5. Martin Aylward - The Naked Monk

Stephen Schettini talks with Martin Aylward on the question, “Does Buddhism Matter?”

Martin Aylward spent five years exploring meditation in India and Thailand and now teaches at his centre in France and throughout the world. He emphasizes contact with Nature as a resource for Awakening, and he has taught for several years under the banner of Work Sex Money Dharma.

In this conversation we discuss the pragmatic side of Buddhism, as opposed to its ideas or beliefs. We compare Buddhism with other contemplative traditions and ask whether contemplativeness is entering the mainstream. We look at American and other emerging forms of Buddhism. We talk about monastic life and samadhi versus the engaged life, about evolved as opposed to pathological mystical experience, about atheists & the concerns of modern culture and about whether consciousness is necessarily destined to evolve.