Dharma Ocean Podcast

Episode Archive

The Dharma Ocean Podcast is made possible by the generous support of our donors.

The Dharma Ocean podcast began in 2012 and offers hundreds of episodes relating to the path of embodied meditation practice and applying the ancient wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism to the unique problems, inspirations, and spiritual imperatives of modern people.

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Episode 123: Consort Relationship – Part II

The Vajrayana tradition of spirituality views the consort relationship is as a skillful gateway to non-dual awakening. In this talk, Consort Relationship Part II, Reggie discusses the consort journey. He says that consorts help liberate one another from fixed points...

Episode 122: Consort Relationship – Part I

The Vajrayana tradition of spirituality views the consort relationship as a skillful gateway to non-dual awakening. In this talk, Consort Relationship - Part I, Reggie discusses the consort journey. He says that consorts help liberate one another from fixed points of...

Episode 121: Born for Joy

Spiritual materialism is an approach to meditation in which we fixate on goals and perfection, and try to secure a sense of accomplishment. In this talk, Born for Joy, Reggie challenges this notion. He says that true spirituality is actually a journey into the...

Episode 120: An Equal Footing

In today’s talk, An Equal Footing, Reggie says that true spiritual empowerment happens when we surrender to the raw expressive force of our unique incarnation. Doing this requires that we let go of unhelpful ideas about spiritual hierarchy and trust the natural...

Episode 119: Recovering the Primordial – Part II

This episode features the second part of a talk that Reggie offered at a weekend retreat in Boulder entitled African and Tibetan Approaches to Working with the Elements.  Here, Reggie discusses the way in which the somatic meditation practices of Vajrayana Buddhism...

Episode 118: Recovering the Primordial – Part I

Today’s talk is from a weekend retreat Reggie co-led with his spiritual brother, the Dagara shaman, Malidoma Somé. In Recovering the Primordial, Reggie draws upon his training as a religious historian to discuss the alienating movement away from earth based...

Episode 117: Spirituality is Not a Spectator Sport

In this episode, Spirituality is Not a Spectator Sport, Reggie discusses embodiment on the spiritual journey. He says that oftentimes we approach meditation as spectators – always a step removed from direct experience. Embodied meditation, however, invites us to enter...

Episode 116: Dismemberment

Following last week’s episode on the deception of ego, in today’s talk Reggie uses Vajrayana imagery to describe the process of ego dismemberment that unfolds through the practice of meditation. He says that such experiences are part of the initiatory process in...

Episode 115: Beyond Ego

Reggie begins this talk, Beyond Ego, by saying, “The view of ego is a personal, solid, sense of self that we have to maintain at all costs.” He discusses how the view of ego is reflected in the rampant materialism of the modern world, and explains how ritual can help...

Episode 114: Beyond Religion

In this talk, Beyond Religion, Reggie addresses the topic of religiosity in Buddhism. He says that ritual forms are problematic when seen as separate and external from our inner being, but can be helpful when related to as an expression of our enlightened nature. This...

Episode 113: Unconventional Logic

Trungpa Rinpoche taught that there are two orders of logic in the universe: the conventional rationality of ego, and the principle of chaos. In this talk, Unconventional Logic, Reggie explains how the job of the vajrayana teacher is to communicate the principle of...

Episode 112: Life and Death

In today’s talk, Life and Death, Reggie discusses the karmic cycle of birth, existence, death, and rebirth. He says that by learning to open to karmic cycles in the situations of our lives, we can relinquish our resistance to change, and allow life to emerge free and...

Episode 111: Buddhist Tantra

In this talk, Buddhist Tantra, Reggie discusses the esoteric tradition of Buddhist tantra. He explains that there is powerful intelligence in human desire – it awakens in us a longing to unite with experience in raw and direct ways. This excerpt is from a talk given...

Episode 110: Dissolution

In today’s episode, Dissolution, we hear Reggie’s instruction to a group of practitioners who are coming to the end of a meditation retreat. Such transitions, he says, are opportunities to discover our inherent dignity in the face of death, dissolution, and rebirth....

Episode 109: Continuity

In this episode, Continuity, we listen to remarks Reggie offered during the first staff meeting at the Meditating with the Body Teacher Training that was held last week at Blazing Mountain Retreat Center. He explains that tantra is the energetic continuity that lies...

Episode 108: Eternity in Ordinary Life

In this talk, Eternity in Ordinary Life, Reggie discusses the experience of fruition on the path of meditation. He says that at a certain point the spiritual identity falls away completely and eternity communicates through each moment of ordinary life. It is basic...

Episode 107: Naked to the World

In this episode, Naked to the World, Reggie discusses the fullest expression of being human. It means being completely naked to our world and seeing that each moment and situation of our life is a constant expression of wisdom. These excerpts are from talks given at...

Episode 106: Letting Go

In this episode, Letting Go, Reggie discusses the need to eventually relieve ourselves of the notion of a spiritual path altogether. While the path of meditation is essential to deepening and maturing as human beings, at a certain point, we realize that we need...

Episode 105: Yana of Life

Today we’ll listen to excerpts from talks Reggie has given on the last stage of the meditative journey. These teachings launch from the Dzogchen tradition, but refer to an experience of reality that is truly beyond any formulation whatsoever. This...

Episode 104: Transmuting Poison

In this episode, Transmuting Poison, we listen to a talk Reggie offered on how to work with obstructive states of mind. He says that the Vajrayana approach of working with difficult emotions is likened to a mythical peacock transmuting poison: we make a direct...

Episode 103: Genuine Intimacy

In Genuine Intimacy, Reggie addresses the importance of integrity in the transmission of a Vajrayana lineage. He explains that genuine spirituality in the Vajrayana tradition requires a personal relationship with a teacher, participation in a community, and an ongoing...

Episode 102: Decivilizing the Vajrayana Part II

In Decivilizing the Vajrayana Part II, we listen to the second part of a talk Reggie gave on the radical roots of Vajrayana practice. He explains how Vajrayana Buddhism was originally a wild spirituality that was practiced in jungles, but is now a largely abstract and...

Episode 101: Decivilizing the Vajrayana Part I

In Decivilizing the Vajrayana Part I, we listen to the first part of a talk Reggie gave on the radical roots of Vajrayana practice. He explains how Vajrayana Buddhism was originally a wild spirituality that was practiced in jungles, but is now a largely abstract and...

Episode 100: Wisdom Energies

In today’s episode, Wisdom Energies, Reggie discusses how space gives birth to warmth and how warmth is expressed as the selfless wisdom energies of the vajra body. By opening to these energies without agenda, conception, or manipulation, we discover the empty play of...

Episode 99: Empowerment

In this talk, Empowerment, Reggie looks at the Vajarayana lineage of empowerment. He says that empowerment occurs when the student experiences limitless freedom, love for what is, and the inherent beauty of life. The job of a Vajrayana teacher is to create situations...

Episode 98: Experience is Trustworthy

In this episode, Experience is Trustworthy, we explore the ground, path, and fruition of the Vajrayana journey. Reggie explains that the ground involves seeing the sacredness of reality, the path involves learning to trust experience, and the fruition is the wonder of...

Episode 97: Ultimate Positivity

In this talk, Ultimate Positivity, Reggie says that when we let go of our limited ideas about life, we encounter a vast and brilliant world – the vajra world – that communicates with us through unexpected signs. These signs invite us into the dance of reality, the joy...

Episode 96: Fearlessness

In today’s episode, Fearlessness, we listen to an excerpt from a talk Reggie gave on the topic of fearlessness in the Vajrayana tradition of spiritual transformation. Fearlessness, he says, does not mean being without fear. Rather, it’s the willingness to open to fear...

Episode 95: The Vajrayana Stage of the Journey

The Vajrayana Stage of the Journey: Today we listen to excerpts from talks Reggie has given on the Vajrayana stage of the meditative journey. He says that Vajrayana practice involves a shocking process of dismantling the territory of ego, and we become very naked,...

Episode 94: Enlightened Action

In this talk, Enlightened Action, Reggie looks at how the Mahayana training of the Bodhisattva transitions to the Vajrayana stage of the journey. He says that inborn wisdom naturally emerges in our state of being when we engage in helping beings. At a certain point,...

Episode 93: Three Commitments of a Bodhisattva

In this episode, Three Commitments of a Bodhisattva, we listen to a talk Reggie offered on the three commitments of a bodhisattva. The three commitments are: caring for our life, caring for beings, and caring for the world. He says that these commitments help us...

Episode 92: Way of the Bodhisattva

Way of the Bodhisattva: Today, Reggie discusses the deep and unalterable commitment we feel when our hearts open to suffering in the world. This commitment is formally expressed as the Bodhisattva Vow. It involves a path of training that connects us to the source of...

Episode 91: Journey of the Heart

Journey of the Heart: This week we'll listen to a talk Reggie gave on the different stages of the bodhicitta practice of awakening the heart. He explains how our direct somatic experience of the heart unfolds as an ever increasing capacity to meet others with...

Episode 90: Awake Heart

In this talk, Awake Heart, Reggie discusses the two aspects of an awake heart: absolute bodhicitta and relative bodhicitta. Absolute bodhicitta is the limitless space of our hearts and relative bodhicitta refers to the warmth that arises from that space and is...

Episode 89: Dark Knowledge

In today’s episode, Dark Knowledge, Reggie talks about dark knowledge – the intelligence of the body that communicates to us from the periphery of conscious awareness. He explains that every cell of the body holds this knowledge, but it only becomes accessible to us...

Episode 88: Embodiment of Love

In this episode, Embodiment of Love, Reggie discusses sitting meditation in context of the Mahayana stage of the journey. He says that our attention naturally shifts from the space in the lower belly to the space in the heart center. As our hearts awaken, we become...

Episode 87: Meeting Suffering with Compassion

In this talk, Meeting Suffering with Compassion, Reggie explains how the suffering we encounter in others serves as an invitation to grow beyond our trivial attempts at territoriality. Doing this requires a deep commitment to practice and a willingness to dismantle...

Episode 86: The Mahayana Journey

In this episode, The Mahayana Journey, we listen to excerpts from talks Reggie has given on the Mahayana stage of the meditative journey. He discusses how we awaken to the vast suffering of the world, and respond to the call in our hearts to meet this suffering with...

Episode 85: Inspiration in Sadness

In this talk, Inspiration in Sadness, Reggie explores how human sadness points to a fundamental sense of disconnection from the totality. Sadness, he says, illuminates our longing to release the veils of ignorance and unite with the limitless space of being. It brings...

Episode 84: The Three Lords of Materialism

Chogyam Trungpa described The Three Lords of Materialism as the way ego apes spiritual practice as a means to fortify barriers against the world. In this talk, Reggie discusses how the Lord of Form, the Lord of Speech, and the Lord of Mind obstruct the journey of...

Episode 83: The Joy of Chaos

Meditation is sometimes viewed as a means to control experience and keep emotions in check. In this talk, Reggie challenges that notion. He shows how meditation actually helps us surrender control, open to chaos, and relax into the messiness of life. Episode: The Joy...

Episode 82: Renunciation

In this episode, Renunciation, Reggie looks at how the practice of sitting meditation is an expression of renunciation. He says that it helps us see all the ways we avoid reality. At first, the process of relinquishing our attachment to distractions leads to a sense...

Episode 81: Just Sitting

Episode: Just Sitting Shikantaza is the discipline of just sitting. In this talk, Reggie explains how the posture of Shikantaza helps us renounce our impulsivity so that we can open to the immediacy of the body. Through this discipline of “doing nothing,” the natural...

Episode 80: Being with Pain

Episode: Being with Pain Reggie begins this talk by encouraging us to not run away from pain in meditation practice. He says that the experience of pain interrupts two main ego defaults in modern society: comfort and distraction. Pain wakes us up, corners our ego, and...

Episode 79: Discipline, Meditation, Understanding

Episode: Discipline, Meditation, Understanding Shila, samadhi, and prajna translate as discipline, meditation, and understanding. In this talk, Reggie discusses how these three aspects are central to the practice of sitting meditation and how they help us commit to...

Episode 78: Loss of Reference Points

In this episode, Loss of Reference Points, we listen to different teachings Reggie has given on the foundations of Hinayana practice. He says that the first step in discovering who we truly are involves letting go of our coherent sense of self and opening to...

Episode 77: The Hinayana Stage of the Journey

Episode; The Hinayana Stage of the Journey Today, we explore teachings Reggie has given on the Hinayana stage of the meditative journey. He discusses the importance of committing to a daily meditation practice, renouncing habitual patterns, and developing kindness...

Episode 76: Vajra Body

“Vajra body” refers to the indestructible energetic body that is discovered when we explore our incarnation in a non-conceptual way. In today’s episode, Reggie discusses the dynamics of the Vajra body and how it lives independently of our hopes, fears, agendas, and...

Episode 75: Opening to the Totality

In this talk, Opening to the Totality, Reggie points to the fruition of embodied meditation – our minds become silent in face of the totality and the wildness of our inner being emerges free and unencumbered. Through this process, he says, we we change in unexpected...

Episode 74: Meditating with the Earth

In this episode, Meditating with the Earth, Reggie discusses the earth as an elemental reality that defies conceptuality. He explores several of the earth’s different aspects – it is the source of all life, our original mother, and connects us to the potent wildness...

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