Episode 102 – Transmission

In exploring the idea of transmission, we’re looking into how the teachings are passed on, how the teachings are taught, and how the student can access the teachings • but what do we mean by transmission? • a helpful analogy is to think of music: you can learn to play all the notes in a song, but the music is not there • so what makes the actual music? • there’s a famous jazz phrase: “it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” • that “swing” is related to the notion of transmission: it’s something that happens beyond the notes, beyond the words, beyond the videos • something alive and essential to what dharma is all about is transmitted, but it’s not the same as the words, the teachers, the students, or the rituals • transmission can be thought of as the living essence of a tradition; that living essence is non-conceptual, but we are pointed to it by various conceptual and physical means • it is that direct, non-conceptual understanding that brings the dharma alive, that brings us fully alive, opening and energizing wisdom and compassion for the benefit of ourselves and all beings.