Dakini Conversations Dakini Conversations

Here is the seventh episode of the Dakini Conversations podcast, an in-depth discussion with the leading Indian Kālacakra scholar and translator, Niraj Kumar, who was also recently promoted to Joint Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Culture (after being the Director for a couple of years).  

Niraj is a commentator on Shakta and Buddhist Tantras, and has been active with various facets of Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhism for more than a decade. His ongoing work is five volume pentalogy on Kalacakra Tantra, the first comprehensive English translation and new commentary of the Sanskrit text, for several centuries after it was said to have been first written down in the 11th century. The Kālacakra Tantra is said to be the climax of the Indian Buddhist Nalanda tradition and the last major Buddhist tantra composed in India.  Niraj Kumar’s first volume on Kālacakra was published in 2022, and the second volume is expected to be released within next couple of months. Niraj is also a pan-Asian thinker and writer on geopolitics in Asia and was instrumental in organizing the First Asia Peace Forum in New Delhi (2015). He is also one of the key architects of ongoing exposition of the sacred relics of Shakyamuni Buddha in Thailand this year.

I first became aware of Niraj Kumar when he personally asked me to present his Kālacakra work at the Vajrayana conference in Bhutan in 2022, which he was unable to attend. Several people also suggested that I interview him about his work on Kalacakra. I then had the good fortune to meet Niraj in India last year for an Indian academic conference at which I was invited to be a keynote speaker. At that time, we exchanged our Kālacakra publications and on finally reading his work, I was amazed and fascinated by the research, ideas and revelations in the Introduction to his book. It was surprising that more people did not know about them and so part of the reason for this interview is to bring some of those ideas out to a larger more general audience. See also: https://dakinitranslations.com/kalacakra-2/

During our podcast discussion, we speak about Kumar's Introduction to the first volume, which is full of fascinating research and revelations, including some of the key concepts in the Tantra regarding time (kāla), the three realms (outer, inner and other), the types of breath/energy, and death itself. This is then followed by a discussion of the dating of the composition of the root Kālacakra text itself (1027 CE), the oldest extant texts available of it (one on palm-leaf currently housed at the British Library), and remarkably indeed the proposed authorship of the written root text being the great Indian Mahasiddha, Naropa, who received the transmission of it from his guru Tilopa, who is said to have been taught it in the Kingdom of Shambhala itself. 

The latter part of the discussion relates to how the main lineages of Kālacakra came into Tibet, finishing with an analysis of contemporary practice and application of Kālacakra and how it has degenerated away from the words and advice of the root Tantra text with 20th Century mass empowerments to thousands of 'unqualified' people, for predominantly political, social and financial purposes in cohorts with the Chinese communist government. Kumar also states in his book that the empowerments given by the 14th Dalai Lama are also not 'correct' because they were not all given on the full moon, as advised by the root Tantra.

For the Youtube video of the interview (with English captions) and chapter outline of the discussion, see here: https://youtu.be/TJ4ec1wV-2o

For article about the interview, see here: https://dakinitranslations.com/2024/03/17/the-roots-and-fruits-of-the-kalacakra-tantra-niraj-kumar-dakini-conversations-ep-7/

To download a free pdf file of Kumar's Kālacakra Tantra Volume I book:
https://www.academia.edu/76581752/Kalacakra_Tantra_Vol_I

On Tara Day (20th December 2023) it was a delight and honour to welcome a woman who really needs no introduction within the world of Tibetan Buddhism, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who is now an unbelievable eighty years old. Jetsunma’s activities are hard to describe in a few words, as she is like an emanation of Noble Tara or Vajrayogini in human form, yet I will try.

One of the first western fully ordained Buddhist nuns in the Tibetan
Buddhist tradition, Jetsunma has pioneered by action and example the empowerment and recognition of the great capacities and potential of female practitioners and nuns, not only by spending twelve years in retreat in an isolated cave in the snow, but also from her founding and leading an extremely beautiful and thriving Dongyu Gyatsal Ling nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India. In addition, her accessible, relevant lively, passionate and honest teachings and love of the Buddha Dharma.


Jetsunma is also a passionate advocate against ethical misconduct and female inequality in Buddhist cultural traditions, but also an
animal-lover who practices what she preaches with a vegetarian diet.


Turning eighty years old this year, Jetsunma is still going strong in
terms of Dharma activities and giving teachings, attending Buddhist
conferences and going on Buddhist pilgrimages, as well as kindly and graciously agreeing to the interview.

In Episode 5 of Dakini Conversations, Adele Tomlin interviews Dr. Jue Liang, a female scholar and translator originally from China, whose PhD in 2020, from the University of Virginia, was on the life of highly-realised Tibetan yogini, female lineage holder and famous consort of Guru Padmasambhava, Yeshe Tsogyel.

Dr. Liang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Case Western Reserve University and is currently completing her first book, entitled Conceiving the Mother of Tibet: The Early Literary Lives of the Buddhist Saint Yeshé Tsogyel based on her PhD. Although there are now a few English-language publications about Yeshe Tsogyel, Liang is one of the very few PhDs that considers Tsogyel’s life and legacy to the standards of academic research. In that respect one could say that Dr. Liang is one of the foremost scholar-translators in the world today on Yeshe Tsogyel. She is also working on a second project, tentatively titled Thus Has She Heard: Theorizing Gender in Contemporary Tibetan Buddhism. In particular, Liang has written about the Tibetan nuns based at Larung Gar, in Tibet and the institution of the Khenmo programme there and their views of gender and biology, as Buddhist practitioners. She is also interested in the theory and practice of translation in general, and translating Tibetan literature in particular.

Outline/Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction to Jue Liang
0:01:57 Life and studies in China
0:03:49 Buddhist Influence
0:05:44 Challenges of living in the USA and doing a PhD
0:07:25 Inspiring meeting with the nuns at Larung Gar in Tibet, 2014
0:09:35 New collection on Women's biographies and unpublished life-stories of Tsogyel
0:12:52 The soul of Yeshe Tsogyel at sacred places in Tibet
0:18:12 The crucial experience of embodied presence in places/geography
0:21:13 The aspect of Tsogyel as woman/female and three-fold category of gender/biology
0:26:10 The Tibetan textual sources on Yeshe Tsogyel
0:29:40 Hidden Treasure revealed texts as a source on Tsogyel
0:32:22 The names of Yeshe Tsogyel
0:35:02 Yeshe Tsogyel as disciple and the zhu-len (Q&A) textual tradition
0:41:11 A sympathetic reading of the 'inferiority' of women's bodies
0:43:30 Yeshe Tsogyel as teacher and 'mother' (as senior 'caretaker')
0:44:54 Tsogyel as consort (1): Deal with your Ex before you become a consort
0:49:43 Captured and sexually assaulted by a suitor, and calling out to the Guru and exchanging of rings
0:51:10 Tsogyel as a consort (2) celibate/nun/renunciant and sexual assaults
0:55:19 Goals of consort practice: liberation, revelation and healing
0:56:57 Yeshe Tsogyel as Dakini: the meaning of the term dakini/khandroma
0:59:43 Tibetan mythology of dakinis: wrathful ogress and the demoness land Tibet that needed to be tamed
1:01:39 Fuzzy Femininities and Muddled Myth
1:03:48 Larung Gar monastery, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsog and female practitioners
1:06:59 The institution of the female Khenmo programme at Larung Gar
1:10:43 The Aryatare publishing initiative and the Great Treasury of Dakini Teachings collection of women's biographies1:14:33 Khenmo Yonten and her commentary on the five great texts1:17:43 Tibetan nuns' views of gender, biology and the 'inferior' female body1:21:51 The concept and idea of 'mother' as inseparable from women/female and as 'superior'1:24:05 The reason behind the success of the nuns at Larung Gar1:26:25 Future book on Tsogyel
1:27:58 Personal view of Tsogyel's relevance and inspiration

For more on Dr. Jue Liang's work and publications, see here: https://jueliang.work/
For more on Adele Tomlin's writing about female lineages and Yeshe Tsogyel, see: https://dakinitranslations.com/buddhist-female-teachers-lineages/

In Episode 4 of the Dakini Conversations podcast, Adele Tomlin speaks with Dr. Geoffrey Barstow, one of the leading scholars and writers in the world today on the topic of vegetarianism and eating animals in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. 


Dr. Barstow spent significant time studying Tibetan language and Buddhist Philosophy in Nepal and his PhD from the University of Virginia (2013) entitled 'Food of Sinful Demons: Meat, Vegetarianism, and the Limits of Buddhism in Tibet' was later published as a book. He is currently an Associate Professor at Oregon State University.

Barstow's work looks to the lives and examples of great Tibetan Buddhist masters, such as 8th Karmapa, Kunkhyen Dolpopa, Jigme Lingpa. Zhabkar, and more recent masters such as Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche and their writings and example of vegetarianism prior to the Chinese invasion of 1959. His most recent book, 'The Faults of Meat: Tibetan Buddhist Writings on Vegetarianism' (2019) is an edited compilation of new and original translations by such Tibetan Buddhist masters on eating slaughtered animals. Dr. Barstow also considers how gender ideas of masculinity have informed meat-eating in Tibet and the recent surge in vegetarianism in Tibet not only due to Buddhist ethics and philosophy on eating slaughtered animals, but also as identity resistance to Chinese domination and cultural hegemony and the mass breeding and slaughter of yaks.

In this podcast discussion, Dr. Barstow talks about how he became interested in Buddhism and vegetarianism and some of the great Tibetan Buddhist masters who were strict vegetarians in Tibet as well as the 'three-fold' purity rule said to have been created by Buddha for monastics who had to beg for alms/food. As well as discuss the all too common human 'disconnect' of people who say they are Buddhists but who do not follow the Buddha's teachings on eating animals. He shares some of his favourite writings on the subject, including that of a Bon master, showing that vegetarianism as an ethical, philosophical movement were very much 'alive and kicking' in Tibet both prior to and after the Buddhist teachings spread there, and prior to 1959 when the Chinese communists took over political control and power in Tibet.

For more research and translations on the topic of Buddhism and vegetarianism, see here.

For the third episode of Dakini Conversations, Adele Tomlin speaks with British journalist and writer, Mick Brown about his important book 'Dance of 17 Lives: The Incredible True Story of Tibet's 17th Karmapa' (originally published in 2004).

As Adele mentioned recently in an interview , it was reading this book on a plane to India for the first time in 2005, that led her to meet the Tibetan Buddhist master and lineage head, 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje for the first time. This meeting led to her completely changing her life as a qualified lawyer and strategist in the City of London to take up practice, studies of Tibetan language and philosophy, later to become a scholar and translator within the tradition. Brown's book tells the story of the 17th Karmapa, the spiritual head of a 900 year old main lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, Karma Kagyu, and the internal dispute about his recognition by one of the four main Kagyu teachers, the 14th Zhamarpa.

Mick Brown (born 1950 in London), and is a British journalist and author who has written for several British newspapers, including The Guardian and The Sunday Times, and for international publications and currently works for newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. He is also a broadcaster and the author of several books about travel, music and spirituality. His second book, 'American Heartbeat: Travels from Woodstock to San Jose by Song Title', was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Prize for best travel book in 1994. His book 'The Spiritual Tourist', catalogued contemporary spiritual quests around the globe, particularly in India. As a journalist Brown has interviewed well-known figures such as Salvador Dali, the Rolling Stones, James Brown, Ravi Shankar, Diana Ross and more. The video of the interview can also be watched on Youtube with subtitles and time-stamped chapters: https://youtu.be/OGq0_8zoj8o

In this second episode of the Dakini Conversations podcast it is a great delight and honour to welcome Prof. Janet Gyatso, the first and current Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Divinity School of Harvard University. In the Buddhist Studies and Tibetology world, Prof. Gyatso really needs no introduction, and is a prime example of a woman who has reached the peak of the academy, while at the same time writing original and thought-provoking research about issues connected to women, feminism, gender, androcentrism and Buddhism. If anyone might be awarded the title ‘Queen’ of the Buddhist Studies academy, Prof. Gyatso would surely be a prime contender!

Her books include Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet; Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary; In the Mirror of Memory: Reflections on Mindfulness and Remembrance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism; and Women of Tibet.

Prof. Gyatso has also been writing on sex and gender in Buddhist monasticism, and on the current female ordination movement in Buddhism. Her current writing concerns the phenomenology of living well with animals and related ethical issues and practices.

Gyatso was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science in 2018, was president of the International Association of Tibetan Studies from 2000 to 2006, and co-chair of the Buddhism Section of the American Academy of Religion from 2004 to 2010.

In the interview the following topics are discussed:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:36 Personal Background
00:04:15 Studies at University of California during the 1970s and Tibetan Buddhist teachers
00:06:15 A hub of activity: hanging out with fellow students at the Mediterranean Cafe
00:08:22 Studies of Sanskrit and Tibetan and its relevance for practitioner
00:11:17 PhD on Tibetan master and innovator, Thangtong Gyalpo
00:14:32 Translating terms in English or keeping them in the original language
00:16:20 Translation as a 'special pleasure' and entering the mental space of a text/teaching
00:19:03 The importance of real devotion and connection with the text or teacher
00:20:00 Reasons for becoming an academic
00:23:24 Being a woman in academia
00:26:31 The book 'Women in Tibet'
00:31:35 Own personal feeling and outlook on Buddhism as philosophy and practice
00:33:26 Secret Autobiographies of Jigme Lingpa: Getting transmission and permission from Drodrubchen, Dilgo Khyentse and others
00:38:53 Entering the poetic space of the hidden and secret levels of transmission/lung
00:42:54 Dakini Talks: The Dakini and Jigme Lingpa, the dakini principle and 'voice'
00:45:35 The Dakini as troubling, annoying, direct female 'messenger' of truth
00:48:55 The female roots of Vajrayana and lack of female visibility in the 21st Century
00:52:20 Being an 'animal-lover' and reasons for new work on Animal Ethics and Rights
00:53:59 Mass factory farming and the work and ideas of philosopher, Peter Singer
00:55:34 Becoming vegetarian, the 17th Karmapa's example and strong attachment to eating meat
00:59:37 Buddha's teachings on eating animals, and examples of Tibetan Buddhist vegetarianism
01:02:40 Current research drawing people's attention to loving animals and their capacities
01:07:15 Sexual misconduct of Tibetan Buddhist teachers and supporting survivors more
01:12:26 Opportunities to discuss cross-cultural physical boundaries and changing norms

Interview was recorded on 7th May 2023.