(Part 2) Top products from r/twinpeaks

Sure thing!

tl;dr Tibetan Buddhism is complex and it helps to have context before reading the books I've linked at the bottom. Also Twin Peaks is great.

I’m not sure how familiar you are with the general principles/history of early Buddhisms across Asia, but it’ll be helpful to have some context. Before you even dive into a book, there are loads of resources online to help you begin to understand the philosophy, and by extension, the practices of all Buddhisms. I find that having a frame of reference of other traditions helps place the Tibetan schools in context, giving you an enriched understanding.

First, read up on the differences on the “Vehicles” in Buddhism - the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Understanding these will provide the framework to understand the various philosophies and practices you’ll inevitably encounter.

Much like the Catholic tradition, there have been several councils of Buddhist philosophers and teachers who gathered to make some kind of assertive statement about what the dharma is and means. The first council began shortly after Gautama Buddha’s death and they kept evolving through the years both in representation and thought. As the distinctions in practice and interpretations of the teachings emerged, so too did varying traditions.

Hinayana Buddhism is what you see in Shri Lanka, which sticks very near the ribs of the original teachings of Gautama Buddha. The foundations of Mahayana Buddhism began, arguably, with Gautama Buddha’s Flower Sermon (which is absolutely beautiful) and gave rise to traditions like Soto, Chan (Zen), etc. Tibetan Buddhism is in the Vajrayana vehicle, and is actually considered an extension of Mahayana. My teacher looks at our tradition as both requiring and encompassing the Hinayana and Mahayana elements of practice to thrive.

Feel free to check out more on r/Buddhism, but it tends to be a lot of fluff. You can also check out r/vajrayana, but it tends to be more technical. If you’re interested in Zen, r/zen is probably one of the more contentious subs on reddit, but I like how crazy it is so I am a regular contributor there.

Back to the big picture here, the main distinction between Tibetan Buddhism and the rest of Mahayana is the use of tantras or secret mantra. Get ready for some potentially new terms. Although there are some other schools outside of Tibet that do practice tantra, such as the Japanese Shingon and Tendai schools, Vajrayana Buddhism considers itself Mahayana Buddhism with a richer treasury of skillful means than the "common Mahayana" schools. That is a gross oversimplification, but hopefully you get the gist. Actually, nearly all major branches of Buddhism have used tantras at some point or another, but what that looks like in their cultural and particular spiritual tradition’s context varies.

Anyway, Tibetan Buddhism descended from medieval Indian Buddhism later than when Buddhism left India for China and Sri Lanka. In India, the Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools eventually came about, which carefully explained the view taught by the Buddha in the Mahayana sutras. The pandita style of the Tibetan schools to this day places a strong emphasis on studying Madhyamaka and Yogacara shastras and commentaries.

There are shamanistic elements of the Tibetan traditions of Bön (opposed to the spiritual tradition of Yungdrung Bön) incorporated in Tibetan Buddhism, but this is a common thing everywhere: in Thai Buddhist temples you'll find shrines to local protective deities and Hindu gods and the same goes for Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. This does not affect the more central Vajrayana methods such as the Yidam practices though. Besides, you also find Vajrayana in China and Japan, and previously in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and of course earliest in India.

Tantra is a complicated subject although you can naively think of it as a category of teachings that emphasize how one can come into contact with, recognize, and accomplish the Mahayana doctrines of Shunyata (emptiness) and Tathagatagarbha (Buddha nature). Tantric teachings are said to be much swifter than common Mahayana, and can lead to Buddhahood in a short number of lifetimes, or even in this very life. Whereas in the common Mahayana sutra teachings, it takes three incalulable eons to become a Buddha.

The Nyingma school is the old school of Tibetan Buddhism, and it has a distinct transmission of tantra that came from the land of Oddiyana. King Ja discovered the first tantras in 853 B.C. I forget when the Nyingma school dates Shakyamuni Buddha, but it should be after this date. Sometime around the 8th century, King Trisong Deutsen of Tibet requested Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava to bring Buddhism to Tibet. Shantarakshita was an Indian Buddhist monk, the abbot of Nalanda University. He was the prime figure in establishing the Yogacara-Svatantrika-Madhyamaka school, which assimilated both Madhyamaka and Yogacara philosophy. Padmasambhava was the great Lotus-Born Guru, the second Buddha who brought tantra from the land of Oddiyana to Tibet.

The Nyingma tantras teach something called Dzogchen, which is an entire subject in itself. The Nyingma school is really diverse and is not exactly a school in the sense of a clearly defined clerical establishment. 'Nyingma' is more of an umbrella term for all of the old traditions of Buddhism in Tibet and there are six major monastic traditions that are the most prominent. There is now a head of the Nyingma school, but it is more of an iconic position of solidarity that has only existed since the Tibetans went into exile.

The Sarma (New) schools of Tibetan Buddhism are a little different. They also descended from medieval Indian Buddhism, although a few hundred years later.They generally do not practice the tantras from Oddiyana and only practice the ones originating from India in the traditional locations. The Sarma schools have a practice called Mahamudra, which may be seen as rougly analogous to Dzogchen.

As far as Zen-style “meditation” goes, the Kagyu school is probably the only school that would offer something like that. The other schools tend to focus on sadhana practice. Sadhana practice in the Tibetan schools mainly comes from the Highest Yoga Tantras. Highest Yoga Tantras include practices of the two stages: Generation and Completion Stage. It also includes the Dzogchen or Mahamudra teachings. These kinds of practices usually involve things like: mantra, mudra, deity visualization, vajra and bell, musical instruments, dance, etc. Each individual's path will be different, but in general, most Tibetan Buddhist practitioners will focus on this category of practice, which is distinct from East Asian Mahayana Buddhism.

That’s a very broad strokes contextual explanation and I hope it’s helpful. If you really want to dig in and read a book, there are some excellent works out there that get to the essence of what I think Tibetan Buddhism is trying to communicate - a rich, sensorial experience of your own life in a full state of wakefulness. Imagine if the next drink of water you took was so fulfilling that you had the subtle and emotional sense that you’d never need another thing in your entire life. That kind of equanimity doesn’t operate in a vacuum in Tibetan Buddhism though. We regularly deal directly with strong emotions and psychological states that cause us all to suffer, rather than using meditation as a form of escape. Everything in your life can be used as a vehicle to wake up.

Uma Thurman’s dad, Robert, is a wonderful scholar and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and he wrote a book called The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism. My teacher wrote one called Turning The Mind Into An Ally. Although it doesn’t explicitly deal with Tibetan philosophy so much as it does the practical application of Tibetan practices in contemporary life.

Again, I find it kind of hilarious that this topic is getting fleshed out in the Twin Peaks sub, but I'm glad it is. lol.

Full of Secrets is a pretty good source. Actually, pretty much exactly what you want. It's a collection of essays focusing on the show, and covers historical context, feminist readings, incest and mythological readings. It's a bit dry, because it's very academic, but also interesting.

Lynch on Lynch is a great book if you want a little more context for David Lynch's overall process. It isn't focused on Twin Peaks, it's focused on his overall career(up to the point of the books publication, which stops at Lost Highway, if I recall correctly).

I have this book and I really like it, even if I haven't tried the recipes yet ;) https://www.amazon.com/Damn-Fine-Cherry-Pie-Recipes/dp/0062495550

And yeah, there's a chapter "How to throw a party inspired by Twin Peaks" ;)

Yep! Here you go! :)
https://www.amazon.com/Damn-Fine-Cherry-Pie-Recipes/dp/0062495550/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493261847&sr=8-1&keywords=damn+fine+cherry+pie

There's an entire section devoted to doughnuts. As well as a recipe for duck called "Agent Cooper's Ducks on a Lake". I haven't made anything yet but I think the season premiere would be a perfect time to try!

My first thought is a riot grrl band with members who dress in a "Molly McButters" style, though that's probably unimaginatively literal.

I now realize that Molly McButters might be an obscure reference, as I have no good sense of how well that descriptor was popularized (or not). I remember seeing it in this book that I bought for a friend of mine when she was in grad school for library sciences, as it described her 25-going-on-85, skirt-and-cardigan aesthetic perfectly.

There's an excellent essay in this book from 1995 which analyses the Twin Peaks online communities during and after the show's original run. A really interesting read!

You don't really need to read any of the books to follow along. They're interesting though if you want "more", but they're not "necessary" to enjoy the series.

There's a fun "Access Guide" (like a Travel Guide) to Twin Peaks which came out during Season 2 which is light-hearted but really cool & has lots of pictures & diagrams and stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/Twin-Peaks-Access-Guide-Town/dp/0671743996/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498058552&sr=8-1&keywords=access+guide+to+twin+peaks

Everything else I'm aware of is cultural criticism or analysis. I'd like to read the the 33 1/3 series book on the original series' soundtrack, as that's a great book series and the music is a big part of the show for me.

1995, mostly about lost highway. http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/lhpremiere.html
also found in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
https://www.amazon.com/Supposedly-Fun-Thing-Never-Again/dp/0316925284/
an excellent read throughout that gets to the core of how lynch works

I haven't really spent time reading in a long time. I think post college I was just like I'M FREEE! Now I just miss being forced to read all the dry film literature and writing papers. On a note as Lynch as an author Catching the Big Fish was actually pretty good.

For years (since before Twin Peaks), people have reported conspicuous and unusual owl encounters/sightings in association with seeing/encountering UFOs and/or "aliens." The theory is that the "aliens" may somehow "mask" their activities in the minds of people who see them, leaving the witnesses with a strange "owl" memory instead of clearly remembering the "alien's" appearance.

Given Maj. Briggs's connection to Project Blue Book, and given the other UFOesque bits of the Twin Peaks mythology, I've assumed that "the owls are not what they seem" was inspired by association. For example: https://www.amazon.com/Messengers-Owls-Synchronicity-UFO-Abductee/dp/0967799570/

I'm definitely not into anything cult-related aha. Don't knock it till you've tried it!

If anything Eckhart Tolle's message is of present-mind, remaining fully conscious and (to me) mirrors the teachings of mindfulness.

I'm surprised you've never heard of him though. Check out the book

It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!


Here is link number 1 - Previous text "1"

Here is link number 2 - Previous text "2"

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It's on Amazon! https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Twin-Peaks-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B07YQ8C4DC/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=twin+peaks&qid=1570462437&sr=8-12

They did release a Season 2 soundtrack, and that song is on there. It's been out of print for a long time, but it's worth getting if you can find one for a reasonable price.

Is there a difference between that one, and the one available at Amazon UK?

Twin Peaks - The Entire Mystery [Blu-ray] [Region Free] https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00H9BFV98/ref=cm_sw_r_taa_cRB3xbM18E6A6

https://www.amazon.com/Twin-Peaks-Season-Music-More/dp/B000W4HFY8/

Ideas:
1

2

3

> This title will be released on July 29, 2014.

The book Dreamland on the shelf is about the opiate epidemic in America.. here's the amazon summary.

Ah gotcha, although the above is different from Diane - The Tapes of Agent Cooper . It is a fiction "diary" of Agent Cooper starting when he was a child.

https://www.amazon.com/MemoRandom-Thriller-Anders-Motte/dp/1476788065

I was thinking it was this version

https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-Robert-L-Anderson/dp/0062338684/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499360642&sr=1-6&keywords=dreamland

It's not from the Secret History of Twin Peaks - it's from the Access Guide:

https://www.amazon.com/Twin-Peaks-Access-Guide-Town/dp/0671743996

this one?