharma discussion, Danielle introduces the Four Ennobling Realities and the Eightfold Path and explains why Pragmatic Buddhism reframes "noble truths" as ennobling realities: practices you live, not doctrines you adopt. The conversation with the St Louis sangha moves from theory into real life: gossip at work, meditation that doesn't feel like it's working, what "skillful speech" actually means on a random workday.
Transcribe →You Are Not a Thing: Buddhist Wisdom on the Self We Keep Defending
May 1500:22:39Tap to summarizeWe constantly take a mood, a moment, or a memory and turn it into who we are. "I'm an anxious person." "This is just how my life goes." "That's who they are." In this talk and discussion from the Columbus sangha, Joe explores the Buddhist concept of reification (the very human habit of freezing what is fluid) and what the tradition has to say about why it leads to suffering, and how practice can help us loosen our grip. Drawing on Kalupahana's reading of early Buddhist philosophy, this conversation weaves together the five aggregates, non-self, and sitting meditation into something practical and immediately recognizable. If you've ever noticed that the story you're telling about yourself might be more constructed than it seems, this one's for you.
Transcribe →Prayer as Practice: Listening, Compassion, and Interdependence
May 800:35:18Tap to summarizeIs prayer a Buddhist practice? More than we might think. In this dharma talk, Joe shares how his work as a chaplain transformed his understanding of prayer — from something he scoffed at to something he now considers a doorway into mindfulness, compassion, and the lived reality of interdependence. The Columbus sangha joins in a rich discussion about the Serenity Prayer, the Bodhisattva Vow, and what it means to meet people exactly where they are.
Transcribe →Right Attitude: Sitting Without Chasing
May 100:35:07Tap to summarizeAaron returns to lead the St. Louis Sangha through the second part of Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, this time exploring "right attitude." The group reflects on the paradox of sitting without seeking, the practice of "leaving no trace," and what it means to build the cushion without chasing it. Discussion turns to early misconceptions about meditation, the layered noise of the mind, and the quiet micro-thoughts that surface only when we stop trying so hard.
Transcribe →Bach, Forest Bathing, and the Zazen You Didn't Know You Were Doing
Apr 2400:30:58Tap to summarizeWhat does Bach's organ music have to do with sitting zazen? For Glenn, everything. In this talk from the Columbus sangha, he shares a realization that struck him during morning physical therapy: truly listening to Baroque music is its own kind of meditation. The conversation winds through Suzuki Roshi's "don't serve them tea," the eightfold path as guidelines rather than commandments, forest bathing as prescribed medicine, the tyranny of sleep trackers, and why walking into a Buddhist temple on the other side of the world can make you think, "wait, is this even Buddhism?" A warm, wide-ranging discussion about finding presence when the cushion isn't working, and learning to hear the whole field instead of just one line.
Transcribe →You're Doing It Wrong (And That's the Point): Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Apr 1700:38:16Tap to summarizeWhat if the hardest thing in the world is simply sitting still? In this episode, Aaron from the St. Louis sangha leads our community through the opening of Suzuki's classic Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and the conversation ranges from the pressure to always be productive to what it means to just observe without acting to why being terrible at something might actually be your greatest advantage.
Transcribe →Buddha Nature in a Distracted World
Apr 1000:24:51Tap to summarizeWe live in a world built for distraction — scrolling, streaming, multitasking, always doing something else. But what if awakening isn’t somewhere far away, but right here in this moment? In this talk, Glenn explores Buddha nature and the practice of presence with the Columbus sangha, asking a simple but powerful question: What are you doing with your time?
Transcribe →Change, Dissatisfaction, and the Self: The Three Marks of Existence
Apr 300:13:55Tap to summarizeThe Three Marks of Existence can sound stark: everything is impermanent, clinging leads to dissatisfaction, and there is no fixed self. But these teachings aren’t pessimistic; they’re liberating. In this episode, monks from the Order of Pragmatic Buddhism explore how recognizing change reduces fear, how understanding dissatisfaction shifts craving, and how seeing the fluid nature of identity softens defensiveness. Far from nihilism, the Three Marks offer a clear-eyed way of relating to life as it is.
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