January 29, 2021
In this episode, Wendy speaks with Buddhist scholar and teacher Anne Klein. They speak about the role of the body in practice and transformation, and touch on many topics, including:
- her interest in Buddhism as a lens on the mind;
- the role of the body in contemplative practice;
- the dangers of not being embodied;
- microphenomenology;
- Eastern conceptions of the subtle/energy body;
- the construction of self and other;
- how the body can help us break out of rigid self-concepts;
- the power of the imagination;
- why we think things will always stay the same;
- and how studying the feminine sheds light on interdependence.
Anne Klein teaches Buddhism and Tibetan language at Rice University, where she is Professor of Religion. She is also co-founder of Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism in Houston, where she teaches traditional practices and texts as well as basic life-arts such as resting in awareness and kindness. Her passion is for understanding how knowing works, especially knowing our minds and bodies, and thereby gaining compassion for everyone who also lives with mind and body. Anne is the author of seven books, including Knowledge & Liberation, Meeting the Great Bliss Queen, and Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of Transmission. She is also long-time Fellow at the Mind & Life Institute.
Resources
Website: Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism
Twitter: @AnnieRigzin
- Lecture: Mindful Embodiment and the Senses: Touch, Vision, and Song
- Paper: Imagining the Real: Buddhist Paths to Wholeness in Tibet (2020)
- Chapter: Seeing Mind, Being Body: Contemplative Practice and Buddhist Epistemology (2013)
- On microphenomenology: Petitmengin, C et al (2019). Studying the experience of meditation through microphenomenology.
- Article mentioned in the episode (“the vice of nouning”): Barsalou, LW, Wilson, C, Hasenkamp, W (2010). On the vices of nominalization and the virtues of contextualizing.
- Catherine Kerr (discussed in the episode) TEDx Talk: Mindfulness Starts with the Body
View or download a transcript of this episode
Podcast Extra: Anne speaks about the work of Dawn Mountain (4 min)