The Tattooed Buddha: Recent Episodes
The Tattooed Buddha
Jaqui loved meditating and had been trying to get into a 10 day Goenka meditation retreat for awhile and when her name came up on the list to be able to go, she was very excited.
The post When Meditation Retreats Go Wrong: Suicide, Meditation and What We Can Do (Jaqui’s Story) appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
She is a Buddhist yogi in the Tibetan tradition and worked as a prevention specialist in the field of HIV and AIDS. She said she has always been a writer. She talks about her journey as a professional writer and how it can take many, many submissions to get published. We also talk about how she found The Tattooed Buddha and began writing for us here.
The post Kellie Schorr Talks Writing, Publishing and Her Latest Book: A Space Between Breaths appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
We discuss the Buddhist role in politics, what role Buddhists can, and has historically played, and how to peacefully and effectively take part in protests.
The post How Buddhists Can Be Activists and Peacfully Protest with Special Guest Daniel Scharpenburg {Podcast} appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
Rev. Myozan describes how he came to practice Zen, introduces the basics of Zen philosophy, and recalls the challenges of establishing a Zen Buddhist community in Catholic-dominated Ireland. He also explores the rituals and practices that Zen brings to everyday life, from holidays to weddings to birth ceremonies to funerals.
The post Meeting Myozan Ian Kilroy: Author of Do Not Try to Become a Buddha appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
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Do Not Try to Become a Buddha is a collection of short essays, Irish Soto Zen priest Myozan Ian Kilroy describes how he came to practice Zen, introduces some basics of Zen philosophy, and recalls the challenges of establishing a Zen Buddhist community in Catholic-dominated Ireland.
A former journalist, Rev. Myozan’s clear yet entertaining storytelling style paints a clear picture of how Zen has adapted to the culture and traditions of Ireland. Rev. Myozan describes how he came to practice Zen, introduces the basics of Zen philosophy, and recalls the challenges of establishing a Zen Buddhist community in Catholic-dominated Ireland. He also explores the rituals and practices that Zen brings to everyday life, from holidays to weddings to birth ceremonies to funerals.
Dana and Claire Parsons, Tattooed Buddha columnist and blogger at Brilliant Legal Mind, sit down and chat with Rev. Myozan about rituals and teachings, his history of working as a journalist, his current job for the last 16 years at the school of media at the Technological University Dublin. He has represented Buddhism on national radio and television, in advisory panels for the Taoiseach (Ireland’s prime minister), and in the National Day of Commemoration in Ireland, which remembers all Irish people who have died in past wars.
We talk about the current state in global politics and how Zen fits into that, and into every day life.
Podcast editor: Hallie Gornall
Do Not Try to Become a Buddha
Rev. Myozan's YouTube Channel
zenbuddhism.ie
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Ethan Nichtern is the author of Confidence: Holding Your Seat through Life’s Eight Worldly Windsand several other titles, including the widely acclaimed The Road Home. A renowned contemporary Buddhist teacher and the host of The Road Home Podcast, Ethan teaches meditation and Buddhist psychology classes and retreats online via Dharma Moon and around the US.
Kellie Schorr and Claire Parsons talk with Ethan about his new book and the concept of confidence and the idea of it being a practice. We also discuss how fear can play a role in our culture and how it can effect our ability to build confidence.
Check out the promo video where he talks about this book here. You can find his book on Amazon here.
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If you meditate, chances are you may have heard of or have used Insight Timer.
This app was brought to my attention because it wasn’t just a timer—it has classes, courses, talks and most especially it has a community. Our culture and society has become more and more digitalized. Socializing is done via messaging, texting and by using likes, dislikes and emojis. We meme, we snap, we gif, along with many other nouns that we now verb—all from our phones. It’s amazing and has connected us from one side of the globe to another.
Unfortunately it has also divided us from one side of the globe to another.
What I like about Insight Timer is that it uses this technology to connect—to find likeness and community—and brings it to the practice of meditation. In our busy-ness of life, sometimes getting to a meditation group is not ideal. Sometimes it is actually not even possible depending on where we live. Old school practices may push back, and while it is true that there is nothing better than actually meditating in a group, Insight Timer elects to fill this gap of those that need a social network of meditators.
So when one of our writers brought to our attention the open call by Insight Timer for interviews and podcasts, we jumped. Was I nervous about meeting Christopher Plowman, the CEO of Insight Timer? Yes. But that quickly faded after a he popped up on our screens and began chatting about his new puppy.
You know how people will say that someone is unexpectedly down to earth despite the fact that person is a little famous? Christopher Plowman was exactly that. In just a minute we felt like we were a group of friends chatting about meditation, and the power of one idea that snowballs into a dream.
As just a small start up company, the people at Insight Timer have worked tirelessly to keep up with technology and to stay one step ahead of what we as meditators are looking for in an app that is not only functional but a bridge to those who are all looking to find a little peace, a little connection, a little understanding, and best of all, it is at no cost.
Grab some coffee or tea and listen as we talk about how Insight Timer was born and what they hope to accomplish in the future.
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Claire Parsons started writing for us here at The Tattooed Buddha with a column titled: The Bodhisattva of Power Suits, but she is not new to writing. She started her own blog called Brilliant Legal Mind and has also written two books: How to Be a Badass Lawyer, and Mommy Needs a Minute.
Claire E. Parsons is a practicing lawyer in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, and the mom of two girls. She started meditating to manage stress and curb overthinking, but the practice changed her life. Over time, she got training and began teaching other lawyers and professionals about mindfulness. Claire is also a frequent writer and speaker for these and other organizations. She has published and spoken about numerous topics, ranging from complex legal issues, to law practice, networking and marketing, as well as mindfulness and wellness for lawyers and other professionals. She writes regularly on LinkedIn and even co-authored a book this year with 19 other women lawyers about how they used the platform to network and pursue career goals during the pandemic.
We talk about meditation, her job as a special education lawyer, her thoughts on Buddhism and how she got here to this point, and how to find time to write when she has a full schedule with career and parenting.
Check out Claire's personal blog here.
Check out Claire's books: How to be a Badass Lawyer and Mommy Needs a Minute.
Check out Claire's blog on the Tattooed Buddha: The Bodhisattva of Power Suits.
Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley and David Kelley
Link to Ben Gioia
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In this podcast, we talk about how Rod found the Dharma, his journey to writing and eventually editing for both Wisdom Publications and then later, Lion's Roar.
The post Talking with Guest Rod Meade Sperry, Editor of Buddhadharma at Lion’s Roar appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
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Rod and I have been friends on social media for awhile now but we have never interacted (as what happens often with social media and networking). We sit down and talk about how Rod found the Dharma, his journey to writing and eventually editing for both Wisdom Publications and then later Lion's Roar. Rod started his own independent magazine (zine) originally to highlight how Buddhism shows up in different areas of our culture.
We talk about Canadian winters, mindfulness and anxiety, how digital publishing is changing the way we get our information and more!
See Rod Meade Sperry's articles here at Lion's Roar.
Check out Rod's books here on Amazon.
Here is the book Rod brought up in our discussion: Relax & Be Aware: Mindfulness Meditations for Clarity, Confidence and Wisdom by Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Podcast edited by Brad Parsons at Train Sound Studio, www.trainsoundstudio.com
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Follow us on Facebook and Instagram! Interested in being a guest on our podcast? Contact us at editor@thetattooedbuddha.com.
A few weeks ago Gary Sanders went on retreat and took temporary vows to be a monk.
Gary walks us through some of the aspects of this process, such as wearing robes all of the time (including while he slept), eating only two meals a day, no dancing and singing and shaving his cherished beard. He explains why he chose to temporarily ordain, his experiences with retreats in the past and the fact that he likes to push himself. We discuss the concept of how retreats can be for the privileged, and opportunities that are available to open up these up to more people.
This was a fun conversation that could have easily gone on for much longer!
Check out Dhamma Sukha American Buddhist Forest Tradition Meditation Center
Check out The Buddhist Recovery Network
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We discuss the trauma as a result, the aspects of shunning as control and being disfellowshipped, the use of fear to control, and how Buddhism and mindfulness became a path toward healing.
The post Escaping from Jehovah’s Witnesses through a Buddhist Path appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
We meet with Holly Herring---one of our columnists for The Tattooed Buddha. We chat about Holly's work with those that are homeless, her journey to being a writer and the process of writing. We also learn about how Holly and Michelleanne Bradley met and became friends, which in turn led her to write for The Tattooed Buddha!
The post Getting to Know Holly Herring appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
We discuss meditation, neurolinguistic programming and how it can help us achieve the goals we wish toward and physical forms of meditation like yoga, Tai Chi and boxing.
The post We Meet Boyan: Mindfulness Teacher appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
We hope you enjoy listening to our dialogue with John and please check out his latest book, Dharma Talk published by Wisdom Publications!
The post Dharma Talk: Talking with John Brehm about His Latest Poetry Book {Podcast} appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
Michelleanne Bradley talks about feeling the anxiety of traveling. Seeing people rush around the airport and the feelings that accompany that, she discusses how realizing the need to face people with kindness and compassion. This translates to everyday life, not only travel.
What if we not only take care of others with this compassion and grace, but what if we also take care of ourselves with that same grace?
Today we have some guests on our podcast to discuss the role of women in Buddhism. Dana and Michelleanne talk with Mary Stancavage, Holly Herring and Ayya Yeshe. We share how we all came to practice, our history with this practice and belief in God, the types of Buddhism we all practice. Women play […]
The post Women in Buddhism {Part I} appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
Today we have some guests on our podcast to discuss the role of women in Buddhism. Dana and Michelleanne talk with Mary Stancavage, Holly Herring and Ayya Yeshe. We share how we all came to practice, our history with this practice and belief in God, the types of Buddhism we all practice. Women play an integral role in Buddhism and we discuss this and the lack of teachings and access that nuns and lay women can face.
More about Mary Stancavage here: https://marystancavage.org/about-mary-stancavage/
Find Holly Herring's writings here: https://thetattooedbuddha.com/author/holly-herring/
Ayya Yeshe's blog: https://ayyayeshe.wordpress.com/ And Ayya Yeshe's foundation: https://bodhicitta-vihara.com/aboutus/
Michelleanne Bradley's writings here: https://thetattooedbuddha.com/author/michelleanne-bradley/
Dana Gornall is the co-founder of The Tattooed Buddha and you can see her writings here: https://thetattooedbuddha.com/author/dgornall/
What exactly is a mental fitness trainer? Author Mark Van Buren explains how he came to this point in his life to become a mindfulness instructor and what led him to writing A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness and Your Life is Meditation (Wisdom Publications). We talk about the difference between “fluff” and real mindfulness in […]
The post Mark Van Buren: The Mental Fitness Trainer appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.
What exactly is a mental fitness trainer? Author Mark Van Buren explains how he came to this point in his life to become a mindfulness instructor and what led him to writing A Fool's Guide to Actual Happiness and Your Life is Meditation (Wisdom Publications). We talk about the difference between "fluff" and real mindfulness in everyday life and applying it, what to do when you f*ck up and how to get back on the cushion again.
Mark tells us about working an every day job and how a mindfulness practice helps with that and he also talks about his music career.
Buy Your Life is Meditation here.
Buy A Fool's Guide to Actual Happiness here.
See more about Mark Van Buren on his site here.
Check out his Facebook page here.
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Dr. Jon Kolkin is an internationally recognized artist with a lifetime of experience pursuing his passions while simultaneously maintaining a healthy balance between his personal and professional life. His unique strategies have allowed him to achieve a high level of success as a professional fine art photographer, physician, educator, global humanitarian, and international speaker.
He created the series Inner Harmony, which is a compilation of photos taken while immersed in Buddhist communities across Asia working primarily as a medical volunteer in under-resourced communities. For over a decade he photographed everyday life of Buddhist monastics and laypeople in Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Vietnam, India, Cambodia, Japan, Nepal and Taiwan, revealing keen insight into the otherwise hushed world of meditation and mindfulness.
Kolkin’s renowned Inner Harmony photographic series has already exhibited in numerous museum and art galleries in the U.S. and abroad, garnering 20 international photography awardsand feature coverage (twice) in LensWork magazine. Kolkin will continue to exhibit in solo and group shows through 2026.
Kolkin, who has met with the Dalai Lama on several occasions, shares His Holiness’ commitment to spreading compassion worldwide. Kolkin spearheaded the first-ever summit on Fostering Compassion and Universal Ethics through Museums, which brought museum delegates from North America to India for a conference and intimate gathering with the Dalai Lama to discuss how museums and informal learning platforms can contribute to creating a more compassionate world. Kolkin served as an advisor to the documentary film, Man of Compassion, dedicated to the life and legacy of His Holiness, featuring commentary by Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
We talk with Dr. Kolkin about his experiences while taking photos during this time of his life, what it was like to meet the Dalai Lama and the process of creativity and the heart-mind connection.
Sound editing: Duane Toops
More about Dr. Jon Kolkin here
Find the book Inner Harmony here
Tyler Lewke is a realtor, a meditation instructor, and is president of The Blue Lotus Temple and Meditation Center. He recently opened up a retreat center with Grant Goehler: the Hackmatack Retreat. The mission of Hackmatack Retreat is to provide an accessible space that becomes the physical container for deep wisdom teachings and heart-centered, transformative work. Located in Richmond, Illinois it sits on almost 30 acres of protected land in the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge in the heart of the Midwest. The land is native prairie with a winding slow river, ponds, 200+-year-old oaks, and big sky.
We talk with Tyler and Grant about their new retreat center, about Buddhism and about life.
Tyler's book, Empty, Empty, Happy, Happy can be found here.
We finally got a chance to talk to Gary Sanders! Gary is a Buddhist teacher in the Insight Tradition and has a history working with people in Buddhism and recovery. He helped found Refuge Recovery, a Buddhist-based practice for people struggling with addictions. Gary lives in Portland, Oregon and is originally from the Los Angeles area.
We talk about grief, recovery, equanimity in daily life, and Buddhism in the West.
John Brehm is the author of three full-length books of poetry, Sea of Faith, Help Is on the Way, and No Day at the Beach, all from the University of Wisconsin Press, and a chapbook, The Way Water Moves, from Flume Press. His collection of essays, The Dharma of Poetry, was recently released by Wisdom Publications and is a companion to his acclaimed anthology, The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy, also from Wisdom Publications. His poems have appeared in Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, The Sun, The Southern Review, Plume, Gulf Coast, The Missouri Review, New Ohio Review, The Writer’s Almanac, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, The Best American Poetry, The Norton Introduction to Literature, and many other journals and anthologies.
We sat down and chatted with John about poetry, how it develops along side spirituality, and "how to live in this world in a meaningful way." Duane Toops, who reviewed his book The Dharma of Poetry, joins us for this podcast.
We talk about poetry today in our contemporary world as compared to the classic poetry written ages ago, as well as the mindfulness that comes both from reading and writing poetry.
We had the opportunity to talk with Brad Wiscons. Brad has worked in physical and mental health for most of his professional career, with an emphasis on promoting safe, healthy, and engaged youth. He has worked in a diverse set of settings including community organizing, domestic violence and child abuse prevention and treatment, hospital-based health education, and inpatient treatment of youth.
Brad is the father of three brilliant children and the husband of 30 years to his dear wife, Brenda. Brad was ordained as a Buddhist Minister in the Order of Interbeing by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in 2011 with the lineage name of True Ocean of Actions. He is a founding Sangha steward of the Palomitas de Paz Sangha in Vista, California.
Currently, Brad is continuing his Buddhist practice and study, inspired by the work of Resmaa Manakem, MSW, LCSW author of My Grandmother’s Hands. Brad is focusing on helping white people do the work we need to do to become more loving and compassionate to all beings and become effective anti-racist. He is currently authoring a book about white racial trauma and is forming a new Sangha called the Polar Bear Sangha dedicated to white people seeking support to do their Buddhist work concerning anti-oppression and anti-racism. He can be reached at bjwiscons@gmail.com.
Jack Huynh is a first generation immigrant from Vietnam. Both of his parents are committed Buddhist practitioners and while he grew up around Buddhism, he did not find his own path until his early 20's.
While pursuing the American dream, he first become a software engineer during the to dot com boom. After the crash in 2001, he pivoted into becoming a photographer and never looked back.
Combining his desire to integrate his professional life with his spiritual values along with his own struggle with finding the dharma, he started a multimedia project highlighting how Buddhism is practiced through the lens of lay practitioners. Through interviews, photography and essays, he hopes that the project can benefits those curious about Buddhism as well established practitioners.
Check out his ongoing project, Beyond the Cushion. We talk to Jack about his project, working on the project during the pandemic, how he finds subjects to interview and more!
This podcast went longer than most of our podcasts because we just couldn't stop asking Guo Gu questions. He recently published Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening by Shambhala Publications. We talk about meditation methods, his life and how he began meditating at such a young age. We discuss his teenage years (his mother took him to a Zen master and asked him how to make him "more Buddhist") and his stint as a bassist in a 1980s hardcore punk band.
Find Guo Gu's book Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Approach to Awakening here: https://www.shambhala.com/silent-illumination.html or on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3r422Qc
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Dave Smith is an internationally recognized Buddhist meditation teacher, addiction treatment specialist, and published author. His background is rooted in the Insight Meditation tradition and he was empowered to teach through the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He has extensive experience bringing meditative interventions into jails, prisons, youth detention centers and addiction treatment facilities. Dave teaches residential meditation retreats and classes, provides trainings and consulting in both secular and Buddhist contexts, and works with students through his meditation mentoring program. He recently founded the Secular Dharma Foundation and lives in Paonia, Colorado.
We had a chance to sit down and talk to Dave about his path, what led him to the Dharma, recovery and addiction, and more.
David Hinton is not only a poet and researcher of Buddhism and the Chinese language, he also translates Chinese poetry, earned a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as fellowships from N.E.A. and N.E.H, the Landon Translation Award, the PEN American Translation Award, and a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
He recently wrote and published China Root: Taosim, Ch'an and Original Zen (Shambhala Publications) which explains that Ch'an was a Buddhist-influenced extension of Taoism, China’s native system of spiritual philosophy that was grounded in an earthy and empirically-based vision. He describes Ch’an as a kind of anti-Buddhism, a radical and wild practice aspiring to a deeply ecological liberation: the integration of individual consciousness with landscape and with a Cosmos seen as harmonious and alive.
Anyone curious about Zen or Ch'an Buddhism, or even interested in the origins of the Buddhism we practice today would love this book. We sit down and chat with David, and learn about how he came to be interested in Chinese culture and poetry and where he hopes to go from here.
We have chatted with Alex Kakuyo a few times on our podcasts and Alex also writes for TTB as well as many other publications...including his own blog, The Same Old Zen. Recently Alex published a book, Perfectly Ordinary: Buddhist Teachings for Everyday Life so we asked him if he would chat with us again.
Alex tells us his feelings on Buddhism, how he was drawn to it, how he once gave up all of his possessions and worked on a farm for awhile, and what it's like being perfectly ordinary and Buddhist everyday.
Deborah Eden Tull is a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, author, activist, and sustainability educator.
Brent and Dana sat down remotely from each other's homes with Eden in the midst of the pandemic to talk about her seven years training as a Buddhist monk at a silent Zen monastery at the age of 26, and some of her experience teaching mindfulness and the dharma for 19 years. Eden has also been living in, and teaching about, sustainable communities for over 25 years.
Are you vegan...enough? For some veganism can seem like an extreme lifestyle, yet more and more people are turning to a plant-based lifestyle after seeing some of the information that has come out about the health benefits such as the documentaries, Game Changers and Forks Over Knives. On top of that, the understanding and reality of factory farming, the mistreatment of animals and abuse, has also caused a compassionate change in many. But what about the stereotypes vegans have to deal with? (How do you know someone is vegan? Just way five seconds and they will tell you? What do vegans eat? Grass?)
People like Izzy Jacobus are changing that stereotype. Plant based lifestyle does not mean limitation. It does not mean you eat iceberg lettuce all day. And it does not mean you are weak. But what about the vegan community? Can you not be "vegan enough"?
Dana Gornall and Peter Schaller talk to Izzy about what a plant based eating and lifestyle is like, how we fight the stereotype and how we deal with the inner criticism that happens within inner communities.
In 2018, a woman known as Andrea Winn blew the whistle on Mipham Rinpoche, also known as the Sakyong.
The project began in 2017 as Project Sunshine, which was an effort to collect the stories and evidence of abuse in he Shambhala community. Her work became the catalyst toward an inquiry which was conducted by Carol Merchasin, a lawyer and sexual misconduct investigator, and also the lead investigator for Project Sunshine.
It seemed like that was it; the Sakyong stepped away and secluded himself and many Shambhala teachers left the organization. After hearing reports that the Sakyong was returning to a public role and performing responsibilities for Shambhala once again this year after stepping way once the allegations and investigation had occurred, Pema Chodron announced her decision to retire from Shambhala.
In this episode, we talked about the relationship between Buddhism and psychotherapy. Do they compliment each other? Is meditation a replacement for therapy? We invite guests Sensei Alex Kakuyo, Barry Magid and Gesshin Claire Greenwood to chat with us on how Buddhism fits into psychotherapy, both in the mental health setting as well in self help formats. Feel free to join the dialogue by tuning in.
The post Journey Meditation: Stephen Sokoler Talks to Us about Bridging the Technology and Mindfulness Gap appeared first on The Tattooed Buddha.