It’s Your Choice: to Be Happy, or to Be Miserable – Ep 69

June 03, 2016
It’s Your Choice: to Be Happy, or to Be Miserable – Ep 69
Bob Thurman Podcast: Buddhas Have More Fun!
It’s Your Choice: to Be Happy, or to Be Miserable – Ep 69

Jun 03 2016 |

/

Show Notes

In this podcast Professor Thurman reads and comments on an excerpt from The Avataṃsaka Sutra, which describes a cosmos of realms enfolding realms, infinite world systems mutually containing one another. Professor Thurman teaches that this infinite cosmos is governed by a principle called “the emptiness [shunyata] of everything.” When you realize that, then your life becomes your work of art: everything you say, all your gestures, how you hand somebody a tea cup, the way you walk and your posture — everything is an art-form within. . . The cosmos and the individual experience of the world in which we live is empty of any absolute solidity and is relative, and therefore you can shape it. It’s your choice: to be happy, or miserable, to be angry or peaceful, and so on.

This episode was recorded on December 31, 2015 at the “New Year’s Yoga & Meditation Retreat” at Menla Mountain Retreat, taught by Sharon Salzberg, Robert Thurman, Carolyn Christie, & Brooke Myers.

Other Episodes

Episode

November 03, 2018
Episode Cover

Death & Deathlessness : Podcast Bonus RAFT Archives

Archive recording from the closing talk from the “Death & Deathlessness Retreat” held at Menla in 2015 with Robert A.F. Thurman and Dale Borglum....

Listen

Episode 248

December 15, 2020 00:59:20
Episode Cover

Celebrating Love and Poetry During the Coronapocalypse - Ep. 248

Opening this week’s episode with an introduction to the epic poem “Gita Govinda”, Robert Thurman uses the work of Jayadeva to guide listeners through...

Listen

Episode

May 07, 2018
Episode Cover

Questioning Buddhism : With Robes or Without – Ep. 166

Studying Buddhism for personal transformation or to further one’s education in an academic setting is a much richer experience when one is able to...

Listen