Be a Light Unto Yourself
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Be honest with yourself
Inquire into your own experience
Is there a part of you
That wants to be told the answer?
The Road Home
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Endless wandering across this barren desert
Exhausted by the relentless search
To discover the oasis
That finally quenches our thirst
Soma and Tantra
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The essence of Tantric sadhana, or yogic practice, is refinement of the body-mind. Like other dimensions of Tantric yoga, the Churning of the Milky Ocean is a powerful myth that allows us to examine the ways in which yoga allows us to lead a richer, happier, and more meaningful life. This myth is also a wonderful metaphor for the ways in which plant medicine like Soma allows us to answer these same questions.
Read MoreThe Mother Goddess
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The Mother Goddess
The Source of all desire
The Cosmic Fire
Burning within us all
Peganam Harmala: Creating the Space which Chacruna Illuminates
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Yoga is a process of refinement. Working with plant medicine such as the Soma is the same. It invites us to carefully dial up or dial down the two separate levers of the process, the masculine and feminine aspects, and understanding this balance is ultimately allows us to wake up in this reality.
Read MoreThe Goddess Chacruna
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A silhouette in the shadows
Shimmering with ecstasy
Dancing in the darkness
Of the unconscious
The Dance of Tantra
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What is this mystery, expressing itself as "me?"
This body, this mind
This illusion of separation that seems to demarcate inner and outer
Yet another appearance in the mirror…
The Kingdom of Heaven
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The Kingdom of Heaven arises when the mind ceases to turn outwards towards gratification in impermanent objects and turns inwards to rest in its own place. That radiance already exists within ourselves. It's our very essence. So ask yourself, what if the Kingdom of Heaven is always and already here and now, if only I had eyes to see it?
Read MoreTantric Maps for Working with Plant Medicine
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Awakening is the movement of consciousness becoming conscious of itself. Psychedelics and plant medicines do not offer a path for awakening but they can serve as powerful accelerators along the journey. This article examines the path to awakening as described by Dzogchen, Mahamudra, and Shaiva Shakta Tantra and the role that plant medicines can play in it all.
Read MoreBalancing Masculine and Feminine Ideals of Awakening
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We need a clear path to awakening that addresses both our desires for freedom and connection. Typically, spiritual paths have focused on masculine ideals of transcendence without the acknowledgement of our embodied experiences. Tantra, alternatively, represents the rise of The Divine Feminine and offers us a perspective on how archetypal feminine values can balance archetypal masculine ones.
Read MoreThe Tapestry of Tantra
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The term “Tantra” evokes the image of a loom, for it points towards the way in which everyone and everything are intricately interwoven. An awakened mind clearly sees that tapestry and understands that the undertaking of awakening is ultimately a collective endeavor. This is why bodhicitta, the intention to wake up for the benefit of others, is essential for continued unfolding along the path.
Read MoreSeeking The End of Seeking
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We need to seek until we find, which usually only happens when the desire to keep seeking outward exhausts itself. Samsara is the wheel of desire that keeps us spinning around and around. It is an endless state of wandering and only when we become exhausted, can the mind finally stop searching for happiness and peace outward in external appearances and turn inward to rest in its own place.
Read MoreThe Universe Begins with a Question
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In The Vedas, the universe begins when Shiva, who orchestrates the destruction that lays ground for creation, asks himself, “Who am I?” Why is it that most of us are afraid to become intimate with the uncertainty of this question and how can use the practice of meditation to examine this with more ease?
Read MoreBalancing Effort & Effortlessness
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The ability to hold a paradox is central to the practice of meditation and the journey of awakening. Life is full of paradoxes. However, we overlook them for the simplicity and clarity of dualistic categories. In meditation, one important paradox is the importance of both effort & effortlessness. Neither is right nor wrong in an absolute sense, but the issue is what to emphasize at any given time.
Read MoreWaking Up, Growing Up, Cleaning Up
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There are many reasons to practice meditation, but out of respect for the cultures that developed these practices, I’d like to underscore the deeper promise: awakening to our true nature. If you’re allergic to terms like religion or spirituality, as I used to be, then you can approach awakening through Ken Wilber’s Integral Model of growing up, cleaning up and waking up.
Read MoreThe Promise and Purpose of Meditation
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The purpose of meditation is to recognize that the deeper causes and conditions for happiness and well being have far more to do with how your mind is relating to experience, rather than having the right kind of experience. Ultimately, the promise of meditation is to awaken to our true nature and to see clearly what makes us happy and what makes us suffer.
Read MoreWhat Does Democracy Have To Do With Buddhadharma?
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What does democracy have to do with Buddhadharma? Historically, nothing. But this is changing in the fourth turning of the Dharma. This article explores the intersection of Dharma and political activism for the Western Dharma practitioner and the impact that embracing Dharmic values might have in supporting the struggle for democracy in Thailand.
Read MoreTheravada, Thailand & Householder Paths: Enlightenment or Bust
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This article will address what I like to call, the “enlightenment or bust” phenomenon. It’s an attitude that often arises in contexts in which renunciate forms of yoga predominate in society and in short, describes the perspective that because enlightenment cannot be reached, there is less of a willingness to engage in contemplative practices such as meditation.
Read MoreRenunciate vs Householder Paths
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What are the practical implications of translating ancient contemplative code that was designed for monastics into a contemporary context for householders? In this article, we explore the significance of understanding the history and context of meditation and why questioning the assumptions and values that underlie this path is imperative for a modern Buddhism practitioner.
Read MoreCarving out the Householder Path
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The renunciate’s and householder’s spiritual paths need to be clearly distinguished. A Buddhist renunciate is a monastic or a wandering yogi and someone who has “renounced the world.” Householders, alternatively, are people who wish to “live in the world.” This article explores differences between the two and why some of the practices and views inherited through renunciate teachings might not apply to those who are householder practitioners.
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