Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What does early Buddhism have to tell us about our everyday obsessions and compulsions? We'll look at the centrality of such syndromes in Buddhist dharma, particularly around the idea of "papañca" or "mental proliferation". Note that I will not be discussing OCD as such, though there is a link below to a NIMH article about OCD for those who are interested.
🧡 If you find this material useful, check out my Patreon page and get fun benefits like exclusive videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: patreon.com/dougsseculardharma
🧡 You can also make donations through: paypal.me/dougsdharma
📙 Check out my book, A Handbook of Early Buddhist Wisdom, with a Foreword by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: books2read.com/buddhisthandbook
☸️ Free mini-course at the Online Dharma Institute: onlinedharma.org.
🎙Check out my podcast with Jon Aaron, Diggin' the Dharma: digginthedharma.com
✅ Suttas mentioned:
accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.018.than.html
suttacentral.net/snp4.11/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/snp4.14/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn18/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/sn35.95/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/ud1.10/en/sujato
✅ NIMH article on OCD:
nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd
Webpage: dougsdharma.com
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❤️ Thanks to Patreon Patrons:
Anonymous (3)
John Oborne
DunJing
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Steve H.
Ron Peat
Michael S. Kearns
Anne
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Karma_CAC
Jorge Seguel
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GailJM
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T Pham
VCR
Upayadhi
Andi and Erik
ATGuerrero686
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khobe schofield
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Billy in Singapore
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xiao mao
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Rene Gariepy
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Smoggyrob
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Bernardo
Clémence Ortega Douville
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SaturnianMandala
Trin P
Letesa Isler
Dorien Izel
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Jake Tobiason
Louvenia Ortega
Steve S.
Richard Rappuhn
Sarah Kress
John Aaron
Paul Niklewski
Kong Ing Kai
Dave Gorman
rhys reed
Osanda Wijeratne
Scarlett Farrow
BJ - RetreaTours™
Michael Lefsky
Matthieu Tregnier
Roland Harris
karen
Dr Ru
Rob
John
00:00 Intro
02:09 Central importance of the proliferating mind
03:57 How mental proliferation works
13:21 Practicing with obsessions, compulsions, and papañca
Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where I will earn a very small commission on purchases you make, at no additional cost to you. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thank you!
What does early Buddhism have to tell us about our everyday obsessions and compulsions? We'll look at the centrality of such syndromes in Buddhist dharma, particularly around the idea of "papañca" or "mental proliferation". Note that I will not be discussing OCD as such, though there is a link below to a NIMH article about OCD for those who are interested.
🧡 If you find this material useful, check out my Patreon page and get fun benefits like exclusive videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: patreon.com/dougsseculardharma
🧡 You can also make donations through: paypal.me/dougsdharma
📙 Check out my book, A Handbook of Early Buddhist Wisdom, with a Foreword by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: books2read.com/buddhisthandbook
☸️ Free mini-course at the Online Dharma Institute: onlinedharma.org.
🎙Check out my podcast with Jon Aaron, Diggin' the Dharma: digginthedharma.com
✅ Suttas mentioned:
accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.018.than.html
suttacentral.net/snp4.11/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/snp4.14/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn18/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/sn35.95/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/ud1.10/en/sujato
✅ NIMH article on OCD:
nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd
Webpage: dougsdharma.com
Facebook: facebook.com/onlinedharmainstitute
Mastodon: https://mindly.social/@dougsdharma
Instagram: instagram.com/dougsdharma
Threads: threads.net/@dougsdharma
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dougsdharma.bsky.social
Thumbnail image courtesy PoseMuse (Justin Martin) at Pixabay.
❤️ Thanks to Patreon Patrons:
Anonymous (3)
John Oborne
DunJing
Jimmy Maa
Debbie Mattison
Steve H.
Ron Peat
Michael S. Kearns
Anne
Matthew Smith
Shantha Wengappuli
Karma_CAC
Jorge Seguel
Christopher Apostolof
GailJM
David Bell
T Pham
VCR
Upayadhi
Andi and Erik
ATGuerrero686
Michael Scherrer
khobe schofield
Alex Perdomo
Benji Forsyth
Blaze Way
Sonny Flink
Steve Marlor
Joy L Lee
Andrew Tom
Anthony Tucker
Karlee R
Ethan M
Billy in Singapore
Olivia Otter
Carl Lennartson
xiao mao
Jeff Harvey
Andrew Ingrouille
Kenneth Grandchamp
Rene Gariepy
Russell Needham
Smoggyrob
Mac Roja
Bernardo
Clémence Ortega Douville
Kwan Alex
Scott Johnston
Richard J Beninger
Nathanael O. Arnquist
SaturnianMandala
Trin P
Letesa Isler
Dorien Izel
Robert Paterson
Jake Tobiason
Louvenia Ortega
Steve S.
Richard Rappuhn
Sarah Kress
John Aaron
Paul Niklewski
Kong Ing Kai
Dave Gorman
rhys reed
Osanda Wijeratne
Scarlett Farrow
BJ - RetreaTours™
Michael Lefsky
Matthieu Tregnier
Roland Harris
karen
Dr Ru
Rob
John
00:00 Intro
02:09 Central importance of the proliferating mind
03:57 How mental proliferation works
13:21 Practicing with obsessions, compulsions, and papañca
Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where I will earn a very small commission on purchases you make, at no additional cost to you. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thank you!






![The Knowledge That Cant Be Overpowered — Socrates & the Buddha
Weve all known better and slipped up anyway. But what if thats proof we never really knew? Socrates argued real knowledge cant be overpowered — and early Buddhism made it a practice. Theres knowing about whats good for us, and the knowing that changes what we want to do.
🧡 If you find this material useful, check out my Patreon page and get fun benefits like exclusive videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: https://www.patreon.com/dougsseculardharma
🧡 You can also make donations through: https://paypal.me/dougsdharma
📙 Check out my book, A Handbook of Early Buddhist Wisdom, with a Foreword by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: https://books2read.com/buddhisthandbook
📖 Index of all my videos: https://dougs-dharma.github.io/dougs-dharma-index/
✅ Sutta & sources:
- MN 19, Two Kinds of Thought — https://suttacentral.net/mn19/en/sujato
- Plato, Protagoras / Meno / Gorgias (Perseus): https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178
- Plato, Complete Works (Cooper, ed.) — https://amzn.to/4fPsQix
✅ Related videos:
- Why You Dont Do What You Know You Should — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMhA6UZZJ4
- Can You Practice Buddhism by Studying It? (Anālayo) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oT04eft43o
- Do You Really Understand What Wisdom Is? — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ger9h33r8Lk
- The Myth of Privileged Epistemology — [link]
- Knowledge and Wisdom: Whats the Deal? — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFcP0ZnqHSQ
Webpage: https://www.dougsdharma.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onlinedharmainstitute/
Mastodon: https://mindly.social/@dougsdharma
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dougsdharma/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dougsdharma
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dougsdharma.bsky.social
Assistance from Claude models.
❤️ Thanks to all Patreon Patrons!
Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where I will earn a very small commission on purchases you make, at no additional cost to you. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thank you! The Knowledge That Cant Be Overpowered — Socrates & the Buddha](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rDbEbPNZQiE/mqdefault.jpg)



