Buddhist Geeks

Soryu Forall is the Director of Mindfulness Education at the Center for Mindful Learning. He also leads a unique “modern monastery” training program for those who want to integrate awakening and responsibility. In this conversation with host Vincent Horn, Soryu describes life within the CML Residential program, what it means to come to an end of all feedback loops, and how awakening is directly li...

Mikey Siegel is a meditator, technologist, and pioneer in the field of “Enlightenment Engineering”. In this talk from the 2014 Buddhist Geeks Conference, Mikey explores the idea that enlightenment can be engineered through the use of applied contemplative science. Presenting various examples of technology applicable to a contemplative path, he states enlightenment is real, science can quantify it,...

Robin Arnott is an indie game designer and interactive artist. In this presentation from the 2014 Buddhist Geeks Conference, he speaks about applying game design to meditation. Robin first explains how a state of trance is central to both the experience of meditation and the experience of game play. He then shows how game mechanics might be utilized in meditation practice to support a trance, and...

Bodhipaksa is a Buddhist meditation teacher, author, and founder of Wildmind.org , an online meditation resource. In this talk from the 2014 Buddhist Geeks Conference, Bodhipaksa explores ways to identify and correct “bugs” in traditional Buddhist teachings. Providing specific examples of bugs and solutions, he encourages the audience to personally use scholarship and experiential practice to veri...

Hokai Sobol is a teacher in the Shingon tradition of Japanese Vajrayana and a long time mentor to the Buddhist Geeks team. In this talk from the 2014 Buddhist Geeks Conference, Hokai speaks about the relationship between imagination and Buddhism. He explains why imagination is important to spiritual practice, he gives examples of the creative process found in Buddhist tradition, and he presents an...

John F. Simon is a visual artist and software programmer. In this talk from the 2014 Buddhist Geeks Conference, John shares how he uses the simple act of drawing as a powerful contemplative practice. Detailing the process and growth he’s experienced from daily drawing, he examines how his artistic practice has led to a spiritual practice that in turn feeds back into his creative process. Episode L...

Katherine MacLean, PhD. is an academically trained research scientist and meditation practitioner with a long-standing interest in the brain, consciousness and the science of well-being. As a postdoctoral research fellow and faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she worked on the largest study to date combining psychedelics and meditation. Her research on psilocybin an...

Lama Karma (Justin Wall) graduated from Columbia University with degrees in Religious Studies and Literature and has been practicing Buddhism for over 12 years. He completed two traditional three-year retreats under the direction of Lama Norlha Rinpoche at Kagyu Thubten Choling Monastery in New York, studying and practicing in the Karma Kagyu, Shangpa Kagyu and Nyingma Traditions of Tibetan Buddhi...

Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx and Against The Stream, is a Buddhist teacher, author and counselor. He is trained to teach by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA, holds a masters degree in counseling psychology from CIIS, and has studied with many prominent teachers in both the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions. In this talk from the 2014 Buddhist Geeks Con...

Theo Horesh is a social entrepreneur, philosopher, and author of two books of global social psychology. He has been meditating for over 25 years and has spent the last 10 intensively studying the world. He has recently begun reporting on the collective traumas in global trouble spots for the Journal of Conflict Resolution and Elephant Journal. In this talk from the 2014 Buddhist Geeks Conference,...

David Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher. He is especially concerned about social and ecological issues, and believes there is an important parallel between what Buddhism says about our personal predicament and our collective predicament today in relation to the rest of the biosphere. In the second part of the keynote address David gave at the 2013 Buddhist Geeks Conference, he argues tha...

David Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. He lectures nationally and internationally on various topics, focusing primarily on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity: what each can learn from the other. In the first part of the keynote address David gave at the 2013 Buddhist Geeks Conference, he presents a social narrative that f...

Jessica Morey is the Executive Director of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme). Before joining iBme, Jessica worked in clean energy and climate policy and finance. Her published works range from the chapter “Ordinary Awakening” in Blue Jean Buddha to Conflict Resolution of the Boruca Hydro-Energy Project: Renewable Energy Production in Costa Rica. In this conversation with host Vincent Horn,...

Rick Hanson, Ph. D., is a neuropsychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. He’s been an invited speaker at Oxford, Stanford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. In the conclusion to his 2013 Buddhist Geeks Conference keynote address, Rick answers questions from the audience and leads them through the HE...

Rick Hanson, Ph. D., is a neuropsychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. He’s been an invited speaker at Oxford, Stanford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. In this first part of the keynote address Rick presented at the 2013 Buddhist Geeks Conference, he explores the intersection between dharma pra...

Stephen Batchelor is a contemporary Buddhist teacher and writer, best known for his secular or agnostic approach to Buddhism. He considers Buddhism to be a constantly evolving culture of awakening rather than a religious system based on immutable dogmas and beliefs. In this episode taken from the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2012, Stephen delivers the second part of his keynote address on the impo...

Stephen Batchelor is a contemporary Buddhist teacher and writer, best known for his secular or agnostic approach to Buddhism. He considers Buddhism to be a constantly evolving culture of awakening rather than a religious system based on immutable dogmas and beliefs. In this episode taken from the 2012 Buddhist Geeks Conference, Stephen delivers a keynote address on the importance, with Buddhist pr...

Scott Snibbe is a pioneering digital artist and entrepreneur whose work includes interactive apps, videos, and installations. He practices in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and his art is frequently informed by his spiritual practice. In this episode, Scott joins host Vincent Horn for an intimate conversation about Scott’s art & contemplative practice. As Scott describes his art infused childhood...

Jake Davis is a philosopher and Buddhist practitioner and David Vago is a Contemplative neuroscientist. Together they are at the forefront of the scientific investigation of Enlightenment. In this episode David and Jake conclude a conversation with host Vincent Horn concerning the scientific investigation of states of Enlightenment. They elaborate on the methods and motivations involved when attem...

David Vago is a contemplative neuroscientist and Jake Davis is a philosopher and Buddhist practitioner. Together they have authored an article proposing the question of whether Enlightenment can be traced to specific neural, cognitive, or behavioral correlates–and if so what those might be. In this episode David and Jake join host Vincent Horn to discuss the article titled “Can enlightenment be tr...

Shingon teacher Hokai Sobol and religious studies scholar Dr. Pamela Winfield join host Vincent Horn to continue a conversation that digs deeper into the paradigms of enlightenment presented in Japanese Buddhism. Beginning with an explanation of the two different paradigms for the experience of enlightenment presented in Zen and Mikkyō, the unitive & purgative, Pamela briefly describes the results...

Dr. Pamela Winfield and Shingon teacher Hokai Sobol join host Vincent Horn to discuss the book Icons and Iconoclasm in Japanese Buddhism: Kukai and Dogen on the Art of Enlightenment. By examining two different models of enlightenment–one from the founder of Shingon Buddhism, Kūkai (Kōbō-Daishi), and the other from the pivotal Zen figure, Dōgen Zenji, the group explores the role that art & imagery...

Matt Bieber is an author, political junkie, and practitioner in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In this episode Matt and host Vincent Horn conclude their conversation exploring the intersection between Buddhist practice and politics. Asking whether our political and economic systems are geared towards idealized humanity or humans as they really are, Matt and Vincent discuss what the political worl...

Matt Bieber is an author, political junkie, and practitioner in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In this episode Matt joins host Vincent Horn to explore politics through the lens of Buddhism. Matt shares insights gained as a speechwriter for Vice President Biden, how he began to consider the impact Buddhist thought could have on politics, and how Buddhist training helps him see the political world...

Jason Lange is a Los Angeles based writer and director exploring the intersections of filmmaking, technology, and transformation. In this episode Jason joins host Vincent Horn to discuss his recent article “The Coming Age of Technodelics” which explores technologies that may enable some of the same experiences that meditation and psychedelics have traditionally provided. By comparing and contrasti...