Episode one
Lest We Be Scattered
Across the Face of the Earth
How can we use a vague and contradictory ancient text to understand our current reality of festering xenophobia and growing displacement?
Episode two
Antigone
The Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles wrote a short tragedy about the daughter of Oedipus, who battled with the state over the right to bury her brother who had fallen in war. The story of a grim, real-life, meta-version of the story of Antigone, playing out in the deserts of southern Arizona.
Episode three
Eight Hairs of the Buddha
In Myanmar, the story of how social media exacerbated religious and ethnic tensions, and the struggles of a nascent democracy. An excavation of the deep roots of religious tensions, and the cultural anxieties unique to Buddhist culture.
Episode four
Mindfulness and the Politics of Eating a Raisin
Buddhist practice has been transformed in the West to “mindfulness”, a therapeutic exercise that wields the power and authority of scientific studies and medical experts, as well as Human Resource specialists in some of the biggest companies in America and abroad.
This episode explores the limits of mindfulness, uncovering its roots in a neoliberal and pro-capitalist ethos. Despite all its baggage, we ask if the deepest and most radical aspects of Buddhism, rooted in compassion and transformation, might find their way to the surface anyway.