Unlocking True Happiness Podcast

I first met Ørjan when he contacted me to see if I might be open to being interviewed for his Master’s thesis. He was specifically looking for Buddhist teachers who had some experience with conflict resolution or mediation, as his thesis explored the application of the Buddhist concept of emptiness to peace and conflict transformation. I was intrigued, as I had never thought of this application of the idea of emptiness, and Ørjan and I had several long and fascinating discu

In the spirit of The Human Library, in which we connect to the humanity of someone we might think of as “other,” we offer this interview with Santiago, an immigrant from Colombia. I have known Santiago for 20 years, as we first met when he was working at a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains. We had seen each other over the years, and then Santi contacted me recently for support. It was during the ICE occupation of Minneapolis and after the tragic murd

Angry Long Enough with sujatha baliga I first met sujatha baliga many years ago when she led a weekend training on restorative circles at a Buddhist center in Sacramento, although I had heard of her and her work in restorative justice long before. We have connected many times over the subsequent years in both Buddhist and secular spaces, and share a commitment to conflict resolution and exploring how Buddhist principles can be made accessible to everyone through the devel

It’s Time to Talk About Peace with Rabbi Paula Marcus I met Rabbi Paula Marcus, senior rabbi of Temple Beth El in Aptos, CA, not long after returning to the Santa Cruz area in 2018. I was looking for ways to connect to interfaith social justice work in the area, and in every group I joined, Rabbi Paula was there! I remember our first meeting at an event organized by Partners in Caring, a project of the Hospice of Santa Cruz County to support faith leaders offering end-of-life

Welcome to the first episode of our new podcast series, “Voices of Love: Bridging differences through compassionate conversations,” This project is a collaboration between Greg Morris, Mathew Divaris and Tenzin Chogkyi. We begin our series with local Santa Cruz artist Andrew Purchin. Tenzin was introduced to Andrew several years ago by a mutual friend, and felt inspired by his ongoing project, “The Curious Scroll.” When the opportunity arose to organize the “Let’s Talk About

We are living in a nation that is deeply fragmented along lines of political affiliation and ideology, race, class, religion, immigration status, and more. For the last few years, it seems that our government is at a standstill, with the divides so sharply defined that it is impossible to move forward. There have been very few attempts to bridge the divides; but, in our experience and in the research we have seen, a collective capacity to bridge the divides seems to be the on

Deborah Eden Tull speaks to Tenzin Chogkyi in this deep and heartfelt conversation after losing her home, and almost losing her life, in...

with special guest Deborah Eden Tull Back by popular demand, Deborah Eden Tull joins Tenzin for a timely conversation about how to hold...

with special guest Nina Simons In this episode, Tenzin speaks to Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers and author of Nature, Culture and...

In this episode, Tenzin explores the many gifts that gratitude can bring to our lives, helping to offset our natural negativity bias and...

with Dr. Joey Weber Mindfulness meditation has become wildly popular in the last decade or two, and is taught in places as diverse as...

Darkness is deeply misunderstood in today’s world; yet it offers powerful medicine, serenity, strength, healing, and regeneration. All...

The concept of Right Speech (or "Skillful Speech") is core to many Buddhist teachings about how to live an ethical life and avoid causing...

We’re raised to believe that our perceptions of the world around us has an objective quality, but both Buddhism and modern neuroscience...

In this episode, Ven Tenzin explores the Eight Worldly Concerns, a set of four dyads that correspond to many of the deeply held hopes and...

Capitalist consumer culture puts a huge emphasis on finding happiness in the external world. But, this hedonic happiness is shown, both...

In popular culture, courage is often portrayed as loud and showy, and patience as passive and inactive. Yet, in Buddhist philosophy,...

Patience, or forbearance, is taught as one of the six perfections, the six main practices of a bodhisattva (a being who is dedicated to...

Mindfulness practice has become increasingly popular in recent years, and is being taught not only to Buddhist practitioners in...

Many of us are drawn to the practices of compassion and loving-kindness, but we still struggle with forgiveness of those who have hurt...