The Imperfect Buddha Podcast

In this episode, the Dharma Oveground and Buddhist Geeks get enlightened, Francois Laurelle and the non-Buddhists speculate, Hokai Sobol and Kenneth Folk do their own thing. Matthew and Stuart cross the line and fumble over names.This is part 2 of our first real episode exploring a number of innovative elements in contemporary western Buddhism. We move on in our discussion from Tibet to look at the Pragmatists that emerged from the Dharma Underground and the intelligent destruction of Buddhism fuelled by French and German speaking philosophers in the form of Non-Buddhism. We also bring in some considerations of the significance of the claims of enlightenment made by a number of the Pragmatists and the importance of some of the critique made by Glenn Wallis and his cohorts.Enjoy and leave feedback, criticisms, complaints and observations at our Facebook page, Twitter feed or even here. The next episode will feature a special guest and discuss Buddhist cults!All show notes can be found at the Post-Traditional Buddhism site. Click here for those: http://posttraditionalbuddhism.com/2015/07/23/2-2-new-podcast-episode-is-out-the-dharma-oveground-the-non-buddhists/

In this episode of the imperfect Buddha podcast, we finally get round to speaking to David Chapman. For those familiar with David’s work, there is so much that could have been discussed as he writes on all manner of fascinating topics ranging from Buddhism to philosophy, psychology to Vajrayana, artificial intelligence and more. Our interests converged on the topic of maturation outside of religious and spiritual discourse with David’s recent exploration of adult development and maturation just the sort of topic that we like to explore here on the podcast. David has built on the work of Robert Keagan, an important living psychologist, in exploring adult development and maturation through five key stages. David focuses on three of them, aligning the final stage with Buddhism, in particular Dzogchen. An understanding of these stages has important consequences for Buddhists, especially considering the potential conflict between self-development, maturation and concepts such as no self, impermanence and so on.We cover additional topics such as the present and future of Buddhism in the West, the current state of university campuses in the Anglo-American world, the problem with SJW’s and post-modern theory, nihilism and determinism, practices that may shift people onwards through the last three levels of maturation and more.Enjoy! SponsorThe imperfect Buddha podcast is sponsored by O’Connell Coaching. If any of the topics in the podcast are personally relevant and/or problematic, or if you wish to explore life after Buddhism and are looking for support and guidance in personal development, an exploration of spiritual practice and transformative practices within a coaching context, follow the link to find out more: https://oconnellcoaching.com/about/ MusicThe imperfect Buddha podcast supports up-and-coming musicians in Bristol groups. Oliver Wilde, a Bristol musician on the Howling Owl label, provides this episode’s music. Do have a listen and if you like what you hear, support the artist at the band camp site: https://oliverwilde.bandcamp.com/track/curve-good-grief LinksDavid’s main site is a treasure trove for the discerning explorer of personal-development, spirituality and intelligent practice. A great act of generosity designed at clearing up much confusion in the realm of spirituality, David communicates clearly and concisely. Highly recommended, Meaningness: https://meaningness.comAnother of David’s sites, Vividness features an article on the podcast’s main topic: https://vividness.live/2015/10/12/developing-ethical-social-and-cognitive-competence/ Arot-ter site managed by David. Lots of good resources here: https://approachingaro.org/

In this episode Stuart & I discuss Buddhist cults and cultish behaviour in Buddhist groups. We look at cultish behaviours in particular and how they manifest in even innocuous Buddhist groups. We discuss the wider implications of the trade off between belonging and autonomy and the three core theories that explain why people get involved in Buddhist groups. We also look at the difference between cults and new religious movements and the difficulty in the academic world of defining a cult. To avoid such a trap, we focus on cultish behaviours instead and ask to what degree each of the organisations we discuss exhibits them. We invite listeners to consider to what degree their own Buddhist group may exhibit such behaviours and why they are present.We cover the NKT, Rigpa, Shambhala, Michael Roach and HH, Maitreya Ron Spenser. In this episode, someone is bound to get offended, but it's all good as Stuart and Matthew get culty. Second additional note (07/09/2015): Dear Listeners,We recently put out a podcast episode covering cultish behaviour in Buddhism and discussed some of those behaviours along with how they are expressed in a number of small and large Buddhist groups. We also managed to make a mistake which needs clarifying here.In that episode, which has since been edited to remove the offending section, we, or better I, made three assertions concerning the figure of Indy Hack. This was an unfortunate mistake on my part and I wish to clarify that mistake here so listeners who may have heard the earlier edit can be clear on the issue. Indy Hack has asked me to clarify three points and I am happy to do so here for the benefit of mutual understanding and good faith.1. Fabrication of articles: I wrongly stated that Indy Hack fabricates articles. I have understood from Indy hack that this is not true and I apologise for stating so. This was a mistake on my part. 2. Membership of the NKT: I unwittingly assumed Indy Hack was a member of the NKT. Indy Hack has informed me that this is not true so again this was a mistake on my part. I apologise for making this assumption. 3. CIA & the Dalai Lama: I incorrectly associated a story I had heard about the CIA and Dalai Lama to Indy Hack. This was a genuine mistake. Indy Hack has not told this story and again it was a mistake on my part to have made this link. It is worth noting that Indy Hack has been helpful in clarifying these issues and we at the Imperfect Buddha Podcast will strive to do better with future episodes. We wish Indy Hack all the best with his work. We also wish clarity and wisdom to all those venturing into the public sphere with podcasts. This is the last I will mention of this unless events take a strange turn.Matthew O'Connell

After the creative wonders of the Critical Turn #1, we have the magical appearance of Daniel Ingram in two conversations covering a great deal of ground. Our first conversation covers a wide range of topics from practice to waking up, from generation-X to cynicism. The second covers a series of posts from the Speculative non-Buddhism site called Trash Theory. We discuss the SNB briefly and then tackle some weird and wonderful postulates those boys have been playing with of late. That second episode will be released within the next 24 hours. Both episodes feature the same introduction and will be released in the same week. This is because folks will likely get more out of one episode than the other; though I shall post them in the order we recorded them. The second episode is also incomplete and Daniel and I will be recording its follow up this coming Thursday (20th June, 2019), which means you have the opportunity to chip in with your own comments, complaints or curiosities, though you’ll obviously have to be quick.It’s possible that we will also tackle some of Ken Wilber’s work in that episode and Daniel’s take on it, so if you have any insights into why Wilber was full of it, or specific points that underline problems with Ken’s work more generally, let me have them, as I have only a superficial reading of his work and never felt motivated to read beyond a general introduction to his ideas, which seem pretty simplistic, though potentially useful.Music is supplied by Kali Phoenix & Hundred Strong: https://hundredstrong.bandcamp.com/album/voicesLinksO'Connell Coaching: https://oconnellcoaching.comPost-Traditional Buddhism: https://posttraditionalbuddhism.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/imperfectbuddhaTwitter: twitter.com/Imperfectbuddha

This is our fourth foray into the land of Buddhism, Cults and Cult-like behaviours across mainstream Buddhist groups. Let’s be honest, this topic is always perversely interesting. If you missed out on our past episodes covering these topics, there are links and short intros below to those past episodes, which were a lot of fun. For our latest journey, we interview Dr Michelle Haslam, PhD, a clinical psychologist who ran afoul of the machinations of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) and has since written a psychological report on their tactics and set up a resource site filled with testimonies from ex-followers along with articles to warn the general public about their often dysfunctional behaviour. She shares some of the horrendous tactics employed against her after leaving the group and discusses some of her psychological analysis of the NKT, their practices and group dynamics. She is also currently working in an undisclosed location despite mentioning that she has worked  in safeguarding in the interview previously.Michelle has had a dreadful website put together by a mysterious psychologist, who doesn't actually appear to exist in the real world, immediately after publishing her report. It's defamatory and quite sad and makes awful claims about her. Be your own judge of it should you stumble on it. The introduction involves an added presentation on cults that ties together the multiple themes from our last episodes and that concludes our forays into cult-land. If you have heard it all before, you can skip it by jumping to the interview proper at 37.10.Note: Those who critique the New Kadampa Tradition often end up being trolled, attacked, and threatened by folks, who hide their identities and usually claim to not be any part of the NKT. It is obviously difficult to prove that they are so I am putting this here as a potential warning so that you dear listener can make up our own mind about who is to blame if this podcast should come under attack.Here are the links to her sites, which are highly recommended; https://newkadampatraditionreport.org/ https://info-buddhism.com/PDF/Psychological_report_on_The_New_Kadampa_Tradition.pdf https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/exposingthenkt/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/talkaboutshugden/Our past episodes on cults;04. IBP: cults, cultish shennanigans & Buddhist groupshttps://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/31-imperfect-buddha-podcast-cults-cultish-shennanigans-buddhist-groups 05. IBP: Tenzin Peljor on leaving a Buddhist culthttps://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/32-imperfect-buddha-podcast-tenzin-peljor-interview 27. IBP: Why not join a cult? Stuart & Matthew go deep into cult-land.https://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/151-imperfect-buddha-podcast-cults-2

Dale S. Wright is distinguished Professor of Religion at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He is author of The Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, and Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism. He is also coeditor with Steven Heine of The Koan: Text and Context in Zen Buddhism, The Zen Canon: Textual Foundations of Zen Buddhism, Zen Classics: Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism, and Zen Ritual: Studies of Zen Buddhist Theory in Practice. More importantly for our podcast, Dale is author of 'What is Buddhist Enlightenment?' A text that forms the basis for a good chunk of our conversation. We explore the notion of enlightenment in Buddhism and in particular the pluralism of definitions, a secular reframing of the thing, how western philosophy challenges Buddhist notions of enlightenment, myth and myths that are encased in different interpretations of enlightenment. As with so many of our podcast conversations, this one heads off into places unknown, exploring questions, reflections, intuitions and interesting ground that we hope you will find as stimulating as we did. LinksO'Connell Coaching: https://oconnellcoaching.comPost-Traditional Buddhism: https://posttraditionalbuddhism.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/imperfectbuddhaTwitter: twitter.com/ImperfectbuddhaMusicAsk Her Out: https://askherout.bandcamp.com/releases

Welcome back to the Imperfect Buddha Podcast. After our lively discussion of theory and practice, we embark on a new series of interviews for all you Imperfect Buddhas. Our first for 2018 features Evan Thompson, professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia, well known for his books “Waking, Being, and Dreaming: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy”, “The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience”, co-authored with the late Francisco Varela, “Mind in Life: biology, phenomenology and the sciences of mind” as well as “Self, No Self?: perspectives from analytical, phenomenological and Indian traditions”. Evan was invited onto the podcast due to his 2016 closing address to the ISCS and what appeared as a critical turn from Evan in the form of a critique of the fetishisation of mindfulness and its co-option for neo-liberal ends. Evan also argued for an embodied view of consciousness in his talk and critiqued the idea, popular in neuroscience work on meditators, that technology such as FMRI can give us a full or accurate picture of mind and an adequate picture of the significance of meditation and other contemplative practices. In his writing, Evan explores cognitive science, phenomenology, the philosophy of mind, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Buddhist philosophy in dialogue with Western philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Evan has additionally been involved with the Mind and Life institution and its dialogues between scientists and the Dalai Lama. You can find out more about Evan by visiting his site: https://evanthompson.meSponsor and MusicO’Connell Coaching: http://oconnellcoaching.com 'See as the good sees' by Simone Zampieri: www.theleadingguy.com

Stuart & I have made what may be our most controversial episode yet. We tackle "Buddhist Enlightenment" © and its taboos and do what many Buddhists would likely consider sacrilegious. A few of the questions we tackle include;What is it? Who’s got it?Can it be understood, formulated in a way that could liberate the masses as a form of human practice? Why bother? Is it the shiznit? How would it look if unreliant on Buddhism? What could a secular, humanist outlook as the basis for reconfiguring it produce?Who are the top ten enlightened dudes? How can you spot a fake? It’s the sort of material that could drive masses of keyboard warriors to start quoting their favourite Buddhist books or teachers in a furious, emotive rant against all that is evil, for the first time encapsulated in an hour and twenty four minutes of a Soundcloud download. If you are brave enough, download or stream the latest episode and enjoy a rather interesting take on Buddhism’s ultimate goal. We had fun with it and raised as many questions as we may have answered. Questions which one of our upcoming guests will hopefully respond to. Come and get enlightened. Come and listen to the Imperfect Buddha Podcast.

In a time of environmental meltdown, political and economic crisis, what should we do? What role can practice play? How are we to envision our place in the world, as protagonists in the destruction of our home, and mere bit part players in global conflict? Can we make a difference, or should we retreat to our personal spaces and meditate and be done with it?This new episode of the podcast explores such big themes and the work of Brooke D. Lavelle and Zachary Walsh, our two guests, as we take a look at the bifurcated road ahead of us; a Great Transition, or a Great Collapse await. While many of us may like to see life continue on as usual, I think most folks are starting to realise that business as usual is killing us slowly. It is time to make change move in a direction that sees us and the many species surviving this century, but practice remains, as Sloterdjik would remind us, and the big picture is always grounded in the lives of practitioners in this conversation. We discuss such uncomfortable topics as love, care, practice and transformation. We touch on environmentalism, activisms, but also the underlying themes challenging these worlds of work at present and the need to both practice and think and imagine the world differently. Zachary Walsh https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/people/zack-walsh Brooke D. Lavelle http://courageofcare.org/our-team-2/brooke-d-lavelle/ Responding with Love to a Civilisation in Crisis: article for Open Democracy https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/responding-love-civilization-crisis/Enjoy! And come along to The Great Feast...LinksMother site: https://imperfectbuddha.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/imperfectbuddhaTwitter: https://twitter.com/Imperfectbuddha

In this episode, Ron Purser comes on to the imperfect Buddha podcast to talk about neoliberalism and its impact on mindfulness, Buddhism, spirituality, and the experience of all these in the individual and the impact is greater then you likely believe. You are a neoliberal subject to some degree and the ethics and manner of practice of this insipid ideology has seeped into almost all contemporary spiritual practice. Such practice can be a site of resistance to the excesses of individualism, goal achievement, productivity, and self-serving interest. Such practices can reconnect us to a social and environmental vision and experience of ourselves in the world. But this is only possible if you become aware of how neoliberalism has participated in shaping your practice in certain ways. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek was not wrong when he stated that Buddhism, among all the world’s religions, is the greatest companion to neoliberalism, which would prefer you to keep focusing in and on yourself; “It’s up to you they say! You must do it alone, and if you fail well, it’s all your fault!” Does this sound familiar? It should do as it’s a major part of the neoliberal ethic. Ron and I talk about a range of interesting topics that go beyond neoliberalism and include finding the edge in practise and Time, Space & Knowledge. We cover McMindfulness, freedom, liberation free from the neoliberal ethic, and other exciting utopian topics. We talk about the alternatives to a practice informed by the near liberal ethic. So don’t panic, it’s not all naysaying, we’ve got some solutions here too! Ron was a great guest and I enjoyed our conversation together and I think you will too. Don’t forget to leave comments at one of our groovy locations.LinksO'Connell Coaching: oconnellcoaching.com/Post-Traditional Buddhism: posttraditionalbuddhism.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imperfectbuddha Twitter: https://twitter.com/Imperfectbuddha You can find out more on this topic by reading the following articles which were both partially written by Ron.https://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/34093 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-purser/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289.html Ron’s personal website: http://ronpurser.com

This is a quick introduction to help you on your way through the new season of the Imperfect Buddha Podcast. After a year of traipsing the globe with academics in an outrageous attempt to address the anti-intellectualism rife across Buddhism, and spirituality more generally, we have landed with both feet on the ground in the terrain of practice. The challenge for this season is clear: to approach the whole concept of practice afresh. Not ignoring the past, but looking at it all in as contemporary a lens as possible, whilst bringing the great wealth of knowledge gained from our academics to bear on the personal, the subjective, the intimate, and the phenomenological. Our first foray into such terrain is carried out in Kostrena, Croatia with Ken McLeod and Hokai Sobol and together we discussed all manner of topic from practice to culture wars, from Peter Sloterdjik to Jonathon Haidt, from non-conceptual mind to evil, from social duty to the great themes of our time, and the way they all interrelate with practice. The conversation is divided into two parts. Being recorded live outside the studio, the quality is not the best but it is perfectly listenable and I hope the occasional passing car and slight echo won’t get in the way of your listening pleasure. End music provided by The Naturals from Bristol. The track is entitled 2HGS and is rather wild. Enjoy the episode and let us know what you think at the usual places.LinksHokai Sobol: https://hokai.eu/O'Connell Coaching: https://oconnellcoaching.comPost-Traditional Buddhism: https://posttraditionalbuddhism.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/imperfectbuddhaTwitter: twitter.com/Imperfectbuddha

In this episode, I spoke to Ken McLeod, in person, in Croatia and we discussed a variety of topics, including; Vajrayana Buddhism, issues of language and his appreciation for Wittgenstein, direct experience V the conceptual mind, challenges for advanced practitioners, his ongoing relationship with practice, and more. Ken McLeod is a senior Western translator, author, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. He received traditional training mainly in the Shangpa Kagyu lineage through a long association with his principal teacher, Kalu Rinpoche, whom he met in 1970. McLeod resides in Northern California, where he founded Unfettered Mind. He has currently withdrawn from teaching, and no longer conducts classes, workshops, meditation retreats, individual practice consultations, or teacher training. LinksUnfettered Mind: http://unfetteredmind.org/Ken’s Musings: http://musingsbyken.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1Tricycle articles by Ken: https://tricycle.org/author/kenmcleod/David Chapman’s review of A Trackless Path: https://vividness.live/2015/12/01/dzogchen-a-trackless-path-ken-mcleod-review/Sponsor and MusicO’Connell Coaching: oconnellcoaching.comMusic by Gravenhurst: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravenhurst_(band)

Are we all going down it too? Daniel Ingram returns to the podcast for a third and final conversation and what a rich one it was. I believe it is well worth your time. After reading some Trash Theory, Daniel accepted Glenn Wallis’s challenge to read his book and after exploring the infamous SNB heuristic, based on the work of the rascally Frenchman Francois Laruelle, he came in for round three. We go back to the heuristic that started off the Trash Theorising, touching on Decision, Sufficiency, and the Great Feast of Knowledge, before exploring novel takes on refuge, philosophy and practice. The first two recordings have solicited quite a lot of reaction from folks on Facebook and Twitter and at the Post-Traditional Buddhism blog. This includes Tom Wooldrige who has a new blog dedicated, it seems, to critiquing Daniel’s Pragmatic Dharma approach from a psychological perspective that has stimulated reaction too. Subsequently Evan Thompson has chimed in on Daniel’s views, as has David Chapman, and Glenn Wallis. This is a sort of eruption and a sign of the feast taking place. I argue that we need more of these kinds of conversations. Let’s see what you think after hearing this final one in this series. There are lots of episodes connected to this conversation, some of which you might like to give a listen to as well. 54. IBP: Daniel Ingram Meets Trash Theory: https://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/54-ibp-daniel-ingram-meets-trash-theory 53. IBP: Daniel Ingram on the Practicing Life: https://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/53-ibp-daniel-ingram-on-the-practicing-life 52. IBP: Critical Turn #1: https://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/52-ibp-critical-turn-1 26. IBP: Evan Thompson on Philosophy, Buddhism, & Embodied Consciousness: https://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/ibp-140-evan-thompson-on-philosophy-buddhism-embodied-consciousness15. IBP: the liberating force of non-Buddhism: https://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/91-imperfect-buddha-podcast-meets-non-buddhism LinksO'Connell Coaching: https://oconnellcoaching.comPost-Traditional Buddhism: https://posttraditionalbuddhism.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imperfectbuddhaTwitter: https://twitter.com/ImperfectbuddhaMusic provided by https://hundredstrong.bandcamp.com/album/voices

In this episode, guest Jayarava hits the Imperfect Buddha podcast with some hard truths regarding the impossibility of rebirth & karma whilst drawing on the work of Sean Carroll & his own research into Buddhism. It's not an easy pill to swallow but it may just prove liberating to those braver Buddhists willing to confront the finality of death. Whatever you end up deciding, it's a fascinating topic and Jayarava's insights are not easy to dismiss. The interview is straddled by a very short discussion on the challenges of the material and Stuart shares his own destabilising reactions, which will no doubt be shared by many a listener.

This episode starts off our exploration of post-traditional Buddhism, or better, post-traditional approaches to Buddhism. This might just be a major feature of the future of Buddhism in the West, if Buddhism actually manages to survive the rest of the century here as a powerful source for personal and social change. David Chapman may not think so, but who knows? If Buddhism was to benefit from a sufficient degree of cultural innovation, there's no reason why it shouldn't find itself once again providing meaningful responses to some of our wider concerns. After a short preamble and our usual silliness, we get into a serious discussion of the power and appropriateness of post-traditional approaches to Buddhism, even touching on how traditional Buddhists might explore such an approach themselves. Stuart gets in yet another dig at Shambhala...but if you are a good ol' Shambhalian, do try to avoid taking it all too seriously. We also include our end of year awards for 2016. A strictly tongue in cheek affair, it will give you the chance to hear all about the big Buddhist winners from last year with categories including; Buddhist scandal of the year, best book, best website and best German.

Does western philosophy lack imagination when thinking about rebirth and reincarnation? What would Wittgenstein say? This episode features Dr Mickel Burley, a philosopher of religion from Leeds university in the UK. He wrote a fascinating book called Rebirth and the Stream of Life, which inspired me to have him on. He’s a big fan of Ludwig Wittgenstein too and we get to talking about a man who is widely considered the greatest philosopher of the 20th century as well as his thought and its uses for thinking about spirituality, Buddhism, rebirth and more. We also bridge the episode to our earlier discussion of karma and rebirth with Jayarava. Mick has also written on cannibalism, animal sacrifice, Hatha-Yoga, and the lack of imagination in philosophy surrounding rebirth and reincarnation. We manage to discuss philosophy East & West too. Many of Mick’s article are freely available and curiously titled so check out his university page for further links;https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/philosophy/staff/30/dr-mikel-burleyLinksO'Connell Coaching: https://oconnellcoaching.comPost-Traditional Buddhism: https://posttraditionalbuddhism.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/imperfectbuddhaTwitter: twitter.com/ImperfectbuddhaMusic by Stray Dogg from their fresh new album 'Look at the Moon'https://straydogg.bandcamp.com/

You’ve had the initial goods and as promised here’s the second helping of Mr Daniel Ingram. This conversation gets right to the point and tackles, in a rather condensed and humble manner, a work of collective, creative production over at the Speculative non-Buddhism site called Trash Theory; an exploration of practice beyond decision, beyond enchantment, beyond capture. Well, that’s the plan anyway. We start out with a quick chat about the SNB, x-Buddhism and non-Buddhism, before going through a number of postulates, or principles for practice, that have been explored and are continuing to be developed by Glenn Wallis and company. We went through it pretty quickly as we just had an hour to play with, but it was fun and an interesting exploration that will be continued in a follow up conversation to be recorded this Thursday.You’ll find a link to the original post we worked from below, though there are, at the time of writing, six posts on the theme at hand. This one is a good start for the curious and it’s pretty accessible. Both episodes with Daniel feature the same introduction so if you have already heard the first conversation, you will want to skip it. It’s possible that Dan and I will tackle some of Ken Wilber’s work in the follow up to Trash Theory, so if you have any insights into why Wilber was full of it, or specific points that underline problems with Ken’s work more generally, let me have them, as I have only a superficial reading of his work and never felt motivated to read beyond a general introduction to his ideas, which seem pretty simplistic, though potentially useful.Either way, enjoy this turn of events as we continue to dive into practice on this season of the Imperfect Buddha Podcast. Speculative non-Buddhism: Trash Theory #3: https://speculativenonbuddhism.com/2019/05/15/trash-theory-preliminary-materials-for-an-image-of-practice-3/ Music is supplied by Chaouche; https://chaouche.bandcamp.com/ ......and Kali Phoenix & Hundred Strong: https://hundredstrong.bandcamp.com/album/voicesLinksO'Connell Coaching: https://oconnellcoaching.comPost-Traditional Buddhism: https://posttraditionalbuddhism.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/imperfectbuddhaTwitter: https://twitter.com/Imperfectbuddha

So what about sex?The latest episode of the imperfect Buddha podcast touches on an area that I've wanted to discuss for some time on the podcast: sex, sexuality, and desire. These are such complex topics and still surrounded by taboos that it can be difficult to have a frank conversation about them. The discussion with my guest Ben Joffe explores topics such as gender equality, the use of sex as practice, and more in drawing on the work of Dr Nida Chenagstang and his recent book Karmamudra: The Yoga of Bliss (Sexuality in Tibetan Medicine and Buddhism), which Ben edited and did much of the translation for. Needless to say, the area is so vast that we could only really just get things started. For this reason, you’ll find that the introduction is far longer than usual and I hope this doesn’t put you off: it provides an overview of Buddhism's historical relationship with desire and sexuality. Ben and I touch on homosexuality too as well as the issue of sexual abuse by gurus and the role of women and equality. I would recommend reading more of Ben’s work on these topics if they interest you and there is a link below to a Facebook posting of his on gender equality. However, Dr Chenagstang covers such delicate areas thoroughly throughout his book and it comes highly recommended if you have an interest in Karmamudra, and the dispelling of myths surrounding sex, sexuality and desire. Enjoy the interview and let us know what you think. We are just scratching the surface on this topic. Links:O'Connell Coaching: https://oconnellcoaching.com/Post-Traditional Buddhism: https://posttraditionalbuddhism.com/ https://soundcloud.com/post-traditional-buddhism/80-imperfect-buddha-ben-joffeKarmamudra: The Yoga of Bliss (Sexuality in Tibetan Medicine and Buddhism) by Dr Nida Chenagstang http://www.skypressbooks.com/karmamudraBen Joffe’s University Profile: https://www.colorado.edu/anthropology/gradstudy/ben-joffeBen’s Articles for Savage Minds: https://savageminds.org/tag/ben-joffe/Are female practitioners equal partners in Karmamudra, or Tibetan Sexual Yoga practices? By Ben Joffe https://www.facebook.com/yesnooraspider/posts/10160608596390554?comment_id=10160635733510554¬if_id=1526424465205330¬if_t=comment_mentionLust For Enlightenment by John Stevens https://www.amazon.com/Lust-Enlightenment-Buddhism-John-Stevens/dp/087773416X

In this last episode in the enlightenment series, we interview Daniel Ingram, the Arhat. Dan created quite a bit of controversy when he came out and claimed enlightenment a few years back. For listeners of our previous episodes, you will know that such a claim is loaded with all sorts of assumptions and implications. Dan joins us in stripping away many of the romantic myths surrounding the ideal of enlightenment and presents his pragmatic model of awakening. We also discuss the future of awakening.Dan is the author of Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha and one of the most interesting characters to come out of the pragmatic dharma movement. He stirred up a great deal of controversy when claiming Arhatship and was instrumental in setting up the Dharma Overground; a site dedicated to exploring progress in practice in a lively, peer-to-peer environment and a location where folks make often dramatic progress in their pursuit of awakening. In this chat, we covered the following themes; 1. Daniel's coming out & the impact this had on the Buddhist community2. His model of awakening and how it contrasts with the views we explored in episode 7.03. Exploding popular myths surrounding enlightenment & addressing taboos4. The political implications of claiming, or not claiming enlightenment5. Death & awakening6. Evolving models of awakening7. The degree to which individuals are willing to 'get enlightened'8. Supporting up and coming teachers 9. The future of it all10. ...and more. LinksThe book: http://www.aeonbooks.co.uk/product/mastering-the-core-teachings-of-the-buddha-an-unusually-hardcore-dharma-book/27526/ Daniel's personal site: http://integrateddaniel.info/Download the book: http://integrateddaniel.info/book/ Dharma Overground: http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/home

Why wouldn’t you want to join a cult? That’s a question Stuart and I get round to addressing in the latest episode of the Imperfect Buddha Podcast. We also find time to cover Alison Mack and life after Smallville in a sex cult, Miranda, the latest Maitreya, and a number of other cults we missed out the first time round. Stuart brings his new found insights into super-powered hypno-wonder, and I reveal my disappointing IQ as we skirt around topical issues such as...IQ and the Alt-Right, existential crises and why being in a cult can actually be fun. We get in some conspiracy theories, give a mention to Michelle Pfeiffer, and even manage to spend a few words on Buddhism in the process. We had fun on this one and may offend a person or two. Please take this as a trigger warning. This episode features blasphemy, swearing, mention of S...E...X, Sam Harris, mind control and other topical human wonder. If you missed our first bash at cults, click here: https://soundcloud.com/post-traditional-buddhism/31-imperfect-buddha-podcast-cults-cultish-shennanigans-buddhist-groupsEnjoy. P.S. Complaints can be sent directly to the Italian Direct Independent Oversight Team. P.P.S Apologies for the sound quality: I was testing out a new mic set up and it didn’t quite work. It’s still highly listenable. We’ll have it fixed next time. Music supplied by Trieste’s Lorenzo Fragiacomo: https://www.youtube.com/user/LorenzoFragiacomo