Spiritual Traditions

Clear Teachings from the Tibetan Tradition

Q&A session from SAND 18

Nonduality and Mindfulness — Two Great Traditions that Go Great Together

In the context of American spiritual practice nondual traditions and mindfulness traditions appear to be in sharp contrast.

The Profound Activity of Questioning

Asking a question is being the most active you can be. It means being humble. Humility is the most active attitude.

Rest in Natural Great Peace

Peter Russell explains that most human beings—unlike animals—focus on the past and the future, which means they spend their time in a state of discontent.

The Mystery of Life

Francis Lucille answers questions from the audience at SAND 18, bringing his intelligence and wit to a variety of topics

Waking from the Meme Dream

Wake up! Wake up! Errrr, ummmm, grrrrggr, Oh yes, I’m awake now. Wow, that was a weird dream.

Far Right or Far Left, It’s Exactly the Same

I have this concern about what is happening in the world. If we take nonduality really seriously, it seems like we are not concerned about the exterior.

Tandava the Cosmic Dance

Tandava means totality. It means the path is absolutely non-dual, because we integrate everything and we don't refuse any aspect of the human being

Let the Moon Be Free – Conversations on Kashmiri Tantra

Shaped and sustained by the nondual tradition of Kashmir Shivaism, Eric Baret’s words take us back to the simple observation of our felt sense of emotion and, ultimately, to pure listening.

Emotional and Spiritual Maturity

In a rare meeting of minds, and a rare exploration of whether there is a predilection for spirituality, Gabor Mate asks Adyashanti to expand on passages from his recent book My Secret Is Silence.

The Pilgrimage of “Who Am I?”

A short conversation with Brazilian author Paolo Coelho

We Can Still Be Crazy

We may think meditation will improve us, but it’s really about accepting ourselves as we are right now.

$49

Exploring Life Through Kashmiri Tantric Shaivism: A Live Q&A

A 3-part Live Webinar Series

$99

Holotropic States of Consciousness: Technologies of the Sacred

A pre-recorded 4-part Video Series with Stanislav Grof

53:20:00 – FREE

SAND18 US — The Human as the Wormhole to the Mysteries of Existence

To think of the human stage as simply for enlightenment shortchanges the potential of humanity.

$89

The Sacred Feminine in Buddhist Philosophy

A 3-part Live Webinar Series

$49

Exploring Life Through Kashmiri Tantric Shaivism

a 3-part Webinar Series

$35

Living Awakening

Integrating Self-Recognition in Everyday Life

FREE

Embodying Awakening: Becoming the Understanding

A FREE live online community conversation with Shakti Caterina Maggi facilitated by Zaya Benazzo

$49

Holy Brokenness—The Ways of Wisdom

A 3-part Webinar Series, recorded in December 2018

The Human Being in Spiritual Traditions

How do the different spiritual traditions view being human? How do they differ in their appreciation of the human individual and the place of the human in the total scheme of reality? A dialogue in depth that may help us see our value for the universe.

$49

Becoming You

A 4-part Live Webinar Series

The Nature of Experience

There is one fundamental presumption upon which our world culture is founded. This basic presumption states that experience is divided into two essential elements – a subject and an object – joined together by an act of knowing, feeling or perceiving.

Christianity and Unknowing

Richard Rohr, as a Catholic priest and Franciscan Friar, will offer a concise history of how Western Christianity once had, soon lost, tried to retrieve, and now is roundly rediscovering its own traditional understanding of unitive consciousness

Exclusive interview with Dr. Alan Wallace

In this exclusive interview with Dr. Alan Wallace we discuss consciousness, mathematics, practicing deep sleep states and meditation as preparation for dying consciously.

Yoga is a Celebration of Life

Eric Baret points out that there are no sculptures of yogic asanas in Indian temples before the modern era. He describes today’s yoga as a commercial project...

Spirituality and Heavy Metal? Oh Yes!

Look deeper. Look deeper at your mala, your skateboard, your yoga mat. Look deeper at your records,…

This Sacred Game Has Been Rigged Against Us

The word “spirituality” has caused a lot of suffering over the centuries. Moral self-righteousness is often tagging along side that word.

On Spiritual Bypassing and Relationship

Spiritual bypassing is a term I coined to describe a process I saw happening in the Buddhist community I was in, and also in myself.

Exhausting the Mind

Question: When we say that we must come to the end of the mind, that we must exhaust the mind, is it a necessary process, something which must happen, or is it possible to have an insight without the mind being exhausted?

The Foundation of World Peace

I have to confess that I was a little taken aback at breakfast this morning when Ellen and I sat down, and Zaya and Maurizio came to sit down with us.

On Grace and Polemics

I am a seeker who feels he has arrived, in that, these days, I both intellectually and feeling-wise, experience a oneness that is a great joy and comfort - completely unknowing, absolutely wondrous, constantly available, not really what I expected

Is Your Shaman Sketchy? Sham Shamans

Shamanism is, by its very nature, a little on the dark side.

Buddha's Message: Have Some fun! Bob Thurman

Bob Thurman delights the audience at SAND 2018 with his lighthearted approach to the wisdom and the…

What is Truth?

Seeking is an expression of truth, it’s not a way. Abhinavagupta, in the Tantraloka, is very clear; all the yoga practices are an expression of truth. Yoga does not bring us to truth, truth expresses itself through yoga.

Bypassing The Spiritual Bypass: Re-Association as a Spiritual Practice

The purpose of therapy is to help the client acknowledge, experience, and bear reality

Book Review: The Fellowship of the River, by Joseph Tafur

As far as I know, this is a first: a book about ayahuasca and plant medicine and shamanism...

What is Tantra?

For me it is irrelevant, but let’s say for the Kashmirian tradition, as far as my teacher expressed…

Everything is Self

Many great masters have said “Everything is Self,” and this phrase is repeated regularly during spiritual…

Truth Will Set You Free: Time Does Not Exist

When we ask ourselves why we think time exists, most of us would say: because we see everything changing, always.

brain-heart

According to Ervin Laszlo, the coherence of the atom and the galaxies is the same coherence that keeps living cells together, cooperating to form life. When a complex system made up of many interacting parts is operating, sometimes an unexpected jump to

Why Believe in Rebirth?

In a now famous conversation between Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama, Sagan, a scientist and renowned…

Intimate Relationship as a Spiritual Crucible

Living with someone we love, with all the joys and challenges, is one of the best ways…

Sadness Without an Object

Sadness is one of the deepest emotions and it must be kept without an object.

Nondualism: A Brief History of a Timeless Concept

Many traditions and mystics talk about nondualism. But what is nondualism, and how have people—from different religions in different parts of the word—described this concept over time?

If Everything is Consciousness, is Everything Conscious?

At this year's conference I'll be moderating a discussion between Bernardo Kastrup and physicist Christopher…

You Must Die to Live

Awakening is not a walk in the park. It is a ride through hell.

The Goddess of Never Not Broken

You know that feeling when you have just gone through a breakup, or lost your job, and everything is terrible and terrifying and you don’t know what to do...

The Divine Mother Durga

Durga is a Goddess of Strength and Justice who brings compassion, peace, calm and order to the chaos, destruction and conflict in any situation.

Why I Quit Ayahuasca Shamanism After 11 Years and 1,000 Ceremonies

I’m alive because of Ayahuasca. I am connected, soulful, expanded, and spilling over with self-love, mostly because of the blessing of attending around 1,000 sacred plant ceremonies.

When Is Sex a Spiritual Practice?

Recognizing that our bodies and our sexuality are sacred is a good way to begin undoing the split between sex and spirit...

Non-dual Kashmir Shaivism – The Science of Ultimate Reality (Part III)

As the process of manifestation (involution of Ultimate Reality into becoming the physical Universe) begins, the tattvas (principles, states of consciousness) that logically appear first are those of what is called the Pure Creation and pure knowledge.

Non-dual Kashmir Shaivism – The Science of Ultimate Reality (Part II)

An extraordinary and profound personal experience illustrates the tenet that the Model of Manifestation describes both the Universe – and a human being.

Non-dual Kashmir Shaivism – The Science of Ultimate Reality (Part I)

Kashmir Shaivism encompasses a vast territory of wisdom and knowledge about the universe and a human…

Tantra and the West

Tantra in the Western imagination stands for exotic and orgasmic rituals coming from India and Tibet that blend sex and meditation.

The Ego Cannot Love

Love, we can’t talk about because it is what is. It isn’t an objective experience, it’s what is here at every moment, except when I pretend to love or when I want to be loved.

Science Pointing to Nonduality

Most of my life was spent as a materialist. I regarded physical matter as the basis of reality. From matter emerged biological organisms such as humans, which developed brains, and out of the brain emerged consciousness.

How Does an Awakened Person Perceive the World?

Obviously, that’s an important question for nondualists including Advaitins and Buddhists.

Science and the Existence of Ether

The existence of an ether – an all-pervading medium composed of a subtler kind of matter – has been taught by mystic philosophers throughout the ages.

Lovemaking and Altered States of Consciousness

People have tried many ways to alter their consciousness — meditation, psychedelic mushrooms, LSD, rituals…

The Spirituality of Science

Quantum particles, the foundation of the universe, are like naughty children playing catch me if you can with scientists in a game with no rules.

The Dalai Lama and the Atlas of Emotions

Emotions are tricky entities. They confuse the mind and disturb perception, isolating an individual in a private sense of reality. So what to do with them?

The Myth of Enlightenment

There is a pervasive myth about enlightenment which, although repeated by many spiritual teachers, has its origins in a view of spirituality that arises from the misconceptions of the unhealed ego.

Maha Ati

The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions, and to all people, experiencing everything totally without mental reservations and blockages, so that one never withdraws or centralizes into...

When Shakti Meets Shiva

Nadeshwari Joythimayananda describes the image and the symbolism and the energy of the goddess Tripura Sundari

The Pathless Path

Stephen Bodian interviews Jean Klein

The Tantric Gift of Math’s Mystery

Is math an invention of the human brain? Or does math exist in some abstract world, with humans merely discovering its truths? The debate has been raging since the time of the ancient Greeks.

A Life of Zen: Ikkyū, the Crazy Cloud

Please, please don’t worry. How many times do I have to say it?

The Path of no Path

Spiritual teachers with non-dual leanings say that there is no path to enlightenment. There is nowhere to get to; you are already enlightened, you just do not know it.

The Buddha Awakening, Integral Expanding and a Second Axial Age for Humanity

This article explores untapped potentials for Integral Theory that can emerge from recognizing the original nature of the Buddha’s awakening.

Return to Pure Listening: a video with Eric Baret

You Only See Mirrors

Excerpt from Let the Moon Be Free, by Eric Baret What disturbs you in the presence of someone else is…

Daoist Wisdom For Our Times, a video with Shantena Sabbadini

And God Created Man In His Own Image

by Nick Roach The title is from the Bible, Genesis 1:27. The passage goes on to say “...in the image…

Technology in Dating and Sexuality: Justin Garcia

The final address at the 2018 Radiant Intimacy gathering, Justin Garcia discusses the changing role…

The Future of Love: Esther Perel

In straight talk from the 2018 Radiant Intimacy gathering, Esther Perel offers fresh insights into expectations,…

Sound and The Subtle

Transforming Consciousness and Emotions through Mantra and Raga Yoga Western culture is notorious for…

The Sayings of Old Man Tcheng

French paraphrase of the original Buddhist text by J. Garillot (1974), translated by Else van den Muyzenberg.…

From Lust to Love: A Research Perspective: Justin Garcia

Speaking at the 2018 Radiant Intimacy gathering, Justin Garcia, evolutionary biologist at the Kinsey…

Deleting the App, The New Ritual of Commitment: Esther Perel

Speaking at the 2018 Radiant Intimacy gathering, Esther Perel outlines the remarkable transformation…

Message from Hopi Elders

You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people…

The Yoga of Saundarya: Touching Reality Through the Experience of Beauty

The aesthetic experience (rasa), which the Kashmiri masters describe as a real training for the yogic…

$49

Duality, Nonduality and Beyond

A 3-part Webinar Series recorded Sept 14, 15, and 16, 2018

Consciousness

The primacy of consciousness

Exclusive interview with Dr. Allan Wallace

In this exclusive interview with Dr. Allan Wallace we discuss consciousness, mathematics, practicing…

The Qualitative Science of the Heart

There's something beautiful about being together with a group of people whose main interest is understanding…

The True Nature of Experience

image: Joel Santos Our Essential Nature of Being, Knowing and Happiness Let us start with our self.…

Heart Transplant

“The Caterpillar is the first character who really makes an effort to guide Alice on her journey. Since…

Political Roots and Genetic Evidence for the Indian Caste System

Photo by Zaya In this extract from his book svābhāvikasūtra: The Roots of the Bhagavadgītā, Gerard Kuiken…

Wholeness and the End of Suffering

“Life is suffering" ... so declared the Buddha more than 2500 year ago. No truer than this is what we…

Love is a Practice

Love is an energy, a Shakti, that calls us to unify ourselves internally, merge body and soul, and form…

In the Morning I Remember

Here is a beautiful prayer composed by Adi Shankara around the 8th century. These three verses, meant…

Sacred Space And Conscious Community: Kabir Helminski

Kabir Helminski asks, What is our moral obligation if we recognize that all is one? - and describes…

$49

Dream and Sleep Yoga

A 3-part Webinar Series Recorded in June 2018

Centuries of Meditations

Here are six extracts from Centuries of Meditations - a brief introduction to the 17th century divine…

$49

Awakening Made Simple

A 4-part webinar series

You Perform Miracles Every Moment—If You Didn’t You’d Cease to Exist

One of the timeless claims of religions is that many saints, sages, and saviors can, seemingly, defy…

Nondual Christianity – Seriously?

By Cynthia Bourgeault In fall 2009, I was on a homebound flight from San Francisco that happened also…

Expecting It All: An Honest Look at Modern Love

An interviewed with Esther Perel by Kate Green Tripp, Managing Editor for 1440 Multiversity. 1440: You…

Buddha’s Brain: The New Neuroscience and the Path of Awakening

By Rick Hanson and Rick Mendius In a way, the methodologies of Buddhist thought and science are essentially…

Fakhruddin ‘Araqi: Divine Flashes

Resa Abbasi, A Sleeping Woman. by Philip Brown SUFISM IS A wisdom teaching grounded in Primordial Reality.…

Science’s Big Problem, Reincarnation’s Big Potential, and Buddhists’ Profound Embarrassment

By Ted Christopher The author writes that his article is intended to make some overdue points, the most…

Vijnana Bhairava Tantra

Native of eternity. At home in infinity. Breathing immortality. Let these words sing in every cell.…

Continuous Awakening

Continuous Awakening by Dorothy Hunt Continuous awakening belongs to only THIS! that is already continuously…

Life as it is... - short film tribute to Rick Linchitz

A short documentary capturing the intimacy, openness and deep wisdom of Rick Linchitz and his wife Rita…

Universe, Zeroverse, Buddhaverse: Robert Thurman

In his unique and masterly way Robert Thurman shares and reinterprets for our time Shakyamuni Buddha's…

Escaping the Observer Trap

Are you feeling stuck in your practice? Did meditation lead to big, positive life changes early on,…

10 Zen Stories

1. A Cup of Tea Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor…

$35

The Realization Process: A Direct Path

A 4-part Webinar Series

$35

Awakening in Daily Living

A 3-part Webinar Series

Radiant Intimacy of the Heart, Cynthia Bourgeault

Episcopal priest and author of seven books on the Christian spiritual tradition, Cynthia Bourgeault…

$35

The Joy of Being

A 5-part Webinar Series

Enter the Holy Darkness, Vera de Chalambert

Drawing from her knowledge of the symbolism of the divine feminine in the world's religions and her…

The Holographic Principle and the Shadows That Bind

In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave,” prisoners are chained inside a cave, able to look at only shadows cast on the wall by puppeteers standing in front of a fire behind them. For these prisoners, the shadows—not the real objects that cast those shadows—