What Are the Six Perfections? with Dr. Jan Willis #180

What Are the Six Perfections? with Dr. Jan Willis #180

Author: Scott Snibbe January 7, 2025 Duration: 50:00

To kick off the new year we're thrilled to welcome back one of our most beloved guests, Dr. Jan Willis, a trailblazing scholar, inspiring practitioner and powerful storyteller.  Dr. Willis guides us through the six perfections: generosity, morality, patients, joyful effort, concentration and wisdom.  Profound practices that were once closely guarded, secret teachings. 

In this episode, Dr. Willis offers a heartfelt introduction to these transformative ideas, weaving in stories from her own remarkable life. She shares insights she's learned directly from the world's most revered Buddhist masters.  reflects on navigating and resisting the racism she faced growing up in the segregated south.  And she shares her insights as one of the foremost Western practitioners and scholars of Buddhism. 

And that's just the beginning.  Throughout this year, we'll dive deeper into each of these six perfections with inspiring interviews, meditations and discussions. If you're ready to discover how ancient wisdom can meet modern challenges. You're in the right place. 

Episode 180. What Are the Six Perfections? Dr. Jan Willis

This Earth Day, I’ll be sitting down with one of the most inspiring voices on climate and the future—author Kim Stanley Robinson—for a live online conversation hosted by UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism.

We’ll explore how his work offers real hope in the face of the climate crisis—a chance to imagine not just what could go wrong—but what could go right.

It’s free, April 22nd at 5:30pm Pacific. Sign up here to watch on Zoom.

If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.

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In a world that often equates busyness with purpose, How to Train a Happy Mind offers a different path. Host Scott Snibbe guides conversations that explore a secular, practical approach to well-being, drawing from a rich tapestry of sources including modern psychology, science, and contemplative traditions. This isn't just about sitting quietly; it's an active training of our innate capacities for intelligence and emotional resilience. Listeners will find a podcast dedicated to actionable techniques that move beyond basic mindfulness, engaging our imagination and compassion to reshape our inner experience and outward relationships. Each episode, often featuring insightful guests, breaks down complex ideas into accessible practices aimed at building genuine, lasting happiness from the inside out. The discussions naturally weave through themes of mental fitness, spiritual inquiry, and physical health, reflecting a holistic view of what it means to live meaningfully. Tuning into this podcast feels like joining a thoughtful workshop for the mind, where abstract concepts become tools you can use in your daily life to foster personal peace and contribute to a kinder world. Scott’s grounded perspective helps demystify meditation, presenting it as a trainable skill for modern life challenges, making the pursuit of a happy mind both a practical and profound journey.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 322

How to Train a Happy Mind
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