Evolving Ground (eG)
YouTube Video: Vajrayana Now: Sutra to Tantra w/ Charlie Awbery & Jared Janes (via The Stoa)
ABOUT
Founded on Friendly Ground
Charlie and Jared met online to discuss Vajrayana practice in 2019. Evolving Ground (eG) grew from their discussions and friendship.
They encourage a light-hearted, informal atmosphere, but never at the expense of dedicated practice and personal growth. They’re committed to maintaining a happy, healthy, and honest community of practice. They believe to do this skillfully requires competence, transparency, and adaptivity, not a reified hierarchy based on spiritual roles.
Between them, Charlie and Jared have extensive experience in leadership, organizational development, financial and operational oversight, project management, software development, and community building. The adaptive structure of eG is the result of their past experiences in institutions of all forms — business, non-profit, spiritual, and recreational — and their collaboration with the growing community.
Not long after Charlie Awbery stepped away from traditional Vajrayana, Jared Janes ran into Charlie’s Vajrayana Now site while searching for a spiritual path that didn’t feel like it was in conflict with being a husband, creative, and entrepreneur.
The two of them began talking regularly and became great friends, discovering a shared passion for traditionally-informed Vajrayana practiced in contemporary ways. They also noticed elements of their own relationship that mirrored the informality of village Vajrayana during its first spread in Tibet. This eventually sparked a question…
“Would other yogis be interested in what we’re up to?”
To test the waters, they hosted an online meetup, and after a large turnout, they decided it was the right time to start Evolving Ground.
Since then, their focus has been to establish the ground for a community that will flourish and evolve for generations.
Charlie and Jared have a deep respect for the heritage of Vajrayana Buddhism. The eG perspective is especially influenced by early Tibetan Vajrayana, in particular the village householders and wandering yogis of Tibet.
OPENING AWARENESS (Practice)
See book Opening Awareness by Charlie Awbery (my Kindle Unlimited library)