The Vajra Path: Evolution of Tantric Buddhism
Six Yogas in Nine Months: the completion stage practices traced from their roots to their present form, each module a standalone seminar.
Six standalone seminars with Ian Baker on comparative and cross-cultural perspectives on the contemporary evolution of tantric Buddhism. Each module stands on its own, though Baker constructed the sequence as an integrated one-year course, and it was recorded over the course of 2023. The series presents contemporary perspectives on esoteric Buddhist practices that developed at the crossroads of multiple religious and yogic traditions. Using the template of 'Six Yogas in Nine Months', the seminars trace the history and evolution of the tantric completion stage (nispannakrama), in the context of a tradition arguably in radical transformation. After examining the roots of Vajrayana Buddhism, they turn to alternative perspectives on human embodiment and their expression within the yogic practices of ascetic heat (tapas) and somatic incandescence (tummo). How are these qualities cultivated, and what are the results? What light can contemporary science shed on historical conceptions of the vajra body as a locus of transformative experience? From noetic fire the course progresses through the remaining completion stage yogas, nonlocal embodiment (illusory body), partnered union (karmamud
What this course covers
- The roots of Vajrayana Buddhism and the emergence of the six yogas
- Inner heat, from ascetic tapas to somatic incandescence
- Illusory body, clear light and nonlocal embodiment
- Partnered union, and the teachings on co-emergent fire and nectar
- Dream yoga, and what the dream state suggests about the real
- Phowa, bardo yoga and the process of dying
- The vajra body read alongside quantum science and current research