This week we continue our 'Numerical Series' with part 2 of  The Four Immeasurables:   Love, Compassion, Joy and Equinimity.

May all beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.
May they be free from suffering and the root of suffering.
May they not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.
May they dwell in the great equanimity free from passion, aggression and prejudice.

This is a subject often talked about by Pema Chodron and has showed up in a number of her books such as The Places That Scare You, A Noble Heart and From Fear To Fearlessness.

This week we take the Four Immeasurables to the cushion and learn a practice.

[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/buddhist/EUP_50_-_The_Four_Immeasurables_Part_1.mp3]

This week we continue our 'Numerical Series' by talking about The Four Immeasurables:   Love, Compassion, Joy and Equinimity.  I talk about a little card I keep in top of my wallet that has the words from The Four Immeasurables Practice which says:

May all beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.
May they be free from suffering and the root of suffering.
May they not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.
May they dwell in the great equanimity free from passion, aggression and prejudice.

This is a subject often talked about by Pema Chodron and has showed up in a number of her books such as The Places That Scare You, A Noble Heart and From Fear To Fearlessness.

Next this week we talk about the meaning of The Four Immeasurables and next week we'll learn a meditation practice to go with it.

It's my last podcast for 2008 and we're closing it out with a talk about the five skandhas.  The five skandhas help us understand how a thought forms by really breaking it down.  We break down thinking of a table, a Christmas tree and a slice of pizza.  Can you have more fun than that on New Years Eve?

This week was very interesting.  On the site poll, I asked folks to tell me topics that they would like me to discuss on the podcast.  One listener posted the following:

Perhaps a boring subject, but being fairly new to the Buddhism, I am continually asked by well-meaning family and friends a seemingly endless array of questions concerning my dietary changes. I've adopted an almost vegan lifestyle and sometimes struggle with - what can I really eat that truly does not harm animals. So being a vegetarian and to what extent it is necessary to adopt the vegan lifestyle.

"Vegetarianism" I thought.  "What a great subject!"  So I decided to cover that when low and behold a post from Daily Buddhism covered the exact same subject.  So, this podcast is a little late basically because I didn't want to appear to be stealing anything from Daily Buddhism.  By the way, Daily Buddhism is a great daily Q&A blog that sums each week up in a podcast.  Be sure to check them out!

So on this podcast we address Vegetarianism/Veganism and Buddhism.  Do you have to be a Vegetarian/Vegan to be a Buddhist?  We talked in Episode 40 about what Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse says in his book 'What Makes You NOT A Buddhist" actually makes you a Buddhist.  Is Vegetarianism one?

We talk about why some sects seem to put more emphasis on vegetarianism than others.  In addition, I try to dive deeper into why a Buddhist might want to be a vegetarian and expand on those issues to see where else they come into play.

I'm back after taking the month of November off!  Where have I been?  I took on the challenge of National Novel Writing Month and National Podcast Post Month, and successfully completed both.

But that's not why we're here!  This week on the Enlighten Up Podcast we take a look at the concept of Ambition.  The spark for this podcast sprang up from a comment Gwen and Patrick made on the Zen Is Stupid podcast that I was listening to this past weekend.

Also, I'm taking a little survery to learn a) a little bit more about the meditation habits of the folks who read the blog or listen to the podcast b) to give you guys an opportunity to tell me what topics you would like me to talk about on the show.  So if you got about a minute (it probably won't even take that long) click here and let me know a little bit about your practice and ideas for the show.I'm back after taking the month of November off!  Where have I been?  I took on the challenge of National Novel Writing Month and National Podcast Post Month, and successfully completed both.

But that's not why we're here!  This week on the Enlighten Up Podcast we take a look at the concept of Ambition.  The spark for this podcast sprang up from a comment Gwen and Patrick made on the <a href="http://zenisstupid.com/">Zen Is Stupid</a> podcast that I was listening to this past weekend.

Also, I'm taking a little survery to learn a) a little bit more about the meditation habits of the folks who read the blog or listen to the podcast b) to give you guys an opportunity to tell me what topics you would like me to talk about on the show.  So if you got about a minute (it probably won't even take that long) click here and let me know a little bit about your practice and ideas for the show.