The Imperfect Buddha Podcast

The Imperfect Buddha Podcast
The Imperfect Buddha Podcast

The Imperfect Buddha podcast has been addressing anti-intellectualism and ideological capture in western Buddhism and spirituality more broadly since its inception. It provides a space for dynamic conversations designed to bring out what is so often hidden and so often despised by critics and intellectuals engaging with contemporary forms of practice. Matthew O’Connell hosts the Imperfect Buddha podcast and writes at The Imperfect Buddha site. Email: imperfectbuddha@outlook.com. Twitter: @imperfectbuddha. Facebook: @imperfectbuddha. Original street art Buddha image by Bristol's Banksy.

  1. 29/08/2024

    119 Alone in a World of Wounds with Zen Abbot Shodhin Geiman

    Shodhin Geiman is Sensei & Abbot at Chicago Zen Center and recently retired Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University. He has written on aspects of the Dharma and on points of interface between Buddhist and Christian spirituality. His book, Alone in a World of Wounds: A Dharmic Response to the Ills of Sentient Beings (Cascade Books, 2022). Another, Obstacles to Stillness: Thoughts, Hindrances, and Self-Surrender in Evagrius and the Buddha (Fortress Press, 2023), came out in 2023. He is currently working on a book exploring the intrepid fearlessness of bodhisattvic aspiration. In this conversation we explore his views on Dharma and Activism and Engaged Buddhism as developed in his critical take on both, Alone in a World of Wounds. We discuss; 1. His two books on practice. 2. The concepts of deliverance of mind and non-adherence in the practicing life. 3. The unfashionable practices of patience and forbearance and why they matter. 4. Why mixing Buddhism and activism is not all it is cracked up to be. 5. The inherent problems with trying to serve two masters and the impact this has on dharma practice. 6. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizekis critique of the New left and activism and the call to stop and think before acting. 7. How the desire to fix the world runs in tandem with the desire to fix ourselves and how both are so deeply rooted in American Buddhism. 8. Kant and sublime objects. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1 h y 29 min
  2. 18/06/2024

    118 Nietzsche Now! With Glenn Wallis

    Nietzsche Now! Now? Really, you might ask. Isn’t he dead already? The Great Immoralist on the vital issues of our time. Hmm, how is that you might ask. Find out in this conversation with Glenn Wallis, returning guest and author of Nietzsche Now! We discuss the role Nietzsche might play today in helping all of us exit the culture war bubble and start to think again. For regular listeners, don’t worry, we do touch on Buddhism too! The Press Release does much of the work in explaining the appeal of this book. ‘For readers both acquainted with and new to the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Nietzsche NOW! (Warbler Press, 2024) frames and explains Nietzsche’s thinking on topics of immediate contemporary concern and relevance. Wallis unpacks Nietzsche’s complex philosophy with a deft, empathetic, and brilliantly subtle analysis of the views of the Great Immoralist on democracy, identity, civilization, consciousness, religion, and other momentous topics. Throughout, Wallis includes ample extracts from Nietzsche himself. Rather than skirting what is controversial or editing for easy consumption, Wallis invites readers to exercise a courageous curiosity that yields a rich, nuanced understanding of Nietzsche. He takes readers on a sometimes counterintuitive, always revelatory journey to grasp the relevance of Nietzsche for our contentious times. “Clearly written, relevant accounts are rare in the world of Nietzsche scholarship. Nietzsche NOW! is immensely readable. Our ‘now’ is as pessimistic as Nietzsche’s ‘now’ but Wallis guides us, through Nietzsche's writings, towards coping with the same problems Nietzsche tackled, including truth, democracy, morality, and identity. The same problems but not the same. All now wear modern dress. Wallis’s deep knowledge of Buddhism feeds into the transfigurative nature of the Übermensch, the radical figure who realizes the possibility for personal and social change, the figure whom we can all—why not?—strive to become.” —Sue Prideaux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1 h y 17 min
  3. 08/01/2024

    115 Christian Coseru on Perceiving Reality

    What does it mean to perceive and just how capable are we of perceiving reality? This is a core question in the work of Christian Coseru, who is today’s guest. He is the Lightsey Humanities chair and Professor of Philosophy at the College of Charleston. Christian works in the fields of philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Indian and Buddhist philosophy in dialogue with Western philosophy and cognitive science. He is the author of Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy (Oxford UP, 2012, pbk 2015), and editor of Reasons and Empty Persons: Mind, Metaphysics, and Morality. Essays in Honor of Mark Siderits (Springer, 2023). Christian spent four and a half years in India in the mid 1990s pursuing studies in Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy. While in India, he was affiliated with several research institutes, including the Maha Body Society, the Asiatic Society of Calcutta and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. We discuss; Perceiving Reality and where current ongoing debates are on this immense topic. How confident we can be that phenomenological experience of reality is real and accurate. Where current theories are on the question of consciousness. The social role of cognition and the topic of mediation. What he makes of panpsychism andits return and relationship with physicalism. How such theories are represented in Buddhism. Working definitions of human flourishing and whether they are at all indebted to Buddhism. The question of Self, no-self without Buddhism. The episode is sponsored by O’Connell Coaching. Music is supplied by Cosmic Link. Matthew O'Connell is a life coach and the host of the The Imperfect Buddha podcast. You can find The Imperfect Buddha on Facebook and Twitter (@imperfectbuddha). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1 h y 18 min
  4. 04/12/2023

    114 David McMahan on Rethinking Meditation

    If anything, the Imperfect Buddha Podcast has been a rallying cry for the disruption of the myths that abound in the world of Buddhism and meditation. David L. McMahan professor of religion at Franklin and Marshall College, has been something of a crusader himself, writing a much needed correction to many of the myths in western adoption of Buddhism in his seminal text, The Makings of Buddhist Modernism. In our second interview with David, we discuss his newest book, Rethinking Meditation: Buddhist Meditative Practice in Ancient and Modern Worlds (Oxford UP, 2023) continues where Buddhist Modern left off. In this text David wakes readers up to context, and the role it has in the stories western Buddhists have constructed around meditation. As a religious studies professor and historian, David does this through reconstructing the history that has produced many of the ideas that are so prominent today regarding meditation and mindfulness. It’s a fascinating book and we go through key sections and concepts in our discussion. This book is well worth your time if you, like us, take a critical approach to practice, results, and claims. Apologies to listeners: I had a cold whilst recording this. Episode 48. IBP - David L. McMahan on Buddhism, Science, the Humanities, and Modernity Matthew O'Connell is a life coach and the host of the The Imperfect Buddha podcast. You can find The Imperfect Buddha on Facebook and Twitter (@imperfectbuddha). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1 h y 13 min
  5. 10/11/2023

    113 A.I. and Practice with Stuart Baldwin

    The technological revolution we are facing today is artificial intelligence. At least this is what we are told. Those doing the telling include tech experts such as Elon Musk, linguist Noam Chomsky, as well as philosophers, politicians and intellectuals of all stripes. What are to make of all this and how are we to manage a world experiencing such rapid change as practitioners? We explore the role of A.I. and its place in a line of societal change that has serious consequences for all of us. We discuss practice, and thinkers including Guy Debord, Jean Baudrillard, Noam Chomsky and a bunch of contemporary commentators and their thoughts. We look at the big picture of society in turmoil and ask what practices might help us navigate this moment of intense change and disruption. We look at what it means to remain human despite the push to merge ourselves with the spectacle of social media and the calls to become more than human by tech dudes and the emergent forms of Capitalism and their need for us all to discard ever more of our humanity. My companion in this episode is the co-founder of the podcast, Stuart Baldwin, who came back for this one off episode. The topic of tech and A.I. is close to his heart and the conversation both captures past glories of earlier episodes and signals a new maturation in our relationship in what we hope will be a stimulating conversation for serious practitioners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    2 h y 15 min

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The Imperfect Buddha podcast has been addressing anti-intellectualism and ideological capture in western Buddhism and spirituality more broadly since its inception. It provides a space for dynamic conversations designed to bring out what is so often hidden and so often despised by critics and intellectuals engaging with contemporary forms of practice. Matthew O’Connell hosts the Imperfect Buddha podcast and writes at The Imperfect Buddha site. Email: imperfectbuddha@outlook.com. Twitter: @imperfectbuddha. Facebook: @imperfectbuddha. Original street art Buddha image by Bristol's Banksy.

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