14. IBP: Ben Joffe on the paranormal, Tibetan Buddhism, UFOs & the Ngakpa - a podcast by The Imperfect Buddha Podcast

What do the Dalai Lama, the X Files, UFOs, Sex Magic, Tibetan singing bowls, Yeti-Monsters, demons, dharma, wizards, Tantra & Darwin have in common? Why, Ben Joffe of course, the latest guest on the Imperfect Buddha podcast.

Ben Joffe is a cultural anthropology PhD candidate from South Africa currently based at the University of Colorado. He specialize in the anthropology of contemporary Tibet, Tibetan exile, and Buddhism; in the study of religion, magic, witchcraft, esotericism(s), neo-paganism(s), neo-shamanism(s); and long, dangle-y earrings. His research is focused on Tibetan Buddhist non-celibate tantric ritual specialists, or ngakpa/ma who live outside of Tibet, and the globalization of Tibetan Buddhism. He is interested in how the esoteric knowledge and charisma of these long-haired tantric Buddhist wizards is currently being mediated, circulated, appropriated and contested as part of increasingly transnational networks of exchange, and as part of Tibetans’ efforts to make legible a Tibetan nation in exile and to preserve and reform Tibetan culture as stateless peoples.

Read more on his work over at Savage Minds: http://savageminds.org/author/ben/
Or at his blog A Perfumed Skull, where you can find a wealth of material: https://perfumedskull.com/

Further episodes of The Imperfect Buddha Podcast

Further podcasts by The Imperfect Buddha Podcast

Website of The Imperfect Buddha Podcast