#349 Meditation is Not Just a Solo Endeavor | Pamela Ayo Yetunde

There’s a meditation pitfall that’s pretty easy to fall into. In fact, I’ve fallen into it many times. It’s this idea, which we can hold consciously or subconsciously, that meditation is a solo endeavor. “I’m doing it to reduce my stress, or boost my focus, or make myself ten percent happier.” All of that is fine. It’s actually great. But in my experience, the deeper you go into this thing, the more you see that the self is less stable and more porous than you previously imagined. And you also see that it’s really impossible to be happy in a vacuum; your happiness depends on the well-being of the people around you.

We’re going to explore this notion of meditation as a team sport today with Pamela Ayo Yetunde. She’s the co-editor of Black & Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation & Freedom, which just won the Nautilis book award. She’s got a law degree from Indiana University and a theology degree from Columbia. She also founded something called Buddhist Justice Reporter: The George Floyd Trials, which you will hear her discuss in this conversation. This is the first of two conversations we’re posting this week to mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.

In this chat with Ayo, which is the name she prefers to be addressed by, we cover: a concept called shock protection; living nobly in a time of ignobility; how we can move toward civility; various interpretations of the Buddhist concept of no-self, including viewing no self as inter-dependence; and how white people in particular can maintain their focus on issues of race, even when we have the privilege of looking away.

One more thing: we're offering 40% off the price of a year-long subscription for the Ten Percent Happier app until June 1st. Visit www.tenpercent.com/may to sign up today.

Where to find Pamela Ayo Yetunde online: 

• Center of the Heart Counseling Practice
• Pamela Ayo Yetunde at Center of the Heart Counseling Practice

Book Mentioned:

• Black & Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation & Freedom, by Pamela Ayo Yetunde

Where to find Buddhist Justice Reporter online:

• Buddhist Justice Reporter: The George Floyd Trials
• Buddhist Justice Reporter published by Tricycle

Other books by Pamela Ayo Yetunde:

• Buddhist-Christian Dialogue, U.S. Law, and Womanist Theology for Transgender Spiritual Care
• Object Relations, Buddhism, and Relationality in Womanist Practical Theology

Other Resources Mentioned:

• Samsara
• Thich Nhat Hanh
• Plum Village
• Please Call Me by My True Names, poem by Thich Nhat Hanh
• The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Peace is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Jerry Colonna
• Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion
• Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
• The Kataly Foundation
• Common Ground Meditation Center
• Buddhist Peace Fellowship
• The Bodhisattva Vows
• Insight Tradition
• Zen Tradition
• Dedicating the Merit
• Being Intelligently Selfish
• The Way to Freedom, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• Compassion and Human Values - His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
• Dalit Communities
• Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
• The Avataṃsaka Sūtra
• The Lotus Sutra
• Rev. Dr. Carolyn A.L. McCrary, Interdependence as a norm for an interdisciplinary model of pastoral counseling
• The Brahmaviharas
• Horatio Alger

Additional Resources:

• Ten Percent Happier Live: https://meditatehappier.com/live
• Coronavirus Sanity Guide: https://www.meditatehappier.com/coronavirussanityguide
• Free App access for Frontline Workers: https://meditatehappier.com/care