Blue Sky, White Clouds

  Approximate script of the podcast with some variations and possible errors: The Four Thoughts to Turn the Mind – or the Four Revolting Thoughts Something to think about Hello and a truly warm welcome to whoever has come to sit down in the Double Dorje virtual restaurant and listen. This podcast is not very old, but I have several times had occasion to mention the foundation or preliminary practices, the ngondro. When we speak of them, the thing that usually comes to mind is what we call the “special” preliminaries, including all those prostrations, refuge and bodhicitta prayers, purification mantras, mandala offerings, guru yoga and so forth – lots of colour, lots to enjoy! But today I think it’s time to look at the four “ordinary” or “common” preliminaries, since it’s only on the basis of those that these special preliminaries make any sense. So let’s take a quick look at these four, namely the precious human birth, impermanence and death, action and fruit, also just called...

 Approximate script for the podcast episode at  podbean The Guru Rinpoche Mantra Hello and welcome to all faithful listeners and to dippers-in. I feel that the last episode was a bit dull, focusing as it did an awful lot on the frankly mistaken things that people say, do, and think about tantric sex. So I hope that this week’s episode will be full of joy! We’re going to look at Guru Rinpoche’s mantra and some tunes that can be used to sing it. Firstly though, instead of leaving this appeal to the end, I’d like to start out by urging you to take a pause, have a look at the ways that you can like, share or subscribe to this podcast on whatever channel you are using to listen to it, to tell your friends and spread the word. Then come back to enjoy the episode. Would you do that? Thank you in advance! There can be no doubt that the famous “Mani”, the six-syllable Om Mani Peme Hung mantra of Chenrezi, embodiment of compassion, is the most popular mantra in Tibet and in Tibeta...

 As of mid-September I expect to be adding transcripts to the Double Dorje posts at the host, currently podbean, rather than the approximate scripts with which I have started.

  Approximate script, with some variations and possible errors: Tantra – is it all about sex? Hello Dear Listener, or listeners. Welcome – or welcome again – to the Double Dorje podcast. I’m Alex Wilding, and I wonder if this is the episode you’ve been waiting for. I hope not, because in that case you are probably going to be disappointed. The thing is that while it would be silly to say that sex is completely irrelevant to Buddhist tantra, it doesn’t have nearly as much to do with it as you might at first think.   Before we get much further into this, I think it’s important to underline the way our modern culture has become so highly sexualised. So much so, that we hardly even notice it anymore. Depending on the context, as of course everything always does, it pays to remember that an image of two deities in sexual union is not necessarily actually sexy! The second of several factors not to forget is that the Chris...

  #Buddhism #Tibet #vajrayana #DoubleDorje #Nyingma Approximate script, with some variations and possible errors: Hello everybody, thank you for being here and welcome, or welcome back, to the Double Dorje podcast. I’m Alex Wilding, and recently I went to take teachings from my teacher, Ngagpa Karma Lhundup. I might quite easily make that rather innocuous statement to almost anybody, and I know from experience that while a few people might say something like, “Oh, well, where was that? What teaching did he give?”, an awful lot of people would nod, hoping to look wise. But I would have seen in their eyes that they wonder what on earth that is. Probably they don’t ask in case I launch into a one hour lecture trying to tell them. At the same time I know there are plenty of newish people who do perhaps have an idea of what is involved, but are worried that there is some kind of etiquette that they need to follow in order not to look a fool. I could say - with a smirk - that not w...