Alex Wilding

But before we leave the subject entirely, we must acknowledge that the view I've rather crudely characterized as that of caused enlightenment does have many adherents who do not say that the tantric path is a powerful adjunct to the practice, but rather that it is the one and only quick path.

But before we leave the subject entirely, we must acknowledge that the view I've rather crudely characterized as that of caused enlightenment does have many adherents who do not say that the tantric path is a powerful adjunct to the practice, but rather that it is the one and only quick path.

A particularly famous critic of Mahamudra outside of Tantra was the Sakya Pandita, active in the early 13th century and often known simply as Sapan. Tibetans do that with names a lot. In his view, the quick tantric path necessarily involves the stages of generating the deity through visualisation and liturgy, practices involving the breath, energy channels and ultimately sexual yoga.

A particularly famous critic of Mahamudra outside of Tantra was the Sakya Pandita, active in the early 13th century and often known simply as Sapan. Tibetans do that with names a lot. In his view, the quick tantric path necessarily involves the stages of generating the deity through visualisation and liturgy, practices involving the breath, energy channels and ultimately sexual yoga.

I can't mention sexual yoga without stressing again that this kind of tantric sex, which many venerated figures say is something that extraordinarily few people are qualified for, strictly requires coitus reservatus. If you leak, the process fails. I will say no more on that subject. The tantric meaning of Mahamudra is associated with this stage of practice.

I can't mention sexual yoga without stressing again that this kind of tantric sex, which many venerated figures say is something that extraordinarily few people are qualified for, strictly requires coitus reservatus. If you leak, the process fails. I will say no more on that subject. The tantric meaning of Mahamudra is associated with this stage of practice.

Sapan's critique focused on the way Milarepa's student Gampapa was giving Mahamudra instructions to students and wasting them by not having them do the whole elaborate tantric thing. Sapan's thinking was that Mahamudra outside tantra wasn't really Mahamudra at all.

Sapan's critique focused on the way Milarepa's student Gampapa was giving Mahamudra instructions to students and wasting them by not having them do the whole elaborate tantric thing. Sapan's thinking was that Mahamudra outside tantra wasn't really Mahamudra at all.

Of course, it's complicated, and if you want to dig deeper, one possible place I'll suggest would be David Jackson's work Enlightenment by a Single Means. As a final point, while the supporters of both narratives feel that the difference is hugely important to their meditation and realization, there is often not so much to be seen on the outside.

Of course, it's complicated, and if you want to dig deeper, one possible place I'll suggest would be David Jackson's work Enlightenment by a Single Means. As a final point, while the supporters of both narratives feel that the difference is hugely important to their meditation and realization, there is often not so much to be seen on the outside.

People in the caused enlightenment camp will have their sudden insights, and people in the spontaneous camp will not immediately fly into the sky. They too recite their mantras and practice karma-abiding meditation, do their visualizations, make the offerings, perform guru yoga, and, and, and, and, and, much the same as anyone else.

People in the caused enlightenment camp will have their sudden insights, and people in the spontaneous camp will not immediately fly into the sky. They too recite their mantras and practice karma-abiding meditation, do their visualizations, make the offerings, perform guru yoga, and, and, and, and, and, much the same as anyone else.

Having got this far, I have a genuine fear that I may not have made anything any clearer, and I may have also been rather boring. Sorry about that, but perhaps I have given you a few clues as to how to dig further. And finally, do remember to like, subscribe, tell your friends, and all that stuff. And remember, whatever appears, just appears. Mysterious, innit? Bye!

Having got this far, I have a genuine fear that I may not have made anything any clearer, and I may have also been rather boring. Sorry about that, but perhaps I have given you a few clues as to how to dig further. And finally, do remember to like, subscribe, tell your friends, and all that stuff. And remember, whatever appears, just appears. Mysterious, innit? Bye!

Hello dear listeners, perhaps I should say hello wise listeners, in the light of the topic of this episode of the Double Doge podcast. I'm Alex Worling, and in this episode, we are going to try to grapple with the general shape of teaching surrounding that essential point of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, that is to say, emptiness. Firstly, as ever, one call to action and one possibly helpful tip.

For the call to action, it would be great if you would take a moment to like, subscribe, or whatever you can to support this podcast. And for the tip, if your listening platform doesn't show you the extra material, such as the list of words you might want to look up that I almost always provide for these episodes, you'll find that on Podbean.

Podbean is where this podcast is hosted when it's first published. Who knows what might happen in the future, but that's it at the moment. Boy, am I glad that I never claimed to be your Buddhist teacher, either in an academic sense or a spiritual sense. It would be a brave person indeed who claimed to be able to give a final explanation of what emptiness in Buddhism is about.

Thousands of litres of ink have been used in that project, and people are still arguing about it. But at least it might be good to get a general handle on it and avoid traps like saying, Oh, everything is empty so it doesn't matter. Once when I was at a series of teachings being given by my lama, Karma Lundrup Rinpoche, I had prepared an envelope with a cash donation in it.

With experience you do learn that having a few such envelopes available at that kind of event is just what the Boy Scout is taught to do to be prepared. When I got home, I was checking through my stuff and found an envelope with just the amount of the cash donation in it. Ah, I had given him an envelope with no actual donation in it. How inauspicious. The next day I asked him about it.

Rumpachy, I said, after yesterday's teaching, did you find an envelope that didn't actually contain any money? He nodded. I think it must have been mine, I said, because I found the money in another envelope when I got home. He laughed and said it didn't matter, and that it was very auspicious because, well, emptiness. Basically, he didn't want me to feel bad about it. But that was a joke.