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.com

John 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:

1. Picturing Mind: Paradox, Indeterminacy and Consciousness in Art & Poetry. Rodopi: Amsterdam/New York.
2. Agents of uncertainty: mysticism, scepticism, Buddhism, art and poetry. Rodopi: Amsterdam/New York
3. Interwoven Nature: relatedness and identity in a changeful world. Whitewick Press: UK.
4. 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.com

In 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.com

In this discussion Sarah gives us a brief introduction to the Pali Canon, the collected teachings of the Buddha:

• Learning Sanskrit and Pali
• Synthesis between scholarship and practice
• Lay practice and tradition
• Background to the composition of the Pali Canon
• Oral and textual traditions
• The three baskets
• Historical authorship of the Pali Canon
• Historical accuracy of The Buddha's life
• Chanting the Pali Canon
• The Vinaya
• The Suttas
• The Abhidhamma
• How 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.com

In 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.yoga
You can listen to her Wise Studies course Women In Yoga here.

The topics we discuss are:

• Common polarities in yogic texts
• Female representations or lack thereof in Hatha Yoga
• If female voices were more predominant in the past would that have changed the goal of yoga?
• The predominance of female hatha yoga practitioners today
• Gender essentialism
• Are historical practices relevant today?
• Evaluating historical time periods on their own terms