Ep.132: Modern Buddhism and Mindfulness with Melvin McLeod, Editor-in-chief of Lion's Roar and Buddhadharma
On this episode of Health Gig, we welcome Melvin McLeod, a celebrated editor, and writer in the field of Buddhist teachings and practice. In his extensive experience, he has edited three books of teachings by Thich Nhat Han, authored Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place, and currently serves as editor-in-chief of Lion's Roar and Buddhadharma, and series editor for the Best Buddhist Writing Series. His work discusses self-help, meditation, morality, and current events, all while showing Buddhism’s prevalence and relevance in our modern society. McLeod believes that incorporating Buddhist ideas on mindfulness is possible for both religious and secular individuals and that the Four Noble Truths hold universal significance.
More on Melvin McLeod:
Website: https://www.lionsroar.com/author/melvin-mcleod/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melvin.mcleod.378
Twitter: https://twitter.com/melvinmcleodsun
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Show Notes
[2:38] Buddhism is full of really effective techniques of meditation, of practice, very powerful and insightful philosophies.
[7:11] Life is imbued with suffering, even the best of our lives, the richest of us, the most happiest of us. There's always going to be happiness in the end, of course, we're going to lose it all because there is death.
[9:07] Who I really am as a human being is actually a being whose imbued with love and awareness and insight that each of us has compassion and love for other beings. And actually, when we stop covering it over with those various misunderstandings we have, we are deeply wise and insightful.
[10:24] If we have awareness, we can see the ways in which we are acting in ways that are damaging to ourselves, to others, so we can stop those.
[12:04] Even though there is birth, death and old age, they're actually not the problem in and of themselves. It's the struggle against them that causes the problem.
[16:04] The Buddha's basic insight into the nature of reality was in the simple statement, "All compounded phenomena are impermanent. Everything is always changing. There is nothing permanent." Basically, everything dies.
[19:09] In terms of the human institution of Buddhism, it's a work in progress and it's flawed like every other one to some greater or lesser degree. In terms of the basic philosophy Buddhism, I don't think there is a more powerful and effective analysis for diagnosis and remedy to the human condition than the Four Noble Truths.
[28:39] Secular mindfulness is a fresh start of true dharma in American society, starting where the Buddha himself started it - with simple mindfulness and with certain basic insights into reality that are common in both original Buddhism and in mindfulness-based stress reduction.
[30:15] If Buddhism is accurate in describing reality and some basic truths of reality, mindfulness-based stress reduction or the secular mindfulness movement, is also describing those same basic realities.
Thank you for joining us on Health Gig. We loved having you with us. We hope you'll tune in again next week. In the meantime, be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast, and follow us on healthgigpod.com.
“Buddhism is based on working with your own mind. Basically, on one hand, you could say that you have no exterior help like a God. But on the other hand, that means that you have all the power to make your own life and the life of others better.” - Melvin McLeod
“I hope that all my years of practice and at least study of Buddhist philosophy has helped me be a bit happier and most importantly, be a better person to help others. But we're all just on the path. So I remain just another struggling suffering human being.” - Melvin McLeod
“A foreign religion like Buddhism can be a barrier to all the people who could benefit from mindfulness practice accessing it.” - Melvin McLeod
Keywords
#Buddhism #SelfHelp #Awareness #Acceptance #Impermanence #FourNobleTruths #Meditation #Struggling #SecularHumanism #Wellness #HealthGig #TriciaReillyKoch #DoroBushKoch