Noah Rasheta is the author of three books and host of the popular Secular Buddhism podcast, where he explains 2,500-year-old teachings while setting aside spiritual elements that may turn some away from the practice. The show’s mantra, which Rasheta says at the beginning of every episode, is simple: “You don’t need to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist. You can use what you learn to simply be a better whatever you already are.”

Rasheta takes a secular approach to Buddhism because he doesn’t want to take part in another religion after leaving the Church of Latter-day Saints. After suffering a breach of trust in his marriage, he scoured scriptures for meaning but came up empty. Some in the church said his marriage troubles were caused by his lack of devotion to the faith.

“I started learning all kinds of things I didn’t know about church history and doctrine that were far more controversial than anything I had previously encountered,” Rasheta told Upworthy. “The more I went digging, the more I started to feel a second betrayal—this time from the religious organization itself.”

Rasheta finds peace through Buddhist teachings

“It was during that inner chaos that I remember thinking meditation was supposed to help with this kind of stuff, though I realized I didn’t actually know why,” he........

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