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MindFull of GOOD

Dr. Rick Hanson's Occasional Collection of Good, Free Stuff

NEW ON THE BEING WELL PODCAST:

How to Change Your Personality with Olga Khazan

"I think [personality change] has kind of a bad rep to the extent that it has a rep because it's like, 'Oh, I don't wanna change who I am.' But really it's about changing the way you approach the world and the way you approach problems and obstacles that come up."
— OLGA KHAZAN

Can we really change our personalities? Forrest is joined by someone who’s actually tried most of the things we talk about on the podcast related to how to change your personality: journalist and author Olga Khazan. Olga shares the personal experiments that led to her becoming more extroverted and agreeable, and less neurotic. 

NEW FROM THE WEDNESDAY TALK/MEDITATION:

Engaged Buddhism – Including Today

Last week, I dove into a topic that’s close to my heart: How do we connect our personal healing and awakening… to the broader world that’s hurting? This is often called Engaged Buddhism — but honestly, it’s relevant to anyone who wants to live with wisdom, compassion, and integrity, especially in times like these.

Inner peace can and should lead to outer action. The Buddha himself confronted systemic suffering in his day. What does that mean for us now, and why do our values — yes, even judgment — actually matter on the path?

HAVE YOU READ IT YET?

Buddha's Brain: 15th Anniversary Edition

With more than 500,000 copies in print since it was first published, I'm proud to announce the 15th Anniversary edition of my book Buddha's Brain, which features this new preface.

ALSO NEW ON THE BEING WELL PODCAST:

Live Show: Yung Pueblo on Relationships, Change, and Mindfulness

Forrest is joined by poet and author Diego Perez – better known as Yung Pueblo – for a live conversation recorded at City Arts & Lectures in San Francisco. They reunite the sensitive boys club to talk about how inner work transforms our relationships, what it means to love with an open hand, and the difference between attachment and commitment.

ASK RICK:

To what extent should Buddhism focus on actively working to improve societal conditions and pursue justice, rather than simply accepting "what is," even at the level of a killing a mosquito?

Buddhism is 2500 years old, with lots of expressions. So I look to the original teachings of the Buddha, and can speak to them.

He really emphasized the combination of compassion and other prosocial qualities, and personal virtue notably not harming oneself and others, and insight into the mind and impermanence, and the overall aspiration for awakening. In the Tibetan, Chan, and Zen evolutions from there, the motivation to awaken others got included (e.g., the Bodhisattva ideal).

So there is a strong, moral, prosocial emphasis in Buddhism. And a strong focus on values in general.

And - it has generally focused entirely at the individual level. Not the systemic, structural, political, or policy level. Much like other major religions (I say this not to defend Buddhism, but put it in context).

Then only in the past 10-20 years, mainly in Western circles, there has been a push toward “engaged Buddhism,” which focuses on the systemic, etc., levels.

"So, in a strict sense, Buddhism broadly has not focused on “justice” as a matter of public policy, legal systems, etc. Meanwhile, it has focused deeply and broadly at the individual level on not harming, having compassion, developing prosocial virtues like generosity, etc., etc."

Personally, I wish all the great religions had focused on the policy level, too. Of course, that is tricky; think of the Spanish Inquisition, or the Ayatollahs in Iran. Or fundamentalist Christians banning abortion.

And I welcome engaged Buddhism! You might like the writings of Bhikkhu Bodhi on this.

Last, about mosquitoes. The first precept is to refrain from killing living beings. Obviously that means not murdering other humans. But what about eating meat? What about spraying crops to prevent bugs from eating them? What about swatting a mosquito? Personally, I’m mainly vegetarian for moral (not health) reasons, and I go out of my way to help spiders out of our home and not kill them. But mosquitoes - which I know are hunting my blood - ulp, I will indeed swat them. But I try to keep in mind what I am doing, and knowing that that mosquito is a sentient being in its way.

RICK'S PICK:

Elevating Self-Esteem to Advance Gender Equality

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