Gil Fronsdal reflects on Anicca, the Buddhist teaching often translated as impermanence, and offers a more precise lens for Western minds to understand its meaning.

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In this episode, Gil offers wisdom on:

• How to create inner conditions that support the natural arising of wisdom
• Understanding inconstancy as a flow of coming and going, not a fixed state of change
• A powerful fable: The Emperor of China’s quest for a painting that embodies peace and wisdom
• Calming the agitated, restless mind through meditation and mindful awareness
• Discovering true peace and safety within ourselves, rather than chasing it in the external world
• The value of noticing the flow of change and where our minds are caught
• Knowing that it is not just the world that constantly changes, but also our perception of the world
• Floating in the river of change rather than trying to swim against it
• Seeing Anicca through the lens of insight meditation

About Gil Fronsdal:

Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed.org

"The mind is like a waterfall, furious and violent. There's not much peace in it. In that state, there's not much wisdom, not much clarity. This is one of the functions of meditation: to help us quiet the mind, settle it, and show the mind that there is an alternative to being restless and agitated. Teach the mind that the safety that it's looking for is found within.” – Gil Fronsdal

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Synthesizing the divine love found in Sufism with the primal emptiness found in Zen practice, Llewellyn reveals how each path has impacted his spiritual life.

This episode is a companion to BHNN Guest Podcast Episode 213, Angels & Devas with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check it out!

In this week’s episode, Llewellyn goes over:

• Understanding the essence of Ch’an (Zen) as a harmonious fusion of Taoism and Buddhism
• Interweaving the mystical threads of Sufism and Zen practice
• How both divine love and pure awareness dissolve the thinking mind
• Awakening to the inner light and Buddha nature within every being
• Becoming veiled by the play of illusions that we call life
• Llewellyn’s return to love after a childhood without it
• The mystery of divine love as a selfless force that seeks nothing in return
• Wisdom from Llewellyn’s Indian guru: “There is nothing but nothingness.”
• The vast, primal emptiness found at love’s distant shore
• Integrating pure consciousness into everyday life—not just on the meditation cushion
• Moving on from the drama of awakening into the calm silence of emptiness

About Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee:

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D. is a Sufi teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Sufi Order. He is the author of Sufism, the Transformation of the Heart, and the founder of The Golden Sufi Center. Check out his new podcast Working With Oneness.

"Love gradually became part of my life. Like an invisible scent, a perfume from a hidden garden, it began to permeate me, and in one of the greatest mysteries that can happen to a human being, my heart woke up—that spiritual organ of divine perception that is the direct connection with the source of love, what the Sufis call the beloved." – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

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Deepak Chopra explores the inner universe and explains how turning inward connects us to God, higher consciousness, and the boundless intelligence of the cosmos.

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In this deeply intellectual episode, Deepak Chopra holds a lecture on:

• Three levels of existence: physical, quantum, non-local domain
• Defining God as the immeasurable potential of all that was, all that is, all that will be
• How we are intrinsically connected to the cosmos and universal intelligence
• Accessing the wisdom of the universe by turning inward
• Experiencing the divine through our own awareness, identity, and perception
• Ways we negotiate with the world and looking at the fight-flight response
• The four control dramas rooted in childhood behavioral conditioning
• Our innate ability to be in touch with our inner observer—our soul
• Understanding that consciousness can evolve
• Freeing ourself from the past, from the known, and not being victimized by our memories
• Invoking Hindu deities like Ganesh for what they symbolize, their knowledge, their energy
• Numerous levels of God, the creative response, visionary response, sacred response, and beyond

“As is the atom, so is the universe. As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm. As is the human body, so is the cosmic body. As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind. If something is inside here, it’s everywhere. If it's not here, it's nowhere. You, by going inside, can have access to all the knowledge in the whole universe.” – Deepak Chopra

This episode was originally recorded in 2007

About Deepak Chopra:

Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, FRCP, is a Consciousness Explorer and a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Dr. Chopra is co-founder of DeepakChopra.ai, his AI twin and well-being advisor. He also co-founded Cyberhuman.ai, a transformative suite of personalized health and well-being solutions. Dr. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is also an Honorary Fellow in Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He is the author of over 95 books, translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers.For the last thirty years, Dr. Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolution. His mission is to create a more balanced, peaceful, joyful and healthier world. Through his teachings, he guides individuals to embrace their inherent strength, wisdom, and potential for personal and societal transformation. In his latest book, Digital Dharma, Dr. Chopra navigates the balance between technology and expanded awareness, explaining that while AI cannot duplicate human intelligence, it can vastly enhance personal and spiritual growth. Learn more about this book and others HERE.

“The old paradigm said that human beings are self-contained; we are all independent. But, the new one says that human beings are focal points in one unified field. Unified means everything. Space, time, energy, information, and matter are all part of the field and we are inseparably connected with the pattern of intelligence and the whole cosmos. We are all a web of relationships.” – Deepak Chopra

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