In this session, spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Dharma Center, John Bruna, gives clear instructions on how to relate to karma in a helpful and productive way. This episode was recorded on January 24th, 2024.  Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary objective is to provide programs of Buddhist studies and practices that are practical, accessible, and meet the needs of the communities we...

In this session, spiritual director John Bruna continues to offer commentary on the text, "Foundations of Buddhist Practice" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron. John gives a clarifying teaching on the Buddhist view of the nature of mind. He offers clear guidance on experiencing the nature of the mind as luminous and cognizant through incremental steps of practice, purification, and virtuous actions. This episode was recorded on January 17th. 2024. Welcome to the Way...

In this session, the spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Dharma Center, John Bruna, offers commentary on the primary causes and secondary conditions for Enlightenment. He offers a helpful perspective for Westerners on receiving blessings, gaining confidence in the Buddhist teachings through personal practice, and explains that as our minds develop along the path, we will become more open to the blessings of the Buddhas that are always present. This episode was recorded on January...

In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna unpacks the analytical meditations on the three marks of existence, which are impermanence, unsatisfactory conditions, and selflessness. He also shows how they interrelate and how the more that we live in alignment with these realities, the less we will suffer. This episode was recorded on January 3rd, 2024.  Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary...

In this session, spiritual director John Bruna discusses the importance of integrating the Lam Rim topics into our lives. He gives advice on how to go through the 3 levels of learning with the variety of analytical meditations that are found in the stages of the path to Enlightenment. This episode was recorded on December 27th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary objective is to provide...

In this session, spiritual director John Bruna continues on the theme of meditation, teaching how to structure a meditation session by first engaging in the 6 preparatory practices. He also answers questions about how we can cultivate good habits and avoid bad habits in our meditation practice. This episode was recorded on December 20th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary objective is to...

In this session, spiritual director John Bruna discusses three different types of meditation as discussed in the book "Foundations of Buddhist Practice" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron. John describes how we can practice objective wisdom meditations, mind transforming subjective meditations, and touches lightly on visualization meditations. This episode was recorded on December 13th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in...

In this session, spiritual director John Bruna discusses how to structure a meditation session to have it be an effective practice that can transform our Dharma practice into the entirety of our life. This episode was recorded on December 6th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary objective is to provide programs of Buddhist studies and practices that are practical, accessible, and meet the...

John Bruna, the spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Dharma Center, begins this Dharma talk by answering many questions from students. He then continues teaching on the qualities of a student that bring us into healthy relationships with our teachers to derive the most benefit from our spiritual friends. This episode was recorded on November 29th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's...

John Bruna, the spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Dharma Center, offers a teaching about becoming a qualified disciple so that our practice and teacher/disciple relationship will bear fruit. He speaks about how one needs to be unprejudiced, intelligent, and interested when listening to and studying the Buddha's teachings. John also speaks about the need to be open-minded not only to teachings that don't resonate with us but also open-minded to traditions we don't follow. Just...

John Bruna, the spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Dharma Center, centers a discussion around how important it is for us to choose our spiritual mentors wisely. He gives clarity on what qualities we need to look for when choosing to follow a spiritual mentor and what a healthy Guru/Disciple relationship looks like. This episode was recorded on November 15th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma...

John Bruna, the spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Dharma Center, unpacks the buddhist wisdom of evident objects, obscured objects, and very obscured objects. He gives practical guidance on how we can relate to these philosophical teachings wherever we might be on the path to awakening. This episode was recorded on November 8th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary objective is to...

In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna illuminates important distinctions between conventional reality and ultimate reality known as the "Two Truths". He describes these two truths in detail and shows how they are not separate, thus steering us away from a nihilistic view and towards the middle way view of dependent origination. This episode was recorded on October 25th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of...

In this session, spiritual director John Bruna gives a teaching on the third and fourth seals of Buddhism. He gives clarity on the wisdom that realizes all phenomena as "selfless" and lacking inherent identity. John discusses how our misperception of our self as being inherently existent leads to anger and attachment. These three together are the three poisons that turn the wheel of samsara. This episode was recorded on October 18th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center...

In this session, spiritual director John Bruna gives commentary on the second seal of Buddhism. He describes how we experience unsatisfactoriness in life due to karma and mental afflictions. John also discusses how misperception leads to attachment and aversion which turns the wheel of suffering. This episode was recorded on October 11th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary objective is...

In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna begins commentary on a new text. This text is "Foundation of Buddhist Practice" and is composed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron. In this first section, John unpacks the portion of the text that is focused on the Four Seals which are a framework for determining if a teaching is an authentic Buddhist teaching. This episode was recorded on October 4th, 2023. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast....

In this episode, John Bruna unpacks teachings from the book, The Foundation of Buddhist Practice, about evaluating our meditative experiences. John illuminates the pitfalls of exalting ecstatic meditative experiences and discusses how the greatest signs of progress are taming the mind and not being prone to engaging in unethical behavior. He finishes with guidance on checking the effectiveness of our meditation practice by ensuring that ethics, kindness and compassion are increasing in our...

In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna offers a variety of perspectives based in wisdom that act as antidotes to our mentally afflicted states. He also speaks about how important context and integration are in relation to the various practices, rituals, and teachings that we receive. This episode was recorded on December 14th, 2022. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary objective is to...

John Bruna, the spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Foundation continues to offer guidance and clarity around more subtle afflictions of the mind. He offers a variety of antidotes to our afflictive states and also explains the importance of the four opponent powers of purification and the relationship that practice has to the cultivation of wisdom. This episode was recorded on December 7th, 2022. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado,...

John Bruna, Spiritual Director of the Way of Compassion Dharma Center, continues to offer commentary and guidance on the text "Approaching the Buddhist Path" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron. John brings the teachings of training the mind right into our daily lives in this session focused on working with afflictions in our minds. This episode was recorded November 30th, 2022. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado,...

In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna continues commentary on the theme of emotional intelligence, referencing the text Approaching the Buddhist Path by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron. John offers clear, practical guidance on training the mind by recognizing and applying antidotes to mental afflictions, while cultivating wisdom and compassion. This episode was recorded on November 23rd, 2022. Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast....

John Bruna, the spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Dharma Center, discusses emotions from modern psychological and Buddhist perspectives . He discusses how emotions can be helpful and even save our lives. On the other hand, emotions rooted in exaggeration and projection can be quite harmful to ourselves and others. John offers clear examples of destructive and constructive emotions and methods for applying antidotes for destructive emotions while cultivating constructive emotions....

John Bruna, the spiritual director of the Way of Compassion Foundation, continues to offer commentary and guidance on the text "Approaching Buddhism" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chödron. In this session, John gives guidance around disillusionment stemming from unrealistic expectations. This episode was recorded on November 9th, 2022.  Welcome to the Way of Compassion Dharma Center Podcast. Located in Carbondale, Colorado, the Way of Compassion Dharma center's primary...