Death Dhamma Podcast

About Death Dhamma Podcast

Welcome to The Wisdom of Impermanence—a space to explore death, grief, and spiritual awakening through the lens of Buddhist wisdom and lived experience. This podcast invites you into intimate conversations about mortality, loss, and transformation. Each episode features authentic storytelling, interviews with spiritual teachers and grief experts, and contemplative insights drawn from Buddhist philosophy and personal experience. Whether you're navigating devastating loss, seeking to understand mortality more deeply, or ready to awaken to life's most universal truth, here is where you will find guidance, compassion, and wisdom. Discover how ancient Buddhist teachings illuminate modern grief. Learn from those who have transformed sorrow into spiritual practice. And join a growing community ready to embrace impermanence—not with resignation, but with courage, understanding, and awakening. Listen in. Show up. Transform.

Publisher

Margaret Meloni

Category

religion & spirituality · religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Jun 2021

Latest episode

28 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

192 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   28 Sept 2026

   The Slap That Redirected a Calling: Roseanne Annoni's Path

   Roseanne Annoni - psychotherapist of 35 years, ordained Diamond Approach teacher, and author of the newly released memoir Unfolding the Heart: One Woman's Quest for True Nature, traces the remarkable arc of her spiritual journey: from a childhood vision of becoming a Catholic nun (and her mother's unforgettable reaction) to years of searching through metaphysics and Vipassana meditation, to finding her spiritual home in the Diamond Approach and the teachings of Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas). Roseanne shares the story of how a book her student gave her, A Cave in the Snow, inspired her to spend a month of silent retreat at Gampo Abbey for her 60th birthday - where she unexpectedly found herself staying in Pema Chödrön's own cabin. She also reflects on the surprising echoes between her Catholic upbringing and Buddhist practice, from incense and chanting to prayer as a form of meditation, and how the two traditions ultimately reconciled in her heart - including a deeply moving moment of forgiveness with her mother near the end of her life. At the heart of this conversation is Roseanne's raw and honest account of grief and transformation: losing her "twin soul," her best friend of 45 years, to cancer while facing her own diagnosis, and how that crushing loss called her to truly live her practice. She speaks candidly about losing contact with her true nature, finding her way back, and the lesson impermanence keeps teaching as she approaches 80. Her closing message is one of hope - that no matter your tradition or your messy life, a willingness to turn inward with curiosity makes it possible for anyone to discover who they really are. Unfolding the Heart is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook (read by Roseanne herself) at Amazon, Simon & Schuster, and Bookshop.com.

2. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Where Art, Science, and Spirituality Converge: A Conversation with Michael Todd Fink

   Margaret sits down with Michael Todd Fink - licensed psychotherapist, mindfulness meditation teacher, host of the Kind Mind podcast, and co-founder of the folk rock group The Giving Tree Band - to discuss his beautiful new book of reflections and poetry, Losslessness: Reflections on Impermanence, Glimpses of Forever. Todd shares the wisdom at the heart of his writing: that impermanence doesn't negate meaning - it undergirds it. Through the metaphor of waves rising and falling on the ocean, he explores how what falls away clarifies what abides, and how loss can orient us back to our true nature. Margaret and Todd also dive into his poem "Life is a Movie," examining how the challenges and "plot twists" of our lives might be embraced as part of a meaningful story rather than resisted as obstacles. The conversation moves into Todd's clinical practice, where he discusses how creativity, ritual, and rites of passage help people navigate grief and transition. He shares the deeply personal story of how woodworking helped him heal after a painful loss, and how making small decisions through art can restore confidence and direction when we feel stuck. Drawing on his work with indigenous communities in New Mexico, Todd reflects on cultural humility and the many different ways of knowing beyond Western clinical research. Margaret and Todd also explore the tension between attachment and fear, how our culture's compartmentalization of art, science, and spirituality limits us - and how integrating all three streams can open the door to transformation. Todd generously reads from his poem "The Root of Fear," offering an intimate look at his own lifelong relationship with anxiety and the practice of letting go. Whether you're grieving a loss, facing a major life transition, or simply curious about how Buddhist wisdom intersects with modern psychology, this episode offers compassionate insight and practical wisdom for finding your center in a rapidly changing world. Find his book:  "Losslessness: Reflections on Impermanence, Glimpses of Forever" (available on Amazon, michaeltoddfink.com, and Luna and Luz in Albuquerque) Find Michael: ·       Website: michaeltoddfink.com ·       Podcast: The Kind Mind Podcast (available on podcast platforms and YouTube) ·       Psychology Today Blog Series: "The Circle of Compassion" And do not forget: ·       Artist: Mary Drury (Dryad Expressions) created the cover art and offers prints

3. 

   31 Aug 2026

   Step Off. Stand Still. Listen: An Invitation to End the Wandering

   You know that moment at the amusement park - you've just stumbled off a roller coaster, heart pounding, and your friend turns to you with a huge grin and says, "Let's go again!" Sometimes you're right there with them. And sometimes... once was enough. In this episode, Margaret Meloni takes that familiar little moment and opens it up into something surprisingly profound: a meditation on samsara, the "wandering on" that the Buddha described - the wheel of birth, death, and rebirth kept spinning not by punishment or judgment, but by the sheer momentum of our own craving, aversion, and confusion. At the heart of this episode is a story about a clever question and a compassionate correction. Margaret once asked a respected teacher: if rebirth means coming back for another ride, shouldn't we celebrate death and mourn birth? Shouldn't we flip the whole thing around? His answer - gentle, patient, and quietly devastating - reframes the entire spiritual path. We don't celebrate death, because we don't know where someone goes next. The ride doesn't stop just because the car has returned to the station. It stops only when the conditions that keep it running have been uprooted. This isn't an episode about hating life or gritting your teeth until it's over. It's about something far more tender: learning to keep your eyes open while the ride is still in motion. To feel what there is to feel without contracting around it. To notice that the thrill of samsara always comes packaged with dread, that its pleasures always call for repetition - and that the "again" is itself the suffering. Whether you're deep into Buddhist practice or simply curious about what it might mean to find ground beneath your feet that doesn't move, this episode offers a gentle invitation: not to escape the ride, but to use it. To let the craving, the fear, and the clinging weaken and thin - so that when the ride ends, perhaps nothing pulls you onto the next one. Step off. Stand still. And listen.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.4 / 5

5 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings