What are the words of Buddha? Dan Harris hosts Buddhist Monk, Bhikku Bodhi, who is a translator of Buddhist scripture. When Dan Harris first got interested in meditation, all the talk of the Buddha that he encountered in the various books he was reading and lectures was attending seemed like more of a bug than a feature. He was looking for science-backed stress relief, not religion. But the more He learned, the more interested he became in the Buddha. He was, after all, not a god or a prophet. He was, based on the available evidence, a mortal man who made no claims about the creation of the universe. In fact, to the extent that he did make metaphysical claims, he explicitly told people: don’t believe anything because I tell you. Meanwhile, he laid out a set of meditation instructions and an approach to the human situation that, in my experience, are extraordinarily practical and valuable. And yet, many of today’s meditators don’t know much about who the Buddha was or what he actually taught. Hence today’s guest, the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi. He was born Jeffrey Block in Brooklyn, became a Buddhist monk as a young man, and then went on to become one of the premier translators of Buddhist scripture. In this conversation, we talk about: why it can be so helpful for meditators to know what the Buddha taught; how these teachings survived for centuries before they were ever written down; how he makes sense of the teachings on karma and rebirth; the Buddha’s daily schedule; what kind of person the Buddha was; and what the Buddha taught about staying engaged in politics. Before we started rolling, I asked Bhikkhu Bodhi how I should address him, and he said many people call him “Bhante,” which is a term that is used in Buddhist circles to address monks, and translates into something like “venerable sir.” Where to find Bhikkhu Bodhi online: Website: https://bodhimonastery.org/ven-bhikkhu-bodhi.html Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhikkhu.bodhi.1 Books Mentioned: • The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi http://www.noblepath.org/audio.html?fbclid=IwAR3dAFyckLujaBuYe1y8v0arh9UTq6XLsS_bQHq-layEdGVoA_cfoqVfODg • Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives by Dr. Jim B. Tucker: http://www.jimbtucker.com/return-to-life.html • What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula Thero http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/What%20the%20Buddha%20Taught_Rahula.pdf • The Foundations of Buddhism by Rupert Gethin https://bookshop.org/books/the-foundations-of-buddhism/9780192892232 Other Resources Mentioned: • Dr. Ian Stevenson’s research on Perceptual Studies (apparitions, past lifetimes, and near death experiences) - https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/who-we-are/dr-ian-stevenson/ • Buddhist Global Relief - https://www.buddhistglobalrelief.org/ Full Show Notes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/Bhikkhu-Bodhi-302 Learn more about Ten Percent Happier podcast at http://www.tenpercent.com/podcast. Check out guided meditations alongside practical teachings in the Ten Percent Happier app. Click here [https://10percenthappier.app.link/ins...] to get started. #danharris #meditation #mentalhealth #mindfulness #dharma #podcast #mindfulnessteacher #adults #anxiety #buddha #buddhism #fitness #health #interview #meditate #men #mental #help #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthtips #mindfulnessmeditation #science #selfawareness #selfhelp #selfhealing #tph #tenpercenthappier #tenpercent #panicattack #panicattackrelief #anxietyrelief #anxietytips Subscribe to watch more Ten Percent Happier videos https://www.youtube.com/tenpercenthappier Listen to the Full Podcast https://link.chtbl.com/Y_729H6p FOLLOW DAN HARRIS PODCASTS ON SOCIAL Dan Harris on Twitter https://twitter.com/danbharris Dan Harris on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/danharris/ Dan Harris on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@danbharris Dan Harris on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DanHarrisABC FOLLOW TEN PERCENT HAPPIER ON SOCIAL Ten Percent Happier on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tenpercenthappier/ Ten Percent Happier on Twitter https://twitter.com/10percent Ten Percent Happier on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tenpercent