Buddhism Beyond Belief with 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.
Episodes
51 episodes
The Noble Eightfold Path: Step Seven: Right Mindfulness
This week we explore Right Mindfulness, the seventh step of the Noble Eightfold Path. While the earlier steps shape how we see and act in the world, this step turns us inward again, toward our direct experience.Right...
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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31:45
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The Noble Eightfold Path: Step Six: Right Effort
This week we explore Right Effort, the sixth step of the Noble Eightfold Path. While the earlier steps guide how we understand reality and how we act in the world, Right Effort begins to turn inward. It concerns how we work with our own mind...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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29:59
A Powerful New Take on the Enneagram (from my new book)
This episode, we pause our exploration of the Noble Eightfold Path before returning next week with Right Effort.This week, Shambhala Publications (my favorite publisher) is reissuing my book,
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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50:08
The Noble Eightfold Path: Step Five: Right Livelihood
In this episode, I explore Right Livelihood, the fifth step on the Noble Eightfold Path. We began with Right View and Right Intention, then moved into speech and action. Now we turn to how we earn a living. It may sound ordinary, but the way...
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Season 1
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Episode 46
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26:42
The Noble Eightfold Path: Step Four: Right Action
In this episode, I explore Right Action, the fourth step on the Noble Eightfold Path. We begin with Right View and Right Intention, then move outward into speech. Now we take those steps into how we live and act in the world. Right Action is...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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26:40
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The Noble Eightfold Path: Step Three: Right Speech
In this episode, I explore the third step of the Noble Eightfold Path, Right Speech, and why it might more accurately be called Right Listening. I begin with a story about the so-called “Marcus Syndrome”, the habit of using someone else’s sp...
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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26:11
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The Noble Eightfold Path: Step Two: The Power of Intention
When I first started my own business years ago, I was full of doubt, excitement, fear, and hope, often all at the same time. Out of nowhere, a major opportunity landed in my lap that could have launched everything forward. There was just one...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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26:50
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The Noble Eightfold Path: Step One: Seeing Clearly
In this episode, I begin a conversation about the Fourth Noble Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path, and its first step, Right View. I review the first three Noble Truths and reflect on how Buddhism is often misunderstood as a tool for stress red...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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34:58
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Strength in a Time of Crisis: What Helps?
This morning, the Open Heart Project Sangha gathered as we do every day to meditate and reflect together. The group was larger than usual, a clear sign of how shaken many of us are by what is happening in the United States right now.I...
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32:05
Four Karmas: Actions That Protect the Mind
In this episode, I introduce the Four Karmas—pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying—as practical actions for meeting chaos, conflict, and confusion without losing clarity or heart. In this Buddhist framework, karma means action, n...
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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39:41
Three Qualities of Awakening
As we move into a new year, how do we deepen our understanding: of ourselves, our relationships, and our spiritual practice? In this episode, we explore the three essential steps of learning in the Buddhist tradition: hearing, contemplating,...
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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25:32
Inexplicable Magic: An Excerpt From My Upcoming Book
For the final episode of the year, I am sharing a short excerpt from a book I am writing called Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics. This work grows directly out of the heart of this podcast and its focus on how we actually live...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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15:45
Buddhism and the Four Immeasurable Qualities
As we close out a year many of us are ready to leave behind, this episode reflects on what we might want to carry forward—and what we can gently let go of. I explore the Buddhist teaching of the brahmavihāras, or Four ...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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23:30
The Way of Listening: Songs That Stayed With Me
In today’s episode, I’m doing something a little different. Lately I’ve been ending each show with what I called the Podcast After-Party—I share a song I love, along with a few words about why it matters to me. I never...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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1:09:56
When Practice Isn’t Enough: A Buddhist Look at Panic
In this episode, I speak directly to a question I’m often asked: what can we do when anxiety or panic takes over? While many people associate Buddhism with calming the mind, the path is far more layered than stress reduction. Sometimes the most...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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24:29
Lessons on Right Speech from a Chaotic Morning
In this episode, I explore what I believe to be one of the most urgent Buddhist teachings for our current moment: Right Speech. Many people associate Buddhism with stress reduction or calming the mind, and while those benefits are real, the ...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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27:26
Keeping Practice Sacred (Without Getting Weird)
In this episode of Buddhism Beyond Belief, I explore how we can keep our meditation practice genuinely spiritual without making it complicated, performative, or “weird.” After more than thirty years of practice, I’ve learned that depth comes...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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23:21
The Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person
In this episode of Buddhism Beyond Belief, I explore how we truly enter the path—not through esoteric or “advanced” practices, but by grounding ourselves in simple awareness and presence. After more than thirty years o...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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33:58
A Guided 10-Minute Meditation Practice (plus music)
In this episode, I offer a guided meditation and explore what it really means to not be trying—not striving to get somewhere, even in practice. Rather than exerting effort or resisting, meditation invites us to let go ...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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27:43
Transcending Insanity, Part Six: True Wisdom
In this episode, I explore the sixth and final pāramitā—prajna, or wisdom—the one beyond words and concepts. True wisdom isn’t about knowledge but about recognizing the interdependence of all things and walking the Middle Way between eternal...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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42:30
Meditation is for Mystics (it’s not a life hack)
In this episode, I talk about something that’s been making me a little grumpy: how meditation is often reduced to stress relief. While that’s a real benefit, it misses the deeper purpose — waking up to reality itself in order to be of benefi...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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39:00
Buddhism and the Enneagram (with a musical aside)
In this episode, I share why I wrote The Buddhist Enneagram and how two life-changing systems—the Buddha Dharma and the Enneagram—can support your journey toward wisdom, compassion, and self-understanding.
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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27:20
The Antidote to Anxiety: A Buddhist View (With Drugs)
In this episode, I share something very personal and deeply resonant for the times we’re living in: how we vacillate between hope and fear, and how the Buddhist path invites us to wake up beyond either one. Also, drugs...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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22:18
How to Choose a Meditation Teacher
Thinking about working with a meditation teacher? It’s a powerful step—but how do you choose the right one?In this episode, I offer a framework based on the three Yanas (vehicles) of Buddhist practice. Each path reflects a diff...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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15:24
Transcending Insanity, Part Five: Meditative Absorption
In this episode, I explore the fifth of the six paramitas, or transcendent actions of the bodhisattva path: Meditative Absorption—sometimes just called meditation.But this isn’t your typical “sit on the cushion and follow your ...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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19:18