– Ancient wisdom traditions have deep resonance in these uncertain times — not that there’s more suffering than ever before but that more people are aware of suffering. Now that humans are capable of relieving needless suffering, we’re discovering our positive potentials for great happiness and innate goodness. (¿Have you heard the saying? “Train your mind and change your brain!”) Might you already be a bit Buddhist, and not yet realize it?
Gary Gach – Gary Gach is an author, editor, translator, poet, and teacher. Buddhism provides an excellent job description for his multi-faceted calling in life: generalist. Since the appearance of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buddhism, there are now 100,000 copies in print. His seminal anthology, What Book? Buddha Poems from Beat to Hip Hop, featuring 350 selections from 125 contributors, is the recipient of an American Book Award, and is now in a its third printing. He’s brought out three books in English by Korea’s unofficial poet laureate: Flowers of a Moment (Northern California Book Award, Translation), Songs for Tomorrow: 1961-2001, and Ten Thousand Lives (second printing; with an introduction by Robert Hass). He’s also the author of Pocket Guide to the Internet, Preparing the Ground: Poems 1960-1970, and Writers.net. His work has appeared in more than 150 newspapers, magazines, journals, and anthologies, including The American Poetry Review, A Book of Luminous Things, The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Language for a New Century, The Nation, The New Yorker, Technicians of the Sacred, and Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. He is an instructor at Stanford Continuing Studies. Born in 1947, Gach grew up in Hollywood, where he was student body president, a champion speaker and debater, and performed on the stage and in movies, television, and radio. He was educated at the University of California at Los Angeles and San Francisco State University, from which he received a BA in English. He lives in San Francisco, where he swims in the Bay.
– 01. Introduction – 03 min 24 sec
– 02. What is Nirvana? – 02 min 48 sec
– 03. Traits of Buddhism – 03 min 08 sec
– 04. The Reality of the Practice – 01 min 51 sec
– 05. Motto: Mindfulness of Breath – 01 min 04 sec
– 06. Commonality of Buddhism – 02 min 53 sec
– 07. Perspectives of It All – 04 min 46 sec
– 08. Sum It Up – 05 min 43 sec
– 09. The Timing of Writing – 01 min 09 sec
– 10. Revisions in the Book – 02 min 18 sec
– 11. Pain is Inevitable – 02 min 38 sec
– 12. The Spiritual Nature of Work – 03 min 55 sec
– 13. Conscious Consumption – 03 min 47 sec
– 14. Q1: A Progressive Religion – 04 min 19 sec
– 15. Q2: Importance of Prayers – 04 min 21 sec
– 16. Q3: Monastic Orders – 02 min 38 sec
– 17. Q4: Teaching of Reincarnation – 04 min 02 sec
– 18. Q5: The Test of a Religion – 03 min 16 sec
