The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern

• Ep. 148 - No More Billionaires - Wealth, Livelihood and Generosity in the Hinayana and Mahayana

  What is generosity (“dana” in the Buddhist languages), and how does it relate to our experience of wealth, our consumption, our labor, and our shared values as a society? How can we work with our craving for always have more like one of those a metal claw machines in a video game arcade, leaving us unable to live in the practice of Dana, or "fluid exchange" with our experience? Similarly, how do we create a society that acknowledges the sacredness of labor and the social benefits of collective generosity? How can we as a society generate wealth without the fixation to hoard billions of dollars? In the first part of a two episode discussion, Ethan looks at an understanding of wealth and generosity in the "Hinayana" and "Mahayana" systems of Buddhist practice, and next week in Episode 149 he will look at a Vajrayana understanding of wealth and generosity through the "Ratna Jewel of Enriching Presence." Please support the podcast via Substack and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Paid subscribers will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Thursday Meditation Group starts up again on July 10th, and a special guided meditation on Open Awarenesswas released this month. Another bonus podcast discussed a mindful take on the Revolutionary Astrology of Summer 2025 with Juliana McCarthy and Ethan Nichtern. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Spotify,Ethan’s Website, etc). Ethan’s most recent book, Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds was just awarded a gold medal in the 2025 Nautilus Book Awards. You can visit Ethan’s website to order a signed copy. Please allow two weeks from the time of your order for your copy to arrive. Don’t forget to sign up for the August 23 “Windhorse Meditation” Online Retreatat this link! Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon, including the Body of Meditation Teacher Training program beginning July 10th, 2025. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download.

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• Ep. 147 - Don’t Stop Believing - Faith and Awareness in The Six Bardos of Collapse and Rebirth

  How we work with our minds in the spaces between collapse and rebirth (those uncomfortable gaps in life as well as the huge “gap” after death) hold the key to creating futures that do not replicate the stuckness and suffering of our past. This is true both personally and collectively. As always, with recent world events in mind, we discuss the six bardos of classic Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the three qualities we need to effectively navigate the space between the death of what was and the birth of what will be. Please support the podcast via Substack and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Paid subscribers will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Thursday Meditation Group starts up again on July 10th, and a special guided meditation on Open Awarenesswas released this month. Another bonus podcast discussed a mindful take on the Revolutionary Astrology of Summer 2025 with Juliana McCarthy and Ethan Nichtern. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Spotify,Ethan’s Website, etc). Ethan’s most recent book, Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds was just awarded a gold medal in the 2025 Nautilus Book Awards. You can visit Ethan’s website to order a signed copy. Please allow two weeks from the time of your order for your copy to arrive. Don’t forget to sign up for the August 23 “Windhorse Meditation” Online Retreatat this link! Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon, including the Body of Meditation Teacher Training program beginning July 10th, 2025. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download.

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• Ep. 146 - The Dissonance of 2025

  Ethan visits a recurrent conversation he’s been having with his students, his friends, and within his own mind: the dissonance between feeling like your personal life and close community are in basically good places, while simultaneously raising your gaze to see the immense suffering and chaos of the world. How can we hold those two and find our compassion and skillful means? Framing thoughts around the massive ICE raids that are tearing families apart, followed by the subsequent mass protests in Los Angeles and across the country, Ethan examines how we can remain grounded in our own beings and work with any guilt we might feel for feeling safer than others right now. How can we stay grounded in ourselves and leverage what is classically called the “Precious Human Birth” to experience a harmonized practice on three levels of showing up: the personal, the interpersonal, and the collective? Please support the podcast via Substack and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Paid subscribers will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Meditation Group starts up again on May 15th, and a special podcast/meditation on “Intuition” was be released to paid subscribers this month. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Spotify,Ethan’s Website, etc). Ethan’s most recent book, Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds was just awarded a gold medal in the 2025 Nautilus Book Awards. You can visit Ethan’s website to order a signed copy. Please allow two weeks from the time of your order for your copy to arrive. Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon, including the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program beginning June 13th, 2025. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download.

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• Ep. 145 - Always Meditate on Whatever Provokes Resentment

  What is resentment? Why is it so corrosive? How can we work with our resentments? How can we overcome a victim mentality while still protecting ourselves, protecting others, and protecting truth? In this solo episode, Ethan uses a classic Tantric Buddhist contemplative slogan from the Lojong mind training tradition that translates as either “Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment” or “stay close to your resentment.” Enjoy the listen!     Ethan’s most recent book, Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds was just awarded a gold medal in the 2025 Nautilus Book Awards. You can visit Ethan’s website to order a signed copy. Please allow two weeks from the time of your order for your copy to arrive. Please support the podcast via Substack and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Paid subscribers will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Meditation Group starts up again on May 15th, and a special podcast/meditation on “Intuition” was be released to paid subscribers this month. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Spotify,Ethan’s Website, etc). Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon, including the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program beginning June 13th, 2025. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download.

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• Ep. 144 - Microdosing Grief and The Practice of Saying Goodbye

  In a spontaneous episode, Ethan discusses grief and loss while processing multiple events. At a recent compassion meditation retreat, colleague and friend René Fay gave a presentation where she discussed the need to “Microdose Grief,” to take it in little by little so that we can honor the small moments of loss to develop familiarity with the experience when the big waves come. Through remembering the life and the recent death of a dharma friend, Ethan explores a famous buddhist quote about impermanence (“The Cup Is Already Broken”) and explores how grief can be used as a tool for popping our hearts and minds outside of the confines of linear time, into the spontaneous presence and open-heartedness of what the Zen masters call “Being Time.” This episode of The Road Home is dedicated to the memory of Ralph De La Rosa, who was a friend (and a guest on the podcast) who passed away suddenly on May 10, 2025. Ralph was a dharma teacher and trauma therapist, as well as the author of three books which each explored Internal Family Systems and Somatic Therapy in relation to Tantric Buddhist thought: Outshining Trauma, Don’t Tell Me To Relax, and Monkey is the Messenger. For resources for processing Ralph’s passing, you can follow the information posted in the youtube video, or reach out to Ralph’s assistant, Amanda Ludwig. Visit Ethan's Substack for the show notes that include the prophetic and poignant last Dharma talk that Ralph gave the day before he/they passed away.  Support The Road Home: Please support the podcast via Substack and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Paid subscribers will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! The Meditation Group starts up again on May 15th, and a special podcast/meditation on “Intuition” will be released to paid subscribers this Friday, May 2nd. You can also subscribe to The Road Home podcast wherever you get your pods (Apple, Spotify,Ethan’s Website, etc). Check out all the cool offerings at our podcast sponsor Dharma Moon, including the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program beginning June 13th, 2025. Free video courses co-taught by Ethan and others, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download.

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