About
Reading the title of this blog I hope you laughed. After reading a little about me, I highly encourage you to read the Samadhi Manifesto. The manifesto will tell you as much about me as a person and a practitioner as this little bio will.
I am Ryan Oelke. While my spiritual ethnicity is Buddhist, I also moonlight in the Neo-Vedanta and Sufi traditions.
Some of you might recognize me from the popular podcast, Buddhist Geeks, which I co-founded with my amazing friend and brother in the dharma, Vince Horn. For over two years I co-hosted and interviewed many wonderful Buddhist scholars and practitioners, all of which you can hear on the Buddhist Geeks’s website. In summer 2009 I left the Buddhist Geeks project for other endeavors, but I continue my contemplative journey here on My Samadhi is Hot.
I formally stepped on the path around ten years ago, in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. After exploring the various lineages of Vajrayana I found resonance in the Dzogchen tradition of Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, which continues to influence my practice today, and led me to complete a five-week solitary retreat focusing on Dzogchen practices. Over time I formed a strong and intimate relationship with my teacher, Hokai Sobol, a long time practitioner and instructor in the Shingon esoteric tradition of Japanese Vajrayana. Hokai has been invaluable in helping me progress on the path and deepen a true understanding of the Vajrayana. Currently I am completing a 100-day practice vow with Hokai’s guidance.
I also did a three-and-half year plunge in the Naropa MA Indo-Tibetan Buddhist program where I completed most of the courses in the Shedra track, excelled at Tibetan language, and even taught Tibetan as an adjunct faculty for two semesters.
In 2009 I started a poetry site, Love is Under Me. Many of the poems reflect my spiritual practice, process, and experiences. It’s on that site and My Samadhi is Hot that I look forward to sharing my experiences thus far on the path and all those to come. I hope you’ll join me with all of your fierce passion, love, and humor.
You can find out more about me at my other sites:
