Buddhist Geeks

Latest Episodes:

Metadharma: Set & Setting, with Vince Horn Apr 29, 2019

Show notes

In this episode Vince Horn kicks-off a new series on Buddhist Geeks on "Metadharma." Sharing his journey from working with integral philosopher Ken Wilber in the early aughts, to deconstructing grand metanarratives with inquiry meditation and developmental psychology, to returning back to a metaphilosophical orientation in recent years.

This series, on Metadharma, will explore the ways that the three jewels of the Buddhist contemplative tradition, the Buddha, Dharma, & Sangha, may be understood in light of the emergence of a Integral/Metamodern orientation.

Memorable Quotes:

"It's totally within the history of this Buddhist dharma tradition to transcend Buddhist dharma, to go meta on it." - Vince Horn

"Yet, we do we need to adapt, we do need to change, we can't just pull something out from the past and assume that we can make Buddhism great again." - Vince Horn

"What can happen if we make ourselves the middle way? What bridge might we become? And what does the world need from us right now?" - Vince Horn

Episode Links:

🔗 Ken Wilber

🔗 Robert Kegan

📖 "Immunity to Change" by Robert Kegan

📖 "The Postmodern Condition" by Jean-Francois Lyotard

📖 "American Dharma" by Ann Gleig

📄 The mindfulness crisis and the end of Consensus Buddhism by David Chapman

📖 "The Birth of Insight" by Erik Braun

📺 The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

🔗 Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma

🔗 Tathāgatagarbha sūtras

🎧 The Dharma of Collapse with Daniel Thorson

🔗 Metamodernist Manifesto by Luke Turner

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The SF Dharma Collective, with Kathryn "Kati" Devaney Apr 10, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Vince Horn is joined by Kathryn "Kati" Devaney, one of the founders of the newly formed student-led sangha, SF Dharma Collective. In addition to being practitioner, and community organizer, Kati is also a neuroscience researcher who has specialized on studying human visual attention. In this discussion Kati describes the origin story of the SF Dharma Collective and talks about what makes it an entirely new kind of sangha-experiment.

A short note from Vince: After visiting the SF Dharma Collective in October 2018, where I met Kati, and offering a short teaching in their beautiful space in the Mission District, I knew it'd be fun to explore this new community-led model. It feels like an emergent form of community, and I love how their groping with questions about how to self-organize, and create healthier forms of community. I hope you enjoy learning more about this nascent project!

A note from the members of the collective: The SF Dharma Collective seeks to build a student-led sangha with you! If you’re in San Francisco come by for a morning silent sit, an evening guided sit and Q&A (almost every night at 7:30pm) or for sutra study on Sunday evenings. We are an all-volunteer student collective, and you can volunteer with us - host a sit, propose an event, or sit in on a Monday meeting. If you’re not in SF, you can livestream Michael Taft’s Thursday night sits on his youtube channel, and follow along for more on our twitter, facebook and instagram pages. We seek to make the dharma accessible to everyone, regardless of background, financial status, or prior experience. Come sit with us.

Episode Links:

🔗 SF Dharma Collective

🔗Michael Taft

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Trauma and the Unbound Body, with Judith Blackstone Mar 29, 2019

Show notes

In this episode Ryan Oelke speaks with Judith Blackstone, a teacher in the contemporary fields of nondual realization and spiritual, relational, and somatic psychotherapy, about her new book, “Trauma and the Unbound Body: The Healing Power of Fundamental Consciousness”. They chat about the connection between embodiment, nondual realization, and healing, and how all three help deepen one other.

Ryan & Judith also discuss what fundamental consciousness is, how to attune to it in, the difference between being aware of our bodies and living in and as our bodies, and what it’s like shift from a top-down experience of ourselves, to living directly within the space of our bodies. They also explore how to heal and release patterns of constriction held in the body, so that we can allow ourselves to more deeply inhabit our physical experience, release the grip on ourselves, so that we have a more fluid experience of life.

Memorable Quotes

“The more we let go of the protective constrictions throughout our body, the more we open to and realize ourselves as the disentangled ground of fundamental consciousness.” - Judith Blackstone

“Interdependence does not eradicate individuation, individuation does not eradicate interdependence.” - Judith Blackstone

Episode Links

🔗RealizationProcess.org

📖Trauma and the Unbound Body

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The Limits of Retreat Culture, with Oren Jay Sofer Jan 09, 2019

Show notes

I had the great delight of speaking with Oren Jay Sofer, just as he was fresh off a month-long silent retreat. The timing couldn't be better, as the bulk of what we discussed relates to silent retreat culture, both its strengths and limitations.

We ended up discussing communication and social practice quite a bit as well, including touching on some of the practices that he teaches in his new book, "Say What you Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication." I've known Oren now for a several years, through my wife Emily, and my respect for him as a teacher and human being continues to grow. I hope you enjoy our conversation on the limits of retreat culture.

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Psychedelics, Technology, and the Future of Meditation, with Michael Taft, Mikey Siegel, & Vince Horn Dec 13, 2018

Show notes

What is the future of consciousness hacking? Organic molecules, blinky machines, good old fashioned meditation, or some combination of them all?

In this episode, recorded live in San Francisco on October 24th 2018, Michael Taft of Deconstructing Yourself, Vincent Horn of Buddhist Geeks, and host Mikey Siegel of Consciousness Hacking discuss the possibilities, the challenges, and the many ways forward in the transformation of human consciousness.

Audience dialogue and questions took center stage in this event, so you'll hear plenty of back-and-forth between the presenters and the audience on psychedelics, technology, and the future of meditation.

Watch the full video version here: https://youtu.be/4oE6UxGmQog

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No Gods Before Love, with David Gold Oct 15, 2018

Show notes

In this episode I'm joined in dialogue by David Gold to explore the path of Love. David shares the story of meeting his beloved, Juli Reeves, and how their meeting kicked off a process of being disrupted by Love. Listen in as we inquiry into Love, Life, Trust, Emergence, & Evolution.

This is part 2 of a two-part series.

Memorable Quotes:

“Whatever stands in the way of me loving her more, may it be removed.” - David Gold

“I will not have another God before Love. I don’t know what Gods will appear in Love, or reappear through Love, but I am not going to sacrifice Love.” - David Gold

“You can’t force yourself to trust life, but you can embrace life.” - David Gold

“The truth of life’s trustworthiness is revealing itself.” - David Gold

"If samsaric logic is 'if this than that' nirvanic logic is 'just this'." - Vincent Horn

“The practices arise from primordial wisdom rather than leading to it.” - Vincent Horn

"The vipassana master whose just sitting there noticing what is, is also loving what is." - Vincent Horn

Episode Links:

🔗 Love Disruptors (David & Juli's Site)

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Falling in Love with the Truth, with David Gold Sep 17, 2018

Show notes

During this episode I'm joined by an old friend and mentor, David Gold, to discuss, as he puts it, his "evolution from a non-teacher to a non-teacher." We talk about our shared history, going back to my time as college student at NC State, where he was a facilitator of the Self-Knowledge Symposium. He also shares his history with American mystic, Richard Rose, and with the fallen guru, Andrew Cohen. He shares the learnings that were borne out of working with those teachers, and the way that his path has opened into "a love unimaginable."

This is part 1 of a 2-part series.

Memorable Quotes:

“I decided I was going to stick around until I figured out how this man [Richard Rose] did what he did, and I was going to learn his tricks and go take it out into the world and make a lot of money with it, or whatever. Instead, I feel in love with the truth.” - David Gold

“The radical equality of unimaginable love is so intrinsic, so natural, and so liberating.” - David Gold

“When the truth and you and your deepest desires line up to be one thing that’s pretty much as close to heaven-on-earth as I could possibly imagine.” - David Gold

Episode Links:

🔗 Love Disruptors (David’s Teaching Site)
🔗 Richard Rose
📖 “After the Absolute” by David Gold
🔗 Andrew Cohen

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The Present, Past, & Future of Mindfulness, with Rohan Gunatillake Sep 05, 2018

Show notes

In this episode I'm joined by my old friend and colleague, Rohan Gunatillake. Rohan is the founder of Mindfulness Everywhere, a creative studio combining meditation, technology, & design. Mindfulness Everywhere is perhaps best known for it's popular meditation app buddhify, and for it's innovative-indie approach to developing digital mindfulness products.

In this conversation we talk about the importance of making mindfulness accessible, about the discontinuous changes that have happened to mindfulness as it enters a capitalist-based system, two different ways to scale mindfulness, Rohan's Designing Mindfulness manifesto, buddhify's new social meditation feature Transmission, and "the missing middle" of mindfulness between the for- and non-profit sectors.

Memorable Quotes:

“Meditation, mindfulness, Buddhism has always changed. It’s a history of innovation, from the Buddha’s awakening onward.” - Rohan Gunatillake

“Mindfulness & meditation has become a content business, as opposed to a wisdom business.” - Rohan Gunatillake

Episode Links:

🔗Mindfulness Everywhere
📱buddhify
📖"Modern Mindfulness" by Rohan Gunatillake
🔗The Blogisattva Awards
🔗Designing Mindfulness
📱Headspace
🔗Center for Humane Technology
📰Why Transmission Matters
🔗Become a Buddhify Member
📰The First Alexa Board Game is Both Fun and Terrifying
🔗Siempo: Use your phone, not the other way around
📰Google and the Rise of ‘Digital Well-Being’
📰The Second Generation of Mindfulness

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The Dharma of Networks, with Christopher Vitale Aug 29, 2018

Show notes

I discovered Christoper Vitale's writing after doing a google search on the "philosophy of networks." At the time I had recently started doing the Buddhist Geeks podcast again and had formulated a new tagline for the project: Dharma in the Age of the Network. I wanted to dive deeper into what networks are, not in a specific sense (of say a "computer network"), but in more general & philosophical terms.

What I discovered in Chris' writing was a clear philosophy of networks, and a generalized way to under what is common among all networks. I was also somewhat shocked to find that he had studied Buddhist philosophy in Nepal and had several articles on his personal site about dharma & networks!

In this episode, which was originally a prep call, we explore the very interesting relationship between Buddhist philosophy & networks, and discuss some of the topics related to his Networkologies project. Look for more from Christopher on Buddhist Geeks soon!

Memorable Quotes:

“All the binaries start coming down when you start thinking in terms of networks, because there’s nothing binary about a network, nothing dualist.” - Christopher Vitale

“Consciousness is just what happens when really complicated matter feels itself from the inside. That’s what a brain is.” - Christopher Vitale

Episode Links:

📖"Networkologies" : A Philosophy of Networks for a Hyperconnected Age
📰Buddhism Beyond Buddhism : Reimagining Tibetan Buddhism as Virtual Praxis for the Networked Age
🔗The Santa Fe Institute
🔗Pratītyasamutpāda ('interconnectedness')
🔗Madhyamaka
🔗Graph theory
🔗Panpsychism
🔗Sreedevi Bringi

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Aya & Vajra, with Lama Karma Aug 01, 2018

Show notes

In this episode I was joined by my dharma friend Lama Karma. During our time together we explored his time in Peru, using the native plant medicine ayahuasca. He said he couldn't help but relate to his experience through the lens of his vajrayana training, and shares some of how he makes sense of the experiences he had while using ayahuasca ceremonially.

We also get into a heart-felt conversation about Lama Karma's teacher, Lama Norlha, who recently passed away and who at the very end of his life was embroiled in a controversial storm with his community regarding widespread allegations of sexual misconduct. Karma shares his experience of being at the center of that storm, torn by paradox.

memorable quotes:

"For me it was this simultaneity of insanity and openness.” - Lama Karma

episode links:

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