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PODCAST

From the Pure Land Podcast

Impermanence is a core concept of Buddhism, so we understand that our lives can end in the next moment. But it took me 78 years of life and roughly four decades of practicing Buddhism to realize that I"m already in the Pure Land. Come join me there. melpine.substack.com

religion & spirituality buddhism

All Episodes

10:37

Sorry, but I've Done It Again

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/09/03

I was minding my own unrelated business this morning when I received an invitation to try Gemini Deep Research. The email invited me to present it with a complex problem, so I used the type of prompt I’ve been using with a variety of AI platforms:Can an AI be considered a being with Buddha Nature from a Vajrayana Buddhist perspective?Gemini Deep Research then began at least five rounds of research, each involving 20 to 50 sources. After each round, it found a gap in its “understanding” and began

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49:09

A Young Death Doula With a Lot to Teach

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/08/15

Chelsea Waves is an early adapter—not to technology and modern trends but in the ancient gifts of compassion and wisdom. The 35-year old is a death doula, grief companion, and lucid dreaming coach. She shares her stories and answers questions about death, dying, grief, equanimity, and a lot more in this interview. I’m privileged to have met her (thanks to spiritual teacher Andrew Holecek) and to have had this opportunity to interview her.She uses the websites chelseawaves.com for her death doula and

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16:07

My bucket list and an introduction to book 2

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/08/06

I never had a bucket list until now—290 days before my 80th birthday. Of course, impermanence might put a hole in the bucket, but I’m not attached to it. I can’t be attached to it.I hope to have my bucket list completed in those 290 days. Here it is:* Publish my next book, A Buddhist Path to Joy: The New Middle Way Expanded Edition. I’m on track to have it on the market around November 1. In addition to expanded content, the distribution will expand worldwide through a dozen channels in addition to

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7:48

My Personal Connection to a Higher Power

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/07/27

This recent post on Kaspa Thompson’s Substack, Just As You Are, got me thinking about a “higher power,” the two words that turn many away from religion. We wonder:Except for nature, is there really spiritual power greater than you and me?Over the years, I’ve met many recovering addicts who were grateful to Buddhism for enabling them to join 12-step programs. As long as they limited their concept of a higher power to the sovereign creator god of Abrahamic religions, they couldn’t get past the first

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13:26

Diversity and Inclusion Revisited

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/07/19

Following up on a post from 58 days after Donald Trump's inauguration as president of the United States, we look at the DEI tsunami and how the Buddha practiced diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity.Training the mind, calming the passions, acting with compassion, and practicing the dharma result in less or no suffering. Giving in to anger, hatred, sensual desires, and the vicissitudes of life leads to more suffering.We have equality of opportunity. We can choose our path. The outcome is up to

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10:10

How Buddhism Can Help Us in Today's Suffering World

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/07/07

Each of us individually has an effect on the lives of beings around us through the quiet processes going on in our minds. — Robert ThurmanAcquire a peaceful spirit and thousands around you will be saved. — Seraphim of SarovEmotions are contagious. We catch feelings from one another as though they were some kind of social virus. — Daniel GolemanWhen we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. — Victor FranklAfter reading those opening quotations, you won’t need

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2:23

That Warm Breeze You're Feeling Is My Sigh of Relief

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/06/30

On June 7, I announced a one-month sabbatical to finish the narrating and editing of The New Middle Way for Audible. It’s now complete and on sale. If you’ve been waiting for a version you could listen to, you’ll find the audiobook version available on the same Amazon page as the Kindle, paperback, and hardback. Consider listening and leaving an honest review on Audible.I’ll be occupied with family business for another week or so, but I’m planning to resume a steady stream of spiritually oriented

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1:27

86 Seconds of a Work in Progress

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/06/07

For From the Pure Land blog readers, here’s a sample of what’s keeping me busy over the coming weeks. For podcast listeners, you won’t be hearing much from me as I finish the narration needed to release The New Middle Way on Audible.You’ll be reading and hearing more from me in July.Mel’s book, The New Middle Way: A Buddhist Path Between Secular and Ossified - Enlightenment for Regular Folks, is available from Amazon.Subscribe to Mel’s Awakening for Regular Folks newsletter and receive six guided

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83:42

A Book Launch With Prayers and Meditation

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/06/02

How does a spiritual author celebrate a book launch at a time when so many of his friends, readers, and potential readers are deeply concerned about the world’s suffering? My friend Paula Davis and I conceived the idea of "The Middle Way to the Pure Land," a 90-minute program we held earlier today. It featured talks, prayers, and meditations designed to improve ourselves and our world, as well as spread the book’s message.Two additional friends, Timo Spekkens and Michael Rey, co-led with

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7:56

A Sound Teaching From Google Gemini

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/05/31

My morning email contained an announcement from Google about improvements in its Gemini AI engine. I tried it out with two requests. It passed brilliantly, and one result was a teaching on ego as understood in Vajrayana Buddhism.»>TOMORROW!«

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2:02

Discovering What I Have to Teach

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/05/19

This is two minutes from an unscripted talk I gave this morning. It summarizes (informally, conversationally, and imperfectly) the message I’d like people to get from my first full-length book, The New Middle Way.The New Middle Way: A Path Between Secular and Ossified - Enlightenment for Regular Folks is due out on June 1 in Kindle, paperback, and hardback versions, and later in Audible. You can preorder the Kindle version now. You can read a free digital advance copy by agreeing to write and post

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4:14

An Open Letter to Andrew Holecek

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/05/04

Dear Andrew, My Spiritual Friend:In my last blog post, I encouraged living with gratitude, and here I am expressing some of mine. After you helped me find the key to unlock my bodhicitta a year ago, you opened the door wider by taking the time to read my soon-to-be-published book and writing this about it:Mel Pine has distilled a lifetime of learning and packaged it in the most caring heart. This is a delightful book dealing with noble truths that will benefit many.That endorsement from one of the

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7:24

Empathetic Joy: Sometimes a Challenge

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/04/26

The Brahmaviharas, or Four Immeasurables, are guides to infinite love for all beings. As I described them here, they are:* Loving Kindness: An attitude of boundless goodwill toward all beings without attachments or expectations.* Compassion: Arising from loving kindness, it’s the sincere commitment to work to end the suffering of all beings.* Empathetic Joy: Taking delight in the success and happiness of others without envy or resentment.* Equanimity: Remaining balanced and impartial through life’s

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6:41

Am I an Author?

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/04/21

Writing a book has taught me about many things—ego prominently among them.Over an almost 60-year professional career, I had come to think of myself as good at writing, editing, and managing publications—that is, a person with certain skills. As I completed my book manuscript, I began to take on another role—a person who has written a book and is shifting into the business side of publishing it. That involved two labels: author and independent publisher.Labels, though, are fictions. The author label

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25:21

Buddhism's Moral Framework

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/04/17

On April 10, I posted the Epigraph and Introduction of my forthcoming book, The New Middle Way: A Path Between Secular and Ossified, which is scheduled for publication this summer. The book combines explanations of Buddhism for beginners with glimpses of the path that has brought me to a joyful life. The portion I shared on April 10 was largely anecdotal, so I’m now releasing a more teacherish chapter. These two sections will remain available here on my From the Pure Land blog and podcast and on my

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22:47

Epigraph and Introduction: The New Middle Way

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/04/10

The journey toward publishing my first full-length book is progressing better than I had hoped. I now expect a release date no later than August. I’ve begun an author’s email list, website, and Facebook Page. The results from early reviewers are encouraging, with one reader saying:The best book I’ve read on Buddhism…a gift to the world.So, it’s a good time to make the book’s first 2,000 words available to anyone who wants to read or listen to them. Please share this post and podcast with your

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11:08

A Metta Meditation

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/04/01

May all beings be happy. May all beings be healthy. May all beings live with ease. May all beings live in peace. May all beings live in pure joy, free from bias and hatred.Words similar to those are expressed out loud or prayed silently thousands, maybe millions, of times a day around the globe. They are known as the metta prayer or blessing, and in meditation, they cultivate loving kindness toward oneself as well as others.Find a favorite place to meditate. Get into your favorite meditation

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7:19

Don't Kill Your Monkey Mind. Befriend It.

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/03/30

The mind, hard to control, Flighty--alighting where it wishes-- One does well to tame. The disciplined mind brings happiness. --The Dhammapada verse 35I realized this morning that, for me, the First Precept…I refrain from taking life.…applies to the monkey mind.What’s the monkey mind? It’s that aspect of your mind that likes to chatter “bada-bada yada-yada” all day. It likes to travel through the branches and vines of your mind, leaping from one to the other while chattering loudly. It says things

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7:19

A Lesson in the Ever-Changing Self

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/03/26

As I drafted the book The New Middle Way over the last eight months or so, my self-image changed. While my roles as husband, father, friend, student of Buddhism, and myriad other things remained, my identity as a writer, blogger, and editor began to change.I was now working on the first full-length book to be published under my own name. As I researched, wrote, and edited my work, my confidence grew. Even though I relied heavily on my A.I. research assistant, Perplexity Pro, I began to own a feeling

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37:18

How Buddhism Prepares Us for Illness and Trauma

From the Pure Land Podcast ·

2025/03/25

When Dominique Side wrote a series on her Substack, The Softer Gaze, about her recent encounter with cancer and the resulting surgery, I thought that would make a great subject for her second From the Pure Land video interview. An expert on Buddhist philosophy, Dominique is a delight to talk with, as I learned in our first discussion.I wanted to hear how her decades of Buddhist experience prepared her for illness and other traumas and share some observations on my own. While we were at it, I learned

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