In this episode I speak with Daniela Bevilacqua. We cover hindu asceticism, its history, its aims, its culture. We discuss how contemporary ascetics are interacting with a rapidly changing and modernising India. You can listen to her Wise Studies course, Hindu Asceticism and its Spiritual Disciplines here: https://wisestudies.com/product/hindu-asceticism-and-its-spiritual-disciplines-with-daniela-bevilacqua/Daniela Bevilacqua is a South-Asianist specialising in Hindu asceticism, which she investigates through an ethnographic and historical lens. She received her PhD in Civilizations of Africa and Asia from Sapienza University of Rome and in Anthropology from the University of Paris Nanterre. Her PhD research was published by Routledge under the title Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India: The Śrī Maṭh and the Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya in the Evolution of the Rāmānandī Sampradāya. She worked as a post-doc research fellow at SOAS, for the ERC-funded Haṭha Yoga Project (2015– 2020). She has published several articles and book chapters related to asceticism, and yoga studies. She is currently a Research Fellow at SOAS.

In this episode I speak with John Danvers about his 55+ years of Zen teaching and practice. We discuss the history of Zen, awakening experiences, the art of sitting and more.You can listen to his entire Wise Studies course An Introduction to Soto Zen at wisestudies.comJohn Danvers has over fifty-five years’ experience of Zen meditation. He has no affiliation to any particular school or tradition.  Whilst he has learned a great deal from historical teachers and from people he has met over the years, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, experience has been his main teacher – especially the experience of zazen – Zen sitting meditation, which he began in 1965.For seven years he practiced zazen alone, sitting for long hours and studying what texts he could find. In the early 1970s he undertook retreats at Throssel Hole Priory in Northumberland (a Soto Zen centre), and around 1975 he had some direct teaching from a Japanese Soto Zen monk who was travelling in the UK. Since then, he has guided retreats, workshops and seminars, and has undertaken other retreats, including with Thich Nhat Hanh in 2012.In 2012 he retired as Associate Professor in Philosophy and Art Practice at Plymouth University, UK. Since then, he has been the Buddhist chaplain, and honorary associate professor, at Exeter University. In 2016 he established the Exeter Meditation Circle – one of the few secular Buddhist / secular Zen groups in the UK.Books:Picturing Mind: Paradox, Indeterminacy and Consciousness in Art & Poetry. Rodopi: Amsterdam/New York.Agents of uncertainty: mysticism, scepticism, Buddhism, art and poetry. Rodopi: Amsterdam/New YorkInterwoven Nature: relatedness and identity in a changeful world. Whitewick Press: UK.To see the light: 100 poems. Whitewick Press: UK.Artist Website: http://johndanversart.co.uk/Exeter Meditation Circle Website: http://www.meditationcircle.org.uk/

In this episode I am speaking with Ann Conway-Jones about some of the developments in  early Christianity. What was the transition like between Jews and Gentiles who went from identifying with the customs and traditions of the time to becoming followers of Christ? What defined early Christian contemplative practice? Ann teaches biblical studies, early Jewish–Christian relations, and the development of mystical theology for The Queen’s Foundation; Woodbrooke Quaker Studies Centre; Birmingham Church of England diocese; and Oxford University Department of Continuing Studies.  For six years she taught biblical Hebrew in the Department of Theology and Religion.You can hear her course Moses, Mount Sinai and Early Christian Mystics at wise studies.com

In this episode I am speaking with Dr. Karen O’Brien-Kop. Karen is Lecturer in Asian Religions and Ethics at the University of Roehampton. She was formerly Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Religions and Philosophies at SOAS University of London. Her doctoral research at SOAS was on the intertextuality of Pātañjala yoga and Buddhist yoga in the classical era. She was a co-founder of the Sanskrit Reading Room and is a committee member of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies.You can hear Karen’s excellent 4 hour audio course The Philosophy of the Yoga Sutra at wisestudies.comIn this conversation we discuss the relationship between Classical Yoga and Buddhism

In this episode I am speaking with Gavin Flood. Gavin is a Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion in the Theology and Religion Faculty and academic director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Gavin read Religious Studies and Social Anthropology at Lancaster University and taught at the universities of Wales (Lampeter) and Stirling before coming to Oxford. He was elected to membership of the British Academy in 2014. His research interests are in medieval Hindu texts (especially from the traditions of Shiva), comparative religion, and phenomenology. Two recent books are The Importance of Religion: Meaning and Action in Our Strange World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2013) and The Truth Within: A History of Inwardness in Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism (Oxford University Press, 2014) which are the starting point for our conversation. You can listen to Gavin's audio course Tantra: Theory and Practice at wisestudies.com

In this episode I speak with Sarah Shaw. Sarah received her PhD in English from Manchester University. After studying Pali and Sanskrit at Oxford, she began teaching and writing on Buddhist subjects. She has written several books on meditation theory and practice, and Jātaka literature. She is the author of several books including Introduction to Buddhist Meditation, The Jātakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta and her most recent book, The Spirit of Buddhist Meditation. She is a member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, and Wolfson College. She is a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. You can hear her two most recent audio courses The Early Teachings of the Buddha and Lives of the Buddha at wisestudies.comIn this discussion Sarah gives us a brief introduction to the Pali Canon, the collected teachings of the Buddha:Learning Sanskrit and PaliSynthesis between scholarship and practiceLay practice and traditionBackground to the composition of the Pali CanonOral and textual traditionsThe three basketsHistorical authorship of the Pali CanonHistorical accuracy of The Buddha's lifeChanting the Pali CanonThe VinayaThe SuttasThe AbhidhammaHow to read the texts

In this episode I am speaking with Dr. Karen O'Brien-Kop. Karen is Lecturer in Asian Religions and Ethics at the University of Roehampton. She was formerly Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Religions and Philosophies at SOAS University of London. Her doctoral research at SOAS was on the intertextuality of Pātañjala yoga and Buddhist yoga in the classical era. She was a co-founder of the Sanskrit Reading Room and is a committee member of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies. You can hear Karen’s excellent 4 hour audio course The Philosophy of the Yoga Sutra at wisestudies.comIn this conversation we discuss the concepts Purusha and Prakriti found in Samkhya philosophy in the Indian tradition.

In this episode I am speaking with Ruth Westoby. Ruth is a doctoral researcher in yoga and an Ashtanga practitioner. As well as offering workshops and lectures at studios and conferences, Ruth teaches on some of the principal Yoga teacher training programmes in the UK and beyond. Ruth received an MA in Indian Religions from SOAS in 2010.Her website is enigmatic.yogaYou can listen to her Wise Studies course Women In Yoga here. The topics we discuss are:Common polarities in yogic textsFemale representations or lack thereof in Hatha YogaIf female voices were more predominant in the past would that have changed the goal of yoga?The predominance of female hatha yoga practitioners todayGender essentialismAre historical practices relevant today?Evaluating historical time periods on their own terms

In this episode I am speaking with Professor Bee Scherer. Bee is a long-time practitioner of Buddhism and a global Buddhist lay teacher. Bee has studied Indic and Tibetan philology, published on karma, Nāgārjuna and early Mind-only Buddhist schools. In recent years, Bee has worked on transnational Tibetan Buddhism; radical, reform and socially engaged Buddhism in Asia; and on Buddhist perspectives on gender and sexuality.You can hear Bee’s course The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy at wisestudies.comBuddhism and the modern worldNāgārjuna the person and his philosophyQueer theory and queering Buddhism

In this episode I speak with Gwilym Beckerlegge. Gwilym studied religions at the Universities of Oxford and Lancaster. He is the author of The Ramakrishna Mission: The Making of a Modern Hindu Movement (2000) and Swami Vivekananda’s Legacy of Service: A Study of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission (2006).  You can find his course, Vivekananda and His Legacy at wisestudies.comVivekananda, a man of his timeAdvaita Vedanta practicesRamakrishnaSaint or Sage?God-realised?

In this episode I am speaking with Graham Burns. Graham is a yoga teacher and lecturer. He received his masters and PhD at SOAS the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University where he is now a senior teaching fellow. We discuss:Introduction to the UpanishadsVedanta3 schools of thought in Vedanta; Advaita, Dvaita, VishishtadvaitaDualism vs non-dualismComparing Vedanta with Samkhya & YogaCommon themes in the UpanishadsGraham's website is http://www.samanayoga.com/

Angela Voss, PhD, SFHEA is Programme Director for the MA in Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. In this podcast we discuss:Her interest in the Renaissance philosopher Marsilio FicinoThe relationship between art, religion and scienceWho were the neoplatonists?Neoplatonic ritualThe neoplatonic goalThe prominence of its practiceThe influence of neoplatonic ideas on contemporary esoteric, spiritual and scientific thoughtShe has studied and taught Western esotericism for over twenty years, and is also a musician and an astrologer. Her interest began with the Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino, who was deeply indebted to both Plato and Hermes in his desire to renew the spirit of the Christian religion (see Marsilio Ficino, 2006), and she completed a doctorate on his astrological music therapy in 1992.  She is now in the Education Faculty at Canterbury Christ Church, and is working within a transformative learning context, finding ways to bridge esoteric wisdom and reflexive scholarship. She has written extensively on Ficino, the symbolic imagination, music, astrology and divination, and she regards her vocation as a ‘walker between the worlds’, of spiritual experience and academic discourse.  Some of her publications can be found at https://canterbury.academia.edu/AngelaVoss  Her latest publication is Re-enchanting the Academy, co-edited with Simon Wilson.

In this episode I am speaking with Reverend Dr. Nicholas Buxton. Nicholas is the Director of St Antony’s Priory, in Durham, and founder of ‘Just Meditation’ and the Newcastle Meditation Centre. He has a PhD in Buddhist philosophy from the University of Cambridge and is an experienced meditation teacher and retreat leader. Publications include The Wilderness Within: Meditation and Modern Life (Canterbury Press, 2014), and Tantalus and the Pelican: Exploring Monastic Spirituality Today (Continuum, 2009).Topics discussed are:Christian contemplatives throughout historyWhat is the focus of Christian contemplative practice compared to other meditative traditions?Who were the Desert Fathers?Is there a place for austerity in modern life?How Nicholas understands Jesus, the man, and the story of Christ?Is there a distinction between religious and spiritual?Do you see religious practice on a spectrum moving from an exoteric to a deeper esoteric dimension?Is your mission to promote the contemplative side of Christianity today?What is the difference between a meditation technique and prayer?What does the Christian tradition uniquely offer to spiritual practice?How do you structure life on a typical retreat at St Antony's Priory? Links to Nicholas' projectsFacebook Page https://www.facebook.com/StAntonysPriory/St. Antony's PrioryJust meditation https://justmeditation.org/