What We’re Listening To

“Deep Transformation” by Roger Walsh and John Dupuy

Cohosts Roger Walsh—a University of California, Irvine, professor and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner—and John Dupuy—an award-winning author and Integral Theory proponent—tackle perennial questions at the crossroads of science, medicine, technology, philosophy, and spirituality. The thinkers and practitioners they’ve already interviewed are impressive: A. H. Almaas, Nikki Mirghafori, Joseph Goldstein, Andrew Holecek, and David Loy, among others. This newish podcast is guaranteed to get you questioning everything.

DHARMA TALK

“Self Nature” by Josho Pat Phelan Roshi

A nun in the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, Robina Courtin has been an engaged Buddhist for many decades. Her podcast series contains short, emphatic teachings alternating with longer dharma talks, in which she conveys the urgency of the dharma: “What drives the people on the bodhisattva path is—they’re fanatics,” she said on a recent episode. “People talk in Buddhism about getting a nice balance. Forget balance, I’m sorry. Look at Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He is, I promise you, a fanatic, day and night practicing, he doesn’t bother to sleep.”

ALBUM

Rupture in the Eternal Realm by C. Lavender

C. Lavender’s latest album adds to the artist’s growing study of the Bön practice of chöd. While rituals usually involve drums, trumpets, bells, and voice, Lavender uses these as a springboard rather than a rule book, fusing them with Buchla 200 drones and tones from the Haken Continuum Fingerboard, as well as EVI and field recordings from the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Buddhist temple in Woodstock, New York. The result is an expressive and immersive work that blends ritual transcendence and otherworldly ambiance.

ALBUM

Hidemi by Patrick Shiroishi

Although Patrick Shiroishi works primarily in collaboration, Hidemi is a solo saxophone album, with Shiroishi creating haunting harmonies that explore his grandfather’s experience after being released from Tule Lake internment camp. Though his grandfather died before he was born, Shiroishi grew up hearing stories of how Hidemi fostered community as a deacon at a Buddhist temple. Continuing this work of community-building, Hidemi includes a chapbook, Tangled, featuring essays by Asian American artists that grapple with the legacies of anti-Asian violence.