Episode 7 of This Very Moment features Zen teacher, meditator, and author Diane Musho Hamilton in a rich conversation about learning to be with life as it is.

Diane shares how early encounters with loss and grief left her existentially overwrought. Despite being raised in a family with strong spiritual roots in the Mormon tradition and surrounded by a nurturing natural landscape, she felt that life’s deeper questions were left unanswered. Literature and philosophy were helpful guides, but she needed something more. That something was first discovered at the Naropa Institute (now Naropa University), later deepened with her teacher Genpo Roshi, and further expanded by her training and practice with Ken Wilber and the Integral Institute.

According to Diane, “If Trungpa Rinpoche revealed the Dharma world and Genpo Roshi introduced me to emptiness and to the depths of zazen, then I would say that Ken Wilber gave me permission to evolve and to consider questions and perspectives about spiritual practice that are really pertinent to our time.”

Modeling the profound impact of her Buddhist training, Diane vividly describes how she uses life’s suffering and hardship as a path to awakening, relying on “the confidence that there is something profound, enduring, and inherent that knows how to be with what is.”

In a final comment, Diane summarizes key themes of her newest book, Waking Up and Growing Up, coauthored with her student Gabe Kaigen Wilson, explaining the importance of training in contemplative depth and relationship skills for contemporary practitioners. The conversation closes with her current focus on succession, community, and the simple, enduring happiness of tending a garden.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction   Host framing the conversation and Diane’s work.

00:00:56 – Childhood & Early Life in Rural Utah  First question begins about her upbringing and earliest memories.

00:02:10 – Mormon Culture & Family Religious Influence  Deeper shift into Mormon identity, family structure, and worldview.

00:08:36 – Discovering Buddhism & Naropa Institute  Clear transition into her exposure to Buddhism and formal study.

00:12:59 – Zen Practice & Spiritual Teachers  Shift into deeper training, including Zen lineage and mentorship.

00:16:03 – Mediation Work & Conflict Resolution Path  First explicit pivot into her professional work in mediation.

00:28:07 – Communication, Shadow Work & Facilitation  Expansion into applied work: communication, conflict, and integration.

00:50:52 – Presence, Awareness & “This Very Moment”  Conversation lands in core philosophy of awareness and lived practice.

In this episode, musician and visual artist Devendra Banhart sits down with Ivan Bercholz for an intimate conversation about how Buddhist practice, books, and subculture have shaped his life and work, leading him to This Very Moment.

From his early years of skateboarding (before it was cool) to his segue into indie-folk music, Devendra has always leaned into counterculture, providing the perfect foundation to esotericism and the Buddhadharma. Raised in a spiritual home, Devendra’s parents practiced and studied with a Hindu teacher; however, through his own exploration and experience, he discovered that the Buddhist teachings are the one true support for his life, art, and music. With honesty, depth, and humor, Devendra describes his interactions with his root teacher, Neten Chokling Rinpoche, as well as Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, which pushed him to go beyond doubt, hardship, and insecurity both as an artist and a practitioner. Through winding storytelling, Devendra shares his deep appreciation of the universal spiritual principles that he’s encountered through books, teachers, and music, while returning again and again to his personal devotion to the Buddhist teachings.

Watch this interview or read the episode show notes at shambhala.com/podcast.

Timestamps

00:00 Devendra Banhart on Spirituality, Music & Creative Life

09:04 Religion, Culture & Finding Community

15:38 Skateboarding, Freedom & Everyday Joy

21:14 Stage Fright, Performing & Substances in Music

27:51 The Sacrifices of a Creative Life

34:00 Why Spiritual Certainty Can Be Dangerous

39:36 Laurie Anderson and Other Influences

54:00 Performing Against My Will & Working with Fear

01:03:46 Lamas Are Superheroes

In this intimate conversation, eminent Tibetan Buddhist master and scholar Ringu Tulku Rinpoche traces his extraordinary life shaped by exile, rigorous study, a lifetime of practice and teaching across cultures, leading him to this very moment.

He describes his early years studying and practicing under Khenpo Tsöndrü, the Sixteenth Karmapa, and his main teacher Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, as well as a variety of teachers from the Kagyu Nyingma, Geluk, and Sakya traditions lending to his rimé (nonsectarian) training. Rinpoche also highlights two major lay influences: Professor N. C. Sinha, who shaped his understanding of history and ethics, and Freda Bedi, who nurtured his English, cross-cultural awareness, and early teaching activity.

Reminiscing on his early education, Rinpoche describes his experiences studying at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath and later his unanticipated 8-year appointment translating textbooks into Tibetan for the education department in Sikkim, followed by 17 years of teaching Tibetan Language and Literature at the college level before “retiring” and continuing his teaching internationally.

Since 1990, Rinpoche has been traveling and teaching Buddhism at over 50 universities, institutes, and Buddhist centers in Europe, Australia, Asia, and North America, as well as participating in interfaith dialogues and academic conferences, making him a true nomad and advocate of the nonsectarian impulse.

Watch this interview or read the episode show notes at shambhala.com/podcast.

*Photo of Rinpoche courtesy of Gerry McCulloch.

Timestamps

00:00:38 – Growing up in Kham

00:05:19 – Early memories and inspiration

00:12:27 – Meeting his root guru, Digo Khyentse Rinpoche

00:25:32 – The friendship between Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa

00:27:41 – Non-Buddhist influences (Professor N. C. Sinha and Freda Bedi)

00:32:32 – The transition from student to teacher

00:41:06 – Teaching internationally

00:54:09 – The production of the Lazy Lama Looks at Buddhist Meditation book series

00:57:15 – Current projects and activities

01:03:50 – The most important teaching

Books by the Author

• Path to Buddhahood: Teachings on Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation
• The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great: A Study of the Buddhist Lineages of Tibet
• Confusion Arises as Wisdom: Gampopa’s Heart Advice on the Path of
• Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha
• Mind Training