Season Two of Aspiring Martians begins with a month-long Everyday Mars series exploring religion on Mars — and what happens to faith, meaning, and spiritual life when humans leave Earth.

This first episode focuses on Buddhism, a tradition practiced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide and rooted in teachings on suffering, impermanence, mindfulness, and compassion. Joe is joined by Bhikkhu Vasu Bandhu, a contemplative teacher working within a modern Buddhist-inspired tradition and a longtime leader in the global interfaith movement.

Vasu Bandhu serves as Interfaith Manager for the Arizona Faith Network, is a member of the International Youth Committee of Religions for Peace, a Global Council Trustee for the United Religions Initiative, and Chair of the North American Interfaith Network. Since the age of 18, he has dedicated his life to interfaith service, eventually joining the Dhammapada Sangha after years of work across diverse religious traditions.

In this conversation, Joe and Vasu Bandhu explore how Buddhist ideas like mindfulness, ethical responsibility, compassion, and acceptance of impermanence could shape spiritual life for future Martians — particularly in environments defined by isolation, confinement, and constant change.

This episode sets the tone for a four-part series that continues next week with Hinduism on Mars, followed by Islam on January 20, and Christianity on January 27.

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A huge thank you to Vasu Bandhu for joining me on today’s episode and sharing his perspective, to Nick Thorburn for the incredible theme music, to Ceci Giglio for the ever playful graphics, to Jero Squartini for the animations, to RDan, Leila, Inka, and Carl for admining the FB group, and to my family for being cool with there being another whole year of talking about Mars all the freakin time.