WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 Tell me about your vision. Okay, my vision. It's 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:05.500 so interesting. We were talking just a bit before 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:09.259 we came on. As a visionary entrepreneur, well, 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:12.199 entrepreneurialism covers all sorts of fields. 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:18.059 My field would be the dissemination, the growth, 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:20.620 the spread of these wonderful wisdom teachings 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:24.079 that are coming over from Asia, specifically 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:29.460 within Buddhist and Sufi formats. but that are 00:00:29.460 --> 00:00:35.280 in need of real renovation that uh the orientation 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:38.500 towards these practices isn't going to work over 00:00:38.500 --> 00:00:41.840 here and what i'm getting at uh harry you think 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:44.179 of sitting meditation practices and mostly you 00:00:44.179 --> 00:00:46.280 think of people and even you're instructed to 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:48.500 sit like a stone garden statue of the buddha 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:52.359 frozen still maybe that worked over in asia it's 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:54.820 not going to work over here and it can't that 00:00:54.820 --> 00:00:58.399 kind of Old school thinking creates pain in the 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:01.619 body, stops breath in the tracks, fuels the already 00:01:01.619 --> 00:01:03.579 out of control, you know, ticker tape parade 00:01:03.579 --> 00:01:06.299 of thoughts in the mind. That's everything that 00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:09.120 you're drawn to something like, oh, I'm going 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.219 to get into meditation. You want that not to 00:01:11.219 --> 00:01:13.959 happen. So I feel in some ways that the cutting 00:01:13.959 --> 00:01:17.060 edge of, you want to call it a reformation, it's 00:01:17.060 --> 00:01:21.640 certainly a new, you know, development, a new 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:24.689 facet. of this wisdom jewel that is going to 00:01:24.689 --> 00:01:28.250 specifically suit us here in the West. It's different 00:01:28.250 --> 00:01:31.370 here from Asia. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. 00:01:31.430 --> 00:01:33.310 Tell me more about that. It's very interesting 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:35.329 what you mentioned. I'm actually born and raised 00:01:35.329 --> 00:01:41.109 in India. Me? Oh, you were. I am. I am born and 00:01:41.109 --> 00:01:44.109 raised. Your last name. Yeah, maybe that was 00:01:44.109 --> 00:01:47.590 from. We're in India. In New Delhi. Uh -huh. 00:01:47.750 --> 00:01:53.159 Got it. So I'm very familiar with. the the buddhist 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:56.239 meditation practices in a lot of ways but tell 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:59.620 me more what do you mean uh by things need to 00:01:59.620 --> 00:02:02.840 be different here so it's interesting because 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:05.239 even let's just talk about buddhism it begins 00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:09.280 in northern india oh but then it starts migrating 00:02:09.819 --> 00:02:14.620 And you might think of one migration out of India 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:17.620 down into Southeast Asia up through China. It 00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:20.580 keeps changing. Every time it encounters a new 00:02:20.580 --> 00:02:23.580 territory, it ends up in Japan, the shores of 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:26.939 Japan. And I have this image of the gentle Chinese 00:02:26.939 --> 00:02:30.199 monks getting off the boat on the shores of Japan 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:34.000 and they meet the samurai. and Zen becomes fierce. 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:37.039 The teachings always change through their interaction 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.580 with the cultural, spiritual realities. The other 00:02:40.580 --> 00:02:43.520 one to mention is the North Indian teachers climbing 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.000 the Himalayas onto the Tibetan plateau, the indigenous 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.800 Bampo people, shamanistic, animistic. Suddenly 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:53.620 there's these images of wrathful and peaceful 00:02:53.620 --> 00:02:57.060 deities, okay? The teachings are moving to the 00:02:57.060 --> 00:03:00.280 West. It's in many ways, maybe only the third 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:04.280 major migration in the 2 ,500 year history. And 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:07.719 there is no way that a uniquely Western form 00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:12.860 of practices won't develop here based on the 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:18.580 cultural, spiritual realities of the West. First 00:03:18.580 --> 00:03:20.479 of all, we're all coming alive in our bodies. 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:24.340 You know, I look back on my life, Harry, and 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:27.409 one, it's the rave movement. You know, I mean, 00:03:27.469 --> 00:03:29.370 our kids are moving. I wasn't moving like that 00:03:29.370 --> 00:03:34.550 when I was that age. And most people who've sat 00:03:34.550 --> 00:03:39.330 through long retreats, Vipassana retreats, Vajranadhatus, 00:03:39.349 --> 00:03:41.969 they'll say, yeah, the wisdom teaching is great, 00:03:42.009 --> 00:03:46.530 but it is so horrifically uncomfortable, painful 00:03:46.530 --> 00:03:51.110 to sit. immobile for long hours and long days 00:03:51.110 --> 00:03:54.490 and one of the things that i definitely see happening 00:03:54.490 --> 00:03:58.050 here is that we're going to be making the practices 00:03:58.050 --> 00:04:00.990 so much more i've used the term user friendly 00:04:00.990 --> 00:04:04.810 immeasurably more comfortable and that's actually 00:04:04.810 --> 00:04:08.280 what got me an outsider invited into the Buddhist 00:04:08.280 --> 00:04:10.020 world. Because, you know, good -hearted people, 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:14.180 but so stiff and tight and in so much pain. And 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:16.699 I would get, I've done a lot of sitting, but 00:04:16.699 --> 00:04:19.259 I never affiliated myself with any tradition. 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:21.519 They're always a little tight, right? But I got 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:27.000 invited to teach in that world because, you know, 00:04:27.019 --> 00:04:30.329 I can get people. It's so simple, just some simple 00:04:30.329 --> 00:04:33.250 ways of being in our bodies to just let go and 00:04:33.250 --> 00:04:35.730 soften. It's not only immeasurably more comfortable, 00:04:35.829 --> 00:04:39.610 you go far deeper, far more rapidly into the 00:04:39.610 --> 00:04:43.089 revelation, the awakenings that can happen. So 00:04:43.089 --> 00:04:45.850 I do, I think of this in some ways. In terms 00:04:45.850 --> 00:04:47.850 of what we're talking about here in your show, 00:04:48.050 --> 00:04:52.269 it's an entrepreneurial innovation. And actually, 00:04:53.970 --> 00:04:57.910 if it doesn't take root, I don't see how the 00:04:57.910 --> 00:04:59.790 old ways of doing things are going to work over 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:07.170 here. So what do you see? Tell me more. How does 00:05:07.170 --> 00:05:12.490 your vision and what you do incorporate or come 00:05:12.490 --> 00:05:17.550 together in that sense? Yeah, okay. It's not 00:05:17.550 --> 00:05:19.610 like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 00:05:20.189 --> 00:05:23.610 The wisdom teachings from the last 2 ,500 years 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:25.569 are as pertinent today as they were when they 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:28.129 were first written or uttered or whatever, right? 00:05:28.629 --> 00:05:32.750 It's just that, honestly, I view the majority 00:05:32.750 --> 00:05:39.430 of the Buddhist world as excluding some of their 00:05:39.430 --> 00:05:42.810 most seminal culminating teachings. One from 00:05:42.810 --> 00:05:45.970 a Tibetan teacher, do nothing but relax. That 00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:49.050 what meditation is not about the mind, it's about... 00:05:49.609 --> 00:05:52.269 awakening this kind of sense of relaxed felt 00:05:52.269 --> 00:05:55.490 shimmer through the body. You want to be relaxed? 00:05:56.870 --> 00:05:59.470 Ah, as you breathe, breath has to move through 00:05:59.470 --> 00:06:01.430 the body like a wave through a body of water. 00:06:01.490 --> 00:06:03.129 But if you're like this, it's like everything's 00:06:03.129 --> 00:06:07.389 all dammed up. So these are some of the, you 00:06:07.389 --> 00:06:11.750 want to call them innovations, that I see we've 00:06:11.750 --> 00:06:17.060 got to now... It has to start making its way 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:21.980 into the teachings, the cultural milieu. It's 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:26.459 like an innovation in any discipline. If you 00:06:26.459 --> 00:06:28.579 have an old business model nowadays, you're not 00:06:28.579 --> 00:06:34.319 going to do very well, right? Yeah. That can 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:37.920 be debated, but I still want to know more what 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:43.660 you mean. Okay. I'm still trying to understand 00:06:43.660 --> 00:06:48.639 your vision. I'm interested a lot. So help me 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:52.720 understand it more well. Okay. So in terms of 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:54.939 what I'm doing and how I'm interacting with students, 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:02.160 if the most radical piece I bring to the Buddhist 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:05.000 conversation is my insistence that bodies are 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:12.180 to be really relaxed. Oh, breath has to move 00:07:12.180 --> 00:07:15.180 you. Bodies have to. You've got to let go of 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:17.420 the frozen stillness, the most controversial 00:07:17.420 --> 00:07:21.240 piece. Here is the other thing that I look back 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:25.639 on in my life here in this culture into which 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:28.759 the Dharma is moving. What are the main explosively 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:31.259 homegrown cultural events? The rave movement, 00:07:31.459 --> 00:07:35.579 the advent, and availability of entheogenic substances. 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:40.879 frankly from cannabis to lsd now the you know 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:43.060 the prohibition against these things has meant 00:07:43.060 --> 00:07:45.779 that there's very very little protocol for how 00:07:45.779 --> 00:07:48.040 to using these substances safely and effectively 00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:51.120 and what else is interesting the orientation 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:56.040 coming from asia is very mind oriented concentrating 00:07:56.040 --> 00:08:00.139 focusing those substances don't work for that 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:06.779 but for these ah ah body awakening breath -liberating 00:08:06.779 --> 00:08:09.060 practices. And I'm not making this up. This is 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:12.279 from the scriptures, right? These substances 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:15.779 can work for many people very well. So, you know, 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:22.620 you want a controversial statement from me, that's 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:25.800 it. That's it. So I do. I work with Pure Land 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.680 people. They wouldn't go any near this. I work 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:31.779 with Ganja Sangha students who will take a small 00:08:31.779 --> 00:08:34.659 amount of cannabis before we... sit down and 00:08:34.659 --> 00:08:38.700 experience this awakening that can occur. So 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:43.519 tell me the why behind this. Why does someone 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:48.960 want to experience this? And what has that done 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:53.700 for you? Yeah, really legitimate questions. Why 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:59.179 in terms of introducing this kind of orientation 00:08:59.179 --> 00:09:02.750 to a Buddhist world? Because it works. You go 00:09:02.750 --> 00:09:05.590 so much deeper, so much more quickly into what 00:09:05.590 --> 00:09:08.629 I call the revelation realms. And why would anybody 00:09:08.629 --> 00:09:11.889 in their right mind want to explore these practices? 00:09:12.570 --> 00:09:20.250 Because I can't even begin to explain how healing 00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:22.830 they are, because you've got to awaken the body. 00:09:22.909 --> 00:09:25.769 Look, we're all tied up. We've got knots. We 00:09:25.769 --> 00:09:28.570 hardly breathe. If people really look at how 00:09:28.570 --> 00:09:31.090 they breathe, they're lost in thought. it doesn't 00:09:31.090 --> 00:09:33.669 even qualify as sniffing there's so little air 00:09:33.669 --> 00:09:36.330 but then the culminating instruction on breathing 00:09:36.330 --> 00:09:38.929 from the historical buddha is as you breathe 00:09:38.929 --> 00:09:40.830 in breathe in through the whole body just like 00:09:40.830 --> 00:09:46.090 a wave through a body of water and the bottom 00:09:46.090 --> 00:09:50.629 line is that it feels so much better and it uh 00:09:50.629 --> 00:09:54.990 in a sense reveals exposes you to a level of 00:09:54.990 --> 00:10:00.080 being a level of self that uh from where i sit 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:03.700 this is human beings birthright you know we're 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:07.039 here on this planet to experience this altogether 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:11.820 natural truth of essential nature and those sounds 00:10:11.820 --> 00:10:16.299 sounds like a lot of words but i'm talking about 00:10:16.299 --> 00:10:19.820 an experiential awakening that's available for 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:22.700 all of us if we actually listen to the teachings 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:28.580 do one evoke Such relaxation. There's shimmer 00:10:28.580 --> 00:10:31.740 through the whole body. Listen to the teachings 00:10:31.740 --> 00:10:34.539 on breath. Not just observe from a tight body, 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:41.460 but letting go so deeply. And you're exposed 00:10:41.460 --> 00:10:45.659 to this alternative dimension. Look, mostly the 00:10:45.659 --> 00:10:48.960 world of form, that's it. That's reality. Okay? 00:10:49.100 --> 00:10:51.639 I won't go long on this. The Heart Sutra says, 00:10:51.820 --> 00:10:53.840 uh -uh, that's only half of reality. There's 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:58.289 this other. wide -open dimension, and it's valuable 00:10:58.289 --> 00:11:01.850 to experience. The quantum physicist David Bohm. 00:11:02.009 --> 00:11:06.769 Yeah, science is great, what it's done, infinitesimally 00:11:06.769 --> 00:11:09.429 small, astronomically large, but that's only 00:11:09.429 --> 00:11:12.470 half the picture. It's the world of form. Permeating 00:11:12.470 --> 00:11:15.950 reality is the substratum of something. I want 00:11:15.950 --> 00:11:18.529 people to experience that. Thank you for being 00:11:18.529 --> 00:11:20.490 here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in 00:11:20.490 --> 00:11:23.110 to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing 00:11:23.110 --> 00:11:26.169 your reactions as these episodes continue to 00:11:26.169 --> 00:11:27.870 move forward. This is going to get more and more 00:11:27.870 --> 00:11:30.190 fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. 00:11:30.210 --> 00:11:32.190 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 00:11:32.269 --> 00:11:34.309 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 00:11:34.590 --> 00:11:37.230 Have an excellent time building out your vision 00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:38.610 and becoming a vision pro yourself.