Lopon Tegchoke Interview
July 27, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9781315122649-3 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study |
|---|---|
| Key findings | Lopon Tegchoke describes 'suchness primordial wisdom' as a moment of letting go of ego and knowing one's true self, and characterizes the egoless mind as a permanent series of moments of nondual awareness. The chapter presents this interview as an introduction to the egoless mind and to the interview methodology said to underlie the modern science of the stream of consciousness. |
Abstract
Lopon Tegchoke is a Bhutanese lama who lives and teaches in both Bhutan and Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. This chapter presents a lengthy passage from one of our many interviews, and in this passage the Lopon describes one aspect of the egoless mind: the phenomenon that the Tibetans call suchness primordial wisdom. Lopon describes primordial wisdom as being a moment in which a person lets go of their ego and knows their true self as it really is. Lopon then goes on to say that an egoless mind is simply a permanent series of moments of nondual awareness. Lopon’s interviews are often charming because when he opens his mouth, outcome stories, metaphors and figures of speech that sound like, and indeed are, the fruit of an ancient wisdom civilization. Empirical and experiential descriptions of the egoless mind come out of the Lopon’s mouth as well. This interview is presented as Chapter 3 of The Healthy Mind so as to introduce the reader to both (1) a first description of the egoless mind and (2) the methodology by which the lama interviews generate the data that is the foundation of the modern science of the stream of consciousness.