Ep190: Love & Death in the Himalayas - Naomi Levine
Naomi Levine is an author, under her birth name Norma Levine, of multiple books including ‘The Miraculous 16th Karmapa’, ‘A Quest For The Hidden Lands’, and ‘Chronicles of Love and Death: My Years With The Lost Spiritual King of Bhutan’.
Available on Youtube, iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
Naomi recalls why she dropped out of academia to pursue an alternative lifestyle, and through a series of life-changing encounters with Tibetan gurus such as Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, 16th Karmapa, and Tai Situpa, converted to Buddhism and moved to India to pursue a life of yogic practice.
Naomi describes her close discipleship under Tai Situpa, and recounts her initial meeting, and subsequent multi-year relationship, with the Shabdrung - a highly revered Bhutanese tulku said to possess potent magical abilities.
Naomi also discusses the difficulty of differentiating between crazy wisdom and abusive behaviour, reflects her own naivety about what the practice of Vajrayana really entails, and describes the signs of enlightenment after the death of great beings.
Topics include:
00:00 - Intro
01:14 - Naomi’s recent autobiographical writings
04:58 - The last free generation
09:53 - How the world and culture changed and became less open
11:51 - Post war culture and music’s effect on culture
12:50 - Naomi’s PhD thesis on the English playwright Arnold Wesker and moving to England
14:37 - The extraordinary village of Hay-on-Wye
16:05 - Naomi’s family of origin and upbringing
17:48 - A powerful Saturn return
19:34 - Meeting Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche at Samye Ling
21:46 - Impressions of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
25:19 - Life changing meeting with the 16th Karmapa
26:30 - Becoming a disciple of Tai Situ Rinpoche
27:48 - Conversion to Buddhism
30:18 - Naivety about the realities of Vajrayana practice
33:23 - The Guru is not your best friend
34:20 - Not ready for Tantra
37:17 - What’s really required for Vajrayana practice
40:24 - Vajrayana cannot be taught in today’s culture
45:11 - Meeting the Shabdrung for the first time
49:06 - Falling in love with the Shabdrung and beginning a relationship
51:16 - The remarkable story of the previous Shabdrung incarnations
53:02 - Great beings can still experience trauma
55:08 - Crazy wisdom or just crazy?
01:01:13 - Impressions of Bhutan
01:03:49 - Supernatural experiences around the Shabdrung
01:05:58 - The death of the Shabdrung and revealing realisation
01:08:31 - Shabdrung’s opinion of other lamas
01:10:14 - How Naomi’s book was received
01:13:14 - Not a great Khandro
To find out more about Naomi Levine, visit:
Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James