Discussing the book Poison is Medicine: Clarifying the Vajrayana, Fausto and Emily engage topics that range from the name of their show and parables around turning poisons to medicine to practices particular to Vajrayana. Covering the relationships of teacher/student relationships in traditional lineage practice, Emily and Fausto bring out some of their own thoughts around the relationship of study and support. Looking towards skillful means as a method for engaging experiences while understanding and not running from the intensities and emotions of life, this book provides some interesting in ..read more

Listeners have submitted questions and we have more questions and maybe even some answers to respond and offer a fuller conversation with our dialogue. Our norteño brothers and sisters, from Monterrey to Texas made a strong showing with questions from "What is a Bodhisattva and when do they come back; are they basically like Jesus, Buddha and Allah?" to "What is love in Buddhism?" to  "How do we leave dualistic moralism and find the medicine in the poison?" to "What are the reasons some people may be turned off to Buddhism?" Susan, Mallory, and Fernando thank you for providing us such tho ..read more

Death and the transitional periods written in culture and religion around death, specifically, dia de los muertos and those preparations offered by the Tibetan Book of the Dead are looked at alongside one another in this episode in preparation for the annual celebration in Mexico. Sharing both their personal experiences of loss, funerals and rituals around death, to the way the celebrations in Mexico offer a broader celebratory feel to honor familial life, Fausto and Emily cover death in both the experiential and textual. Fausto offers a detailed account of the Bardo Thodol and its correspondi ..read more

Discussing the book Poison is Medicine: Clarifying the Vajrayana, Fausto and Emily engage topics that range from the name of their show and parables around turning poisons to medicine to practices particular to Vajrayana. Covering the relationships of teacher/student relationships in traditional lineage practice, Emily and Fausto bring out some of their own thoughts around the relationship of study and support. Looking towards skillful means as a method for engaging experiences while understanding and not running from the intensities and emotions of life, this book provides some interesting in ..read more

Covering the topic of western culture picking up the mantle of Buddhism from highly isolationist cultures, Fausto and Emily take on the integration of Buddhism into western culture, practice and life. From consorts and enlightenment to removing our fear around loss of culture rather than cultural change, these western buddhists cover the possibilities of new applications and potentialities of buddhism in western life. Discussing the role of emptiness and the relationship when two become one, Emily and Fausto engage the question of origins and dissolution. If you have additional questions or co ..read more

Listeners have submitted questions and we have more questions and maybe even some answers to respond and offer a fuller conversation with our dialogue. Our norteño brothers and sisters, from Monterrey to Texas made a strong showing with questions from "What is a Bodhisattva and when do they come back; are they basically like Jesus, Buddha and Allah?" to "What is love in Buddhism?" to  "How do we leave dualistic moralism and find the medicine in the poison?" to "What are the reasons some people may be turned off to Buddhism?" Susan, Mallory, and Fernando thank you for providing us such tho ..read more

Sartre? Satan? Fausto and Emily explore a question posed by a friend and listener, "Does one need to have an existential crisis in order to become enlightened?" The hosts touch on Sartre, Camus, and Kafka before turning to the story of Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment. Grappling with their own existential questions and moments of doubt, they wander through the possibilities provided by the realization of impermanence. If you have questions or comments you'd like to share, we'd love to hear from you - antidotecast@gmail.com Recommendations: The Gift  Find them at www.antidote.mx and an ..read more

Popular understandings of karma would limit our understanding to people getting their 'just desserts,' rather than the most simplistic idea of it as action. Emily and Fausto take on the term in its pop culture, Vedic and Tibetan Buddhist understandings, laying out some important differences in establishing structures for  subjects, relationality and opportunity. Dancing with our little interior totalitarians, the possibility in all responsibility, and the opportunities available in all our causes and conditions, they play with the broader ranges of karmic possibility and western thought ..read more

Having smoked the cigars of father Freud for many years, Fausto and Emily look at the intersections and differences of psychoanalysis and vajrayana. Both schools of thought provide systematic analysis of the mind and our relationship to it but leave us with varied and complimentary practices. Fausto and Emily talk about some of the controversies surrounding Freud, as he established the field of psychoanalysis and therapeutic practice. They bring Lacan to the party and the corollary ideas in Tibetan Buddhist thought and practice.   If you want to know more about therapy or the availability ..read more

Meditation as a mindfulness practice for relieving anxiety and clearing the mind is well established in the Americas but it can often become another competition of the self and weight that guilt ridden westerners hold over their own heads. Emily and Fausto discuss the many and vaired practices of meditation within Vajrayana for facing strong emotions, embracing bodhichitta, emptiness, and visualizations that can help process those memories and attachments that bind us in samsara. If you are interested in hearing more about a particular meditation practice or want additional resources, reach ou ..read more