The Double Dorje: Modern Vajrayana Buddhism.

There have been a depressing number of scandals in major Tibetan Buddhist organizations, particularly (though not only) in the West. It clearly has systemic roots - can the disease be identified? PS. How unprofessional! I uploaded the sound file without the delightful music. This is now the correct one.

The podcast will have to take a back seat for some months as I work on a project aimed at publishing biographies of a few of the nuns, and the sometimes heroic journeys they undertook to arrive at the caves above Tsopema (Rewalsar) to live and practise. A Tsopema Nuns blog gives a few details. It should help to find missing pieces in the jigsaw of names and places.

"To get enlightened" is such a watery explanation. Mindfulness largely misses the point. This was a retreat about a specific deity. Whatever that is! #Tibetan #Buddhism #Vajrayana #Retreat

Really intended as a brief video on YouTube. Is the Vajrayana "just" a clever technique within conventional Mahayana, or is it really something different.

Goodbye to Series 2 - and what of the future?

You've been looking at Tibetan Buddhism? You want to start? But you still don't know how? This might help.

Like it or not, magic is interwoven with Tibetan Buddhism. Is it symbolic? Or is it real?

Devotion (mögü) - another Tibetan word that doesn't quite correspond to its English usage.

How do empowerments actually work?

Should we read our texts in Tibetan? In English? Using phonetics? Does it make any sense to read phonetics without understanding the Tibetan? Questions, questions...

Confession is a big thing in Buddhist practice. But there is no priest to forgive your sins on God's behalf. It is more nuanced than that. 

Shop like a Buddhist! Majnu Ka Tilla is the wellspring of Buddhist art for the Tibetan world.

Horror, violence and disgusting soup in Tibetan-style Buddhism. Why don't they get as much attention as sex? Why is it obvious that these things are not for performance "as written", but some people assume that the sexual aspects are? Something to think about! #Buddhism #Tibet #Vajrayana #Horror

If you do Vajrayana, you will say these syllables again and again. And again. What do they look like? What do they mean? Why does it matter?

Dos, don'ts, and who cares (some do) about wearing the red-and-white striped "Ngagpa shawl".

A crucial text for the mahamudra tradition of, in particular, the Kagyu traditions descended from Marpa the Translator

Season 2 is coming soon

Final episode of Season One! Groping towards the dharma in the midlands of England in the 1960s. Bookworm paradise: Birmingham Central Library as it was then: Words or phrases you might want to look up (in no particular order, and some best forgotten!): Man, Myth and Magic (magazine) Gurdjieff PD Ouspensky Paul Brunton Anagarika Govinda Edward Conze Alexandra David-Neel Evans-Wentz Christmas Humph...

Note: the next episode, no 44, will be the last of Season 1. Season 2 is in the works! Buddhism is all about simplicity, isn’t it? Well, no, at least not when it comes to Tibetan style Buddhism. The very essence may be simple, but typical practice makes use of an enormous amount of kit - malas, dorjes, bells, hand-drums large and small, trumpets, vases, conch shells... As beginners, we may well be...

Termas and tertons – spiritual treasures and their finders – are an inescapable feature of some branches of Tibetan Buddhism. Come along for the magical ride! A phurbu   A ngagpa, undoubtedly a practitioner of termas. Note the phurbu tucked into his belt. Words or phrases you might want to look up: Terma Terton Nyingma Dudjom Jamyang Khyentse Jamgon Kongtrul The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism,...

Most traditions of Buddhist practice have nothing that resembles the tulku tradition. In the Tibetan traditions, you can’t get away from them. What are they? And what are they good for? Karma Pakshi, one of the first tulkus.   Words or phrases you might want to look up: Tulku, emanation body, transformation body Three bodies of the Buddha (kusum, trikaya) Karmapa Karma Pakshi The Second Karmapa Ka...

Come with me over the plains of Amdo in a little blue and white bus 30 years ago. We have a couple of dozen pilgrims, two Chinese drivers and a supply of diamox. Should be fine! Stupa at Benchen   Words or phrases you might want to look up: Amdo Kham Benchen Tsurphu Lhasa #Buddhism #Vajrayana #DoubleDorje #Mahamudra #Dzogchen

Some verses you'll hear again and again. Not a definitive list – there ain’t no such thing. But if you know these by heart and can join the recitation at the drop of a hat, you will achieve one great thing: you will look good! The "Three Jewels" (I don't know who to credit - it's all over the 'net) The Refuge formula: Lama la kyab su chi o ‘I go for refuge to the lama.’ Sangye la kyab su chi o ‘I...

Q: Is the lama your boss? Big daddy? Friend? Mate? Therapist? A: Mostly not Then what?   Words or phrases you might want to look up: Jamgon Kongtrul Treasury of Knowledge Longchen Rabjampa   #Buddhism #Vajrayana #DoubleDorje #Lama Longchen Rabjampa, one of the most famous Nyingma Lamas.  

Empowerments – what happens? You’ve been to a Buddhist ceremony. Perhaps you knew it was an empowerment. Whatever does that mean? Are you cooked? Words or phrases you might want to look up: Einweihung Ermaechtigung, Ermächtigungsgesetz Wang Lung Tri Khata The seed-syllable HRIH