Singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart is a guest host on this episode featuring publisher, author, and Buddhist teacher Sam Bercholz for a warm, searching, and frequently hilarious conversation about wakefulness, suffering, friendship, and the unruly business of being human.

At the center of the episode is Sam’s new book, Rude Awakenings: An Unconventional Guide to the Buddhist Path, a book that resists polished self-improvement in favor of meeting life’s confusion, failure, and “muck” directly. Devendra reflects on the relief of finding a spiritual book that makes room for messiness rather than just asking you to become a better version of yourself.

Together they explore Buddhist ideas of deity, compassion, habitual patterns, death, and no-self without losing sight of the everyday comedy of distraction. The two consider how easily we miss the suffering of others, how social and personal habits become convincing stories, and how compassion may arise naturally when perception begins to clear.

Devendra also revisits Sam’s graphic memoir A Guided Tour of Hell, where their exchange turns to an intimate conversation about mortality, spiritual teachers, and the rare warmth of encountering genuine wisdom.

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

Timestamps 

• 00:00—Introduction

• 01:18—Deities, Wakefulness & the Mess of Life

• 13:20—A Guided Tour of Hell & Seeing Others’ Suffering

• 19:51—Tantra, Wise Teachers & Guru Devotion

• 23:40—Death, Intimacy & Rude Awakenings

• 28:45—Advanced Buddhist Teachings

• 31:24—What Is Frivolous—and What Actually Matters?

• 34:17—“Don’t Buy It and Don’t Blow It”

• 39:36—Sam’s Next Book & His Wild San Francisco Years

• 44:12—How Devendra Became a Dharma Person