Dharma If You Dare

It’s been six months since Qapel‘s passing, and we wanted to mark the occasion by sharing some stories from his students about how they experienced him and the impact he had on their lives. In the days immediately after his death, Qapel’s students recorded stories about their most powerful, transformative times with their teacher.  Today’s episode includes just a selection from those recordings. S...

You may have already heard the recent sad news that Doug Qapel Duncan passed away suddenly on October 5th. Today we are sharing the last public teaching that Qapel gave, exactly two weeks before he passed away. The occasion was the 20th anniversary celebration for Clear Sky, the retreat center he co-founded in 2004. Qapel spoke about the next stage of evolution of the dharma as he saw it, referrin...

In this final regular episode of Season 4, we finish up our series on the 4 pillars of Planet Dharma’s approach to working with students with a look at Shadow Integration. In this excerpt from their online course, Beyond the Cushion, Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei explain what the shadow is, how it shows up, how it can be reintegrated, and the tremendous benefits this work offers...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite in which Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei answer a question about why they wear red hats when they teach. Theoretical understanding and food for thought are helpful inputs as we go about our daily life, but for deep spiritual change and liberation from suffering we need to engage in depth work. In this tradition - as you hear in this recording -...

In this third episode in our series on the 4 pillars of Planet Dharma’s approach to working with students, we will hear about Karma Yoga, also known as ‘the path of service’, or ‘meditation in action’. In this excerpt from their online course, Beyond the Cushion, Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei explore the many facets of karma yoga, and explain why it is such a good fit for many m...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite in which Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei give a brief introduction to the Tarot. In addition to looking at the deck’s origin and how it can be used, they give a short introduction to the first card, the Fool.    This summer at Clear Sky Center (and virtually for those unable to travel) Qapel and Sensei will be leading a deep dive on the Tarot &...

In this excerpt from their online course, Beyond the Cushion, Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei talk about the value of meditation and the reason most of us find it so hard to maintain a solid practice. They also talk about their focus on ‘Meditating on the Fly’, the idea of integrating meditation into our daily lives outside of our formal daily practice, and the tremendous impact t...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite in which Catherine Pawasarat Sensei talks about how meditation works and why we need to value the experience of the practice and the insights we uncover. Sensei also talks about the importance of having guidance and a support community to make the practice more secure and effective.     Although Planet Dharma also incorporates study, service and integrating the...

We will finish this 4th season of the podcast with a series of four episodes that explore Planet Dharma's 4 pillars, the framework that Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei employ to help people progress on the spiritual path. The 4 Pillars are Study, Service, Meditation & Shadow Integration, and were introduced in Episode 12 of this season.  In today’s excerpt taken from their online...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite in which Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei respond to an insight shared by a participant after he had a breakout room conversation with other people in the class.    Catherine Sensei will be leading a breathing retreat at the beautiful Clear Sky Center in May. This is an opportunity for practitioners of any level to deepen their connection to this...

In this interview, Qapel talks about the part the Western Mysteries played in his own path and how his teacher, Namgyal Rinpoche, employed these teachings. He also discusses the similarities and differences between the Western and Eastern esoteric teachings, and how practitioners can leverage the Western mystical tradition as a path unto itself or as a way to complement Eastern practices.  Today's...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite in which Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei answer a question about how to stay fully engaged in wholesome and meaningful work without losing contact with the clear light mind of absolute reality.     Catherine Sensei will be leading a breathing retreat at the beautiful Clear Sky Center in May. This is an opportunity for practitioners of any level...

In today’s episode, Catherine Pawasarat Sensei and Doug Qapel Duncan introduce the topic of the Western Mysteries, or better named, the Divine Mysteries. They outline an overview of the main parts of the spiritual journey: the call, the initiation and the return. They also explore the historical place these traditions have had and some of the ways their influence shows up today.   Today’s recordin...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite from Catherine Pawasarat Sensei on how goodness is misunderstood and undervalued and how much could be done collectively if we embraced its true power.   Catherine Sensei will be leading a breathing retreat at the beautiful Clear Sky Center in May. This is an opportunity for practitioners of any level to deepen their connection to this powerful practice, guided...

In today’s episode, Catherine Pawasarat Sensei and Doug Qapel Duncan dive into intimate relationships, and explore the skills needed to make a partnership truly work. They look at how our cultural and family conditioning plays out in how we relate to our romantic and life partners. Qapel and Sensei also highlight some ways we can begin to shift our incomplete views about how relationships should b...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite from Doug ‘Qapel’ Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei as they give advice to a student about how to train the mind to be attentive to the details in their relative, day-to-day reality without losing contact with the absolute truth that everything is light and empty of inherent existence.  If you are looking to incorporate more activities into your life to supp...

In today’s episode Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei explore the topic of The Clear Light of the Mind. They outline how our sense of reality is formed, including how early stimulation and imprinting creates the sense of solidity of our selves and our environment. They explore how we can use dreams as a way of understanding the ephemeral nature of our experience. And they look at how...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite from Doug ‘Qapel’ Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei as they introduce the 3 principles of Hua Yan Buddhist philosophy in preparation for their upcoming meditation retreat. You can learn more about the retreat at planetdharma.com/huayan .  If you are looking to incorporate more activities into your life to support contemplation and introspection, we recommend...

In today’s episode Doug Qapel Duncan gives an overview of the major arcana from the Tarot. He goes over all 22 of the cards from the Fool to the World, giving pithy summary statements about each one and brief comments on how you can use or work with them. The mandate of Planet Dharma is to help people awaken in this lifetime. In this recording you get a sense of this, both via the urgency of makin...

We hope you enjoy today’s soundbite from Doug ‘Qapel’ Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei as they answer a question about how to balance staying absorbed in the bliss state during tantric deity practice while remaining attentive to the number of mantras recited.   If you are looking to incorporate more activities into your life to support contemplation and introspection, we recommend our weekly...

Today’s episode is our third in-a-row exploring the topic of leveraging archetypes for our spiritual unfoldment. In this talk, Doug Qapel Duncan discusses archetypes specific to the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition: tantric deities. He talks about the representations of body, speech and mind in the forms of Vajrapani, Chenrezi and Manjushri. He also introduces the 5 Buddha Families, and the 8 Bodhisat...

Today’s recording is bonus content from Sensei & Qapel’s audio course Conscious Love. The course explores many aspects of intimate relationships, including the unconscious patterning that influences them and how to turn partnerships into opportunities for deep transformation.  Podcast listeners can download the entire course for free at planetdharma.com/podcastlove .

In today’s talk, Doug Qapel Duncan continues to dive deeper into the topic of archetypes, which he introduced in the talk we heard in Episode 11. He explores how archetypes operate at the personal & psychological level, and why we are drawn to them in contexts like storytelling. Qapel also explains the difference between what happens when these archetypes are operating consciously vs. unconsciousl...

We hope you enjoy this soundbite from Doug ‘Qapel’ Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei on how arising yoga sadhana practice can help us move to more responsive and liberating planetary models of being.   If you are interested in learning more by doing a deep dive into arising yoga or learning how to get the most out of your work with sadhanas, Planet Dharma is running a weekend-long retreat call...

In today’s talk, taken from their course Beyond the Cushion delivered in the early days of the pandemic, Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei explore the idea of the modern monastery. They explain what traditional aspects of the monastic model are being carried forward and what new approaches and structures are being introduced to make the model relevant and effective in these times an...