Podcast

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.

To download more of Reggie’s teachings and to explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:05 — 15.3MB)

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In this symposium lecture, given at Stanford University in 2009, Reggie discusses the prototype of the tantric saint in ancient India. As he explains, the tantric path is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by several characteristics: an emphasis on enlightened female lineage holders, an embrace of ordinary “householder” lifestyles, and a recognition of the liberatory potential of desire, anger, and other so-called “defiled” mind states. However, although the Vajrayana tradition is unique in its unconventional expression of the dharma, it nevertheless shares a basic understanding of emptiness that is common to all Buddhist lineages.

To download more of Reggie’s teachings and to explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:54 — 12.0MB)

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In this week’s episode, Reggie responds to the commonly held notion that passion and attachment are obstacles to the practice of meditation. He explains that the animating life force of the universe is fundamentally an unbridled attraction that we ourselves discover when we fully open to our hunger, wanting, and longing. Tantra invites us further into desire and shows us a thread of longing that underlies our entire existence. For the tantric practitioner, this thread serves as a trusted guide on the spiritual journey.

This talk was given at a weekend program in Portland, OR in 2009. To download more of Reggie’s teachings please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:45 — 14.2MB)

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In this talk, Reggie challenges the notion of spirituality as a journey of attainment – of progressing towards higher states of enlightened being. He explains that, according to the tantric tradition, true spirituality is actually a downward journey – into the unconscious, into the earth, into the grittiness of our humanity.

This talk was given at a weekend program in Portland, OR in 2009. To download more of Reggie’s teachings and explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:18 — 11.7MB)

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In today’s podcast, recorded on a Christmas Day, Reggie speaks on the life and crucifixion of Jesus. He says that we, as modern practitioners, can look to Jesus as an example of someone who maintained integrity in the face of the brutality and materialism of the dominant culture. Further, he recognizes that within the beauty and power of the Western spiritual tradition is an important imperative: to make compassion real in the world – to create a society where people can live the teaching.

This talk was given on Christmas Day at the 2003 Winter Dathun, a month-long meditation retreat. To download more of Reggie’s teachings and explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:51 — 11.1MB)

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This week, Reggie discusses the bodhisattva — one who has committed their life to relieving the suffering of others. Far from being an unattainable ideal, the way of the bodhisattva is discovered in how we express our own innermost nature. When we overcome our habitual thinking, we realize that everything in our life is a source of joy and nourishment. Having tasted this life-giving “water” for ourselves, we are naturally compelled to offer our lives to others, no matter the cost. In the end, following the Dalai Lama, Reggie says, “the only way to find happiness is to love other people.”

This talk is from a bodhisattva vow ceremony that was offered at the 2011 Winter Dathun — a month-long retreat held at the Blazing Mountain Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado. To download more of Reggie’s teachings and to explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey, please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:45 — 8.7MB)

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In this episode Reggie discusses tonglen, a Buddhist compassion practice, within the context of the Vajrayana understanding of interdependence. He says that when we encounter any difficult person, situation, or emotion we are meeting a part of ourselves that we have rejected. By opening to these rejected aspects we become whole.

Today’s episode was drawn from two talks given at the 2011 Winter Dathun — a month-long retreat held at the Blazing Mountain Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado. To download more of Reggie’s teachings and to explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:54 — 10.2MB)

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In today’s episode, Reggie discusses the somatic experience of knowing the world through our hearts. He says that the thinking mind has become the primary way of knowing in modern society and as a result we’ve lost touch with the intelligence of our hearts. By connecting with our hearts in meditation practice, we regain the ability to meet the world in a non-conceptual way.

This talk was given at the 2011 Winter Dathun — a month-long retreat held at the Blazing Mountain Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado. To download more of Reggie’s teachings and to explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:22 — 10.8MB)

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Although meditation has become popularized as a tool for stress reduction and basic wellness, it can, in fact, take us much further. In this week’s podcast, Reggie discusses how the practice of meditation can carry us beyond the confines of ego to true liberation.

This talk was given at the 2011 Winter Dathun — a month-long retreat held at the Blazing Mountain Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado. To download more of Reggie’s teachings and to explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:44 — 14.2MB)

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Today’s teaching expands on the previous podcast’s theme of the importance of healing on the spiritual journey. Reggie shows how healing begins when we open to our deepest pain and trauma. Surrendering to the reality of our lives, painful though it may sometimes be, is how we transmute our suffering and discover unconditional freedom.

This talk was given at the 2011 Winter Dathun — a month-long retreat held at the Blazing Mountain Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado. To download more of Reggie’s teachings and to explore a variety of audio listening guides to assist you on your spiritual journey please visit our store.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:44 — 11.0MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS