Buddhist Geeks (Video)
By Buddhist Geeks
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Podcast Description
Discover the Emerging Face(s) of Buddhism
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VideoAwakening is an Epic Win | The following video took place at the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011, and was one of the three keynotes of the event. Talk Description: The qualities of a good gamer and a bodhisattva have more in common than you think. Find out how video games--unexpectedly!--have trained today's young people to be more prepared for Buddhist practice than any previous generation. | 4/30/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 2 | VideoGeneration Wise | The following video took place at the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011, and was one of the two organized panels of the event. Panel Description: A panel exploring how we can support 21st century dharma by harnessing the wisdom of the ages. Panelists include, Trudy Goodman, Vincent Horn, Ethan Nichtern, Diana Winston, and Jack Kornfield. | 3/20/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 3 | VideoThe Internet is Not Your Teacher | The following video took place at the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011, and was part of a series of live talks, each 20 minutes in length. Talk Description: In this talk Ethan Nichtern explores the limitations of online dharma. Transcript: Ethan Nichtern: So the title of my talk is "The Internet Is Not Your Teacher" and thereâs two iPads on the podium right now, which is kind of awesome. So, the first thing Iâd like to say is obviously this entire gathering is a product of the internet and thatâs great. On the way in here met six or seven people who I have previously only known through the Twitter, Facebook universe and Iâm reading my notes off an iPad 2 so I canât dislike the internet that much. In fact, I donât dislike it at all. What I wanted to really say is that I think weâre at a very interesting time and a very empowering time in terms of the psychological and spiritual teachings moving further into our society through science, through community, through art, through politics. Itâs also a really dangerous time. And my tradition which is a Vajrayana or Tantric tradition has this great framework for determining whether something is harmful or helpful which is called co-emergence which means when you want to figure out if something is destructive or empowering or enlightening or samsaric. Itâs both. Itâs always both and the internet is especially both. Like more both than anything has ever been. So letâs talk about the samsaric side as it relates to people wanting to study and practice genuine teachings of awakening. I think there are two aspects that are important here. The first is the cheapening of knowledge and wisdom. Where in the ancient world to even learn how to follow your breath was quite a journey over mountains or requesting teachings for a long period of time. And because it was quite a journey, you took the instructions that you received as important. And thatâs not so from a respect standpoint of course itâd be great if we were all respectful of teachers, etc. But the main thing is how the process of learning happens and when you think what youâre receiving is important you tend to take more time to absorb and integrate it into your experience which is the whole point of how these teachings work. This isnât ultimately a philosophy. As my teacher has been talking about recently the point of this is reworking how a human being experiences themselves not how they talk about themselves. Although if you change the way a human being experiences themselves I think the person should also be able to talk about themselves in a more engaging and interesting manner. True. But thatâs secondary. So you can Wikipedia pretty much any Buddhist teachings you want. So I had this laughable experience where a lot of the Vajrayana teachings in the Shambhala tradition are said to be secret. Thereâs not a single Vajrayana teaching that Iâve ever received an empowerment for that you couldnât Wikipedia right now. You could Wikipedia the surface of it, I mean, which is actually quite good. But if youâre doing seven other things at once and just want to find out what the word Mahamudra or Shikantaza means, and then have a conversation over Skype over what that means, or Twitter something about Mahamudra. Sorry tweet something about Mahamudra. Itâs interesting. Letâs put it that way. Hereâs the second thing which I think is even more co-emerging and didnât really exist to the extent, in my understanding, in the ancient Asian cultures where these teachings came from. Our entire society, in the words of Generation X, has become very DIY. Do-it-yourself. The interesting thing about this term is that it started as an anti-consumerist phrase but it actually means you get to consume in the way you want. So there seems to be a strand of dharma, a huge strand of dharma, where we all want to become spiritual l | 3/16/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 4 | VideoWhat Science Can Teach Us About Practice | The following video took place at the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011, and was part of a series of live talks, each 20 minutes in length. Talk Description: The neuroscience of meditation can help us understand how practice shapes the mind, and off... | 2/24/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 5 | VideoEnlightenment for the Rest of Us | The following video took place at the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011, and was part of a series of live talks, each 20 minutes in length. Talk Description: Drawing from Buddhism, neuroscience, and personal experience, Kenneth Folk explains that enlightenment is a natural aspect of human development that is available to everyone. Transcript: Kenneth Folk: There was a time in the early 90s when I was doing a lot of long meditation retreats. And I think my mother felt it was necessary to explain to her friends what I was doing with my life. And she told her friends that Buddhism is not a religion but rather a philosophy, because in our household religion was frowned upon but philosophy was okay. And so my mother asked me is that right? Is Buddhism a philosophy? And I thought about that and replied, âWell Buddhism certainly is a religion. There are people who take Buddhism very seriously as a religion, and it is a philosophy, and it is a psychology, and it can be scholarly pursuit. But for me, the nugget the thing that is really special about Buddhism is that itâs a set of technologies for awakening.â And I would say that everything else is designed to support that. After all the word Buddha means awake. So weâre talking about awakening, enlightenment. I would like to normalize enlightenment. Thereâs an opportunity here as Buddhism moves into the West to shake things up a little bit, to change some attitudes. And one of the attitudes that I think is very pervasive is that enlightenment is for other people. Itâs for people who wear traditional clothing and/or live in caves primarily. But it isnât true. Enlightenment itâs an old word, maybe an outdated word for human development. And human development is available to humans. Iâd like to talk about this using a kind of a formula that I only half jokingly think of as the three pillars of pragmatic dharma. It goes like this. Enlightenment is possible, thatâs No. 1. No. 2, I know because it happened to me. And No. 3, hereâs how. So Iâm going to cycle through those three points over the next 20 minutes in a kind of iterative fashion going a little bit more deeply with each iteration to make the case that enlightenment is for all of us. So this is going to require explaining what do I mean when I say enlightenment. And also, by the way, when I say it happened to me. It happened to whom. If the essential insight is that there isnât anybody here, why would I say such a preposterous thing? Well thereâs a reason why Iâm saying it and Iâll explain. Let me talk a little bit about the technologies that Iâm referring to. So what is enlightenment? Letâs start with awakening, momentary awakening. This is where it starts. We are in an auditorium at the University of the West in Rosemead, California which is part of the Los Angeles Megalopolis. And Los Angeles is one of the greatest port cities in the world. Thereâs a port here at San Pedro. If you listen very carefully, maybe you can hear, maybe we can hear the ships in the harbor at San Pedro. [pauses] But on the other hand, no thereâs no chance. San Pedro is probably, I donât know, 40 miles from here. Los Angeles is big. We canât hear these ships. And yet the very effort or the very inclination of the mind to listen for something that is so subtle and in this case undefined does something to the mind. Try it again. Listen for the ships in San Pedro. Never mind that you donât know what itâs going to sound like. [pauses] Thereâs a possibility for a kind of openness and a kind of quiet in the mind where the mind stops yammering at you for a moment. So letâs called this a moment of awakeness. Enlightenment, Iâm using it in a slightly different way, Iâm talking about something developmental. So to understand enlightenment as a development or a developm | 1/31/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 6 | VideoUniting Technology and Wisdom (Video) | Description: Vincent Horn is a co-founder and director of the innovative media project Buddhist Geeks. In this talk, originally given at the Pacific Asia Art Museum, he explores the interdisciplinary insights to be gained by combining geek cultureâs radical experimentation, facility with external technologies, and forward-thinking with Buddhismâs wisdom of the human condition, mind-training systems, and familiarity with the inner world. Transcript: Vincent: I wanted to talk today about Buddhist Geeks, and particularly about what it means to unite technology with wisdom, or at lest to bring up some questions about what that might mean. I sort of have an operating assumption, which is that technology can actually help deepen our wisdom, can help deepen our sense of personal wisdom, inner wisdom. And that wisdom has a lot to offer and has a lot to inform the world of technology. So my operating assumption is that both have something to offer to each other and that theyâre both important. And I probably feel that way because I was conditioned in such a way. For as long as I can remember even when I was very young being interested in both spiritual stuff and technology. I remember flipping through the Encyclopedia Britannica--do you remember back when all of knowledge could be found on 25 books? Or 26 I guess cause youâd have the Zs. I remember flipping at a very young age to the B section and looking up Buddhism. And I donât know what compelled me to do that but I was just sort of interested. What is this Buddhism thing? And I looked and the first thing I read was the four noble truths and the first one, of course, life is suffering. I immediately closed the book, put it back and didnât get interested, really interested in Buddhism for another 10 years. And then I also grew up in the time of course in the early-to-mid 80s where the personal computer revolution was some sort of full stride. It was becoming ubiquitous. And so I grew up on a computer, but was sort of part that generation, the gap generation. I knew what analog life was like. I did play outside growing up a little and I also played inside. So I was part of that strange generation where we were sort of straddling analog and digital. But I always had a very keen interest in the digital side, maybe more than a lot of my peers. With that I went and decided to become a computer engineer. So my first degree, which I ended up dropping out of was computer engineering. I dropped out to become sort of a full time meditator. I looked back and go âShit I wish I hadnât done that in some ways.â In other ways Iâm really glad I did it. But I ended up transferring to a school called Naropa University and I finished my undergraduate studies in religion. We called Naropa the Harvard of Buddhism. Of course, itâs only one of three Buddhist-inspired universities so itâs bond to be one of the ivy leagues. But it was actually a really cool place to study. I met some great teachers, learned a lot about the different contemplative traditions and found it to be very valuable. But at a certain point I realize I needed to bring the technology stuff back in. So I founded a project in 2006 called Buddhist Geeks. And it was basically a friend and I interviewing different Buddhist teachers and thinkers who we liked and asking them the kind of questions we felt werenât being asked so much. And we had enough technology skills to throw together a podcast and then it actually to our vast surprise became quite popular. Within a month, we had thousands of subscribers and we were sort of the top of the iTunes list and it has stayed there since. So we realized once we started seeing that the show was being downloaded tens sometimes hundreds of thousands of times a month that we should probably continue doing it. So we did. We not only do a podcast but now we sort of expanded. | 12/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 7 | VideoBig Mind Meditation | The following video took place at the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011, and was part of the morning practice session, delivered by Diane "Musho" Hamilton. | 11/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 8 | VideoTowards a Science of Enlightenment | The following video took place at the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011, and was the opening Keynote of the event, delivered by Shinzen Young. Talk Description: How the cross-fertilization of Classical Enlightenment and the Modern Mind could radically alter the course of human history. | 10/7/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 8 Episodes |
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