Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

Tonight on free thinking, we have a yen for Zen and a thirst for the Tripitaka,

as we explore how Buddhism has shaped the modern world.

When the Gautomashidata sat under a tree in India some two and a half thousand years ago and experienced sudden enlightenment,

he never guessed how far his ideas would spread.

For the last half century in the West, Zen Buddhism has been associated with meditation,

mellowness and motorcycle maintenance.

In more recent years, more and more people have been busting stress

with a session of Buddhist-inspired mindfulness.

But are we right to see Buddhism purely as an introspective religion of peace and enlightenment?

Does Nirvana have a dark side?

We'll be discussing key research on whether Buddhism was a factor in Japan's path towards the Second World War,

and we'll ask whether Buddhism and irrationality have a special relationship.

To get us all a little bit further towards the four noble truths,

I'm delighted to say that I have with me four

noble experts. Rupert Gethyn is Professor of Buddhist Studies at Bristol University. Mark

Vernon is a former priest and therapist involved in guiding the parliamentary group on mindfulness.

Anamette Fiske Nielsen of SOAS is a specialist on Japanese religion and society,

and Christopher Harding teaches Asian history at Edinburgh University and is a Radio 3 New Generation Thinker.

So let's start with mindfulness.

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