612. Eva Natanya

Buddha at the Gas Pump

Rick Archer

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.7 • 695 Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2021

⏱️ 123 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Eva Natanya is Co-Founder and Resident Teacher at the Center for Contemplative Research at Miyo Samten Ling. A scholar of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, Christian theology, and comparative religion, Dr. Natanya has served in many capacities as a spiritual teacher, academic lecturer, translator, and editor of Tibetan texts, writer, and retreat leader. Following a nine-year career as a professional ballet dancer with both the New York City Ballet and the Royal Ballet of England, she earned an MA in Christian Systematic Theology at the Graduate Theological Union and a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. Her dissertation examined the complex interactions of Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, and Abhidharma teachings as they underlie the Vajrayāna philosophy of Je Tsongkhapa. She has worked closely with Dr. B. Alan Wallace on his translations for several books, including Open Mind: View and Meditation in the Lineage of Lerab Lingpa and Fathoming the Mind: Inquiry and Insight in Dudjom Lingpa's Vajra Essence, and has co-taught meditation retreats with Dr. Wallace around the world. In a Christian context, she co-authored Living Resurrected Lives: What It Means and Why It Matters with Veronica Mary Rolf. She has spent more than three years in solitary meditation retreat, and remains in residence at Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, guiding fellow retreatants in the details of contemplative training. Her website is: evanatanya.com. Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Summary and Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded August 21, 2021 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:05:22 - Mystical Longing and Spiritual Quest 00:09:59 - The Discipline and Demands of Rehearsal and Performance 00:14:11 - Transition to Deep Education and Meditation 00:18:22 - Preparation for Solitary Retreat 00:23:26 - Challenges of Long-term Retreat Practice 00:27:50 - The connection between mind and pr??ic system 00:32:00 - Sensations of Pr??a and the Inner Body 00:36:14 - The Dangers of Kundalini and Inner-body Practices 00:40:35 - The Proper Meditation Posture and Settling the Mind 00:45:25 - The Process of Settling the Mind 00:49:54 - Integrating Meditation with Daily Life 00:54:20 - The Depths of Loving-Kindness 00:58:30 - Meditation and the Transformation of Worldview 01:02:51 - The Notion of a Person as a Temporary Conglomerate 01:08:02 - The karmic cause of suffering and purification possibilities 01:12:21 - Reincarnation and Hypotheses of Past Lives 01:16:16 - Dream Lives and Illusion of Self 01:20:56 - Pratityasamutpada and the Two Realities 01:25:34 - The Illusory Nature of Things 01:29:51 - The Trinity in Christian Theology and Buddhism 01:35:06 - The Divine Light and Celestial Perception 01:39:40 - The Manifestation of Divinity in Every Little Thing 01:44:55 - The True Nature and Buddha Nature 01:50:25 - The transcendence of death in different cultures 01:55:27 - The Vastness of Awareness in Buddhism 01:59:28 - Finding a Path and Authentic Teachers 02:04:15 - Authenticity and Discernment in Choosing a Teacher 02:08:53 - Unconventional Behavior in the Name of Crazy Wisdom 02:13:19 - The Concept of Enlightenment 02:17:51 - Taking a Step towards Enlightenment

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Welcome to Buddha at the Gas Pump.
0:27.6	My name is Rick Archer.
0:29.8	Buddha at the Gas Pump is an ongoing series of interviews
0:32.6	with spiritually awakening people.
0:35.8	We've done over 600 of them now. And if this is new to you,
0:40.5	and you'd like to check out previous ones, please go to batgap.com and look under the
0:46.0	past interviews menu, where you'll see them all organized in different ways. This program is
0:53.1	made possible through the support of appreciative listeners and viewers.
0:57.3	So if you appreciate it and would like to help support it, there's a PayPal button on every
1:01.9	page of the website, and there's also a donations page that explains some alternatives to PayPal.
1:10.9	My guest today is Eva Natanya, Ph.D.
1:16.0	I first learned about Eva through a intercontemplative dialogue that she was having with
1:24.4	Alan Wallace and Lawrence Freeman, whom I interviewed back in the spring,
1:28.8	and that's why I was listening to it, preparing for Lawrence. And I really liked what she
1:33.4	had to say and invited her to become a guest. So here she is. Welcome, Eva.
1:39.3	Such an honor to be here. Thank you, Rick.
1:41.3	Good to have you. And it's been a very enjoyable week for me listening to quite a few hours of other talks you've given. And I also turned the introduction epilogue of your PhD thesis into spoken word and listened to it while I was walking in the woods. And that was interesting.
2:03.7	Even though I must admit some of it is over my head,
2:06.5	but you'll help to explain it as we go along here today.
2:09.7	Let's talk a little bit about your background.
2:13.5	So you started out as a, well, you didn't start out,
2:16.1	but at a certain point, earlier in your life, you were a professional ballet dancer with
	...

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