Buddhist Geeks

We’re joined this week by Insight Meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg, to talk about her latest book, “Real Happiness” and also about meditation as an emerging part of secular culture. This interview was recorded during a conference at Emory University in which Dalai Lama spoke about secular ethics as the most relevant approach to humanity’s issues. He pointed out that much of the world isn’t interested in religious forms, and so the liberating message of Buddhism can be conveyed in more secular ways. In this discussion sharon shares her understanding of this trend toward secularization, and also shares some specific ways that she is participating in this broader movement.

Episode Links:

www.SharonSalzberg.com

Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation ( http://amzn.to/hg4MDM )

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Many Buddhist figures have things to say about wise engagement with technology, but many of these same figures are not technologists themselves, and so have a limited view, or understanding, of the full range of what technology is, and perhaps of what it means. This week, to explore these very questions, we speak again with leading technologist Kevin Kelly. He shares his unique view on how technology should be selectively minimized on the individual level, while simultaneously maximizing the pool of technologies in the world at large.

We also explore the parallel philosophies of Buddhism—especially with regards to its emphases on interdependence and impermanence—with the cybernetic process philosophy that Kelly is familar with. This techno-geek-philosophy shares many overlapping views on the nature of reality, but is strikingly different in many ways.

This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to part 1, The Technium.

Episode Links:

www.KK.org

What Technology Wants ( http://amzn.to/9l5NqS )

“When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays” ( http://nyti.ms/eRisjo )

Cool Tools ( http://www.kk.org/cooltools/ )

What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry ( http://amzn.to/hNmiCo )

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We’re joined this week by celebrated technologist and co-founder of Wired Magazine, Kevin Kelly. Kevin shares how he went from a back-to-the-lander hippie in his early youth, to becoming one of the most important technological thinkers alive today.

We then explore one of the central ideas of Kelly’s technological philosophy, what he calls the technium. He shares how the technium can be dated all the way back to the beginning of the universe, and explains how the technium—a type of super-organism of interdependent technologies—can actually increase degrees of freedom and choice in the universe. Closing up the conversation we discuss whether the technium is a neutral force, or if it has some inherent goodness. This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, The Wise Use of Technology.

Episode Links:

www.KK.org

What Technology Wants ( http://amzn.to/9l5NqS )

Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World ( http://amzn.to/csaSS0 )

Wired Magazine ( http://www.wired.com )

Ted Nelson ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson )

The Technium ( http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/ )

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Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche—a dynamic and engaging Gen X Tibetan Lama who has spent half of his life living in the West—joins us to explore several key points related to the development of a more contemporary Buddhism. We explore some ideas from his newest book, Rebel Buddha, including the idea that there is an essential aspect to Dharma that goes beyond culture, the ways that teachings on emptiness are often confused or misunderstood, and the nature of enlightenment and the possibility of awakening in the here and now.

Episode Links:

Rebel Buddha ( http://www.rebelbuddha.com )

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We’re joined this week by Buddhist teacher Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel to explore some of the topics from her most recent book, The Power of an Open Question. Elizabeth speaks about the nature of questioning, and why questioning is one of the best ways to come in accordance with the way things are.

She also explores the qualities of faith & doubt, how questioning fits in with both, and how skepticism and openness are related. We finish the discussion off by looking at how the quality of “not knowing,” that often gets developed through sincere questioning, might manifest in our human relationships. If you’re looking for answers, this may not be the episode for you!

Episode Links:

The Power of an Open Question ( http://amzn.to/cbeXst )

Madyamika Prasangika ( http://bit.ly/1CQJ4Ti )

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We’re joined this week by author, teacher, and Tibetologist Glenn Mullin. During our conversation with Glenn we focus primarily on a system of teachings in the Tantric tradition called The Six Yogas of Naropa. He speaks about each aspect of the practice—including such practices as sexual yoga, dream yoga, and bardo yoga—and also explains why he thinks the 6 yogas are a perfect compliment for the modern lifestyle.

Episode Links:

www.GlennMullin.com

The Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa ( http://amzn.to/cEm5jP )

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Insight meditation teacher James Baraz joins us to explore the many facets of joy, happiness, and well-being. We begin by finding out how joy became an important part of James’ practice, since in his early years with Buddhism he was, in his own words, “dead serious about practice.” It turns out that part of what helped him break the spell was the Advaita Vedanta teacher, H.W.L Poonja, as well as the teachings that the Buddha himself gave on joy and well-being. We also look at the positive psychology movement, which James pulls from often in his teachings on Joy, comparing and contrasting positive psychology with Buddhist psychology. And finally we discuss what it means to cultivate Joy, and how that cultivation relates to a recognition of Natural Joy (the joy that’s present without any special effort).

Episode Links:

www.JamesBaraz.com

Awakening Joy: 10 Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness ( http://amzn.to/bnPnPR )

Authentic Happiness ( http://amzn.to/9DIPlr )

H.W.L Poonja ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._W._L._Poonja )

Nibanna for Everyone, by Ajahn Buddhadassa ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/265212/Nibbana-for-Everyone )

Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of Thinking (Majjhima Nikaya 19) ( http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.019.than.html )

Transcendental Dependent Arising ( http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel277.html )

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Bodhipaksa is a teacher from the Triratna Buddhist Community, formerly the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. He joins us this week to explore the Buddhist teachings on impermanence and “change blindness.” We also explore one of the central practices that he teaches, called the 6-elements practice—one of the primary methods found in the earliest strata of Buddhist teachings. Finally, we explore the importance of enlightenment in his teaching, what is traditionally called stream-entry, but which he refers to as “entry-level enlightenment.”

Episode Links:

www.bodhipaksa.com

Living As a River: Finding Fearlessness in the Face of Change ( http://amzn.to/aMZqzN )

Dhatu-vibhanga Sutta: An Analysis of the Properties ( http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.140.than.html )

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We speak with Lama Surya Das this week about what it takes to integrate spiritual understanding into our lives as 21st century citizens. He explores the question of whether our sense of time has sped up in the “over-information age,” and how we can change our relationship to time. He also shares the outlines of what he calls the Six Building Blocks of a Spiritual Life—a post-traditional model aimed at integrating the inner and outer dimensions of life. We conclude our discussion by looking at what he calls, “Positive Buddhism.” Positive Buddhism is a formulation of the Buddhist teachings that emphasize some of the more life-affirming aspects of the awakened life, instead of some of the more life-denying aspects, such as suffering, renunciation, and non-attachment.

This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to part 1, The Tao of Twitter.

Episode Links:

www.Surya.org

The Mind is Mightier Than the Sword ( http://amzn.to/cmIOru )

Positive Psychology ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology )

Awakening the Buddha Within ( http://amzn.to/9HeJJ0 )

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When it comes to leveraging the technologies of our time, Lama Surya Das is one of the most active American Buddhists around. He blogs, tweets, skypes, hosts webinars, and participates in virtual retreats. And yet he acknowledges that if it were completely up to him, he’d be leading meditation retreats in-person and writing books. We speak with Surya Das on why he has decided to engage these technologies, as opposed to treating them merely as distractions or as “necessary evils,” as so many teachers do. We explore both the upsides and downsides of what he refers to as, “beaming, streaming media.” As he points out during the interview, he feels he has two feet firmly planted in the old tradition, and two feet firmly planted in the new. What happens when someone is immersed in both?

This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, Living in Buddha Standard Time.

Episode Links:

@LamaSuryaDas ( www.twitter.com/LamaSuryaDas )

www.Surya.org The Tao of Twitter: The Spirit in the Machine ( http://bit.ly/9wtD4c )

Dzogchen Center ( http://dzogchen.org )

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