Letting Grow

A huge thank-you to all the listeners to this podcast. (We're currently ranked #28 in Sweden and #26 in Australia for Buddhist pods, wow!) We're so grateful for the time you spend with Claire and the guests.

And would you like to meet live? In a real video call, not a webinar? Then join Claire on Feb. 11 for a free mini-workshop on the rebirth process where you can connect with like-minded folks and ask questions in real time. Register here: https://bit.ly/39Hmml3.

Finally, new episodes will drop on Fridays starting this week. (Turns out that seems to be a better time for folks.) See you Friday!

Welcome to the second episode on the Buddhist teachings about the six realms that we can take rebirth into. If you missed the first part and you’re not familiar with these teachings, please listen to that first. In this episode, we’re going to talk about taking these rebirths metaphorically and  how contemplating these different kinds of births can benefit us in this lifetime. 

Recommended reading: Words of My Perfect Teacher chapter 3, Tantric Practice in Nyingma chapters 6 and 7

Join the tribe with our fun, free biweekly newsletter: http://bit.ly/rbrthnews

Check out more content at clairevillarreal.com or share your story of death and rebirth with us: [email protected].

Welcome to today's episode on the six realms of rebirth. We'll talk about the six realms: hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demi-gods, and gods -- don't worry, I'll explain them all in detail. And for those who don't believe in literal rebirth, in the next episode (available now) we'll also talk about how to take these teachings metaphorically and the ways reflecting on them can enrich your spiritual practice.

Recommended reading: Words of My Perfect Teacher chapter 3, Tantric Practice in Nyingma chapters 6 and 7

Join the tribe with our fun, free biweekly newsletter: http://bit.ly/rbrthnews

Check out more content at clairevillarreal.com or share your story of death and rebirth with us: [email protected].

Dr. Simon Cox talked with us on Dec. 23 about Buddhist views of the subtle body, and today he’s sharing his life journey with us, from his time watching cartoons in Houston, TX (including a Batman cartoon that started him on his lifelong quest to understand the subtle body) to his time training in kung fu and Taoist contemplative practices at Wudang mountain to Rice’s Department of Religion, where he recently defended his dissertation on the subtle body.

So get ready for an epic journey across continents, and be sure to tune in again on February 3 when Simon will tell us all about the Taoist subtle body.

Join the tribe with our fun, free biweekly newsletter: http://bit.ly/rbrthnews

Check out Simon's (and his wife's) website, https://www.okanaganvalleywudang.com, for amazing images from their time in China.

Check out more content at clairevillarreal.com or share your story of death and rebirth with us: [email protected].

With all the talk of the upcoming presidential transition in the news, I got curious about what this big event has in common with the changes in identity we've all lived through. So this week I created this mini-episode with links to a couple of short articles about the process of presidential transition. Here's hoping that this big national moment goes smoothly!  

Join the tribe with our fun, free biweekly newsletter: http://bit.ly/rbrthnews

Atlantic article: http://bit.ly/3bR16e8

NPR article: http://n.pr/35VdBl8

Join the tribe with our fun, free biweekly newsletter (coming early in 2021): http://bit.ly/rbrthnews

Today’s meditation is all about recognizing and relaxing into the space in our minds and in our lives. The more we can appreciate space, the less we’ll try to cram something into every moment of our lives. I hope you’ll use this meditation as often as you need to and come to embrace the space in your life.

music by Chris Collins, indiemusicbox.com

Join the tribe with our fun, free biweekly newsletter (coming early in 2021): http://bit.ly/rbrthnews

In traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the bardo states, the bardo of this life is the first one mentioned. It’s the one we’re in now, and it’s the best time to train our minds. But in the process of transitions, it’s the part of the process that seems to get the least attention, maybe because we never seem to realize we were in a stable period of life until that ends. So we’ve left it until last on this podcast because often we appreciate this lifetime – or a stable period in it – most fully only after it’s over. We’ve talked and imagined our way through the bardos of death, clear light, and becoming now (see previous episodes if you missed those talks), so hopefully we can appreciate the bardo of this life properly.

This episode mentions a free mini-course I put together with resources on training calm abiding and special insight in meditation. Here’s the link to enroll: https://clairevillarreal.teachable.com/p/essential-tools-for-meditation

Also, the book that’s mentioned in this episode is Mind Beyond Death by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.

Stay in the loop with rebirth news and insights when you join our mailing list (https://bit.ly/rebrth), and check out more content at clairevillarreal.com.

Questions or comments – or your own story of death and rebirth to tell?  Write Claire at [email protected].

Join the tribe with our fun, free biweekly newsletter (coming early in 2021): http://bit.ly/rbrthnews

If you have some extra time to curl up with a good book or movie this week, here are a couple of recommendations for you! The first is In Love with Life by Mingyur Rinpoche, a fun read about a renowned Tibetan master who decides to leave his identity as a reincarnate lama in order to spend four years on a wandering retreat. He brings the bardo teachings into real life, both as a way of talking about leaving his old identity behind and when he nearly dies of food poisoning and has a near death experience.

The movie recommendation is Unmistaken Child, a sweet and beautiful movie that takes us inside the process of a devoted Tibetan monk and student searching for the reincarnation of his master. You can watch the trailer or the movie here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/unmistakenchild

Stay in the loop with rebirth news and insights when you join our mailing list (https://bit.ly/rebrth), and check out more content at clairevillarreal.com.

Questions or comments – or your own story of death and rebirth to tell?  Write Claire at [email protected].

Join the tribe with our fun, free biweekly newsletter launching in early 2021: http://bit.ly/rbrthnews

I’m so pleased to bring you this conversation on the Buddhist subtle body with my friend and colleague Simon Cox. I met Simon when he joined Rice’s Department of Religion PhD program, and then I got to know him when he took two semesters of my introduction to Tibetan language and culture class at Rice. Simon wrote his dissertation about the subtle body, so he’s the perfect person to give us a deeper dive on that topic. Read more about Simon and his kung fu training (and see awesome photos of him in China!) at https://www.okanaganvalleywudang.com.

In this episode, we’ll talk about a few more technical topics, so I’ll give a short explanation in the introduction, and below you’ll find some links to introductory articles if you’re new to the topics of Buddhist tantra, epistemology, and Yogacara philosophy.

On Buddhist tantra: https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-is-buddhist-tantra/

On epistemology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology

On Yogacara: https://www.lionsroar.com/dharma-dictionary-yogacara/

Today’s episode is all about the most famous part of the death and rebirth cycle in Tibetan Buddhism: the bardo between death and rebirth, also called the bardo of becoming. We start with a summary of the traditional description of this bardo state, in which we’re said to have a mental body. We start off still connected with the identity of the life that just finished and end up connecting with the life we’re about to begin. This bardo is said to be a dreamlike state in which we’re blown around by our thoughts and emotions (which sounds like daily life sometimes, but moreso). 

There are two books I highly recommend if you want to read more on this bardo: Tulku Thondup’s Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche’s Mind Beyond Death. If you’re new to all this, Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth is an easier one to start with.

Teachings about this bardo state offer us some lessons for transitions, too. For instance, in the bardo of becoming, we start off still thinking of ourselves as the person who just died, and it takes a while to realize that life is over. In a transition, it sometimes takes a while to realize that we’ve finished a stage of our lives and stop spending our energy looking back. And as we get ready to leave the bardo of becoming, we start to have visions related to the lifetime we’re about to enter. Similarly, as we move through the in-between stage of a transition, we may find ourselves preparing for what comes next and beginning at least to know what we’d like for the next chapter of our lives.

And as is always true, the more we can stay awake and aware, the better we’re able to say yes to situations that feed our souls and no to what drains us. I hope today’s episode sheds some light on this super important part of the cycle of transitions.

Stay in the loop with rebirth news and insights when you join our mailing list (https://bit.ly/rebrth), and check out more content at clairevillarreal.com.

Questions or comments – or your own story of death and rebirth to tell?  Write Claire at [email protected].