Episode
Learn Like a Monk - A Conversation with Shoukei Matsumoto
- Published
- Feb 28, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2175
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Summary
I've always been fascinated by questions of religion and spirituality and what they have to offer the educational conversation. Clearly on the big questions of life generally, transformation, meaning, values and purpose they have a lot to say, but educationally we can very quickly find ourselves in the territory of indoctrination. And surely indoctrination is the opposite of good education This week I was so happy to chat with Shoukei Matsumoto, a secular Buddhist Monk who is doing amazing work bringing insights from Japanese Buddhist teachings and practices into leadership, economy and organisational development. And in particular his approach integrates a "post-religious" spirituality with practical methodologies for "becoming good ancestors," often mentoring corporate leaders worldwide to create emotionally intelligent and sustainable workplaces. Shoukei is a Buddhist monk, author, and Director of the Living Dharma Centre in Vancouver, Canada, where he is spearheading the revitalization of the organisation as a hub for secular spirituality. He simultaneously serves as a Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Well-being at Musashino University (Tokyo), bridging ancient wisdom and modern society to architect "Ambient Buddhism" – an environmental operating system for a post-religious age. Operating at the intersection of spirituality, technology, and ethics, Shoukei is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Leadership (2025-2026) and an alumnus of the Young Global Leaders (2013). In 2025, he was appointed as a Mercator Visiting Professor at the University of Bonn (Germany) to research AI in the human context, and joined the Vatican’s Aurora initiative to shape global frameworks for moral innovation in artificial i…