Buddhist Geeks

This week, we’re joined by Shambhala acharya and Naropa University professor, Judith Simmer-Brown. She joins us today to discuss four areas, which she learned about while at Colombia University in the late 60’s, that help determine whether or not Buddhism will take root in a new country. These four are:
1. The translation of core Buddhist texts into English
2. The development of a monastic lineage w/ American lineage holders
3. The training and appointment of dharma transmission holders
4. Royal patronage, or financial support from within the country
After describing each area of focus, Judith goes into depth as to how we’re doing with the first three areas, today in America. She shares her reflections, while also raising some provocative questions, as to how we’re doing with building a sustainable infrastructure for Buddhism to prosper in the West. Next week, we’ll finish the conversation by exploring the 4th area in depth, and speaking about how we can best invest in the future of American Buddhism.
This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, Investing in the Future of American Buddhism.
Episode Links:
Becoming Whole: Lineage and Gender in American Buddhism ( http://bit.ly/1VrfRUW )
The Scholar-Practitioner: Joining Theory and Practice ( http://bit.ly/1Vrggqu )

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Insight Meditation teacher, Rodney Smith, joins us to explore the topic of “urban dharma”–seeing that the transformative potential of one’s life and relationships are on equal footing with silent, more passive forms of meditation. Rodney critiques the common tendency to elevate silent retreat practice above all other aspects of practice. As part of that exploration he also shares a moving story from his time studying with the famous Advaita teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Rodney concludes by exploring what it might it mean to be a “Buddhist revolutionary,” updating and contemporizing the Buddhist teachings, while “turning one’s back to the Buddha and moving forward…”
This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to part 1, Stepping out of Self-Deception.
Episode Links:
I Am That ( http://bit.ly/1gfAD2 )
Dharma Talks by Rodney Smith ( bit.ly/1TOJ5LH )
Seattle Insight ( www.seattleinsight.org )
Lessons From the Dying ( bit.ly/40F0Gh )

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Rodney Smith, the founder of the Seattle Insight Meditation Society, joins us today to discuss several fascinating topics. We start with an exploration of how the Big Bang and the origin of life on Earth (some 3.8 billion years ago) and spiritually significant events. We also discuss the overall compatibility between Buddhist teachings and these new found scientific findings.
Finally, Rodney shares with us a powerful mathematical analogy for understanding the spiritual path, that of fractions. The numerator of the fraction represents the appearances of things, and the denominator represents the undifferentiated wholeness underlying appearances. Rodney shares how spiritual practice, and the process of dying, can both help us cross the fraction line.
This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, Turning Your Back to the Buddha.
Episode Links:
Dharma Talks by Rodney Smith ( http://bit.ly/1TOJ5LH )
Seattle Insight ( http://www.seattleinsight.org )
Lessons From the Dying ( http://bit.ly/40F0Gh )

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This week, we’re joined by Kenneth Cohen, a well-known qi-gong master. Along with his training in the Taoist qi-gong and tai chi chuan, Kenneth has a strong connection to the Zen tradition and to the Japanese tea ceremony.
In this episode, he shares with us some of the history of tea (the camellia sinensis plant), its long-standing relationship to the Buddhist tradition, his own training with Japanese tea master Millie Johnstone, and the wonderful profundity of drinking a simple cup of tea.
Episode Links:
www.KennethCohen.com
Tao Te Ching ( http://bit.ly/1UysbC )
The Way of Qigong ( http://bit.ly/1P0BiP )

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"A perception, sudden as blinking, that subject and object are one, will lead to a deeply mysterious wordless understanding; and by this understanding will you awaken to the truth of Zen." – Zen Master Huang-po
The above quote, taken from James Austin’s newest book Selfless Insight, is a description of kensho, an "initial awakening" to the true nature of things. We continue our discussion, this week, with James Austin about the importance of both kensho and satori in the Zen tradition, and his hypothesis as to what is happening in the brain, leading up to and during these events. We also discuss the vast importance of the thalamus, which Austin describes as a type of gateway of perceptual experience.
Finally, Austin makes a strong distinction between both the absorptions and various types of quickenings that can precede kensho or satori, but that are not the same as them.
This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to part 1, This is Your Brain on Meditation.
Episode Links:
Selfless Insight ( http://bit.ly/QRGFu )
Zen and the Brain ( http://bit.ly/KxYDq )

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This week we speak with academic nuerologist and Zen practitioner James Austin. Austin, who wrote the well-known book, Zen and the Brain, joins us to explain some of the physical mechanisms underlying both attention and the way we process reality. In terms of attention, he shares with us a very descriptive difference between “top-down” and “bottom-up” modes of attention. He also shares the difference, from the perspective of the brain, between self-centered (egocentric) processing and other-centered (allocentric) processing.
He also shares the ways in which these two are related to the different forms of meditation that are commonly seen in the Buddhist tradition. Although sometimes technical, his descriptions are extremely interesting for those who have an interest on the intersection between meditation and the brain.
This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, The Mechanisms of Kensho.
Episode Links:
Selfless Insight ( http://bit.ly/QRGFu )
Zen and the Brain ( http://bit.ly/KxYDq )

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This week with speak with the author of Saltwater Buddha, Jaimal Yogis. Jaimal, a Zen surfer and journalist, wrote Saltwater Buddha to chronicle his late teens and early 20’s as he learned to surf and delved into Zen. He shares with us some of the highlights from this time of his life, and also shares what a powerful metaphor the ocean has been for his spiritual life, especially given his passion for surfing. He also shares some prescient observations about what it’s like being a young Buddhist, and what he notices that is different about the young generation of up-and-coming practitioners.
Episode Links:
Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer’s Quest to Find Zen on the Sea ( http://bit.ly/3gkIZX )

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In this episode we have a round-table discussion, with members from the NYC-based Interdependence Project, on issues surrounding 21st century dharma in the West. Both Buddhist Geeks and the Interdependence Project tend to attract younger practitioners in their 20s & 30s.
So, in this dialogue, where the oldest of us is 31, we take on some interesting questions about how Dharma is changing in the West, what challenges we face in the future, the economics of dharma, and the implications of a generation who are so interconnected with technology and culture. Listen in to hear a genuine conversation between young practitioners who are trying to find their way as Buddhist practitioners in the 21st century.
Episode Links:
The Interdependence Project ( http://theidproject.com )
Free: The Future of a Radical Price ( http://bit.ly/2seHGB )
Buddhism & Money: Does Priceless Mean It’s Free? ( http://bit.ly/ukzoG )
Nellie Tinder ( http://www.nellietinder.org )

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We’re back again with Artificial Intelligence researcher and Zen-dabbler, Ben Goertzel. We continue our exploration of some of the major themes in his non-fiction story “Enlightenment 2.0″. This precipitates a conversation about whether consciousness is a result of the mechanisms of the brain, or whether it is fundamental. And connected to that, what are the ethical implications of creating an artificial intelligence, if we do indeed see it as having BuddhaNature?
Finally, Ben shares what he has discovered while exploring the notion of “artificial wisdom”–including what difference there is between intelligence and wisdom. He also talks about the seeming incompatibility between intense scientific thinking and enlightenment, and how that might be rectified by creating a more wise and intelligent super-mind.
This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to part 1, Enlightenment 2.0.
Episode Links:
Artificial Wisdom ( http://bit.ly/2sVNQu )
Enlightenment 2.0 ( http://www.goertzel.org/new_fiction/Enlightenment2.pdf )
The Multiverse According to Ben ( http://multiverseaccordingtoben.blogspot.com )
www.goertzel.org

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This week we speak with Ben Goertzel, an artificial intelligence researcher and Zen-dabbling spiritual seeker. Ben shares with us his introduction to Zen and his on-going relationship to spiritual practice. He also explains what is meant by “strong artificial intelligence” and AGI (artificial general intelligence) and explains why he thinks a fully functioning AI may be as little as a decade away.
Finally, we explore the overlap between his work as an AI researcher and his experiences with Zen and other spiritual practices, through discussing a story he wrote entitled, “Enlightenment 2.0″ about an enlightened AI being who determines that it is possible to construct a more enlightened mind, what Ben calls a “super mind”, but isn’t sure whether or not it is possible for us.
This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, Artificial Wisdom.
Episode Links:
Enlightenment 2.0 ( http://www.goertzel.org/new_fiction/Enlightenment2.pdf )
The Multiverse According to Ben ( http://multiverseaccordingtoben.blogspot.com )
www.goertzel.org

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