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 Humphreys

Marco Pallis

Waddel’s “Lamaism: Buddhism of Tibe...

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 tempted to start collecting some of those magical bits and pieces, but if we’re not careful we end up with a lot of clut...

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:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #DoubleDorje #Dzogc...

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:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #DoubleDorje #Mahamudra #Dzogchen

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:

#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 go for refuge...

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:

#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:

The seed-syllable HRIH

Or are you a vajrayana practitioner?

Is it a question of rites and rituals and pictures and mantras? Or is it something deeper?

Empowerment card showing a vajra

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #DoubleDorje #Samaya

Namo Buddha - the smallest, but perhaps most beautiful, of the three stupas of the Kathmandu valley:

Where the Buddha is said to have sacrificed himself to a tigress:

And where this temple, study and retreat centre now stands:

Words you might like to look up:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #DoubleDorje #NamoBuddha #Tigress

Mahamudra and dzogchen are often spoken of as the “highest” practices of Tibetan Buddhism. How very exciting! Are they really? What does “highest” mean anyway? And what is the difference between mahamudra and dzogchen?

Milarepa, who received Mahamudra teachings from Marpa the Translator

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #DoubleDorje #Dzogchen #Mahamudra

Beside the best-known mantras used in popular Tibetan-style Buddhism – the famous “Mani”, Tara and Guru Rinpoche for example – there are a number of prayers which are also very widely known and used. The “Seven Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche” is one of these.

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

The link to the prayer at Lotsawa House:

https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/guru-chowang/seven-line-prayer

Nangsid Zilnon - a form of Guru Rinpoche

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #DoubleDorje...

Emptiness (shunyata, or tongpa in Tibetan) is an utterly core theme in Buddhist teaching. When we first hear about it, we usually don’t have much idea what it’s about at all. We may mistake it for some kind of void, or a teaching that nothing matters because “everything is empty”. Can we get a handle on it without years of study?

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

When you start to get “serious” (whatever that is and however you try to define it) about your vajrayana practice you will face the question of the “preliminaries” or “foundation practices”. Best to be warned about what’s involved. And it would be good to have an idea of what this ngondro is good for.

Prostrating - again and again!

Offering mandalas

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

A powerful Vajrayogini shrine, Guru Rinpoche caves, and much, much more. Pharping is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the Kathmandu valley.

A shorter episode, but with a nice bit of a flute tune!

The Vajrayogini Temple at Pharping and the fairy-cake stupa

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Vajrayogini #Nepal #DoubleDorje #Pharping #GuruRinpoche

What does the “Tibetan Book of the Dead” tell us about being dead? Will we see the Peaceful and Wrathful deities?

The 42 Peaceful Deities of the Bardo

The 58 Wrathful Deities of the Bardo

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #Bardo #TibetanBookOfTheDead

The fruit of our actions – our karma – is said to be unavoidable. Sooner or later, every action comes back to us. But that does not mean that everything that happens to us is predetermined.

Bonus speculation on the fundamental nature of reality!

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

Karma

Jewel Ornament of Liberation

Words of my Perfect Teacher

A Lamp Illuminating the Path to Liberation / Khenpo Gyaltsen

Kepler

Newton

“The Sage, the Lady and the Fish”

T...

She was a new bride, but for the help she gave I call her a princess! The pilgrimage trip to the Vajrayogini shrine at Sankhu could have been a LOT, LOT worse.

The Welcome Gate at Sankhu town

The damaged main temple at the top

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #Boudha #Sankhu #Kathmandu #Vajrayogini

In dreams, in the wild, dark woods where reality starts to break apart and become entangled in vision, where fear and ecstasy dance and sing, you may meet the dakini. Is she your mother, your lover, your friend? Will she cast you out or invite you to join the dance?

Yeshe Tsogyal

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #dakini #Khandroma #Nyingma

From monster practice cycles that need a whole Dharma Centre to work through in a year to the handful of practices an individual carries out daily. What are practice cycles for?

Is 550 pages enough?

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #terma #Dudjom

The two certain things in life are, famously, death and taxes. If you are rich enough, you may be able to mitigate your tax liability, but death cannot be bought off.

How do Buddhists handle it?

Episode includes the Prayer for Rebirth in Dewachen.

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

Link to that file: Link to the Dewachen Prayer (pdf)

Burning ghats at Pashupatinath

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #death

Tsok pujas are a big feature of Tibetan-style Buddhism as it is actually practiced, but newcomers often don't have a blind clue what's going on - explanations are hard to find. So here is a rundown with a bit of background and a few tips.

Now there's a fancy torma!

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #torma #tsok #tsog #tshogs #JigmeLingpa

When secret teachings are spoken of in Tibetan Buddhism, the word "secret" is much closer in meaning to "sacred" or "holy" than it is to the meaning of "unknown to outsiders".

When the 15th Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje, refers to the Mani, the most famous mantra of all, as a "secret" mantra, we know the word has meanings quite different from what we might expect.

A dorje and bell with an unusual design

Here are some words or phrases you might want to look up: