Buddhism Beyond Belief with Susan Piver

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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

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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

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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

Send us Fan Mail
This episode, we pause our exploration of the Noble Eightfold Path before returning next week with Right Effort.
This week, Shambhala Publications (my favorite publisher) is reissuing my book, The Buddhist Enneagram. I’m so proud this is happening and I wanted to take this chance to share thoughts on the two wisdom streams that have shaped my life for more than three decades: the Buddhadharma and the Enneagram.
Highlights:
Why compassion is central to Buddhist teaching and why it can be most difficult in our intimate relationships
Nine patterns of attention through which we experience the same world
How understanding these patterns can transform conflict with partners, family, and colleagues
A personal example of how different Enneagram types notice different things in the same situation
The three centers of intelligence in the Enneagram: instinctual, emotional, and mental
How each center responds differently when life does not go our way
The three instinctual drives that shape each type: self-preservation, social, and intimate connection
Why these combinations create 27 nuanced ways of being
How each type carries both an idealization and an avoidance
Using the Enneagram not to label people but to understand them and remain connected
How the system can support genuine compassion in everyday life
Music selection:
I share a recording of “Black Night,” most famously associated with musician Charles Brown. The version we listen to features Willie Nelson and Dr. John from the album Milk Cow Blues. I talk about the extraordinary musicians on the track, including producer and guitarist Derek O’Brien, who created the theme music for this podcast. You can also listen to it here.
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

Send us Fan Mail
In this episode, I explore Right Livelihood, the fifth step on the Noble Eightfold Path. We began with Right View and Right Intention, then moved into speech and action. Now we turn to how we earn a living. It may sound ordinary, but the way we work, relate, and exchange value in the world can either bind us more tightly or support liberation. I share three lenses from the Buddhist tradition to investigate what Right Livelihood might mean for us now.

Highlights

Why your job belongs on a path aimed at awakening
The foundational teaching: avoid professions that cause harm
Work as relational practice, the workplace as a practice community
Right Livelihood as Bodhisattva activity in daily life
Protection, money, and the spiritual function of financial stability
When Buddhism meets consumer culture 
How business and interdependence might inform one another

Music After Party

In our after-party, I share “Le Bien, Le Mal” from Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 by Guru, featuring MC Solaar.
Their collaboration feels like a true exchange. Two artists building something together, each sharpening the other. You can hear the mutual respect. 
You can also listen here.

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 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