Blue Beryl Dr. Pierce Salguero & Dr. Lan Li

 In this debut episode of Blue Beryl's second season on embodied spirituality, I sit down with Paul C. Wang, a healer and teacher of Chinese medicine and Daoism, and host of the Daology Podcast. We talk about Paul’s practices of “memetic healing” and “clinical cosmology,” and how he works with Chinese medicine, martial arts, neigong, and spirit healing. Along the way, we discover how to communicate with deceased spirits, and how to embody the Dao through everyday practices. 
 
 Please enjoy! And if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Daology PodcastDaocenter.comDao Center’s Facebook page

I sit down with Dominic Steavu, a historian of Chinese religion and healing from UC Santa Barbara. We discuss the central role of the body in medieval Daoist practices, and talk about the Daoist use of psychedelics to facilitate mystical experiences. Along the way, we touch on talismanic tattoos, internal alchemy, and embodied nonduality. Plus, Dominic reveals what he thinks about aliens and the Wu-Tang Clan.  
Remember, to hear from more experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality, subscribe to Blue Beryl. Please enjoy!

Resources related to this episode:
Christine Mollier, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face (2009)Pierce’s blog “In defense of a little romanticism… or, how Mr Miyagi inspired me to become a professor”Pierce Salguero, Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical (2022)Dominic Steavu, The Writ of the Three Sovereigns: From Local Lore to Institutional Daoism (2020)Dominic Steavu, Transforming the Void: Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions (2015)Dominic’s Academia.edu page

Meet your host Dr. Pierce Salguero and producer/editor Dr. Lan Li as we inaugurate the Blue Beryl podcast and kick off our first season dedicated to Buddhist medicine. We discuss Pierce's background as a practitioner of Theravada Buddhism and traditional Thai medicine, some interesting experiences he had at Thai temples and meditation centers, and his work as an academic researcher of Buddhist medicine globally. We also chat about tensions between scholarship and practice, our previous multimedia collaborations related to Buddhism and Asian medicine, as well as our goals for the first season of the podcast.

Resources mentioned in the pod:
Pierce's website (www.piercesalguero.com)Lan's website (www.lan-a-li.com)Salguero, Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical (2022)Pierce's blog about 1980s movies Pierce's centipede article in Tricycle, (2022)Strickmann, Chinese Magical Medicine (2002)Salguero, Translating Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China (2014)Salguero, A Global History of Buddhism & Medicine (2022)Salguero, Buddhism & Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources (2017)Salguero, Buddhism & Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources (2020)Medicine | Race | Democracy Lab (www.mrdlab.org)Jivaka Project (www.jivaka.net) 

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Bill McGrath, a historian of Tibetan Buddhism and medicine. He's one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on this subject, and we get deep into the weeds in an academic conversation about traditional Tibetan medicine, the category of Buddhist medicine, and Bill's perspectives on magic, religion, and science. We also reminisce about the time that Bill once used a Tibetan mantra to save the day when we ran out of gas driving home from a conference!

Resources mentioned in the pod:
Bill's website (ww.wmcgrath.com)Yoeli-Tlalim, ReOrienting Histories of Medicine: Encounters along the Silk Road (2022)Gerke, Taming the Poisonous: Mercury, Toxicity, and Safety in Tibetan Medical Practic (2021)Janet Gyatso's review of Pierce's 2014 bookSalguero, A Global History of Buddhism and Medicine (2022)Gyatso, Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet (2017)McGrath, Knowledge and Context in Tibetan Medicine (2019)Saxer, Manufacturing Tibetan Medicine: The Creation of an Industry and the Moral Economy of Tibetanness (2013)Reassembling Tibetan Meicine (www.ratimed.net)Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905)

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Wakoh Shannon Hickey, who is a Soto Zen priest, hospice chaplain, scholar, and activist. We talk about Wakoh’s early experiences with social violence in the 1980s, her work as a hospital chaplain, and her 2019 book Mind Cure, which is a groundbreaking social history of religion and mindfulness in the U.S. 

Resources:
Wakoh's Academia.edu pageHickey, Mind Cure: How Meditation Became Medicine (2019)Helderman, Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion (2019)Brown, Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools: Reforming Secular Education or Reestablishing Religion? (2019)Purser, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality (2019)Find all episodes of the Blue Beryl Podcast at www.piercesalguero.com

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Venerable Soorākkulame Pemaratana, chief abbot at the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center and a scholar of modern Buddhism in Sri Lanka. We talk about his role in adapting Buddhist practices to address social and mental health needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. We also compare Buddhist responses to Covid in Pittsburgh and Sri Lanka. Along the way, we talk about how he became a monk, the health benefits of drinking boiled coriander water, and the dire situation in his home country.

Enjoy the conversation! And, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhist medicine and related topics, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes here. 

Resources:
Pittsburgh Buddhist CenterDonate to PBC's efforts to Help Sri LankaPBC Recordings of ChantingPBC LivestreamOther Resources on Buddhist Responses to Covid-19