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”

The Wheel of Becoming, driven by karma

The book!

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #Karma

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:

• Vajrayogini
• Vajravarahi
• Boudha
• Swyambhu
• Sankhu
• Kathmandu

#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:

• Dakini
• Daka
• Khandroma
• Phawo
• Chenrezi
• Amitabha
• Samantabhadra / Samantabhadri
• Thomas Traherne
• Samantabhadra
• Samantabhadri
• Vajravarahi
• Yeshe Tsogyal
• Guru Rinpoche

#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:

• Dudjom Lingpa
• Dudjom Rinpoche
• Terma, terton
• Vajrayogini
• Yamantaka
• Hevajra
• Cakrasamvara
• Shiné

#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:

• Pashupatinath
• Naropa
• Tilopa
• Dewachen
• Amitabha
• Dzogchen

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:

• Tsok, tsogs, tshog etc.
• Ganacakra, ganapuja, tsok puja
• ཚོགས (transliterated tshogs)
• Sangha
• Guru Rinpoche
• Torma
• Benchen
• Jigme Lingpa

#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:

• Dorje
• Vajrayana
• Mahamudra
• Dzogchen
• Mala
• Dudjom Rinpoche
• Ekajati

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #secret #secrecy

Note that other distribution platforms do not usually pass the transcript on, and if you want to read it you may need to listen on podbean. YouTube has been making its own transcript, which was an unholy mess. I think I have now deleted all of these "auto-generated" scripts, but it will not be possible to retrospectively add properly edited transcripts to episodes prior to September 2024.

How does pilgrimage fit into the Buddhist way of doing things?

Plus the Guru Rinpoche mantra sung to a tune you might not have expected.

Words or phrases you might want to look up:

• Walsingham
• Hajj
• Kumbh Mela
• Lumbini
• Bodh Gaya
• Sarnath
• Kuśinagara
• Vajrayana
• Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva)
• Kailash
• Jokhang
• Guru Rinpoche

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #pilgrimage #mantra #meditation #nyingma #kagyu

Chöd - a vast stream of Buddhist practice! Here is a taste.

Chöd

Chödpa - (images of)

Jamgön Kongtrül

Treasury of Knowledge

Rimé

Sakya

Kadampa

Kagyu (Marpa and Shangpa)

Nyingma

Kalachakra

Machig Labdrön - Machik’s Complete Explanation

Phadampa Sangye

Dakini

Damaru

Karma Kagyu

Dudjom Tersar

Yeshe Dorje (Rainmaker)

#Buddhism #Vajrayana #Tibet #DoubleDorje #chöd #mantra #meditation #nyingma #kagyu

In the early weeks of this podcast I included an approximate script, not particularly well edited, on a blog page. For the episode dropped on 4 September entitled “Bad gurus, tosh gurus and good gurus” and for episodes due to be dropped from 18 September onwards, starting with “Jyekundo / Yushu: travelling in East Tibet” there is a transcript file which is much closer to the actual words used.

Note that other distribution platforms do not necessarily pass this on, and if you want to read it you may need to listen on podbean. YouTube has been making its own transcript, which was an unholy mess. I think I have now deleted all of these "auto-generated" scripts, but it will not be possible to retrospectively add properly edited transcripts to episodes prior to September 2024.