Thresholds of Consciousness: Mind, Mysticism & Culture

Richard K. Payne is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley and an ordained Shingon priest. In this conversation he talks about how he came to Buddhist studies, from growing up near the Japanese American community in the South Bay to training on Mount Kōya while researching the tantric fire ritual, or homa, which became the center of his scholarly career.From there we turn to his new book, Tantra Across the Buddhist Cosmopolis, and the questions it raises about how religion gets studied.Payne argues that ritual comes before the doctrines used to explain it, possibly reaching back to the earliest human work of keeping a fire alive. He describes practice and doctrine as two semi-autonomous systems rather than belief dictating behavior. He also makes the case that Buddhism spread through multidirectional networks of monks, merchants, and pilgrims, not one-way arrows on a map, and that tantric Buddhism was once widespread across Southeast Asia, where Atisha spent as many years studying as he later spent in Tibet.We also discuss why tantra can’t be neatly defined, his alternative approach of context, use, and designation, and what “transgressive” really means. We close with how Buddhism reached the West already framed as psychology, and what that framing leaves out: the body, the social world, and the idea that the Buddha mind is not confined to the meditation cushion.Richard's webpage: https://rkpayne.wordpress.comSome books authored or edited by Richard:Tantra Across the Buddhist Cosmopolis: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/tantra-across-the-buddhist-cosmopolis-9780195368475?lang=en&cc=usOxford Encyclopedia of Buddhism: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-encyclopedia-of-buddhism-9780190256890?cc=us&lang=en&Language in the Buddhist Tantra of Japan:https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/language-in-the-buddhist-tantra-of-japan-9781350152090/Secularizing Buddhism: https://www.shambhala.com/authors/o-t/richard-k-payne/secularizing-buddhism-9781611808896.html

Susan Schwartz, PhD, is a Jungian analyst and the author of Absent Fathers, Yearning Sons. In this conversation, we explore what happens when the father-son bond is missing not just physically, but emotionally, and how that absence lives on in the body, in relationships, and across generations.We talk about Freud and Jung's own absent fathers and how that shaped their relationship and their work, why so many fathers struggle to express love, the myth of the son leaving the father's kingdom, and what it means for a son to be truly "seen." We also go deep into the body: how father absence shows up as disconnection from embodiment, the split between logos and eros, and what the myths of Narcissus and Daedalus and Icarus reveal about envy between fathers and sons.here is a link to Dr. Schwartz's books:https://susanschwartzphd.com/product-category/books/0:00 Cold open1:14 What prompted the book6:11 Freud, Jung, and their own absent fathers12:13 Why fathers struggle to express love24:21 Absence beyond the physical30:30 A repair story: father and adult son reconnecting32:32 Cultural models of emotionally present men34:30 The body: fathers, sons, and disconnection from embodiment40:37 Body, the feminine, and eros vs. logos47:41 Intergenerational contamination (I Ching hexagram 18)54:35 Kafka and his father — the "vampire" father image56:57 Envy between father and son (Daedalus and Icarus)1:06:04 Self-hatred and the after-effects of envy1:13:20 Relatedness and "depth"1:16:18 Numbness and its disguises1:22:42 Being seen1:24:13 Where to find Susan's workMusic by BensoundLicense code: TLQU6LI0CKRQSBZPArtist: : Diffie BosmanThresholds of Consciousness is a production of Madrone Hollow Productions © 2026 Scott MenascoAll rights reserved.scottmenasco.com*The content presented on this channel is intended for educational, informational, and reflective purposes only and is not a substitute for medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment, diagnosis, or professional advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host*

Karma and rebirth are central to the Buddhist worldview. In this conversation, I sit down with Roger R. Jackson, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies and Religion at Carleton College and author of Rebirth: A Guide to Mind, Karma, and Cosmos in the Buddhist World, to trace these ideas from their roots in Vedic ritual through the Buddha's rework of Indian cosmology, and into the four paradigms Buddhists use to relate to rebirth today: literalism, neo-traditionalism, modernism, and secularism.We talk about:How a post office job in 1970s Oakland financed a life-changing trip to NepalThe shift from ritual karma to ethical karma, and what makes an act "heavy"Why the Buddha's teaching of no-self doesn't rule out rebirth, and what actually carries forwardWhether Buddhist cosmology leaves room for free willTranslating dukkha as "suffering" vs. "anxiety" The Thurman–Batchelor debate over whether Buddhism requires literal rebirthAbout Roger R. Jackson, PhDRoger R. Jackson is Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies and Religion at Carleton College, with nearly 50 years of experience studying and practicing Buddhism, particularly in the Tibetan tradition. He is the author of several books, including Rebirth: A Guide to Mind, Karma, and Cosmos in the Buddhist World (Shambhala, 2022), Mind Seeing Mind: Mahāmudrā and the Geluk Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism (2019), and Is Enlightenment Possible? (1993).Rebirth book link: https://www.shambhala.com/rebirth.htmlShambhala author page : https://www.shambhala.com/authors/g-n/roger-r-jackson.html

Music: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videosLicense code: OWNYDWAA0LEPCBU0Artist: : Yunior ArronteThresholds of Consciousness is a production of Madrone Hollow Productions © 2026 Scott MenascoAll rights reserved.scottmenasco.com*The content presented on this channel is intended for educational, informational, and reflective purposes only and is not a substitute for medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment, diagnosis, or professional advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host*

Brook Ziporyn, PhD, is the Mircea Eliade Professor of Chinese Religion, Philosophy, and Comparative Thought at the University of Chicago and a scholar of Chinese religion and philosophy. In this conversation, we explore Tiantai Buddhism, a school of Chinese Buddhist thought that developed a radically inclusive philosophy: the idea that nothing, not even delusion or evil, stands outside enlightenment.We talk through the origins of Tiantai as Chinese Buddhists worked to reconcile centuries of contradictory Indian texts, the shift from two truths to three, and what it means to say a cup is only a cup because we're ignoring almost everything else it could be. We also get into the famous "three thousand realms in one moment of thought," and what it means for delusion and enlightenment to mutually include each other rather than one canceling out the other.This is dense material, and Ziporyn expresses the depth and profundity of it.Emptiness and Omnipresence: An Essential Introduction to Tiantai Buddhism (Indiana University Press, 2016)https://www.amazon.com/Emptiness-Omnipresence-Essential-Introduction-Philosophies/dp/025302112XExperiments in Mystical Atheism: Godless Epiphanies from Daoism to Spinoza and Beyond (University of Chicago Press, 2024)https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo230169826.html

Father Francis Tiso is a Catholic priest who has spent more than three decades studying and practicing within Tibetan Buddhism. His book Rainbow Body and Resurrection examines extraordinary phenomena reported among accomplished Tibetan practitioners and asks what they might illuminate about the resurrection of Christ.We talk about how that research began, through his long friendship with Brother David Steindl-Rast, and where it led him: to Tibet in 2000, to sixteen years of work before he was willing to publish, and recently to four and a half days alone in total darkness at a retreat in Germany.Along the way we get into the Shroud of Turin, the Syriac Christian mystics who described discs of light in their letters to one another, the difference between the light phenomena of tummo practice and those of dark retreat, and what he calls the neglected middle term in every contemplative tradition: virtue.Father Francis Tiso is a priest of the Diocese of Isernia-Venafro in Italy, where he serves as chaplain to migrant communities. He holds a doctorate from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary, where he specialized in Buddhist studies, and teaches Tibetan Buddhism at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. From 2004 to 2009 he was Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.His books include Liberation in One Lifetime (2014) and Rainbow Body and Resurrection (2016). A new book, Discerning Stirrings, is out this year from En Route Books.Rainbow Body & Resurrection link:https://www.amazon.com/dp/1583947957?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallbackDiscerning Stirrings:https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/discerningstirrings/ 0:00 — Cold open1:25 — Welcome and why this conversation1:57 — Who comes knocking: the people who can't talk to clergy3:26 — Iboga, bitter leaf, and working with migrants5:37 — Brother David Steindl-Rast turns 1007:41 — Four and a half days in total darkness8:43 — Penitence, dreams, and the Syriac Christian mystics12:52 — How Brother David set the rainbow body research in motion17:26 — Tibet, and sixteen years before publishing21:54 — The Shroud of Turin28:12 — Biophotons and light inside the body31:14 — Dark retreat versus the Six Yogas of Naropa34:30 — Heat yoga, the central channel, and spheres of light39:24 — Inside the dark retreat: strobing, visions, the man of the Shroud43:32 — When "interreligious dialogue" isn't the right words46:44 — John Paul II: continue this dialogue50:46 — Participant observer, and the new book Discerning Stirrings55:13 — Where Christianity and Buddhism actually diverge1:02:24 — Emptiness, sin, and bridal mysticism1:06:30 — What each tradition teaches about compassion1:09:49 — Virtue: the neglected middle term1:13:06 — Why this matters now1:14:40 — Closing blessing