Mugwortborn
EPISODE NINE: Guru Shishya Parampara
If Shakya Buddha were still alive today, he probably wouldn’t be too impressed that we, his followers, have vigorously divided into cliques, which has lead to…
Mugwortborn
EPISODE SIX: On Memory and Elegance
Memories are not for enlightened beings. Enlightened beings don’t remember because, for them, there is no past. Past—and for that matter present and future—are for beings like us, who use the past as a reference and then expect and assume that the future…
Mugwortborn
A Variety of Heroes
In this chapter Rinpoche tells us stories about his grandparents, HH the 16th Karmapa, non-duality, and the power of storytelling itself.
Mugwortborn
EPISODE EIGHT: Karmic Footprint
As samsaric beings, we eat so many things, we sniff so many things, we have sex with different kinds of people, and we never really know down the line what kind of seeds we have planted with all of our actions. Knowingly or not, we are…
Mugwortborn
EPISODE FIVE: Lepo the Idiot
I don’t know what I will be called in my next life. I actually don’t know if I will be reborn in a sphere where there is such a thing as a name. Do beetles have names?
Mugwortborn
EPISODE TWELVE: I am Buddha
I have not a single doubt that I am Buddha. This certainty is not a result of reading texts, such as the Uttaratantra, where it says that my defilements are temporary and not my true nature; I am not one of those people who has the wit to rely on logic and reasoning, I am too suspicious of this self who is doing the relying. No, I believe I am a Buddha because my masters have told me I am a Buddha, again and again. I am one of those lazy beings who enjoys affirmation from others, especially affirmation from my masters. But keep in mind that my masters also said all beings are Buddha.