Love & Liberation with Olivia Clementine

Today's episode is an interview revisited that originally aired in February of 2022. Our guest is Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chödrön, who spent decades living, practicing, and receiving teachings from two uncompromising yogic masters of our time. She speaks about devotion, the hidden oral lineages of Tantric practice, the yogas of tsalung and tummo, and what it means to stop playing games with yourself.

Time notes:

00:00:00 — Introduction

00:02:07 — First encounter with dharma

00:09:51 — Karmic seeds ripening

00:11:38 — Lama Dawa and what is a ngakpa?

00:17:53 — Responsibility for the elements

00:19:00 — Examples of elemental mastery

00:21:27 — Lama Dawa's qualities as a teacher

00:22:45 — Why Lamas avoid spirit talk

00:26:58 — Life after Lama Dawa's passing

00:30:50 — Meeting Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche

00:39:24 — Desire for an uncompromising teacher

00:39:33 — Renunciation sparked by Yeshe Tsogyal

00:42:18 — Rigdzin Sökdrup lineage

00:42:45 — Years of retreat in Nepal

00:51:34 — On tsalung

01:01:39 — Tending the body: Lu Jong, neyjang

01:04:24 — Subtle energetic systems explained

01:10:15 — Bliss and emptiness connection

01:13:40 — Intimate retreat with a teacher

01:14:02 — Uniqueness of guru-disciple model

01:18:31 — Finding teachers today

01:18:39 — Sacrifices required

For more episodes with Khandro Kunzang:

Devotion, Maturation & the Guru

https://oliviaclementine.com/khandro-kunzang-dechen-chodron-devotion-maturation-the-guru/

Vajrakilaya, Guru Rinpoche Prophecies & the Mandala Principle

https://oliviaclementine.com/khandro-kunzang-dechen-chodron-vajrakilaya-guru-rinpoche-prophecies-the-mandala-principle/

Elemental Spirits, Vajra Armor & Dharma Marriage

https://oliviaclementine.com/khandro-kunzang-elemental-spirits-vajra-armor-dharma-marriage/

Cultivating Siddhis, Tukdam, Lineage Protection & Consortship

https://oliviaclementine.com/khandro-kunzang-cultivating-siddhis-tukdam-lineage-protection-consortship/

Further Links:

Connect with Khandro Kunzang

https://www.phurbathinleyling.org/

Learn About & Support the P'hurba Peace Mandala Project

https://www.phurbathinleyling.org/the-peace-mandala-project/

Podcast website & episode transcript:

https://oliviaclementine.com/khandro-kunzang-the-oral-instruction-lineage-ngagpas-himalayan-yogas-of-tsa-lung-and-tummo/

Today's episode is an interview revisited that originally aired in August of 2022, with the wandering practitioner, Tseyang Pharchen. Tseyang has spent over twelve years retreating in remote and sacred places throughout Bhutan.

Time notes:

00:00:00 — Introduction

00:01:15 — What drew Tseyang to mountain retreats

00:01:32 — Nature's effect on the mind

00:04:13 — The first retreat, inner conviction and obstacles

00:09:46 — On not setting goals

00:15:44 — Settling into a hidden sacred cave

00:18:29 — Doubt and inner knowing

00:19:26 — Challenges of navigating remote places as a woman

00:22:52 — Day-in-the-life of retreat

00:31:19 — What to look for when choosing a retreat place

00:33:43 — Influenced devotion vs. natural devotion

00:35:45 — Closing remarks and final advice, followed by a song from Tseyang

Today our guest is Sean Price. Sean is an English monk who has spent decades sitting with some of the greatest living masters and chasing down rare texts before they disappear. As director of Tibetan Publications for the Tsadra Foundation and the oral interpreter for Kyabje Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, he has devoted himself to making the dharma accessible. In this conversation, Sean speaks about what it truly means to have a relationship with a spiritual teacher, a common mistake on the path of realization, and the unexpected journeys behind preserving wisdom for future generations.

Time notes:

00:00:00: Introduction

00:02:20: Guides who shaped Sean's path

00:05:22: Master and their own unmistakable flavor

00:10:30: The one thread running through all great masters

00:13:00: Three things needed for translation to truly work

00:17:46: The overlooked yogi everyone should know about

00:18:16: Saraha, spontaneous songs

00:19:00: Hunting a rare text in Varanasi

00:25:23: What Shabkar shows us about real relationship

00:28:00: His entire life's practice fit on one page

00:30:00: Spiritual abundance as an obstacle

00:32:03: Chasing rare texts before they disappear

00:32:30: The giants of rare text preservation

00:37:47: The Khenpo Gangshar project

00:42:20 Tsele's writings and why three masters were devoted to saving them

00:45:30: Pure motivation, honest mistakes, and an open invitation

Links:

Tsadra Foundation

https://www.tsadra.org/

Post Listen Episode with Sangye Khandro

https://oliviaclementine.com/sangye-khandro-on-the-three-kayas-embracing-the-dharma/

Podcast website & transcripts

https://oliviaclementine.com/podcasts

Tashi Dekyid Monet is a Tibetan scholar, writer, and translator who grew up in the Eastern Tibetan Highlands in the rhythms of nomadic and agricultural life, where time is measured by light and shadow, where songs carry cosmological wisdom and where knowing the face of the land means being woven into a web of reciprocal relationships with all four realms of beings. Through explorations of oral tradition, sacred geography, spiritual songs, and the concept of tendrel, or auspicious connection, Tashi offers insights into ways of knowing that nurture belonging, protect sacred knowledge, and recognize land itself as a teacher.

Time notes:

00:00:00 — Introduction

00:01:30 — Nomadic Highlands, Sacred Peaks

00:07:00 — Village Life as Education

00:10:00 — Light, Shadow, Flowers and Birds Tell the Time

00:16:00 — Knowing the Face of the Land

00:19:30 — When Land Extends Your Very Self

00:22:30 — Songs That Carry Cosmological Wisdom

00:26:00 — Tashi Sings

00:29:30 — The Yogi Shabkar and the Sacred Mountain

00:34:00 — A Dream Visit With the Mountain King

00:38:00 — Four Realms

00:42:30 — Consequences of Breaking Reciprocity

00:46:00 — The Secret Layer

00:50:00 — Protecting Knowledge From Extraction

00:54:00 — What Is Tendrel?

00:58:00 — Recognizing Auspicious Connections

01:02:00 — Raising Children in a Foreign Land

01:06:00 — Tashi Sings: Exquisite Abundance

01:10:30 — A Closing Prayer for Auspiciousness

~

Links:

Post-listen episode:

Drukmo Gyal: Ngakma Lifestyle, Slowing Down & Balancing the Inner Elements

https://oliviaclementine.com/drukmo-gyal-ngakma-lifestyle-slowing-down-balancing-the-inner-elements/

Podcast website & transcripts

https://oliviaclementine.com/podcasts

In this conversation, we sit down in Pharping Nepal with Josh Kinney, a western practitioner who spent over two decades immersed in the living meditation traditions of Nangchen in Eastern Tibet training under some of its most extraordinary masters, including the force of nature Yogi Pema Dorje, and the renowned Lhagen Pema Drimed. You will hear stories of cave retreats, Tibetan yogas, dark retreat practice, and what it means to enter this remotely held lineage as an outsider with devotion and a willingness to keep showing up.

Time notes:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:39 First steps into dharma

00:03:24 Eastern Tibet

00:04:12 Putting on robes

00:05:54 Adeu Rinpoche

000:9:58 Meeting Yogi Pema Dorje

00:12:27 Cave retreats and ngondro

00:14:59 Five Buddha family teachings

00:19:13 Sealed retreats with Pema Dorje

00:25:13 Tibetan yogas

00:27:15 Dark retreat

00:30:22 Pema Dorje's early life and tests

00:36:40 Naked yogi tales

00:39:08 Retreat training style

00:43:23 Lhagen Pema Drimed

00:49:57 Guided retreat stories

00:53:53 Chudlen essence practice

00:58:24 Dark retreat with friends

01:03:00 Peter Galambos as an example

01:04:43 Outer, inner and secret retreat

01:07:00 3-year retreat and serendipity as the way

Links:

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0mVOZmJ5bg

Josh Kinney:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/joshua.kinney.524

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcguru29

Support building a dark retreat hermitage at Gebchak:

In response to Tsogyal Rinpoche and senior Gebchak female practitioners asking Josh to advise and direct the building of this future dark retreat center at the mother nunnery of Gebchak, in Eastern Tibet, Josh is currently requesting support to make this vision come to fruition. This space will be able to hold 15 practitioners at a time and will include bathrooms and a communal kitchen.

You can make an offering here, and Josh will send you a receipt for your gift:

paypal.me/gebchakyogis

For questions, you can write Josh: mcreynolds290 (at) gmail (dot) com

Suggested Episode Series:

On the Gebchak Yoginis, a 3 Part Series with Elizabeth McDougal:

Part One: https://oliviaclementine.com/elizabeth-mcdougal-the-gebchak-yoginis-part-one/

Love & Liberation podcast website & transcripts

https://oliviaclementine.com/podcasts

Time notes:

[00:07:45] - Lakota and intuition

[00:10:29] - The highest intelligence

[00:16:03] - The spiritual umbilical cord

[00:21:20] -33 intelligences

[00:27:51] - Relationship with time and timelessness

[00:31:37] - Morning ritual of perception

[00:34:48] - Innocence

[00:40:42] - The elder at the creek

[00:46:16] - Language of grief

[00:54:16] - Using energy wisely

Music included is from Tiokasin called 'Butterfly Against the Wind'

This conversation originally aired on February 22, 2022

~

Links:

Tiokasin Ghosthorse and First Voices Indigenous Radio

https://firstvoicesindigenousradio.org/production/tiokasin-ghosthorse

Podcast website & transcripts

https://oliviaclementine.com/podcasts

Post-Listen suggested episode with Kunzang Choden

https://oliviaclementine.com/kunzang-choden-bhutanese-heritage-dorji-linga-part-one/

Dr. Andrea Loseries is a scholar, professor, and yogic practitioner. You'll hear about Andrea's more than 50 years of research and spiritual practice that includes incredible accounts of risk, discernment, and devotion on her path of transformation.

Time notes:

00:01:06 - Journeying to the Himalayas to study with yogic masters

00:07:38 - Taking the Karmapa as her teacher

00:12:28 - From village girl to lady in 6 months

00:16:05 - Ancient Bon religion and bone ritual objects

00:20:34 - The confiscated skull

00:23:53 - The legendary Snow Lion Expedition

00:35:56 - Guidance on choosing malas and ritual objects

00:38:51 - Learning chod practice with Chatral Rinpoche

00:49:19 - On purity and impurity at the cremation ground

00:55:02 - Being a woman at the cremation ground

01:04:30 - Using oil from burning bodies for a Mahakala lamp

This conversation originally aired on March 14, 2023

~

Podcast website & transcripts

https://oliviaclementine.com/podcasts

Post-listen episode with Kulavadhuta Satpurananda:

https://oliviaclementine.com/kulavadhuta-satpurananda-the-path-of-a-yogi-gone-beyond/

Christina Monson spent decades studying with the meditation master Chatral Rinpoche in the mountains of Nepal and translating and practicing the teachings of Sera Khandro. But it was facing stage four cancer that revealed whether decades of practice could meet the greatest pain with the greatest teaching. This conversation, recorded less than a year before Christina's passing, offers a window into what it means to follow one's heart all the way through, free of regrets.

~

Time notes:

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:02:18] Meeting Chatral Rinpoche

[00:08:48] Seeing Her Ego Up Close

[00:14:10] A Nomad's Temperament

[00:17:57] Mountain Retreat

[00:25:08] Discovering Sera Khandro

[00:27:30] The Rhythm of Retreat

[00:28:48] No Sessions, No Breaks

[00:32:09] About Sera Khandro

[00:36:37] Grief and Terminal Diagnosis

[00:43:47] Everything as a Test of Practice

[00:47:45] Natural Process of Illness

[00:49:04] Precious moments

[00:51:18] Sera Khandro's Song of Severance

[00:58:58] The Power of Her Realization

[01:01:02] Chatral Rinpoche's Prayer

[01:05:19] The Impossibility of Translation

[01:10:40] Following One's Heart, No Regrets

This conversation originally aired on Dec 21, 2022

~

Christina Monson was a Buddhist practitioner and teacher, and Tibetan language translator, and interpreter with over 30 years of study, translation, and practice experience in Buddhism.

~

Links:

A Dakini's Counsel: Sera Khandro's Spiritual Advice and Dzogchen Instructions

By Sera Khandro and translated by Christina Monson

https://www.shambhala.com/a-dakini-s-counsel.html?srsltid=AfmBOoryRwpUExBE8808dsuCtSMUzURCGSXpNh6n5hr1l10NsLOcG0DO

A Song of Amazement Inspired by Practice Experience

by Sera Khandro

https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/sera-khandro/song-of-amazement

Spontaneous Advice Connected with a Prayer

by Kyabje Chatral Rinpoche

https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/chatral-rinpoche/spontaneous-advice-connected-with-prayer

Post-Listen Episode with Sally Kempton

https://oliviaclementine.com/sally-kempton-on-tantra-divinity-shakti-the-subtle-influences/

This is a conversation revisited with philosopher, writer, and professor Bayo Akomolafe.

Time notes:

00:00:29 - 00:07:50 The Sporulation of the Slave Ship

00:07:50 - 00:16:11 Beyond the Human - Blackness as Becoming

00:16:11 - 00:19:48 Entanglement and the Agency of the World

00:19:48 - 00:27:09 Language Beyond Vocality

00:27:09 - 00:34:32 Poetry as Prophecy and the Loss of Precision

00:34:32 - 00:41:12 - Learning from Children's Agency

00:41:12 - 00:47:20The Tortoise's Drum - Cracks and Openings

(This conversation originally aired July 2022)

Links:

Bayo Akomolafe:

https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/

Post-listen episode with Francis Weller:

https://oliviaclementine.com/francis-weller-the-medicine-you-carry-suturing-the-inevitable-tears/

Podcast website & transcripts

https://oliviaclementine.com/podcasts

Stay tuned for our next season coming to you later in the year ...