Buddhist Geeks

This week, Adam Engle, the business mastermind behind the Mind and Life Institute, joins us to discuss both the evolution of the project as well as its larger impact. The first Mind and Life Dialogue was held in Dharamsala, India in 1987 with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Since then, Adam says, it has done more than any other organization to help “legitimatize the scientific study of meditation.”Listen in to hear more about how they’ve gone about creating an active collaboration between scientists and contemplatives, and what kind of fruit that collaboration has borne.Episode Links:Educating World Citizens for the 21st Century ( http://www.educatingworldcitizens.org )Mind & Life Institute ( http://www.mindandlife.org )See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe

Alan Chapman is a Western magick practitioner, and the author of the newly released book, Advanced Magick for Beginners. Alan found his way into the field of Chaos magick through the work of Aleister Crowley and since has worked with a powerful technique called “the Holy Guardian Angel,” which very much like the guru yoga techniques of the Vajrayana schools, allows one to surrender to an external guide on the path to enlightenment.Alan shares with us the details of the Western occult tradition, including its core purpose of enlightenment, which he calls “the great work” of magick. He also connects some of the spiritual practices of magick with the Buddhist maps and models. Finally, he shares with us some of the details of a project he has recently launched called Open Enlightenment, whose purpose is to promote a transparent and open discussion surrounding the nature of enlightenment throughout the world’s mystical traditions.Episode Links:The Baptist’s Head ( http://www.thebaptistshead.co.uk )Advanced Magick for Beginners ( http://bit.ly/2v5mMu )See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe

Dr. Susan Blackmore–a psychologist and long-time Zen practitioner–shares with us the discoveries that she made while writing her latest book, Ten Zen Questions. Listen in to find out what she discovered after many, many hours of asking questions, such as: “Am I conscious now?”, “What was I conscious of a moment ago?”, & “There is no time. What is memory?”Also, listen in to hear how she feels this type of exploration, often called Koan training in the Zen Buddhist tradition, can illuminate and inform the traditional scientific study of consciousness.Episode Links:The Headless Way ( http://www.headless.org )Ten Zen Blog ( http://tenzenbookblog.wordpress.com )Dr. Susan Blackmore ( http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk )Ten Zen Questions ( http://bit.ly/bxloL )See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe

Daniel Ingram, Theravada meditation teacher, joins us today to discuss the online community he and Buddhist Geeks host, Vince Horn helped create, The Dharma Overground. Daniel shares how the Dharma Overground has been a grand experiment in discussing practical, down-to-earth, and empowering dharma out in the open and the results of that experiment thus far. This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to part 1, An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book. Episode Links: The Dharma Overground ( http://www.dharmaoverground.org ) Interactive Buddha ( www.interactivebuddha.com ) Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha ( bit.ly/E1tF )See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe

Daniel Ingram, a Theravada meditation teacher and one of our most popular guests, joins us again to discuss his recently published book, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha. In discussing the book we dive into some of the more foundation distinctions he makes, including that of the three trainings. Daniel claims that the trainings in morality (or ethics), concentration (or meditation), and insight (or wisdom) are distinct trainings, each having their own unique gold standard. He explores each of these gold standards and pays particular attention to the gold standard of insight, which has to do with seeing the three characteristics of experience—impermanence, suffering, and not-self. Listen in for some geeky, technical, and hard-hitting dharma from one of today’s little known, yet extremely profound, American dharma teachers. This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, The Dharma Overground. Episode Links: Interactive Buddha ( http://www.interactivebuddha.com ) Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha ( http://bit.ly/E1tF )See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe

Lama Sarah Harding, Tibetan translator and student of the late Kalu Rinpoche, joins us again to discuss some of the major trends in Western Buddhism. Having taught a class on “Buddhism in America” for the past several years, Sarah is uniquely positioned to share some key insights on this topic. We cap the conversation off discussing the regular, and unfortunate, occurrence of scandal within different Buddhist communities in the West, and what some of the major causes seem to be.This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to part 1, The Traditional 3-Year Retreat: Intensive Training for a Nonexistent Job.Episode Links:Zen Masters: Dressing the Donkey with Bells and Scarves ( http://bit.ly/1TOEOYQ )The Darker Side of Zen: Institutions Defining Reality ( http://bit.ly/1TOEOrF )See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe

Lama Sarah Harding, Tibetan translator and student of the late Kalu Rinpoche, joins us to discuss the experience of doing a traditional 3-year retreat in the Tibetan tradition. She was part of a small group of people, who in the mid 70’s did the first 3-year retreat held for Westerners.Listen in to find out more about the practices one does during the traditional retreat, what the biggest challenges can be, and what the benefits are (especially when compared with shorter periods of practice).This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, Western Buddhism: Megatrends & Scandals.Episode Links:Jamgon Kongtrul’s Retreat Manual ( http://bit.ly/3oIyzG )See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe

Insight Meditation teacher, Diana Winston, joins us to discuss an extremely relevant topic: Buddhism & Money. We explore whether or not spirituality and money are incompatible (as they are often seen) and if not how they might go together.Diana shares with us some of the original, though not so well known, teachings that the historical Buddha gave on money. She also discusses why both Buddhist teachers and practitioners should work with money and become familiar with it, and recounts her own journey with spiritual practice and money and how she has been able to bring the two together.Episode Links:The Dighajanu Sutta ( http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an08/an08.054.than.html )Hooked!: Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume ( http://bit.ly/1IjV3V )Wide Awake: Buddhism for the New Generation ( http://bit.ly/S7BlN )See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe

Insight meditation teacher and author Richard Shankman discusses the different types of jhana in Theravada tradition - Sutta jhana and Vishudimagga jhana. He also touches on vipassana jhana and relates insight development to these jhana systems. The discussion offers a detailed look into the intricacies of Theravada meditation, enriching understanding for both experienced practitioners and those new to the tradition.

Richard Shankman, a teacher in the insight meditation tradition and the author of the recently released book The Experience of Samadhi, joins us to discuss the various teachings and approaches to what in the Theravada tradition is called samadhi or concentration meditation.During this episode Richard shares some of his personal background with samadhi practice and also explains two different forms of deep samadhi, called jhana in the Theravada tradition–one from the time of the Buddha as captured by the Pali Suttas and another which arouse hundreds of years later and which is captured in the authoritative text, the Visuddhimagga. Listen in to find out about these different forms of deep concentration and absorption, which are a hallmark of the Theravada tradition of Buddhism…This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, Different Types of Jhana: Sutta, Vishudimagga, & Vipassana.Episode Links:richardshankman.orgThe VisuddhimaggaMahasi SayadawThe Experience of Samadhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist MeditationSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe