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