This week’s episode presents part two of Reggie’s talk on the lives of the tantric saints in ancient India given at Stanford University in 2009. Here he discusses the essential role of desire in Vajrayana Buddhism. He begins by asking, does an embrace of desire imply that the Vajrayana tradition is not recognizably Buddhist? In taking up this question, Reggie explores how passion, sexuality, and the body are intrinsic to human experience. He says that according to tantra, any attempt to renounce desire reflects a rejection of our basic humanity. Instead, tantric meditation invites us to take desire as the path and to discover a burning love for our embodied human life, right now, in this world. For Vajrayana Buddhism, this love is the gateway to boundless awakening.

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