New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

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Steve James, modified 4 Years ago at 2/19/20 10:12 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 2/19/20 8:50 AM

New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

Posts: 104 Join Date: 2/15/19 Recent Posts
Hi everyone,

Here's a new interview with Glenn Mullin - we cover a bunch of stuff from the 6 Yogas of Naropa and tantra in general, focusing in particular on the illusory body yogas (waking, sleeping, and death).

Let me know what you think :-)

https://www.guruviking.com/ep26-glenn-mullin-illusory-body-yoga-of-waking-sleep-and-death/

....

Show notes:

Glenn is a Tibetologist, translator, and Tantric Buddhist meditation teacher, who studied for many years in Dharmsala with the Dalai Lama’s own gurus.

Continuing on from our previous discussions on the 6 Yogas of Naropa, we move beyond tummo into the illusory body yogas - including the illusory nature of appearances, the yogas of dream and sleep sleep, and bardo yoga.

Glenn lays out how to practice tantra in all aspects of life, explores the differences between the tantra and sutra application of emptiness, addressees imbalances between the male and female energies and how to remedy them, and reveals the difference between tantric dream yoga vs modern lucid dreaming techniques.

Topics Include:

00:58 - The death process and the five signs of tummo accomplishment
21:07 - Practicing tantra in all aspects of ordinary life
29:46 - Glenn’s sleep yoga practice
30:46 - Illusory nature of reality
42:08 - Emptiness in tantra vs sutra
52:34 - Illusory body yogas of sleep and bardo
54:13- Tantric visualisation in daily life
1:00:56 - Imbalances in the male and female energies
1:06:32 - Modern lucid dreaming vs Tantric Dream Yoga 




Previous Glenn Mullin episodes:
- https://www.guruviking.com/guru-viking-interviews-ep9-glenn-mullin/
- https://www.guruviking.com/ep19-glenn-mullin-guru-viking-interviews/
 
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Rich Lee, modified 4 Years ago at 2/20/20 8:47 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 2/20/20 8:47 AM

RE: New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

Posts: 43 Join Date: 7/15/15 Recent Posts
I've listened to several of your interviews recently Steve,and thoroughly enjoyed them all. In particular I got as much out of those where I _didn't_ resonate with the guest - down to your approach I think. Thanks!
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Noah D, modified 4 Years ago at 2/21/20 12:02 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 2/21/20 12:02 AM

RE: New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

Posts: 1211 Join Date: 9/1/16 Recent Posts
I found it interesting hearing his interpretation vs Ian Baker's from your interview vs Alex Berzin's on the studybuddhism website vs Bob Thurman's from tibet house videos.  All the western scholar-practitioners have slightly different angles & help me get hopefully more of a complete picture & an understanding of where I am eventually aiming to go in my own path...
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Steve James, modified 4 Years ago at 2/21/20 9:30 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 2/21/20 9:30 AM

RE: New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

Posts: 104 Join Date: 2/15/19 Recent Posts
Noah D:
I found it interesting hearing his interpretation vs Ian Baker's from your interview vs Alex Berzin's on the studybuddhism website vs Bob Thurman's from tibet house videos.  All the western scholar-practitioners have slightly different angles & help me get hopefully more of a complete picture & an understanding of where I am eventually aiming to go in my own path...

That's very interesting - can you describe the main differences that stand out to you between these four?
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Steve James, modified 4 Years ago at 2/21/20 9:34 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 2/21/20 9:34 AM

RE: New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

Posts: 104 Join Date: 2/15/19 Recent Posts
Rich Lee:
I've listened to several of your interviews recently Steve,and thoroughly enjoyed them all. In particular I got as much out of those where I _didn't_ resonate with the guest - down to your approach I think. Thanks!

Thank you Rich! 

I find my guests really fascinating, for different reasons, and so I very much enjoy interviewing them - I think that attitude translates somewhat. 
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Noah D, modified 4 Years ago at 2/22/20 7:35 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 2/22/20 7:31 PM

RE: New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

Posts: 1211 Join Date: 9/1/16 Recent Posts
Steve James:
Noah D:
I found it interesting hearing his interpretation vs Ian Baker's from your interview vs Alex Berzin's on the studybuddhism website vs Bob Thurman's from tibet house videos.  All the western scholar-practitioners have slightly different angles & help me get hopefully more of a complete picture & an understanding of where I am eventually aiming to go in my own path...

That's very interesting - can you describe the main differences that stand out to you between these four?
They seem to emphasize different things, but this is just from piece meal talks, interviews, articles...

Ian Baker frames the yogas (at least trul khor) as appropriate for beginner's , or at least not reserved for only the 'olympic level' yogis.  Although he also stressses the need for 1-1 instruction.  He also seemed to put them in a different order from Glen Mullin, if I remember correctly, saying that Tummo was the base for the others.  Baker also cross references between the Hindu, Daoist & Buddhist traditions uniquely from the others & he talks openly about siddhis.

Alex Berzin talks moreso about how the yogas appear as part of the original tantras they were a part of, such as father tantra (Guhyasamaja - illusory body - method) & mother tantra (Chakrasamvara - clear light - wisdom). He puts these with the completion stage, for olympic level only - positing that full samatha (i.e. what Tina Rasmussen described to you with the 4 hour sits) is a prerequisite & its like microsurgery.  Berzin emphasizes renunciation as a foundation for the rest.

Bob Thurman doesn't necessarily emphasize what level these practices are for, but just has an interesting way of describing it all - talking about how generation stage involves neon energy colors & framing the total cosmology in poetic & fantastic ways - the buddha as a sort of intergalactic being.  Bob has interesting translations for things that stick out, such as 'thigle' as 'nuerotransmitter' - so language is a strong focus there.

Glenn Mullin seemed to put them in a different order from Ian Baker, saying that Illusory Body was the base for the others (not sure if I remember who said what, but they were different).  Mullin, like Baker, doesn't seem to emphasize samatha at all.  He also seems to not emphasize renunciation that much, although a bit more than Ian.  Like Berzin, he describes them as part of the tantras originally, but like Baker, he also talks about them being separate.  Mullin seems to talk somewhat openly about siddhis, like Baker.  
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alguidar, modified 4 Years ago at 2/23/20 7:37 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 2/23/20 7:37 AM

RE: New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

Posts: 106 Join Date: 6/4/17 Recent Posts
great work brah. love your interviews.
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Steve James, modified 4 Years ago at 2/24/20 2:16 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 2/24/20 2:16 PM

RE: New Interview w/ Glenn Mullin! (illusory body yogas, tummo, dream yoga)

Posts: 104 Join Date: 2/15/19 Recent Posts
alguidar:
great work brah. love your interviews.
Thank you...more to come :-)

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