{"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":"119 Alone in a World of Wounds with Zen Abbot Shodhin Geiman","slug":"119-alone-in-a-world-of-wounds-with-zen-abbot-shodhin-geiman","published_at":"2024-08-29T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299/119-alone-in-a-world-of-wounds-with-zen-abbot-shodhin-geiman","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK6739923913.mp3?updated=1724858881","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK6739923913.mp3?updated=1724858881","summary":"Shodhin Geiman is Sensei & Abbot at Chicago Zen Center and recently retired Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University. He has written on aspects of the Dharma and on points of interface between Buddhist and Christian spirituality. His book, Alone in a World of Wounds: A Dharmic Response to the Ills of Sentient Beings (Cascade Books, 2022). Another, Obstacles to Stillness: Thoughts, Hindrances, and Self-Surrender in Evagrius and the Buddha (Fortress Press, 2023), came out in 2023. He is currently working on a book exploring the intrepid fearlessness of bodhisattvic aspiration. In this conversation we explore his views on Dharma and Activism and Engaged Buddhism as developed in his critical take on both, Alone in a World of Wounds. We discuss; 1. His two books on practice. 2. The concepts of deliverance of mind and non-adherence in the practicing life. 3. The unfashionable practices of patience and forbearance and why they matter. 4. Why mixing Buddhism and activism is not all it is cracked up to be. 5. The inherent problems with trying to serve two masters and the impact this has on dharma practice. 6. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizekis critique of the New left and activism and the call to stop and think before acting. 7. How the desire to fix the world runs in tandem with the desire to fix ourselves and how both are so deeply rooted in American Buddhism. 8. Kant and sublime objects. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"Shodhin Geiman is Sensei & Abbot at Chicago Zen Center and recently retired Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University. He has written on aspects…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5236,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-imperfect-buddha-podcast-5330299/episodes/119-alone-in-a-world-of-wounds-with-zen-abbot-shodhin-geiman/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-5330299/119-alone-in-a-world-of-wounds-with-zen-abbot-shodhin-geiman.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}