EPISODE NINE: Guru Shishya Parampara

EPISODE NINE: Guru Shishya Parampara

If Shakya Buddha were still alive today, he probably wouldn’t be too impressed that we, his followers, have vigorously divided into cliques, which has lead to sectarianism and conflicts. In the country where I was born, I wonder if the people even consider what...
EPISODE EIGHT: Karmic Footprint

EPISODE EIGHT: Karmic Footprint

As samsaric beings, we eat so many things, we sniff so many things, we have sex with different kinds of people, and we never really know down the line what kind of seeds we have planted with all of our actions. Knowingly or not, we are constantly creating legacies,...
EPISODE SEVEN: Loss of Innocence

EPISODE SEVEN: Loss of Innocence

EPISODE SEVEN: Loss of Innocence When I was growing up in East Bhutan, there were phalluses on display everywhere. Even in our home, you’d find phalluses carved into doorknobs, adorning soup ladles, and on banisters. They were painted on the walls, inside and...
EPISODE SIX: On Memory and Elegance

EPISODE SIX: On Memory and Elegance

EPISODE SIX: On Memory and Elegance Memories are not for enlightened beings. Enlightened beings don’t remember because, for them, there is no past. Past—and for that matter present and future—are for beings like us, who use the past as a reference and then...
EPISODE FIVE: Lepo the Idiot

EPISODE FIVE: Lepo the Idiot

I don’t know what I will be called in my next life. I actually don’t know if I will be reborn in a sphere where there is such a thing as a name. Do beetles have names? Probably my current name Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse will be given to a child of an...