In Against Identity, philosopher Alexander Douglas seeks an alternative wisdom. Searching the work of three thinkers – ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, Dutch Enlightenment thinker Benedict de Spinoza, and 20th Century French theorist René Girard – he explores how identity can be a spiritual violence that leads us away from truth. Through their worlds and radically different cultures, we discover how, at moments of historical rupture, our hunger for being grows: and yet, it is exactly these times when we should make peace with our indeterminacy and discover the freedom of escaping our selves. Alexander Douglas was born in Canberra, Australia where he studied music and philosophy. He now teaches the history of philosophy and the philosophy of economics at the University of St Andrews. He has published two books on the philosophy of Benedict de Spinoza and one on the philosophy of debt. He has grown increasingly interested in combining ideas from Western and East Asian philosophy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom joins us to discuss his book Speaking Philosophically: Communication at the Limits of Discursive Reason (Bloomsbury, 2023). Western philosophy has often claimed for itself not just a distinct sphere of knowledge, but a distinct form of communication, set against ordinary speech. For some philosophers, authentic philosophizing demands a specific manner of speaking or writing, adoption of which enables one to gesture toward truths that propositional speech will never grasp. Drawing on a variety of thinkers – Heraclitus, Plato, Kant, Fichte, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Weil, Foucault, and Irigaray – Sutherland argues this emphasis on the form of philosophical communication can function as an exclusionary mechanism, determining who is deemed capable of speaking philosophically. We discuss Plato, Nietzsche, Weil, Laruelle and applied philosophy in Hadot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’re human, but are you also a Buddha? If so, which one comes first? What does it mean to be human? What is a Buddha exactly? Is our humanity lost or superseded if we become a Buddha? Such questions might interest our more philosophical listeners. Being Human and a Buddha Too (Wisdom Publications, 2023) by today’s guest Anne Klein explores the 7-point mind training of Longchenpa, a 14th century Tibetan Scholar and Yogi from the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Anne is professor of religion at Rice University, a co-founder of the Dawn Mountain centre for Tibetan Buddhism in Housten, Texas, and a lama in the Nyingma tradition herself. Her key research areas are Tibet and Indian epistemology, Tibetan texts and language. We touch on the following themes and questions; How do you manage the dual roles of university academic and Nyingma Lama? Buddhism in the West has gone through a lot and very quickly since its more prominent emergence in the 1960s. Do you have any thoughts on Buddhism’s future in the west and whether it will maintain any significant presence once its key teachers from the boomer generation begin to pass away? Whether its problematic teachers, or, and perhaps more importantly, the insistence on a model that it antithetical to western modes of teacher student interaction, the Tibetan Lama, guru and core figure cannot escape a compatibility issue with Western norms. Worse for some still, there is also an increasing lack of teacher availability for those willing to embrace this model. Thoughts? What are we to do with language and the hermeneutic challenges its presents for translators of old Tibetan texts? Why this book? Why now? You have a series of events coming up, including retreats with translators in Germany, Switzerland and in Italy. Can you tell us about that and how listeners can get involved if they wish to? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Dr Thomas Sutherland, author of the Bloomsbury title, Speaking Philosophically: Communication at the Limits of Discursive Reason (Bloombury, 2024), lecturer in digital media at the University of Southampton, and researcher into digital culture and the humanities, the history of philosophy and contemporary continental philosophy, and technologies of the self. We discuss three areas that concern the odd character that is Peter Sloterdijk; namely, spheres, the practising life and his rehabilitation of philosophy as wisdom. Dr Thomas Sutherland is a deep dabbler in Sloterdijk’s thought, having written various papers on his work, including Peter Sloterdijk and the ‘security architecture of existence’: immunity, autochthony, and ontological nativism, and Ontological co-belonging in Peter Sloterdijk's spherological philosophy of mediation. He is also familiar with a regular mention here on the podcast, François Laruelle and his non-philosophy. We touch on; Sloterdijk’s original work on Cynicism and why it is still relevant today Spheres, co-existence & interdependence The Practising Life & why ‘You Must Change your Life’ The Art of Philosophy as Wisdom The strengths and weaknesses of Sloterdijk’s insights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Glenn’s latest, Non Buddhist Mysticism: Performing Irreducible and Primitive Presence (Eyecorner Press, 2022), presents a radical reorientation to “spiritual” practice. Drawing from François Laruelle’s concept of future mysticism and the author’s own previous work on non-buddhism, Glenn Wallis galvanizes a materialist spirituality for the twenty-first century. Liberated from the punctilious gaze of the masters, delivered into the hands (and hearts) of the reader, this is a spirituality “born in the spirit of heresy rather than sanctity.” The intended outcome is a subject “fit for the clash with Hell” – a person equipped, lovingly and compassionately, to confront the injustices of the world. We also look at the great work taking place at INCITE Seminars, a place of practice which all listeners are invited to. Order at EyeCorner Press Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

Jundo Cohen is a Zen Buddhist teacher and founder of Treeleaf Zendo, a digital Zen community with members in over 50 countries. He writes on the intersection of Buddhism, ethics, science, and the future of the planet. He resides in Tsukuba, Japan’s “Science City”. He is the author of The Zen Master’s Dance: A Guide to Understanding Dogen and Who You Are in the Universe (Wisdom, 2020), and is co-host of The Zen of Everything podcast. In this episode I speak to Jundo about his new book, Building the Future Buddha: The Zen of AI, Genes, Saving the World, and Travel to the Stars (Treeleaf, 2024). The conversation covers a wide range of topics related to the future and Buddhism with some fun utopian thought on the way and some disagreement that makes for an interesting exploration. Jundho claims that tomorrow’s technologies will change Buddhism. AI and robotics, bio-engineering and physical enhancements, genetics and nano-implants, virtual reality and new media, medical miracles and manufacturing marvels, extended lifespans and expanded minds will make many of Buddhism’s most fabulous ideals potentially realizable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor William Waldron teaches courses on the South Asian religious traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, Tibetan religion and history, comparative psychologies and philosophies of mind, and theory and method in the study of religion at Middlebury College. His publications focus on the Yogacara school of Indian Buddhism and its dialogue with modern thought. He is the author of Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters (Wisdom Publications, 2023). In this conversation, we look at Yogacara thought, idealism, constructivism and the impact on the practitioner and tackle the following; Why thinking of Yogacara as Mind Only is deeply problematic Why seeing Yogacara as essentially constructivist is more accurate Why seeing constructivism in dualistic terms is to miss the point Why interdependence is central to Yogacara rather than the doctrine of emptiness Why the signature concepts of; the three natures, the storehouse consciousness, and mere perception are liberational and key to understanding Yogacara’s ethics Why Madhyamaka became dominant and a mistaken view of Yogacara developed as a consequence How the insights of Yogacara can help us to understand concepts of liberation today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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

Wake up! Antidote to stupidity in three parts. This is part 3. What follows is a three-part series on waking up to non-buddhism as an antidote to stupidity. This is an ambitious project designed to look at a curriculum of items that might be useful to contemporary Buddhist practitioners in order to wake up from some of the traps that have been diagnosed by non-buddhism over the last few years. It constitutes a kind of educational possibility. Combining reflection on key topics and contemplative questions that may be useful for practitioners in thinking a bit deeper and beyond Buddhism about who they are as practitioners. The text which can be found over at the non-buddhism and Imperfect Buddha site. It has been divided into three parts for this audio version. The first two parts explore the introduction, overview and orientation to practice. The third looks at the series of curriculum items; providing questions for people to play around with. The third episode is the longest and if you get something out of the first two, I suggest you listen to it in stages. The contemplative questions are serious ones and can be very fruitful for the curious, intelligently aware practitioner, but need to time to sit with and marinade in. There are moments of creativity woven in through the three episodes, and I hope you appreciate them to some degree. And if they bother you that you practice some patience, like the good Buddhist you are! Thank you for listening. PS. Tricycle Magazine has finally accepted that non-buddhism exists and that it's not going anywhere and publish my introduction to it. Here's the 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

Wake up! Antidote to stupidity in three parts. This is part 2. What follows is a three-part series on waking up to non-buddhism as an antidote to stupidity. This is an ambitious project designed to look at a curriculum of items that might be useful to contemporary Buddhist practitioners in order to wake up from some of the traps that have been diagnosed by non-buddhism over the last few years. It constitutes a kind of educational possibility. Combining reflection on key topics and contemplative questions that may be useful for practitioners in thinking a bit deeper and beyond Buddhism about who they are as practitioners. The text which can be found over at the non-buddhism and Imperfect Buddha site. It has been divided into three parts for this audio version. The first two parts explore the introduction, overview and orientation to practice. The third looks at the series of curriculum items; providing questions for people to play around with. The third episode is the longest and if you get something out of the first two, I suggest you listen to it in stages. The contemplative questions are serious ones and can be very fruitful for the curious, intelligently aware practitioner, but need to time to sit with and marinade in. There are moments of creativity woven in through the three episodes, and I hope you appreciate them to some degree. And if they bother you that you practice some patience, like the good Buddhist you are! Thank you for listening. PS. Tricycle Magazine has finally accepted that non-buddhism exists and that it's not going anywhere and publish my introduction to it. Here's the 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

Wake up! Antidote to stupidity in three parts. This is part 1.  What follows is a three-part series on waking up to non-buddhism as an antidote to stupidity. This is an ambitious project designed to look at a curriculum of items that might be useful to contemporary Buddhist practitioners in order to wake up from some of the traps that have been diagnosed by non-buddhism over the last few years. It constitutes a kind of educational possibility. Combining reflection on key topics and contemplative questions that may be useful for practitioners in thinking a bit deeper and beyond Buddhism about who they are as practitioners. The text which can be found over at the non-buddhism and Imperfect Buddha site. It has been divided into three parts for this audio version. The first two parts explore the introduction, overview and orientation to practice. The third looks at the series of curriculum items; providing questions for people to play around with. The third episode is the longest and if you get something out of the first two, I suggest you listen to it in stages. The contemplative questions are serious ones and can be very fruitful for the curious, intelligently aware practitioner, but need to time to sit with and marinade in. There are moments of creativity woven in through the three episodes, and I hope you appreciate them to some degree. And if they bother you that you practice some patience, like the good Buddhist you are! Thank you for listening. PS. Tricycle Magazine has finally accepted that non-buddhism exists and that it's not going anywhere and publish my introduction to it. Here's the 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

After a month or two of absence, the podcast returns for a new season, beginning with an unexpectedly wide ranging conversation with Dr. Richard Dixey. Richard holds a Ph.D. from London University, an M.A. with distinction in the history and philosophy of science from London University, and a B.A. Hons from Oxford. He has been a student of Buddhism since 1972 and has travelled extensively in the Himalayas, India and South East Asia. He is currently an advisor to the Khyentse Foundation, runs the Light of Buddhadharma Foundation and is a senior faculty member at Dharma College in Berkeley. We discuss two of his works, Searcher Reaches Land's Limits (Dharma, 2020), which is a commentary text on Tarthang Tulku’s Revelations of Mind: A book that engages the reader in an open, non-dogmatic inquiry that has practical, philosophical, scientific, and meditative dimensions. The second is his most recent, Three Minutes a Day: A Fourteen-Week Course to Learn Meditation and Transform Your Life (New World Library, 2023), which makes a bold claim that we explore in our conversation. We also discuss epistemology, personal experience as all we have; we also touch on A.I. and the history and philosophy of science, and the current state of Buddhism in America. The introduction mentions a recent text called "An Antidote to Stupidity," written by the host, which is up at the non-Buddhism site, which listeners can read here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acclaimed cultural critic Curtis White examines current fissures in Western Buddhism and argues against the growth of scientific and corporate dharma, particularly in the Secular Buddhist movement. Most of his career has been spent writing experimental fiction, but he turned to writing books of social criticism, the latest of which is Transcendent, Art and Dharma in a Time of Collapse (Melville House, 2023) Dogen: “Enlightenment is the intimacy of all things.” In this conversation we look at; Delusion and going beyond money, tech and the database Buddhisms that are in bed with Amazon and Google. What it means to live in a world that no longer exists. We get advice from James Joyce Joyce: “I will not serve that in which I no longer believe whether it calls itself my home, my fatherland, or my church”. How Curtis sees art and dharma possibly helping the new generations to discover intimacy. Zen, Vajrayana, and their forms of transcendent art 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

What links Vajrayana Buddhism and Vajrayogini to Alistair Crowley and the neo-Platonists? A topic of speculation, desire and imagination, the Subtle Body, also known as the energy body, is an odd phenomena with deep roots in Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism, but many are unaware that it has a rich history in European thought too. Simon Cox traces its roots in his recent work entitled The Subtle Body: A Geneology (Oxford UP, 2021). In our conversation we tackle multiple themes. Is it real or merely imaginary? Is it a feature of non-dual ontologies, or is more complex than that? Does Buddhism innovate the technology and practices of the subtle body? What happens to the subtle body in the New Age? Panpsychism, Monosomatic Normativity, Henri Bergson, Nietzsche, and much more. Simon Paul Cox, PhD, is an independent scholar and translator who works primarily in Chinese, Tibetan, and Greek. His research focuses on mysticism and the body. He is also a teacher of Chinese Martial Arts and collaborator at the Esalan Institute. He also has something common with me. Listen to the end to find out. 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

“There is positive and negative resistance, and plenty of somethings in between. But who determines the terms upon which such a psychological force is cast? If it’s you, then you may have a small problem on your hands. That is if you are interested in transformation and change.” In the latest Think Piece, we look at why so many begin but never end and why so many use Buddhism to stay safe, reinforce existing ideas of self and steer clear of its more radical calls to practice and thought. The original post in its written glory is here. 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

“A moving description of a life in practice which goes far beyond text-based ideas of prayer, devotion, guru-connection, or meditation, and most especially of tantric practice." Anne Klein, former Chair of the Department of Religion at Rice University. A ground-breaking book, The Magic of Vajrayana (Unfettered Mind Media, 2023) opens new doors to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Vajrayana, one of the most vibrant traditions of mystical practice in the world today. Ken McLeod deploys his considerable skills in translation, teaching, and writing to weave a rich tapestry of the core practices of this tradition and his experience with them. In simple clear English he immerses the reader in the practice of Vajrayana, bridging the gap between classical instruction and idealized descriptions of insights and understandings. Along with two of his previous books, Reflections on Silver River and A Trackless Path, The Magic of Vajrayana completes a trilogy of experiential instruction and guidance in the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism. As one of the first generation western practitioners and then teacher, Ken is a contemporary of famous teachers across the American, Canadian and British dharma figures. He both shares concerns with them and has made his own way. He is one of those who have sought to innovate, westernise and explore what happens to Buddhism when it is taken out of a traditional setting. Whether through his Pragmatic Dharma website, or his insistence on finding language that works for those he taught and now writes for, Ken has gone deep into Tibetan Buddhism whilst committing to finding ways to have it speak to westerners: he has in many ways been a key early figure in adapting and westernising Buddhism, specifically Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism from Tibet. Ken’s latest book, The Magic of Vajrayana, is the topic of our conversation. In discussing it, we look at a variety of topics that relate to the practising life. What are magic and faith and what role do they have in the Tantric path. Opening to experience and how the path can enable this process. The role of power, and the guru. How mantras and deities can assist practitioners to wake up. The nature and role of reactive patterns and how to counter them. The role of language in opening up practices. Samsara. The future of Vajrayana in the West. 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