࿇ Vajrayana Q&A: Monthly Zoom ࿇
I lead regular live discussion sessions for the Evolving Ground meditation community
Vajrayana is the unusual branch of Buddhism I discuss here on Substack, and on Vividness and Buddhism for Vampires.
I offer live Zoom Q&A gatherings monthly.
I answer questions, and ask some, and lead discussion.
Vajrayana is the branch of Buddhism I write about on Vividness and Buddhism for Vampires. It includes Buddhist Tantra (the path of the transformation of energy) and Dzogchen (the way of instantaneous self-liberation).
Vajrayana is fascinating, beautiful, and inspiring. It is enormously complex, but has a unique crystalline logic, which—once you see it—reveals the essence as perfectly simple.
Vajrayana is also tiresome, horrific, and repellent. It’s a godawful mess; vast, repetitious, and totally conceptually incoherent. That’s because it has accreted in layers, across fourteen centuries of adaptation to different cultural circumstances, none of which are relevant for us now.
The session’s tag line is “Bring your Vajrayana confusions, grievances, enthusiasm, and curiosity.” I included “grievances” because I want to make space for complaints that none of this makes any sense. If you aren’t constantly annoyed by that, you haven’t yet learned enough about Vajrayana! But it is also beautiful and inspiring, and can be understood—not so much by learning more details, but with an attitude combining skepticism, enthusiasm, and curiosity.
I’ve posted some video excerpts from previous sessions, to give some sense of what they may be like. They are more interactive than these, though! I often introduce a topic with a ten-minute talk, but most of the session is for discussion.
This online Q&A is sponsored by Evolving Ground, the Vajrayana practice community co-founded by my spouse Charlie Awbery. I co-host each session with another mentor from the Evolving Ground community.
Participation is available only to Evolving Ground members, but membership is free. If you are not a member, you can sign up, and you’ll get information on about to access the members’ website. There, in the left sidebar, click on “In-Person Events > Community-Wide,” and you’ll find the Vajrayana Q&A in the list. Click on it to get the details, including the time and date. The Zoom link to join is also included there.
Think ahead and bring your puzzlements, problems, and excitements!
It helps me a lot if you suggest topics or ask questions before the session. You can do that by leaving a comment here: