On this episode of the podcast, we’ve got Tenzin Tsundue, the red-banded icon of Rangzen. Tsundue is a poet, a writer, and an activist all embodied in one person. Our conversation touched on a multitude of topics ranging from TCV Tingmos to Ashis Nandi, hovering mainly on Activism, Gandhi, and Rangzen. We also talked about his journey into poetry, the inspirations, and the beauty of it all.
This episode was recorded last December but due to a variety of factors, we weren’t able to release it soon enough. Nevertheless, we thought it would be no less appropriate to release it now to commemorate the completion of his march from Dharamshala to Delhi.
After a long hiatus of about two year, we join again to record another podcast episode to catch up and lay out our plans for the future.
In this episode, we talk about what we have been doing in the meanwhile. We talk about growing up, our experiences with the maturity that comes with becoming an adult, our struggles with mortality, meaning, and the ever daunting future.
On the first episode of our second season, we have with us Jigme Choedak or as his friends call him: JC! He is a young Tibetan Artist who is freelancing, doing commissions, and making his own Modern Tibetan Art and publishing it on his Instagram account @jcansee. His personal art centres on a clash of themes between Tibetan metaphors and modern and Western artistic metaphors. He sees his Art as a chocolate Momo- a strange blend of the 'Tibetan' and the 'World.' He plans to ultimately make his own comic book or series and we talk about that as well. We ask his thought on how young Tibetan artists are doing, what their struggles look like, the impacts of the generational gap in artistic standards and 'Genyik(Trash).Studio' which is his endeavour to create a community of young artists and strive together.
Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.
In this episode of our podcast, we discuss the very famous and mysterious short story "Nine billion names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke. Nine billion names of God' is a story about how a Tibetan lamasery is looking to use the latest technological advances in computer to write down all the possible names of God in a unique language they have created. It is said, by the Lamasery's abbot, that upon completion of this grandiose task, when God's name will be written, the Universe will GO OUT like a light. It is relatively a short story, so we encourage our listeners to read it before they listen to this podcast episode. This story is very unique and packs a really strong punch. The aftertaste of this story is such that you won't be able to pin what part of the story, which characters, what ideas hit you so hard that it left you a little bit different. This, we think, is exactly the genius of Arthur C. Clarke who comes from the fame of works like 'Space Odyssey', 'Childhood's ends', 'The Sentinel' and so on which placed him among one of the best sci-fi writers of all time. " So in this episode, we try to understand this Wonderful enigma of a story!!
We are really excited to bring this podcast episode of our discussion with Tenzin(whose proper name is being concealed for purposes of anonymity) who is the brain behind one of most witty, creative and prolific Tibetan meme/activist page- Phosa Mosa. **If you don't know what or who 'Phosa Mosa' is, we strongly suggest you check that Instagram page out before you listen to this. Much more fun that way!!**
Lekdhen, me and many others -I am sure- have been passionate 'fans' of his work, which are some of the best memes out there. But with this episode and discussion, we are bringing this mystery man and his ideas down from the clouds and among the people. We discuss how he got the inspiration to create this page, how does he feel about its success, how is he able to generate so many creative ideas, how has it changed his personal life as well as social life and so on. We also discuss his philosophy of life and his view around digital activism, how does a Tibet of tomorrow look like and how we can achieve that, his future plans and many more. We even have some easter egg questions about his recommendations for people to follow, books to read, songs and so on. So what are you waiting for? Go on.
In this starting/pilot episode, we discuss why we call ourselves atheists, our "atheistic journey" and its relation to the killing of the Buddha. As we elaborate further in the episode, killing the Buddha, for us, is not a physical call to literally murder Buddha but a metaphor to kill the religious aspects of Buddhism which keeps the great amount of philosophical, psychological and phenomenological wisdom and insight locked within it. Therefore, we try to examine the metaphysical assumptions of the religion of Buddhism and see if they hold any water in the modern age. We also discuss many of the semantics and the rhetoric employed by apologists and potential apologists when faced with these arguments. This starting episode is the precursor of many of our future discussions where we consistently try to 'kill the Buddha' and we hope that this spurs on the 'death of Buddha' in the minds of many.