Buddhist yogi Drukpa Kunley is the embodiment of crazy wisdom. And while the stories of his behavior seem crazy to us, Drukpa Kunley’s outrageousness comes from a place of insight. From his point of view, we’re the crazy ones—trapped in our thoughts about reality and unable to see things as they actually are.

In this episode, Lama Liz Monson joins Kate and Alex to discuss the Tibetan roots of crazy wisdom. She introduces us to fifteenth-century Tibetan yogi Drukpa Kunley, describing his commitment to exposing religious hypocrisy and leveraging outrageous behavior to wake people up. Listen in to understand how crazy wisdom is misunderstood in the West and learn how the bawdy stories of Drukpa Kunley can lead us to a spiritual awakening.

Lama Liz Monson is the Spiritual Co-Director of the Natural Dharma Fellowship, a Dharma organization based in the New England area and the Managing Teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, a Buddhist meditation retreat center in Springfield, NH. She has been studying, practicing, and teaching Tibetan Buddhism in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages for over thirty years. Liz holds a PhD in the Study of Religion from Harvard University and an MFA in Writing and Poetry from Naropa University. She is interested in developing practical methods for incorporating the Buddhist teachings into everyday life through the practices of kindness and compassion, through direct engagement in the natural world, and by focusing on ways to recognize the natural state in every moment of our lives. Liz is the co-translator of More Than a Madman: The Divine Words of Drukpa Kunley (Kuensel Press, 2014), a translation of the autobiography of the Tibetan yogi, Drukpa Kunley, and author of Tales of a Mad Yogi: The Life and Wild Wisdom of Drukpa Kunley (Snowlion, 2021). Liz is currently writing a book on Tantra for Shambhala Publications.