Elias Capriles

Track: Transpersonal Psychology, Psychotherapy and Clinical Studies

Dzogchen, Tantrism, Shamanism and Transpersonal Psychology

After explaining the Base, Path and Fruit of Dzogchen and the 3 aspects of each, the approaches of Dzogchen, Tantra, Shamanism and Transpersonal Psychology will be compared. All of them work with transpersonal and holotropic conditions achieved by raising the Energetic Volume Determining the Scope of Awareness, yet not all of them distinguish between (1) rigpa’s nonstatic nirvāṇa and (2) holotropic saṃsāric conditions such as (2a) the neutral base-of-all and (2b) the formless realms. Some shamanic systems raise the energetic volume by means of psychedelics in order to contact a nonphysical reality of beings it deems to be the true reality, so as to manipulate it for healing or destructive purposes. Some systems of transpersonal psychology raise it in order to access transpersonal, holotropic conditions and/or perinatal states that they deem to be potentially healing. Some Tantric systems raise it to produce extraordinary experiences that, like powerful reflections in Awareness, may be used as a basis for recognizing the true condition of Awareness. Dzogchen raises it for the same purpose as Tantric systems, yet has a different approach, as its principle is the spontaneous liberation of thought and the passions (the latter being no more than more emphatic thoughts). Moreover, Dzogchen privileges the use of a raised energetic volume for transforming the essential contradiction that is avidyā—the basic human delusion—into conflict: by turning delusion into anguish, dread, etc., it makes the individual incapable of adhering to it and feeling comfortable in it, and, on the contrary, activates the systemic loops that result in the spontaneous liberation of delusion. Dzogchen is thus deemed to be the shortcut to Buddhist Awakening. Since avidyā is the source of ecological crisis, this approach is crucial in our time: its generalization may be the condition of possibility of the survival of our species and its transition to its next evolutionary stage.

Track: Mystical Spirituality as a Link between World Religions

Tibetan Dzogchen and South American so-called “Shamanism”

ITA Prague Indigenous Panel: “Indigenous traditions: explorations and applications”

In this panel, presenters will explore the impact of indigenous traditions, including cases from Africa, South America, Tibet, China and India. The panelists are experts on the respective traditions, and will present on the teachings and practices, with a major emphasis on the impact these have had beyond the respective local regions. The panel will allow time for discussion not only of the traditions themselves, but also of the ways in which these indigenous ways have been contributing to developments and research in Transpersonal Psychology.

Elias retired from the Chair of Eastern Studies and Center for Studies on Africa and Asia / University of The Andes, Mérida, Venezuela, where he taught Philosophy, Buddhism, Asian Religions, Globalization and Asian Aesthetics and Arts. He has offered conferences in many Universities across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and has also led workshops and courses in several countries. He managed “spiritual emergency refuges” where people could go through the natural self-healing process in which they unwillingly embarked, and has been an ecological activist.

Elias is on the Board of the International Transpersonal Association; He has published fourteen books, five Internet books, over forty academic papers and twelve book chapters, on transpersonal psychology; Dzogchen; Tibetan Buddhism; ontology; philosophy of history; aesthetics; political philosophy; epistemology; sociology; etc. His most recent and best known work is the four-volume work The Beyond Mind Papers: Transpersonal and Metatranspersonal Theory (Blue Dolphin, Nevada City, CA, 2013).

Webpage: http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/elicap/

YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/CEAAULA