Buddhism Beyond Belief with Susan Piver

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Here is a new episode after an unexpected pause. I’m moving to a new house and that has stirred disorientation, emotional complexity, and a break from familiar patterns. The truth is, I just didn’t know if I had anything of use to say. Also, I was in a bad mood? Needy! It happens! It turns out that this unsettled place provided a good context to consider a question raised in our Open Heart Project sangha: do Buddhists pray? If so, to whom?
In a non-theistic tradition, rather than being directed toward an external deity, prayer becomes a way of relating to awareness itself. The images, rituals, and expressions of devotion are not about reaching for something outside us, but about connecting to the wisdom, compassion, and courage already present.
In this episode, I explore prayer as communion rather than asking, and how everyday acts of attention, care, and listening can deepen our relationship with the divine.

Highlights
What it means that Buddhism is non-theistic
Why you can practice meditation without adopting a belief system
Buddhist deities as reflections of your own wisdom mind
Prayer as communion rather than petition
Everyday life as an expression of prayer
Listening, presence, and awareness as the heart of practice
Send me your questions:
You can keep the conversation going or send your reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
Proclaiming Basic Sanity: Living the Bodhisattva Path Retreat 
Join me at Drala Mountain Center in the Colorado Rockies for a meditation retreat exploring the bodhisattva path and what it means to live with courage, compassion, and clarity in everyday life. Through guided meditation, teachings, and conversation, we’ll reflect on how to recognize and express basic sanity in the midst of our actual lives. All are welcome, and no prior meditation experience is required.
Learn more and register here.
If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project

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In this episode, I bring all eight steps of the Noble Eightfold Path together. This teaching is a way of living, not a project of self-improvement. This is about how we relate to experience and how that shapes suffering or freedom.
Highlights
Right ViewSeeing clearly begins in the present moment.
Meditation helps us loosen our grip on thoughts and recognize we don’t truly know.
What we seek arises when there is space, not through more thinking.

Right IntentionIntention matters more than outcome.
Pause and examine what is driving your actions.
Let care for others be part of every decision.

Right SpeechPractice real listening rather than simply reacting.
Avoid harming self and others through your words.
Ask: Is it true, beneficial, clear, and timely?

Right ActionNo fixed rules, but the five precepts offer guidance.
Act with care, compassion, and awareness.
Letting go reduces the tendency to create more suffering.

Right LivelihoodYour work is part of the path.
Avoid harm and consider how you relate to others in the work you do.
Integrity at work supports the spiritual journey.

Right EffortRather than pushing harder, Right Effort means not giving up.
Build daily patterns that supports what matters most.
Include yourself and others in that commitment.

Right MindfulnessNot a tool for optimization.
Practice presence with precision and openness.
Be with experience as it is.

Right ConcentrationTrain attention by returning to a single focus.
Over time, attention becomes steady and connected.
Offering full attention is not separate from enlightenment.

Conclusion
This path isn’t linear or something to complete. It’s something to live.
Test it for yourself. Bring your own intelligence to what you hear.
Thoughts?
You can send your questions or reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.
Fearless Creativity: A Meditation and Writing Retreat 
Join me at Drala Mountain Center in the Colorado Rockies for Fearless Creativity, a meditation and writing retreat offering dedicated time for creative work alongside guided meditation and conversation. Writers of all genres and levels are welcome, with no prior meditation experience required. 
Learn more and register
If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project

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This week we arrive at the final step of the Noble Eightfold Path: Right Samadhi, often translated as concentration or absorption. If the earlier steps help us see clearly and act with intention, this final step gathers the mind into a unified experience.
Right Samadhi is not about forcing the mind to focus. It begins with learning to place attention on one thing and come back when it wanders. From there, it deepens into the ability to give your attention fully to another person. And eventually, it points beyond both of those, toward a loosening of the sense that there is a separate “you” paying attention to something else.
In this episode, I explore Right Samadhi through three lenses: foundational, relational, and transformational.
Highlights
What Right Samadhi actually means beyond “concentration”
Why the ability to focus is becoming rare and why it matters
Meditation as training attention
Attention as the basis of love
What it means to truly listen to another person
The challenge of stepping outside self-focused attention
The possibility of awareness without a subject or object
Right Samadhi as the culmination of the Noble Eightfold Path
Music After Party
This week I share “Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears” by A Winged Victory for the Sullen.
You can also listen here.
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is coming soon.
Thoughts?
You can send your questions or reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.
Get your copy of The Buddhist Enneagram
From March 10 – April 10, you can receive 30% off the new physical edition of The Buddhist Enneagram when you order directly from Shambhala Publications. Use code ENNEAGRAM30 at checkout. If this book has been on your reading list, or if you know someone who might benefit from this perspective on the Enneagram, this is a great time to pick up a copy. Buy yours here.
If you’d like a free chapter, sign up for my weekly meditation newsletter here.
Fearless Creativity: A Meditation and
If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project

Send us Fan Mail
This week we explore Right Mindfulness, the seventh step of the Noble Eightfold Path. While the earlier steps shape how we see and act in the world, this step turns us inward again, toward our direct experience.

Right Mindfulness is not about self-improvement or optimization. It is a way of relating to the mind as it is. Through meditation, we begin to see that thoughts are not a problem to solve, but something to notice, release, and return from, again and again.
In this episode, I explore Right Mindfulness through three qualities that arise in practice: precision, openness, and spaciousness.

Highlights
Why mindfulness is not a tool for fixing yourself
The simple meditation formula: notice, let go, come back, begin again
Why thoughts are not the problem
Precision as the foundation of practice
Openness to allowing experience to be as it is
Spaciousness for the true nature of mind
The shift from identifying with thoughts to recognizing awareness itself

Music After Party
This week I share “I Won’t Cry” by Doug Sahm, a true Texas legend. 
You can also listen here.

Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is coming soon.
Thoughts?
You can send your questions or reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.
Get your copy of The Buddhist Enneagram
From March 10 – April 10, you can receive 30% off the new physical edition of The Buddhist Enneagram when you order directly from Shambhala Publications. Use code ENNEAGRAM30 at checkout. If this book has been on your reading list, or if you know someone who might benefit from this perspective on the Enneagram, this is a great time to pick up a copy. Buy yours here.
If you’d like a free chapter, sign up for my weekly meditation newsletter here.
Fearless Creativity: A Meditation and Writing Retreat 
Join me at Drala Mountain Center in the Colorado Rockies for Fe
If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project

Send us Fan Mail
This week we explore Right Effort, the sixth step of the Noble Eightfold Path. While the earlier steps guide how we understand reality and how we act in the world, Right Effort begins to turn inward. It concerns how we work with our own mind and inner life.
Right Effort does not mean pushing harder or forcing yourself to improve. It begins with a commitment not to give up on yourself. From there, it becomes a practice of directing your energy wisely, caring for your inner world, and recognizing that even difficult states of mind can contain seeds of wisdom.
In this episode, I explore Right Effort through three lenses: foundational, relational, and transformational.

Highlights

Why Right Effort is not about striving or pushing yourself
A personal story about learning not to give up on myself
The role of daily structure in supporting what truly matters
How meditation helps us reclaim agency over our attention
The effort required to remember our shared humanity
What it means to “look deeply” at difficult emotions
How anger, desire, anxiety, and spaciness can contain seeds of wisdom

Music After Party

For the after party, I share a short song called Regular Rabbit by Stephen Spencer. He writes songs based on stories told by his young daughter, and they capture something simple and reassuring about being human. This one brings me joy every time I hear it.
You can also listen here.
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is coming soon.
Thoughts?
You can send your questions or reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.
Get your copy of The Buddhist Enneagram
From March 10 – April 10, you can receive 30% off the new physical edition of The Buddhist Enneagram when you order directly from Shambhala Publications. Use code ENNEAGRAM30 at checkout. If this book has been on your reading list, or if you know someone who might benefit from this perspective on the Enneagram, this is a great time to pick up a copy. Buy yours
If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project