The Imperfect Buddha Podcast

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...

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 re...

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”, “...

Happy New Year folks! Stuart finally makes his return to the Imperfect Buddha podcast in an in-depth discussion of the role theory and practice might play in a post-traditional engagement with Buddhism. This topic was inspired by a recent series of posts on exactly this topic over at the Post-Traditional Buddhism blog. Our discussion goes critical as Stuart and I take our usual meander down the ra...

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 Buddhis...

Here it is folks, the latest episode of the Imperfect Buddha Podcast and the last in our series on post-traditional Buddhism. It is also the final part of our series with Hokai Sobol. In this interview, Hokai tackles listeners question, well, at least some of them. We had over 18 to get through and although Hokai inadvertently covered some of them whilst answering others, we didn’t get through the...

Hokai Sobol joins us for an in-person chat in Trieste. Our conversation was a second attempt at a podcast episode and this time it all worked out and there was enough content to span two episodes. Before lunch, we discussed Buddhism in the West and approaches to it. You can find out more about that in episode 11.3. After lunch we tackled the topic of mysticism and practice and that's what you will...

Hokai Sobol joins us for an in-person chat in Trieste. Our conversation was a second attempt at a podcast episode and this time it all worked out and there was enough content to span two episodes. Before lunch, we discussed Buddhism in the West. After lunch we tackled the topic of mysticism and practice, which you can find out more about in part two. Hokai is welcoming questions and queries from l...

Oh what fun we had...in putting this episode together, which is actually our twentieth! This episode takes forward our exploration of post-traditional approaches to Buddhism but we begin with a discussion that touches on a variety of topics including Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris, archetypes, political correctness, and more. We then move onto the discussion and exploration of post-traditional Buddhi...

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 s...

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 religio...

In this episode, writer, critic, Buddhist scholar and Philadelphia punk legend punk Glen Wallis returns to the Imperfect Buddha podcast for the second part of our discussion on non-Buddhism and its consequences. We go deep into an issue at the heart of contemporary western Buddhism: the seemingly irresolvable division between immanence and transcendence, which in lay man's terms is the distinction...

(Note: please be aware that the sound quality is not at its best in this episode. Skype was apparently having a bad day! We did our best to make it listenable. The second interview has much better sound quality) Why would a modern day Buddhist engage with the work of non-Buddhism? Why bother to be forced to question your relationship with Buddhism? Why risk destabilising the status quo? Why not ca...

This episode tackles a complex but thoroughly important topic, namely non-Buddhism. A theoretical project/applied critique of Buddhism as ideology; as an unintentional prison. This work gets at the heart of what’s missing in Buddhism and Buddhist discourse; a failure to understand the collective formation of selves. Due to such, Buddhism operates at the level of the individual and the abstract myt...

What do the Dalai Lama, the X Files, UFOs, Sex Magic, Tibetan singing bowls, Yeti-Monsters, demons, dharma, wizards, Tantra & Darwin have in common? Why, Ben Joffe of course, the latest guest on the Imperfect Buddha podcast. Ben Joffe is a cultural anthropology PhD candidate from South Africa currently based at the University of Colorado. He specialize in the anthropology of contemporary Tibet, Ti...

So, what is After Enlightenment? Here it actually means something quite specific; it means after the myths, stories, and fantasies have failed us or fallen apart. It means after peak experience/s, initial/later/accumulative experiential breakthrough and/or awakening like experiences have taken place, come and gone, or become too familiar. It means after the illusion of escape, salvation, perfectio...

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 o...

In discussing enlightenment, it is necessary to consider the change in perspective that accompanies such a radical shift. We are beset by dualistic thinking and the way we frame our perspectives, our personal and impersonal experiences, is beset by this philosophical bedrock. So what are the alternatives to the subject-object dualism we inherited from Mr René Descartes? In the latest episode of th...

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 lo...

This episode features a guest interview with Shaun Bartone, active in the field of activism in Canada and a follower of Engaged Buddhism, Shaun discusses why and how Buddhists could and should engage. We discuss the issue of diversity in Buddhism, including issues for minorities and transgender folks. Shaun has been involved with different forms of Buddhism over the years and is currently on the b...

In this episode Stuart and I discuss Engaged Buddhism. We look at whether Buddhism gives people an excuse to disengage politically, as well as the limits that Engaged Buddhists reach when they fail to critique the causes of institutionalised suffering. We discuss Ken Knabb's work in critiquing Thich Nhat Han and put forth some suggestion for meditation practice that could help individuals and grou...

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 topi...

In this episode, Stuart starts with a short interview of Ian Lawton, documentary film maker, and they look at his latest project The Dharma Bum. We then get stuck into a discussion of the academic world of Buddhist Studies and Secular Buddhism, exploring the role academia can play in informing Buddhist practice. We also look at the potential limitations of Secular Buddhism in its guise as Protesta...

In this episode, we have our first interview at the Imperfect Buddha Podcast with the wonderfully insightful Tenzin Peljor, an ordained German Buddhist monk. Tenzin is no ordinary Buddhist monk, however, he is a crusader for clarity and right information, particularly in the world of Tibetan Buddhism, where he is committed to shining light on untruth. He runs two English language sites which provi...

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 c...