Buddhism is near and dear to my heart. Out of all the major religions or faiths, it is the one that speaks to me the most, resonates most with my inner soul. Its gentleness, understanding, total embrace of humanity … these things inspire and uplift me. Yet, I would hesitate to call or identify myself as ‘Buddhist’. Is it the label that doesn’t fit? (I don’t wear saffron robes, for eg). Or is it because I’m not associated with any ‘formal’ Buddhist group or sangha (all my buddhist interests have been done via self-study).
in any case, I am sympathetic to Buddhism, but not Buddhist 
some of my listenings in the past 6 months have been done via podcast. These are 5 great podcasts that I have derived an enormous pleasure and insight from:
1. Audio Dharma
the biggest and the baddest + one of the longest running. Audio Dharma is a huge huge archive of hour long talks … set up and managed by Gil Fronsdal. You can lose yourself here for days … I know I have!
2. Bad Buddhist Radio
this is a more recent discovery to me. Ryu Cope is the dude, an American, one has led a tough life and is still dealing with it. His straight up, no bullshit talk is pure refreshment. He goes straight to the heart of the dharma, the practices, and the everyday living. His mix of hardness + wryness, wit and observation … these speak to me.
3. Daily Buddhism
the title of the show is totally misleading it runs at best, at once a week. Brian Schell runs the show, and he takes a Question & Answer approach. He has quite a following on his blog and he addresses listener questions re Buddhist Practice.
4. Buddhist Geeks
these guys are internet famous. They’ve leveraged the podcast format to perfection: short, snappy, episodes, that rarely run past 20 minutes. They interview prominent teachers and practitioners, and ask direct off-the-street questions, the kind that you might have. They don’t pretend themselves to be enlightened or skillful practitioners, but approach the Buddhist Paradigm with a curious mind. They are Buddhist, and they are Geeky! very intriguing for the average Joe.
5. Zencast
the first podcast I mentioned (Audio Dharma) is a huge huge archive with many many speakers and presenters. This one (Zencast) is a subset of that, and contains, in the main, the live talks given by Gil Fronsdal. This guy is totally inspirational, and represents an aspiration for me. His ability to communicate deep truths, while staying entirely grounded, and without tricky handwaving, is just exceptional. You can sense his ‘Wise Compassion’ infusing his stories and illustrations. The group responds to his humor and lightness, and you can almost see them nodding at certain points. I’ve learnt a lot from Mr Gil. Kudos.
hope these are helpful! they have brightened my own recent journeyings
ggw
MSegers
Even before I jump into the podcasts (although I already know how dangerous Audio Dharma can be), I want to thank you for this. I feel that I could have written some of this, at least can pencil in an amen (in a Buddhist context?) about being “sympathetic to Buddhism, but not Buddhist.” Thanks.
Judyb
Thanks for this list. I love Zencast, in particular, and Audio Dharma is great if a little overwhelming. I also enjoy listening to Gil Fronsdal, I find him inspiring as you do. I would like to suggest another good source – the podcasts from the Buddhist Society of Western Australia. Their weekly dharma talks are available at http://www.bswa.org/ The main teacher is Ajahn Brahm, a UK national who studied with Ajahn Chah in the forest tradition in Thailand. They also have videos, but I mainly just listen to the podcasts. These were the first ones that really got me interested in Buddhist thought.
Jo
ZenCast is wonderful!! I was introduced to Alan Watts
atheravadabuddhist
“Out of all the major religions or faiths, it is the one that speaks to me the most, resonates most with my inner soul” THERE IS NO SOUL IN BUDDHISM, ATLEAST NOT IN THE ORIGINAL TEXTS. Just had to get that off my chest…
This is the most important teaching of the buddha.. It is also incredibly liberating and one you have to work on to achieve. Also in the buddhas text is nothing about “belief”, only to be a scientist and investigate & test it before you submit and here’s some help understanding yourself which you can test out: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/index.html
rosco
Why be a man when you can be a success?