Something from nothing Like any religion, Vajrayana developed a codified set of rules, systems, behaviors, philosophies, and practices intended to guide the seeker sequentially along the stages of the path, directing them toward enlightenment, realization, moksha, the godhead, illumination, or a thousand other names that hint at our ultimate human potential. Some of these systems […]
Why Spirituality (Sometimes) Fails
The Two Functions You live within an amazing transformative machine. It’s called the body. It has two very different functions. I would guess that ninety-nine percent of people use it for only for the first, which is to eat, sleep, excrete, reproduce, have a variety of pleasant, painful and interesting experiences, and die. The second […]
Clearing Trauma
The greatest obstacle to spiritual development is—not what you might think. Various religious and spiritual pathways talk about our disturbed emotions, our anger, our anxiety, our past actions.
Purity, Impurity & the 5 Elements
Purity is not a word you hear once a week, or even once a month—except in a commercial for a new laundry detergent. Yet every culture is based on specific ideas about pure and impure. Socially, these concepts determine status, reputation, and trustworthiness. On a personal level, they inform our morality and ethics, as well […]
In Search of the Elemental Body
Seeking the Buddhist Body The Tibetan empowerment or wongkur is an essential part of Vajrayana-Buddhist tantra-as well as Shaivite and other Eastern traditions. It is the entry point, the transmission of the seed of enlightenment, and permission to enter the mandala of enlightened mind. One obtains the stream of form, energy and consciousness, transforming mundane […]
Light Body 11—Law of Three
Five Becomes Three I am obsessed with the five element model, certain at my core that it is a fundamental formative principle of body, mind, world, life. But it is not the only operant system that still alludes modern science. The Law of Three also pervades our experience, and knowledge of its workings is a […]
Cutting Through an Epidemic
In the vast garden of Vajrayana Buddhism, with its riotous profusion of fragrances and textures, its fantastic hues of greens, golds and red, one flower stands out. The shimmering foliage seems to branch endlessly, expressing itself now as diaphanous petals, now as thorny stems, now as plump and luscious fruits. This unique plant is both […]
Light Body 4 – Uniting Male & Female
The final consummation of the human journey—the ultimate fulfillment of our possibility of finding this precious human birth—is the Light Body. Its birth and maturation requires many steps, but its final stage is a process of union, and that means the union of opposites. If we look at our inner and outer worlds, we see […]
Light Body 2 – The Rainbow Body Template
Science & the Rainbow Body — Part 2 The human body-mind complex has many hidden secrets, some literally in plain view. While we are all subject to internal chatter and verbal “thinking,” about two-thirds of us experience images along with thoughts. And for about half of these folks, this is a dominant part of their […]
