This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.

Hey, gang, today I'm talking to a Zen monk who burned out.

And this monk is going to lift the curtain on some of the Buddhist remedies that he personally used to recover from his overwhelm and overwork and chronic busyness.

Strategies that you can use too.

This is crucial stuff in a culture that pressures us to constantly do more, get more, and be more.

Let me address the elephant in the room first here.

You might be wondering right from the jump, how the hell can a Zen monk burn out?

Aren't they just sitting around meditating all day?

As I've learned in my many

years hosting the show, there are many flavors of Buddhist monk. Some of them do sit around and

meditate all day, but many others actually do quite a bit of work, including the guy you're going

to hear from today, who's done, of course, a non-trivial amount of meditation, but also

helps to run a bustling monastery.

My guest is Brother Phapu, who's really an incredible person. He began training at the age of 13

with the legendary Zen master Ticknott Han, who was an author, activist, and founder of the

Plum Village tradition. Today, Brother Fapu is the abbot of Plum Village's Upper Hamlet and the co-host of the Plum Village tradition. Today, Brother Fapu is the Abbott of Plum Village's Upper Hamlet

and the co-host of the Plum Village podcast, which is called The Way Out is In. He also

recently co-authored a book called Being with Business, Zen ways to Transform, Overwhelm, and

burnout. This is Brother Fapu's second appearance on the show, and in this conversation we talk about

why humans today are busier and more overwhelmed than ever, why monastics are not immune

to burnout, how busyness is thrust upon us by the world, but it's also the result of us

running from the shit we don't want to face.

...