Sutras & Stuff: A Philosophy Podcast

In this episode, I talk with Catherine Tan, Philosophy Lecturer at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, about Indian materialism, skepticism, and overlaps with Chinese Philosophy.
April 11, 2026: This is a revised version of the original podcast. The episode now includes spoken credit for Kevin MacLeod’s music, “Brittle Rille,” which I use for the show.
Further Resources
Christine Tan’s website: https://tanchristineabigail.com/
Cārvāka: https://iep.utm.edu/indmat

Podcast Episodes on Jayanta Bhatta’s play: Part 1: https://anchor.fm/malcolm-keating/episodes/Episode-9-Much-Ado-about-Religion--Part-1-eovu0c Part 2: https://anchor.fm/malcolm-keating/episodes/Much-Ado-about-Religion-Part-2-epn4fc
Music Credits:
“Brittle Rille,” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

It seems like everyone, from companies to online influencersto fitness coaches, talk about having mantras. But what are mantras,anyway? In this episode, we'll talk about how they compare to birdsong, Tibetansinging bowls, and spells at Hogwarts, as well as some ancient debates aboutwhether they mean anything, and why that matters.
 
Listen to more episodes of Sutras & Stuff at www.sutrasandstuff.com.
 
Sounds and Music
All music excerpts and soundbites used with an understandingof fair use modification for educational purposes.
Theme music by­ https://incompetech.filmmusic.io Kevin MacLeod’s music 
Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
LoungeAmbient Music Loop by user orangefree sound, posted to Freesound.com on July 8,2014. https://freesound.org/people/orangefreesounds/sounds/242080/
Tibetan Chantingby user djgriffin, posted to Freesound.com on February 7, 2006. https://freesound.org/people/djgriffin/sounds/15488/
Sources
Documentary Educational Resources. “Altar of Fire – Preview.”YouTube video, posted Sept 19, 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvvI3bIAgVA
 
Dictionary.com. “The Meanings Behind “Harry Potter” Spells.”July 29, 2019. https://www.dictionary.com/e/s/rowling-spells/
 
Grimes, Samuel. “Where Did ‘Tibetan’ Singing Bowls ReallyCome From?” Tricyle. Mar 4, 2020. https://tricycle.org/article/tibetan-singing-bowls/
 
McGill University. “Do Birdsong and Human Speech ShareBiological Roots?” YouTube video, posted Nov 22, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heMy6dlWvkQ
 
Staal, Frits. “Mantras and Bird Songs.” Journal of theAmerican Oriental Society 105, no. 3 (1985): 549-558.

Just keep swimming!

Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Does what goes around always come around? And is instant karma gonna get you? In the first episode of a season devoted to Sanskrit-to-English loanwords, we’ll examine how three groups of Indian philosophers understand karma: Jains, Buddhists, and Naiyayikas (or Nyaya philosophers).
Sounds and Music
All music excerpts and soundbites used with an understanding of fair use modification for educational purposes.
Drake featuring Bryson Tiller, “Bad Karma”
Alicia Keys, “Karma”
John Lennon and Yoko Ono with The Plastic Ono Band, “Instant Karma! (We all Shine On)”
Taylor Swift, “Karma”
Indigo Girls, “Galileo”
Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”
Fox News clips:
Joey Jones, July 2021
Sean Hannity, August 2017
Theme music by­ https://incompetech.filmmusic.io Kevin MacLeod’s music
Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Bibliography and Further Reading
My YouTube lecture on Milinda’s Questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBqC43PK8Q
Bronkhorst, Johannes. Karma. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2011. http://muse.jhu.edu/pub/5/monograph/book/1739.
Finnegan, Bronwyn. “Karma, Responsibility, and Buddhist Ethics.” In The Oxford Handbook of Moral Psychology, by Manuel Vargas and John Doris, 7–23. Oxford University Press, 2022.
McDermott, James. “Kamma in the Milindapañha.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 97, no. 4 (October - December 1977): 460-468.
Hermann Jacobi’s translation of the Ācāraṅgasūtrahttps://www.wisdomlib.org/jainism/book/acaranga-sutra

Taylor Swift says karma is her boyfriend, and Boy George sings about karma chameleons. In addition to “karma,” there are lots of other Sanskrit terms which have made their way into English: yoga, dharma, mantra, guru, Buddha, swastika, and more. In this season, we’ll focus on one word an episode to get a deeper understanding of what they meant in their original contexts, and how these meanings resonate today.
Episodes of Season Four will air the first Friday of every month, beginning January 6, 2023. Subscribe anywhere you can download podcasts.
Music & Effects Credits:
"Brittle Rille" by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Karma" by Taylor Swift
Excerpts used for educational purposes based on fair use principles
Record Scratch by user luffy
Link: https://freesound.org/people/luffy/sounds/3536/