{"podcast":{"title":"The Imperfect Buddha Podcast","slug":"the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299","podcast_index_feed_id":5330299,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/NBN9895946868","website_url":"https://imperfectbuddha.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/da8110f4-2ce8-11ec-8d53-87b3421f006a/image/imperfectbuddha2.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"The Imperfect Buddha Podcast","episode_count":127,"summary":"The Imperfect Buddha podcast has been addressing anti-intellectualism and ideological capture in western Buddhism and spirituality more broadly since its inception. It provides a space for dynamic conversations designed to bring out what is so often hidden and so often despised by critics and intellectuals engaging with contemporary forms of practice. Matthew O’Connell hosts the Imperfect Buddha podcast and writes at The Imperfect Buddha site. Email: imperfectbuddha@outlook.com. Twitter: @imperfectbuddha. Facebook: @imperfectbuddha. Original street art Buddha image by Bristol's Banksy.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-27T14:22:21.309456+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299"},"episode":{"title":"107 Simon Cox on the Subtle Body","slug":"107-simon-cox-on-the-subtle-body","published_at":"2023-05-18T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299/107-simon-cox-on-the-subtle-body","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBN8401838273.mp3?updated=1684179670","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBN8401838273.mp3?updated=1684179670","summary":"What links Vajrayana Buddhism and Vajrayogini to Alistair Crowley and the neo-Platonists? A topic of speculation, desire and imagination, the Subtle Body, also known as the energy body, is an odd phenomena with deep roots in Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism, but many are unaware that it has a rich history in European thought too. Simon Cox traces its roots in his recent work entitled The Subtle Body: A Geneology (Oxford UP, 2021). In our conversation we tackle multiple themes. Is it real or merely imaginary? Is it a feature of non-dual ontologies, or is more complex than that? Does Buddhism innovate the technology and practices of the subtle body? What happens to the subtle body in the New Age? Panpsychism, Monosomatic Normativity, Henri Bergson, Nietzsche, and much more. Simon Paul Cox, PhD, is an independent scholar and translator who works primarily in Chinese, Tibetan, and Greek. His research focuses on mysticism and the body. He is also a teacher of Chinese Martial Arts and collaborator at the Esalan Institute. He also has something common with me. Listen to the end to find out. Matthew O'Connell is a life coach and the host of the The Imperfect Buddha podcast. You can find The Imperfect Buddha on Facebook and Twitter (@imperfectbuddha). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"What links Vajrayana Buddhism and Vajrayogini to Alistair Crowley and the neo-Platonists? A topic of speculation, desire and imagination, the Subtle Body,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4571,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299/episodes/107-simon-cox-on-the-subtle-body/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299/107-simon-cox-on-the-subtle-body.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}