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In this episode, the Dharma Oveground and Buddhist Geeks get enlightened, Francois Laurelle and the non-Buddhists speculate, Hokai Sobol and Kenneth Folk do their own thing. Matthew and Stuart cross the line and fumble over names.
This is part 2 of our first real episode exploring a number of innovative elements in contemporary western Buddhism. We move on in our discussion from Tibet to look at the Pragmatists that emerged from the Dharma Underground and the intelligent destruction of Buddhism fuelled by French and German speaking philosophers in the form of Non-Buddhism.
We also bring in some considerations of the significance of the claims of enlightenment made by a number of the Pragmatists and the importance of some of the critique made by Glenn Wallis and his cohorts.
Enjoy and leave feedback, criticisms, complaints and observations at our Facebook page, Twitter feed or here.
The next episode will feature a special guest and discuss Buddhist cults!
Show notes can be find here with links to all the characters mentioned:
IBP 2.2
This episode explored the pragmatists and the non-Buddhists. There was a lot to say and much more to discuss in future episodes. This overview provided multiple references to teachers, writers, anarchists and rebels. The links below concern the core figures and materials mentioned with a number of links provided to PDF files for further reading, podcast episodes for further listening, and more.
Feel free to leave comments directly at Soundcloud on today’s episode or at our dedicated Facebook page. Spread the love, or hate, via Twitter.
Episode 3.1 will delve into cults and our current understanding of the terminology used by amateurs and the pros to define the many faced phenomena. We’ll also discuss what it is that drives people to follow cults and some of the antidotes that can help people find their way back into the world.
Episode 3.2 will feature our first interview with a monk following Tibetan Buddhism who got out of a Buddhist cult and has put together one of the best resources out there for informing yourself about Buddhism’s dark side in the West.
Show links
Post-traditional Buddhism http://posttraditionalbuddhism.com/about
Dharma Overground
Website http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/home
Vince Horn & Buddhist Geeks
Personal site http://www.vincenthorn.com
Buddhist Geeks http://www.buddhistgeeks.com
Daniel Ingram
Personal site http://integrateddaniel.info
‘Mastering the Core teachings of the Buddha’, free PDF https://imperfectbuddha.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/60315-1347785055665.pdf
Talk on enlightenment at Buddhist Geeks http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2007/02/bg-006-you-can-do-it
Kenneth Folk
Personal site http://kennethfolkdharma.com
Talk on enlightenment at Buddhist Geeks http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us
Hokai Sobol
Personal site http://www.hokai.info
‘Upgrading to Post-traditional Buddhism’ http://www.hokai.info/2011/05/upgrade-to-post-traditional/
‘Can Dharma Help us Turn the Corner?’ with Terry Patten http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2010/03/bg-163-can-dharma-help-us-turn-the-corner/
‘Imaging the Buddha’ http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2014/12/bg-345-imaging-buddha/
Ann Gleig
‘From Buddhist Hippies to Buddhist Geeks: the emergence of Buddhist Postmodernism’ http://www.globalbuddhism.org/15/gleig14.pdf
Glenn Wallis
Personal site http://glennwallis.com
Won Institute page http://www.woninstitute.edu/index.php?page=AMS-Faculty
‘Basic Teachings of the Buddha’ http://www.amazon.com/Teachings-Buddha-Modern-Library-Classics/dp/0812975235/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
‘Buddhist Manifesto’ PDF https://www.academia.edu/727550/Buddhist_Manifesto
‘Nascent Speculative Non-Buddhism’ PDF at the Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideology http://jsri.ro/ojs/index.php/jsri/article/view/710
Speculative Non-Buddhism
Main site http://speculativenonbuddhism.com/about-2
‘Buddhist Anti-Intellectualism’ http://speculativenonbuddhism.com/2011/10/25/buddhist-anti-intellectualism
Non + X Journal http://www.nonplusx.com
‘Cruel Theory – Sublime Practice’ http://www.amazon.com/Cruel-Theory-Practice-Revaluation-Buddhism/dp/8792633234
Tom Pepper
Faithful Buddhist site http://faithfulbuddhist.com/about
Book, collection of core articles from his site http://www.amazon.com/The-Faithful-Buddhist-English-Edition-ebook/dp/B00KXFTNLY
Matthias Steingass
Personal site, mainly in German http://unbuddhist.com
Patrick Jennings and Non-Buddhism
The Non-Buddhist site http://thenonbuddhist.com/about
The Imperfect Buddha Podcast 
Good podcast.
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Thanks Al. Glad you like it.
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Nice work, gentlemen. Thank you for educating and entertaining me. Looking forward to many more episodes.
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Appreciate the kind comment.
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Important work you guys are doing here, very informative and nicely done–on top of that, it’s entertaining–especially thanks for using this audio format, for making it feel a bit more “real” . Looking forward like others to what you bring here in the future.
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Hi Danny,
Thank you for your kind comments. I’m glad you like the way we’re working. We both feel what we’re doing has been absent from current discourse, so here we are to do our best fill a gap.
Matthew
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Very interesting podcast. I feel like I’m pretty aware of a lot that goes on in western buddhism, but I was totally unaware of the SNB project. I find it interesting. I am familiar with pragmatic dharma. What do these two groups disagree on? Maybe I missed that in the podcast.
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Hi Mark,
In order to understand the answer to the question, you’d have to delve deeper into the world of SNB. They disagree on what can be done with meditation practice, its significance and the role of ideology and modern day culture in the creation of the individual. In truth, and I think we tried to make this point in the podcast episode, I believe they are both doing good work that is complimentary.
Have a look at this post by Patrick Jennings on what non-Buddhism is and see if you get any answers from it:
http://thenonbuddhist.com/2015/08/03/buddhismnon-buddhismnon-philosophy/
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Thank you for the reply, Matthew. This is all interesting to me. I feel some connection to it as a person who has been doing Buddhist stuff for some time now and whose perspective on it is changeable. Thanks for putting this info out. Lots more for me to explore.
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