Michael Imperioli: Acting, Success, and the Buddhist Path (#105)

04/02/21 • 61 min

In this special episode of the Wisdom Podcast—recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat—host Daniel Aitken speaks with Michael Imperioli, best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in The Sopranos, for which he won a 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Michael is also a practicing Tibetan Buddhist and is a student of His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche.

The conversation begins with Michael recounting his initial explorations of Buddhism. He recalls how he has been a spiritual seeker since he was young and went through a series of encounters with various mystical and shamanistic traditions before connecting with Buddhism. After achieving certain levels of success with his acting career, Michael remembers feeling that something was lacking in his life and describes how Buddhist instruction and practice helped him to address this.

Michael also discusses the ways in which acting and Buddhist practice dovetail with each other, describing how some of the techniques of method acting are akin to Tibetan practices in terms of movement, vocalization, imagination, and concentration. Noting these similarities, Michael explains how acting primed him, not necessarily for Buddhist practice itself, but for developing the motivation to learn more and delve deeper into the Vajrayana tradition.

Please note: this episode was recorded over Zoom as a Wisdom Dharma Chat and is presented here in its original form, but with the Q&A portion removed. Click here to learn about past and future Dharma Chats.

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Previous Episode

Anne C. Klein: Finding Wholeness in the Dzogchen Path (#104)

In this special episode of the Wisdom Podcast—recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat—host Daniel Aitken speaks with Anne C. Klein (Lama Rigzin Drolma), professor of religion at Rice University and a founding director and resident teacher of Dawn Mountain, a center for contemplative study and practice in Houston.

Anne brings us into the world of translating Tibetan and of the Nyingma tradition. She tells us how she met her teacher Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche, a known scholar and hidden Dzogchen master, and how his teachings led to her translation of the book Strand of Jewels.

Anne also discusses her relationship with Adzom Rinpoche, telling us how they initially met in Tibet many years ago and about their upcoming book with Wisdom about Jigme Lingpa’s pithy Dzogchen teachings. She illuminates how Dzogchen contributes to a developing sense of wholeness, and how as a fruitional path it helps one uncover how the true nature of all things is wisdom.

This episode features a song from Jetsun Khacho Wangmo. You can hear more of her music here.

Anne C. Klein is professor and former chair of the religion department at Rice University. She is also a lama in the Nyingma tradition and a founding director and resident teacher of Dawn Mountain, a center for contemplative study and practice in Houston.

Below are the photos mentioned in the episode.

Adzom Rinpoche:

Jetsun Khacho Wangmo:

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Next Episode

John Brehm: The Dharma of Poetry (#106)

For this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken interviews poet and teacher John Brehm. Wisdom is proud to have published two of John’s books: his collection The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy, which came out in 2017, and his 2021 book The Dharma of Poetry.

In this episode we explore the fascinating and profound territory where spirituality and poetry come together, with John as our expert guide. John shares specific practices and ideas that will deepen and enhance your experience of reading poetry, including:

the specific techniques he uses for teaching the integration of poetry and spiritual practice;
how to mindfully read and reflect on your favorite poems, interacting with them on a deeper level;
how to approach poems from a nondual perspective, and how poems in turn can create a nondual experience for the reader;
what a meditative writing process looks like;
what it means to become intimate with a poem;
and much more.

John Brehm is the author of three books of poems—Sea of Faith, Help Is On the Way, and No Day at the Beach—and the associate editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. He teaches at the Mountain Writers Series in Portland, Oregon and the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, Colorado. He also offers a monthly Poetry as Spiritual Practice gathering online and leads mindfulness retreats with his wife, Alice Boyd, that include movement, guided meditation, and mindful poetry discussions.

The post John Brehm: The Dharma of Poetry (#106) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.