A Christian and a Buddhist walk in to a bar

What makes you flourish? Not just healthy, wealthy and wise; but truly flourish? Today we look in to some surprising results from a recent study, and open up some questions about how religious practice may help with our flourishing as individuals and society.    https://www.abc.net.au/religion/harvard-global-flourishing-index-indonesia-more-than-happiness/106649806     https://www.instagram.com/p/...

Why do we need religion? What does it do for our lives? what is it for?   We launch off from some of our previous questions to ramble about what we think a religion is for, and go off on all the usual tangents. 

Do you want to go to Amitaba's pure land? What even is this magical place and how do i get there?!  Today we dive in to one of the most popular versions of buddhism in east asia, and try to find out what it's all about.   https://tricycle.org/buddhism-pure-land/

Do you worry about the judgement of others? do you care about the opinions of others? Today we ramble on about our own views on who's opinions matter, Tai-Sen shares his new formula for letting go of the opinions of some, and injustice in general.    Post-recording note: In this episode I (Tai-Sen) talk about referring to myself as a Monk. Since recording I have had further reflection and conversa...

NEW EPISODE! That's right, we are back with a new episode again, and this time, its fight night.    Sometimes, you need to explain something to someone, something about theology, some clear understanding that you have about important Augustinian doctrine that you've learnt from your recent conversion to Catholicism. But sometimes, the person you're explaining this complex theory to is....the Pope....

With so much violence going on in the world right now, we thought it would be a good time to re-release an episode about how religions of all kind, even Buddhism, can lead to violence. And how in any situation, it's probably not a good idea. Today we ask, is Buddhism, the religion on peace and love? Or... the religion of genocide? We look at why people are shocked at stories of violent Buddhism, a...

Happy Easter once again! We are doing a big throw back to one of our first season specials, as Tai Sen (Jamal)learns all about Easter and what it really means.  

SOMEONE has become a real live priest!  Today we celebrate and talk about Jacob's ordination in to the Lutheran priesthood, how he feels, what's changed and what it all means.  https://www.youtube.com/live/8Sw-sq_d9BY?si=16bXogLH94lGXYkr

We continue our discussion on Tai-Sen's recent journey around Shikoku. And talk more broadly about pilgrimages, self and non-self, and spiritual growth. 

Tai-Sen is back from Japan. After walking 2000km and visiting 108 temples, he shares his thoughts and reflections on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, what it meant to him, what he learnt, and how he has changed.  

We are back, and we are starting the year on  a slightly serious note, given the way that last year ended.  Jacob and Tai-Sen talk about the Bondi terror attack, how we can respond to such violence, and what each of our roles might be - as spiritual people but also humans.  WARNING: this episode contains discussion of the Bondi Terror attack, violence and hatred in general. Please skip this episod...

We return this Christmas with a re release of one of our favourite Buddhamas episodes, about Tim Minchin's classic: White wine in the sun. 

We continue our conversation with Neti Mushin about all things Zen, life and being a priest.    https://netiparekh.com/

We've neen really looking forward to this one!  Today we bring in a very special guest: Neti Mushin Parekh. Neti is senior prest and leader of Twining Vines zen centre, and was Tai-Sen's preceptor for his recent ordination. She joins us talk all things zen and being a priest, and its such a wonderful conversation.    https://netiparekh.com/

Men. We need talk. About men, with men. we are two men talking about men.  Men are more christian. why? what happened? We dive in to the topic, and try to work out what to do about this podcasts man problem. 

Tai-Sen is off on a pilgrimage. But what even is that? We talk about the difference between a pilgrimage and a long walk, and Tai-Sen launches his 'is it a pilgrimage or not' scale (tm).  https://www.spiritualtravels.info/spiritual-travels-ordinary-trips/top10reasons/

We launch off from an earlier conversation into a rambling discussion on conversion. What is is? is it good? should we do it?   Please convert your friends to the pod, send it around :) 

Today in the cage - Christianity Vs Buddhism - in the showdown of the millennium.   Jacob and Tai-Sen discuss if religions are actually competing? or if they are in fact all speaking about the same truth. If you picked up some Bahai in this topic, well done you!    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/29/what-if-the-worlds-religions-arent-competing-but-rather-one-unfolding-truth

We are picking up all the good vibrations today, and talking about the Beach Boys! yes you heard right, notorious Christian pop band the Beach Boys.    We dive in to what makes their music actually maybe about God, and how Brian Wilson was perhaps an under heralded genius (but not really, he was pretty famous).    https://mbird.com/music/you-need-a-mess-of-help-to-stand-alone/

We are back to one of our favorite topics. The board game Diplomacy. Tai-Sen (Jamal) shares why he's known as the 'Jade Buddha', how he thinks about the game, and we talk about how others perceive him and the intersection between the game and his spirituality. Spoiler alert - its more closely connected than you may think! 

One Love dear listeners. Welcome to todays episode. And we are back with divine music! we know you missed it.  We jump in to the wonderful world of Bob Marley, and Rastafarianism in general. A highly informative episode to make, where we move beyond the cliché's and really take a look at what was behind some of the most spiritual popular music of the last century.   Give thanks    https://theconve...

Newly dubbed KoJu Tai-Sen has done it! He's become a non monk.  We reflect on the ceremony of Jukai, Jacob's thoughts in attending, and how Tai-Sen is feeling after the whole process. 

This is it, the final 'not-monk' episode. What a journey it has been!    Join us for the last time, as we discuss disparaging the three treasures, and how to 'just do it' when it comes to the precepts. 

It's Hulk mode time on the pod, as we discuss not being angry. Is it even possible? what does anger do to us? Stay tuned to find out, and write us an angry letter if we don't answer your questions appropriately. 

As the owners of this podcast, Jacob and Jamal spend the episode asserting their sole rights to it, keeping it from others and ensuring that no one else can have any of it.  Alongside that we continue exploring the Buddhist precepts. This time around not being possessive.