''Buddhist Geeks'' is a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

, online magazine and annual conference with a primary focus on

American Buddhism The term American Buddhism can be used to describe all Buddhist groups within the United States, including Asian-American Buddhists born into the faith, who comprise the largest percentage of Buddhists in the country. American Buddhists come from ...

. It was established in 2006 by Vince Horn and Ryan Oelke. Past guests have included

Brad Warner Brad Warner (born March 5, 1964) is an American Sōtō Zen monk, author, blogger, documentarian and punk rock bass guitarist. Biography Brad Warner was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1964. His family traveled for his father's job and Warner spent so ...

Shinzen Young is an American meditation teacher. He leads residential and phone-based meditation retreats for students interested in learning the Vipassana (insight) tradition of Buddhism. Shinzen was originally ordained in Japan as a monk in the Shingon (Ja ...

, and

B. Alan Wallace Bruce Alan Wallace (born 1950) is an American author and expert on Tibetan Buddhism. His books discuss Eastern and Western scientific, philosophical, and contemplative modes of inquiry, often focusing on the relationships between science and Buddh ...

. Jack Kornfield commented on the first Buddhist Geeks conference was: "It's clear that the electronic virtual interconnected web and on-line world is the wild way the Dharma stream is flowing, and the geeks have their minds dialed into the revolutionary next generation." In 2012, Vincent Horn and Rohan Gunatillake were featured in

Wired UK ''Wired UK'' is a bimonthly magazine that reports on the effects of science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy. Owned by Condé Nast Publications, it is ...

's Smart List 2012.

History

Founders Vince Horn and Ryan Oelke noticed how there was little in the media specifically addressing the interests of Westerners in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

, and decided to create a

to fill the gap. It first appeared in 2007. Horn and Oelke were both Religious Studies students of

Naropa University Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university describes itself as B ...

, a Buddhist-inspired

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capac ...

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Gwen Bell joined within six months, and remained with the team for approximately one year.

Podcast

By 2010, podcast downloads had exceeded 1 million. To date, more than 330 episodes have been produced, including interviews,

dharma talks A Dharma talk (Sanskrit) or Dhamma talk (Pali) or Dharma sermon (''Japanese'': , ''Chinese'': ) is a public discourse on Buddhism by a Buddhist teacher. In Theravāda Buddhism, the study of Buddhist texts and listening to Dhamma talks by monks o ...

, and other topics of interest to people involved in modern

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

teaching and practice. These often include explorations of the interface between Buddhism and branches of modern science, such as

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...

. Occasionally interviewees have been invited from outside the Buddhist community, where their concerns might present matters of interest to Buddhist practitioners.

Online magazine

To support increasing interest from the

community, the website or online magazine was updated in 2009. The Buddhist Geeks website is the online magazine, with pages for each podcast episode as the primary content, with additional video media and blog posts.

Conference

In 2010 Buddhist Geeks left the purely digital world with its first in-person event, the Buddhist Geeks Conference. The first event, held in the summer of 2011 in Los Angeles, has been featured in many publications, including Tricycle, Fast Company, and the LA Times. Since then the conference has become an annual event, featuring talks, round table discussions, and meditation. The Buddhist Geeks Conference 2012 took place August 9 through 11th in the University Memorial Center on the Colorado University campus; the 2013 Conference was in the same venue, August 16 through 18th.

References

External links

*
LA Times Overview of Conference

Tricycle Review of Conference

Wired UK Smart List Story

Boulder Daily Camera story
{{Podcast platform links Buddhist media Online magazines published in the United States Audio podcasts Magazines established in 2009 American podcasts 2007 podcast debuts Religion and spirituality podcasts