Buddhist Teacher: No One Is Talking About This Hidden Epidemic! The Western Lie Behind Depression and Anxiety

In When Things Fall Apart, Buddhist nun and teacher Pema Chödrön provides guidance on how to find courage and compassion amid pain, loss, and uncertainty. She writes that pain and suffering are inevitable parts of life but that these experiences can also be opportunities for growth and transformation. Drawing on ancient Buddhist wisdom and practices, Chödrön shows us how to cultivate self-awareness and acceptance and face life's challenges with grace and resilience.

In this guide, we explore Chödrön’s views on why we suffer—what causes emotional pain and perpetuates it during challenging times—and outline what you can do to turn these experiences into opportunities for growth and healing. We also compare Chödrön’s teachings to insights from other Buddhist teachers and mental health experts and provide additional context about Buddhism so you can better understand and apply these concepts to real-world challenges.

Do people who turn their backs on religion leave something crucial behind? Atheist philosopher and scientist Sam Harris thinks they do. He argues that those who reject the contemplative aspects of faith traditions are missing out on the contentment that comes from seeking transcendental states of mind, which has historically been the domain of religion.

Harris is known for encouraging skeptics to confront religion. In 2017’s Waking Up, he lays out a reason-based approach to spirituality that’s rooted in what science and meditation teach about the workings of the human mind.

In this guide, we’ll explore Harris’s definition of spirituality, what neuroscience says about the nature of consciousness, and Harris’s argument that while consciousness is real, your sense of self is an illusion. We’ll examine what spiritual enlightenment looks like from a secular worldview, its implications for self-improvement, and what science and theology have to say about consciousness, the soul, and the mind.

In The Art of Happiness, you’ll walk with the Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize winner and spiritual leader of Tibet, down the Buddhist path toward happiness. According to him, you have the power to bring more happiness into your life by simply training yourself to be happier. We’ll discuss his four forms of happiness training, which will improve your outlook on life, interpersonal relationships, resilience in the face of suffering, and everyday spirituality.

To help you absorb and apply the Dalai Lama’s advice, we’ve added key background information on Buddhism, as well as scientific evidence in support of his beliefs and concrete actions you can take. The Dalai Lama doesn’t promise that the path to happiness will be plain sailing—but he does believe that your effort will be worth it.

In recent years, meditation and mindfulness have swept across the West and become popular tools for everything from stress management to productivity, focus, and spiritual seeking. But amidst this excitement, say Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson, the facts have been distorted and the signal has been lost in the noise. In Altered Traits, they clarify what we do and don’t know about meditation—as well as what’s been overhyped.

In this guide, we’ll discuss how they define meditation, why it’s proved difficult to study, and what we know about its effects. We’ll also discuss what the research on meditation shows: that meditation alters traits, or produces lasting changes to your brain, behavior, and experience of life. Throughout the guide, we’ll comment on related research and perspectives, and we’ll broaden the authors’ discussion of traditional Buddhism, Buddhist terminology, and Buddhism in the West.

Do you struggle with anxiety, stress, or other strong emotions? Are you struggling to find time to relax in the busy modern world? If so, you could benefit from meditation: a practice that many people find helpful for reducing stress, sharpening focus, and getting their thoughts in order. People from all walks of life, both religious and secular, have practiced and written about meditation for thousands of years, and it continues to be a popular relaxation method today.

In Shortform’s Master Guide to choosing a meditation practice, we’ve gathered the best time-tested advice on meditation from some of its most respected experts and teachers, from yogis and Buddhist monks to present-day self-help experts like Jen Sincero and Julia Cameron. To help you find the meditation practice that’s right for you, we’ll explore the meditation practices of four major traditions: Buddhism, Hinduism (yoga), Christianity (prayer), and modern Western thought. We’ll close by offering some tips for incorporating meditation into a busy modern lifestyle.

Your ability to pay attention impacts every aspect of your life—from how well you perform at work to how deeply you connect with others. Yet it’s often difficult to focus on what matters.

In Peak Mind, neuroscientist Amishi Jha suggests that this struggle to pay attention prevents your mind from functioning at its peak, resulting in poorer decisions, forgotten information, and emotional instability. She argues that practicing mindfulness can help you overcome these challenges and improve your ability to pay attention.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through Jha's key ideas, covering how attention works and impacts you, the three causes of scattered attention, and why practicing mindfulness is the most effective strategy for strengthening attention. Additionally, we'll expand upon Jha's ideas with research and advice on improving attention from psychologists and self-improvement practitioners.

In When Things Fall Apart, Buddhist nun and teacher Pema Chödrön provides guidance on how to find courage and compassion amid pain, loss, and uncertainty. She writes that pain and suffering are inevitable parts of life but that these experiences can also be opportunities for growth and transformation. Drawing on ancient Buddhist wisdom and practices, Chödrön shows us how to cultivate self-awareness and acceptance and face life's challenges with grace and resilience.

In this guide, we explore Chödrön’s views on why we suffer—what causes emotional pain and perpetuates it during challenging times—and outline what you can do to turn these experiences into opportunities for growth and healing. We also compare Chödrön’s teachings to insights from other Buddhist teachers and mental health experts and provide additional context about Buddhism so you can better understand and apply these concepts to real-world challenges.

Do people who turn their backs on religion leave something crucial behind? Atheist philosopher and scientist Sam Harris thinks they do. He argues that those who reject the contemplative aspects of faith traditions are missing out on the contentment that comes from seeking transcendental states of mind, which has historically been the domain of religion.

Harris is known for encouraging skeptics to confront religion. In 2017’s Waking Up, he lays out a reason-based approach to spirituality that’s rooted in what science and meditation teach about the workings of the human mind.

In this guide, we’ll explore Harris’s definition of spirituality, what neuroscience says about the nature of consciousness, and Harris’s argument that while consciousness is real, your sense of self is an illusion. We’ll examine what spiritual enlightenment looks like from a secular worldview, its implications for self-improvement, and what science and theology have to say about consciousness, the soul, and the mind.

If you’re like most people, you have a pretty good sense of who you are and how you relate to the world. But everything you know about yourself is wrong—according to neuroscientist Chris Niebauer. In No Self, No Problem, he explains that your sense of self is nothing more than an illusion crafted by your storytelling left brain. While science is just catching on to how this works, Niebauer notes that Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism have been teaching something similar for thousands of years.

In this guide, we’ll follow Niebauer through a tour of your sense of self and the brain regions that bring it into being. We’ll also consider his advice for loosening your grip on the thoughts and judgments that make you dissatisfied with your reality. Along the way, we’ll explore what other scientists, philosophers, and artists have to say about who we are and what it means to be a person.