Guru Viking interviews: Ep8

“In this interview I am joined by Ngakpa Chögyam a blues loving, horse riding Ngakpa, who with his wife Khandro Déchen, is the Lineage Lama (principal teacher) of the Aro tradition, a tantric Buddhist house holder tradition.

Ngakpa Chögyam is the author of many books and today we discuss Wisdom Eccentrics. It is ‘a rare account of remarkable lamas in the final years of a lost era’ …which chronicles his education with Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche, ‘a highly reclusive master known for mercurial wrath and facility with Dzogchen’.

In the book we follow this 19-year old Englishman in 1971 into the heart of the Himalayas to seek the highest teachings from a notoriously wrathful and elusive Lama.

In this fascinating and candid conversation we delve into the themes of the book, including the culture clash of Dharmsala in the 70s, the true face of Crazy Wisdom and it’s abuses, how to access the realised state through the emotions themselves, and why Ngakpa Chögyam sees the crossover between the arts and Vajrayana as vitally important.”

―Guru Viking - Steve James