Thanks for this great post, Eden :) I really enjoyed your descriptions of tantra--a loom, a warp, harmonizing opposites--and it sounds like this retreat in Thailand was profound and opening. Cheers to more discovery!
Hey, thanks so much! Yeah I know I really scratched the very top of the surface, both with this experience and this post, but glad you enjoyed reading - and cheers to you on your journey as well!
I just started going through a vipassana class. It’s a series on YouTube put out by John Vervaeke. I think he blends other practices into his version of it? To really understand Metta, he said there are no good books in English, and maybe read a book about it by a particular Buddhist author and then a book by a particular Christian author about contemplative prayer and triangulate between those two. And Metta seems to be all about compassion! And acceptance. The whole series so far has encouraged befriending yourself. So it’s interesting to hear vipassana described as being about renunciation! Obvs I haven’t gotten to the end of the course yet and obvs there are different versions, so maybe that’s mostly right. Especially compared to Tantra, which sounds really fun and silly and challenging and rewarding! I actually went to the first night of a weekend workshop once—which I was told was going to help me learn about a certain anarchist community project but ended up mostly being attended by poly folks who wanted more relational tools; I was one of two monog people in attendance—that incorporated the eye contact practice you described. I wonder if I made people feel vulnerable or if I sparked a protective urge. I don’t remember feeling either of those, for the other people 😅
This also makes me think of acroyoga, which I love but currently don’t practice (there are no regular classes I can take for it in my current city 😞). My wife would object when I invited her to class with me, “I do not want to touch strangers that much.” I would reply, “they don’t stay strangers for long!”
Hi, thank you for sharing your insights and for reading! :) I definitely think that while Vipassana can lean towards renunciation while you're practicing it early on the path in certain frameworks, it definitely ultimately is all about compassion and oneness at its heart! Both paths lead to the same place and words like compassion can even be reductive when talking about these things...
I also think that tantra is going to look different for everyone! There are certainly some schools that practice it in a much more intensive way...I just happened to fall into a more casual program here, I think :)
Here's to the great mystery of connection, practice, and insight! It's always interesting to hear about others' experiences of the same paths and practices.
Ooh so interesting. I definitely think there have always been such wildly different interpretations of this school, from the very start, and ultimately it's so deep and rich that it's hard to boil it down to one vision or even to words... I definitely think the sexual path is a clear way of experiencing oneness but the problem is it gets way too corrupted by desire and power dynamics etc. unless people are truly in a balanced and authentic situation.Also unrelated but I've been so enjoying seeing all your posts on here, and am excited to read more of your work!
Thanks for this great post, Eden :) I really enjoyed your descriptions of tantra--a loom, a warp, harmonizing opposites--and it sounds like this retreat in Thailand was profound and opening. Cheers to more discovery!
Hey, thanks so much! Yeah I know I really scratched the very top of the surface, both with this experience and this post, but glad you enjoyed reading - and cheers to you on your journey as well!
I just started going through a vipassana class. It’s a series on YouTube put out by John Vervaeke. I think he blends other practices into his version of it? To really understand Metta, he said there are no good books in English, and maybe read a book about it by a particular Buddhist author and then a book by a particular Christian author about contemplative prayer and triangulate between those two. And Metta seems to be all about compassion! And acceptance. The whole series so far has encouraged befriending yourself. So it’s interesting to hear vipassana described as being about renunciation! Obvs I haven’t gotten to the end of the course yet and obvs there are different versions, so maybe that’s mostly right. Especially compared to Tantra, which sounds really fun and silly and challenging and rewarding! I actually went to the first night of a weekend workshop once—which I was told was going to help me learn about a certain anarchist community project but ended up mostly being attended by poly folks who wanted more relational tools; I was one of two monog people in attendance—that incorporated the eye contact practice you described. I wonder if I made people feel vulnerable or if I sparked a protective urge. I don’t remember feeling either of those, for the other people 😅
This also makes me think of acroyoga, which I love but currently don’t practice (there are no regular classes I can take for it in my current city 😞). My wife would object when I invited her to class with me, “I do not want to touch strangers that much.” I would reply, “they don’t stay strangers for long!”
Hi, thank you for sharing your insights and for reading! :) I definitely think that while Vipassana can lean towards renunciation while you're practicing it early on the path in certain frameworks, it definitely ultimately is all about compassion and oneness at its heart! Both paths lead to the same place and words like compassion can even be reductive when talking about these things...
I also think that tantra is going to look different for everyone! There are certainly some schools that practice it in a much more intensive way...I just happened to fall into a more casual program here, I think :)
Here's to the great mystery of connection, practice, and insight! It's always interesting to hear about others' experiences of the same paths and practices.
Thank you! Thank you! What a beautiful piece about the importance of love, compassion and grace
Ooh so interesting. I definitely think there have always been such wildly different interpretations of this school, from the very start, and ultimately it's so deep and rich that it's hard to boil it down to one vision or even to words... I definitely think the sexual path is a clear way of experiencing oneness but the problem is it gets way too corrupted by desire and power dynamics etc. unless people are truly in a balanced and authentic situation.Also unrelated but I've been so enjoying seeing all your posts on here, and am excited to read more of your work!