Tantrik Shaivism and Buddhism: Interview by Andrew Holecek

This week’s episode features a conversation with Andrew Holecek for his podcast ‘Edge of Mind’, recorded a few years ago. Andrew is an acclaimed author, spiritual teacher, and long-time practitioner of Buddhism. He's also an expert on lucid dreaming, and the author of Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep and Reverse Meditation: How to Use Your Pain and Most Difficult Emotions as the Doorway to Inner Freedom. In this interview, we explore themes from The Recognition Sutras, and discuss the simplicity and immediacy of the awakened state, how to access it and how to stabilize it, as well as what makes it so extraordinary. Together, we draw the similarities between Tantrik Shaivism and other traditions like Dzogchen. We explore the role of contraction and relaxation on the spiritual path and get into its nature looking into questions like: do we really need a path? How does striving along the path actually get in the way? Why do some people have awakenings that are blissful, while others experience fear upon opening? What is the importance of cultural translation, and how does language trap us? What is the nature of consciousness? This is a wide ranging conversation that I hope will stretch your mind and open your heart. 

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