New & Featured
Blazing Splendor
An insightful memoir illuminating the profound experiences and magical world of a Tibetan Buddhist master.
Blazing Splendor is a rare and profound gift: an intimate view into the world of one of the most celebrated and influential meditation masters of the last century. In these memoirs, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (1920–1996) recounts with incredible lucidity and humility his unique spiritual and familial heritage, his training in Tibetan Buddhism, and remarkable encounters with some of the most renowned masters of Tibet. This wide-reaching narrative stretches across generations to provide insight into the lived experience of contemplative adepts and into life before and after the Cultural Revolution, which left Tibet changed forever.
Born the great-grandson of the seminal terma-revealer Chokgyur Lingpa and a holder of both Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche tells us of his unique family legacy, in which each generation has been saturated with spiritual accomplishments. He tells of how he, in time, became responsible for learning and then transmitting this lineage of Buddhist teachings, which continues today in the flourishing activities of his surviving sons Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Blazing Splendor is a window into the life of a Mahamudra and Dzogchen master that illuminates the transmission of sacred teachings in a modern world—a world we inhabit too, where the miraculous and the mundane exist side by side.
This special, revised edition of the modern classic includes a handsome slipcase and features new images and color illustrations.
Erik Pema Kunsang: Timeless Teachings with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (#195)
In this second episode of our celebratory Blazing Splendor Wisdom Podcast Series host Daniel Aitken is joined by Erik Pema Kunsang. Enjoy hearing Erik share profound experiences with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in “Timeless Teachings with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche,” including a story he’s never shared before.
During this episode, Daniel and Erik discuss:
- how Rinpoche led him to the realization of the mind’s true nature;
- Rinpoche’s unique teaching methods;
- his diverse skills and humility;
- the enduring influence Rinpoche has had on Erik and countless others; and
- so much more.
Be sure to come back next week for episode three of our Blazing Splendor Wisdom Podcast Series with special guest Tsoknyi Rinpoche.
Wisdom Podcast listeners are invited to save 20% off Blazing Splendor hardcover collector’s edition with code WPODBLAZE through October 31.
Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!
Marcia Binder Schmidt: Meeting Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (#194)
In the first episode of this celebratory series of episodes, Wisdom Podcast host Daniel Aitken is joined by Marcia Binder Schmidt, one of the editors of Blazing Splendor and a student of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.
During this episode, she and Daniel discuss
- how she began to practice Tibetan Buddhism;
- her impactful first meeting with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche;
- how the book Blazing Splendor came to be;
- her involvement in preserving Rinpoche’s teachings through books; and
- so much more.
Be sure to come back next week for episode two in our Blazing Splendor Podcast Series with special guest Erik Pema Kunsang.
Wisdom Podcast listeners are invited to save 20% off Blazing Splendor hardcover collector’s edition with code WPODBLAZE through October 31.
Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!
Meditation for Modern Madness
Dzogchen is an ancient Tibetan tradition that is perfect for countering the stress of our modern lives. A simple and quick method, Dzogchen is practical and direct, and open to us all—you simply need to recognize the great potential that is naturally born within everyone.
In his highly anticipated first book, His Eminence the Seventh Dzogchen Rinpoche, Jigme Losel Wangpo, shows us how our everyday lives can be turned into spiritual practice—not only to ease our stress, but to allow the true nature of our mind to reveal itself, right now, on the spot. The Dzogchen view is the highest view, the view from the top of the mountain. We need to build a platform that will hold the view, and Dzogchen Rinpoche provides the meditations and advice for living that will help you do just that. In turn, you’ll find true peace in a mind at rest.
The Poetry of Grief, Gratitude, and Reverence
Explorations on a journey through the darkest and brightest moments of our lives, the poems gathered here are explorations of loss, of thanksgiving, of transformation. Some show a path forward and others simply acknowledge and empathize with where we are, but all are celebrations of poetry’s ability to express what seemed otherwise inexpressible, to touch deep inside our hearts—and also pull ourselves out of our selves and into greater connection with the world around us.
Includes poems by
Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, Czesław Miłosz, Seamus Heaney, Billy Collins, Joy Harjo, Danusha Laméris, Ada Limón, Kevin Young, Arthur Sze, Ellen Bass, Li-Young Lee, Natasha Trethewey, and many more, plus the editor’s essay on appreciative attention.
John had recorded guided poetry meditations to accompany several of the poems found in this anthology. To learn more and listen to these meditations, please click here.
Listen to a Wisdom Dharma Chat with John and host Daniel Aitken recorded in October 2023.
Wisdom Dharma Chat | Lama Alan Wallace – October 2024
Please enjoy this unedited recording of Wisdom Dharma Chats with special guest Lama Alan Wallace. Lama Alan is the founder and director of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and the Center for Contemplative Research. He has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976 and has served as an interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including H. H. the Dalai Lama. He has edited, translated, authored, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture, and the interface between science and religion. In this episode, he and Daniel discuss Lama Alan’s new book on Dzokchen, the significance of mindfulness, perception, and the diverse teachings within Buddhism. They also explore the intersection of Buddhism and modern science and much more!
Dzokchen
Use code DZOKCHEN20 at checkout for 20% off through November 18!
Dudjom Rinpoche’s classic meditation manual on realizing the Great Perfection, presented and explained by Lama B. Alan Wallace.
In the concise yet comprehensive practice manual entitled Illumination of Primordial Consciousness, the great twentieth-century Tibetan Nyingma master Dudjom Rinpoche lays out a sequential path to spiritual freedom according to the teachings of the Great Perfection (Dzokchen): First, we refine our awareness by training in meditative quiescence (shamatha) and then proceed to the practices of insight meditation (vipashyana), by which our mind’s basic nature of luminosity and emptiness is revealed. Then, having recognized that the ordinary, deluded mind is actually without any intrinsic essence, we are primed to cut through this conditioned mind into unborn, timeless pristine awareness, which has never been contaminated by mental afflictions or other obscurations. Finally, we realize that our own awareness has never been other than the dharmakāya, the mind of a buddha, and perfect enlightenment is realized spontaneously and effortlessly.
Beloved teacher and renowned scholar Lama B. Alan Wallace guides the reader through this remarkable text, which he first translated for his teacher Gyatrul Rinpoche’s book Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga. In this book, Lama shares insights gained over years of study, providing a line-by-line explanation interspersed with background teachings from revered Dzokchen scriptures written by Padmasambhava, Dudjom Lingpa, and others. Also included are a set of fifteen guided meditations given by Lama Wallace, along with links to audio tracks of Lama Wallace giving the instructions himself. Through the practices he describes, the mystery of the mind—its origin and what happens to it at death–is thus illuminated through one’s own meditative experience.
Lama Alan has provided several guided meditations to accompany this book and they can be found here.
A Monk’s Guide to Finding Joy
A profound and practical guide to uncovering your own wise mind and kind heart.
We all want to find happiness. But how do we go about it? In this easygoing and clear-sighted guide, celebrated Buddhist meditation and philosophy master His Eminence Khangser Rinpoche provides us with down-to-earth advice on how to train our minds and find our own innate wisdom and kindness along the way. He helps us see the profound insight that is open to us all, and how it can awaken us to the truth of the way things are. This insight into the truth, and the practices that help you cultivate this awareness, transform suffering into wisdom and compassion—and ultimately joy.
A Monk’s Guide to Finding Joy brings the ancient Tibetan mind-training tradition into our twenty-first-century lives. Through stories, real-life examples, reflections, and meditation practices—all told with warmth and humor—H.E. Khangser Rinpoche shows us how we can transform the suffering of our life into happiness. When we train the mind from within the context of our difficult emotions, we can find true joy, just as the oyster transforms sand into a pearl.
Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa’s seminal contributions to Buddhist thought and practice, and to the course of history, are illuminated and celebrated by some of his foremost modern interpreters.
Few figures have impacted the trajectory of Buddhism as much as the great philosopher and meditator, scholar and reformer, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa (1357–1419), the founder of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism and teacher of the First Dalai Lama. His Ganden tradition spread throughout Central Asia and Mongolia, and today, through figures such as the Dalai Lama, who calls Tsongkhapa a second Nagarjuna, his teachings are shaping intellectual conversations and ethical practice globally. To commemorate the 600th anniversary of Tsongkhapa’s passing, a special conference was held at Ganden Monastery in India in 2019, featuring some of the best translators and interpreters of his teachings today. Highlights of those incisive summations of Tsongkhapa’s special contributions are gathered in this volume. Here we discover Tsongkhapa the philosopher, Tsongkhapa the master of the Buddhist canon, Tsongkhapa the tantric adept, and Tsongkhapa as the visionary who united wisdom to compassion.
Each of the authors featured looks at a distinct facet of Tsongkhapa’s legacy. Donald Lopez provides a global context, Guy Newland distills Tsongkhapa’s Middle Way, Dechen Rochard uncovers the identity view, Jay Garfield examines the conceptualized ultimate, Thupten Jinpa highlights the seminal importance Tsongkhapa placed on ascertainment, David Gray looks at his approach to Cakrasamvara tantra, Gavin Kilty surveys his Guhyasamaja tantra commentary, Roger Jackson surmises his views on Zen and mahamudra, Geshé Ngawang Samten examines his provisional-definitive distinction, Gareth Sparham highlights his scholastic prowess, Mishig-Ish Bataa illuminates his impact in Mongolia, and Bhiksuni Thubten Chodron presents his instructions on how to cultivate compassion.
Whether you are well acquainted with Tsongkhapa’s life and thought or you are encountering him here for the first time, you will find The Legacy of Tsongkhapa an illuminating survey of his unique explorations of the highest aspirations of humanity.
Buddhism and The Senses
Across Buddhist traditions, the five senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch—are perceived both positively and negatively. Share eminent scholars’ fascination and deep insight into what makes a sensuous experience good or bad.
Following the exhibition Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia at the National Museum of Asian art, ten eminent scholars present their insights into Buddhism’s fascinating relation with the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch), which careens between delight and disgust, rarely finding a middle way. While much of Buddhist literature is devoted to overcoming the attachment that dooms us to rebirth in samsara, primarily by deprecating sense experience and showing that whatever brings us sensual pleasure leads only to all manner of physical and mental pain, in texts such as the Lotus Sutra, sensory powers do not offer sensory pleasure but rather knowledge, clear observation, and ability to preach the Dharma. Considering such religiously and historically contingent ambiguity, this volume presents each of the five senses in two instantiations, the good and the bad, opening up the discourse on the senses across Buddhist traditions.
Just as the museum departed from tradition to incorporate sensory experiences into the exhibition, this volume is a new direction in scholarship to humanize Buddhist studies by foregrounding sensory experience and practice, inviting the reader to think about the senses in a focused manner and shifting our understanding of Buddhism from the conceptual to the material or practical, from the idealized to the human, from the abstract to the grounded, from the mind to the body.
Includes essays by Bryan J. Cuevas, Debra Diamond, D. Max Moerman, Reiko Ohnuma, James Robson, Melody Rod-ari, Kurtis R. Schaeffer, John Strong, and Lina Verchery.
The Power of Meditation
What is meditation, and how do we practice it?
In The Power of Meditation, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, beloved teacher and co-founder of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, offers clear explanations and instructions for the life-changing practice of meditation.
From preparatory procedures, such as selecting a space and adopting the proper motivation, to the details of posture and how to focus the mind, Rinpoche offers step-by-step instruction that serves as both a starting point for beginners and a new vantage on familiar techniques for more experienced sitters. In his own direct and plain-spoken style, Rinpoche offers concise explanations for different kinds of meditation, such as shamatha, or calm abiding meditation, and vipashyana, or insight meditation, delineating their specific techniques and applications. And finally, Rinpoche presents tips for bringing our newfound clarity off of the cushion and into our daily lives, making each moment meaningful.
The Wisdom Culture Series, published under the guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, provides English-language readers with key works for the study and cultivation of the Mahayana Buddhist path, especially works of masters within the lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa and the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Jeffrey Hopkins: In Remembrance: The Life of a Buddhist Scholar (#190)
This special rerelease episode of the Wisdom Podcast features Jeffrey Hopkins. Jeffrey started meditating while at Harvard and then, inspired by Thoreau and W. Somerset Maugham, spent time in a cabin in the woods in Vermont. He was Professor Emeritus of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he taught Tibetan Studies and Tibetan language for more than thirty years. He received a BA magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1963, trained for five years at the Lamaist Buddhist Monastery of America (now the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center) in New Jersey, and received a PhD in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1973. From 1979 to 1989 he served as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s chief interpreter into English on lecture tours in the U.S., Canada, Southeast Asia, Great Britain, and Switzerland. He has published numerous books, including Meditation on Emptiness, a seminal work of English language scholarship on Tibetan Madhyamaka thought, as well as translations of works by Tsongkhapa, Dolpopa, and His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. At the University of Virginia, he founded programs in Buddhist Studies and Tibetan Studies and served as Director of the Center for South Asian Studies for twelve years. Sadly, Jeffrey Hopkins passed away on July 1, 2024, at the age of 83. Prior to his passing, Jeffery was working with Wisdom to deliver an updated edition of Meditation on Emptiness with new forwards from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Donald S. Lopez Jr. This edition is scheduled for release in 2025 and is available for preorder now.
“Throughout the course of his remarkable career, Prof. Hopkins translated over fifty books, and it was an especially great honor for Wisdom to publish his groundbreaking book Meditation on Emptiness back in 1983. In addition to his extensive body of written work, he was also a mentor to a generation of Tibetan Buddhist scholars. His legacy thus lives on not only through his many books but also through countless students worldwide. We join the Buddhist community of scholars and practitioners who are reflecting on Prof. Hopkins’ life and work with both deep regret for this great loss and immense gratitude for his invaluable contributions. Wisdom celebrates Jeffrey‘s amazing contributions, certainly to our own success, but even more so to the spiritual development of the human community. He will be dearly missed and not soon forgotten.” —Daniel Aitken, Wisdom Publications CEO and Publisher
In this episode, Daniel and Jeffrey discuss:
- his process for developing various meditative practices without any formal knowledge of Buddhism;
- his experience with Geshe Wangyal and Geshe Sopa in Madison, Wisconsin, and how these two great teachers inspired him to begin delving into the intellectual exercise of Buddhist philosophy and guided him in his study and practice;
- how he began translating for the Dalai Lama, and how working with the Dalai Lama influenced Jeffrey’s thinking and translation;
- his thoughts on emptiness and the challenging experience and practice of having Lyme Disease; and
- much more!
Mentioned in this episode:
In memory of the mark Jeffery left on the Buddhist community, Wisdom Podcast listeners are invited to receive 30% off any of Jeffery Hopkin’s works with Wisdom, including the upcoming release of Meditation on Emptiness, through August 10. Simply use code WPODHOPKINS at checkout.
Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!
The Suttanipāta
The Suttanipāta, or “Group of Discourses” is a collection of discourses ascribed to the Buddha that includes some of the most popular suttas of the Pāli Canon, among them the Loving-Kindness Sutta. The suttas are primarily in verse, though several are in mixed prose and verse. The Suttanipāta contains discourses that extol the figure of the muni, the illumined sage, who wanders homeless completely detached from the world. Other suttas, such as the Discourse on Downfall and the Discourse on Blessings, establish the foundations of Buddhist lay ethics. The last two chapters—the Aṭṭhakavagga (Chapter of Octads) and the Pārāyanavagga (The Chapter on the Way to the Beyond)—are considered to be among the most ancient parts of the Pāli Canon. The Aṭṭhakavagga advocates a critical attitude toward views and doctrines. The Pārāyanavagga is a beautiful poem in which sixteen spiritual seekers travel across India to meet the Buddha and ask him profound questions pertaining to the highest goal.
The main commentary, the Paramatthajotikā, relates the background story to each sutta and explains each verse in detail. The volume includes numerous excerpts from the Niddesa, an ancient commentary already included in the Pāli Canon, which offers detailed expositions of each verse in the Aṭṭhakavagga, the Pārāyanavagga, and the Rhinoceros Horn Sutta.
Translator Bhikkhu Bodhi provides an insightful, in-depth introduction, a guide to the individual suttas, extensive notes, a list of parallels to the discourses of the Suttanipāta, and a list of the numerical sets mentioned in the commentaries.
- Learn more about the Teachings of the Buddha series.
Dependent Origination in Plain English
Nothing happens by accident.
All things, no matter how mundane or meaningful, arise based on causes and conditions. And without those causes and conditions, they would not arise at all. This, in short, is the Buddha’s teaching of dependent origination. Embedded in this fundamental theory are central teachings, such as nonself, impermanence, and the four noble truths. And from it we can see for ourselves how suffering and rebirth, the great problems lying at the heart of the dhamma, arise—and how they pass away.
In Dependent Origination in Plain English, the venerable scholar-monk Bhante Gunaratana and his student Veronique Ziegler break down this keystone Buddhist teaching from the Pali canon into its core components, guiding the reader step by step from ignorance to suffering and its end. The process leading to future rebirths may seem far off, but it’s not some distant event. It’s happening now, with every breath you take.
The Illusory Body and Mind
H. E. Kalu Rinpoche possesses a remarkable ability to convey the true power and possibility of the Dharma.
In this new online course, he delves deep into Vajrayana practice as he shares the teachings of numerous pioneers of the Shangpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, including Niguma, Sukhasiddhi, Tangtong Gyalpo, Taranatha, and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye.
You’ll be guided through an introduction to two key completion stage practices from among Niguma’s six yogas—the illusory body and mind and bardo (intermediate state) practices.
The course provides a precious opportunity to receive some of the most profound teachings of Buddhism as they’re illuminated and explained by a remarkable teacher.
H. E. Kalu Rinpoche masterfully brings together his deep knowledge of Dharma and his clear, compassionate understanding of modern life and the challenges on the path to liberation.
The course explores:
• bardo practice
• deity yoga
• the nature of mind
• practicing with the challenges of everyday life
• the illusory body and mind meditation
• and much more.
This is a truly rare opportunity and we hope you’ll join us!
Tuition: $297 USD
This course is in self-study mode, so you can take it at your own pace. After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
Encountering the Mind’s Natural Luminosity
Discover how to intuitively recognize your mind’s essential character under the guidance of renowned teacher Lama Alan Wallace.
In Encountering the Mind’s Natural Luminosity, you’ll learn a unique mode of knowing that gives you access to this vital intuition. This mode presents a different path from both experiential scientific exploration and inference supported by reason.
Scroll down to learn more, or click below to save your seat today. You’ll enjoy ongoing access to course materials. The course started on June 14, 2024 but you can learn at your own pace. Please scroll down for the full schedule.
Tuition: $247 USD
Terms: Students are not required to take The Dharma of Well-Being Part 1 and Part 2 before engaging with Part 3, but it is recommended. After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
The Poetry of Grief, Gratitude, and Reverence
Discover a greater connection to the world with a new poetry anthology from John Brehm.
Learn More
Blazing Splendor
An insightful memoir illuminating the profound experiences and magical world of a Tibetan Buddhist master.
Blazing Splendor is a rare and profound gift: an intimate view into the world of one of the most celebrated and influential meditation masters of the last century. In these memoirs, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (1920–1996) recounts with incredible lucidity and humility his unique spiritual and familial heritage, his training in Tibetan Buddhism, and remarkable encounters with some of the most renowned masters of Tibet. This wide-reaching narrative stretches across generations to provide insight into the lived experience of contemplative adepts and into life before and after the Cultural Revolution, which left Tibet changed forever.
Born the great-grandson of the seminal terma-revealer Chokgyur Lingpa and a holder of both Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche tells us of his unique family legacy, in which each generation has been saturated with spiritual accomplishments. He tells of how he, in time, became responsible for learning and then transmitting this lineage of Buddhist teachings, which continues today in the flourishing activities of his surviving sons Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Blazing Splendor is a window into the life of a Mahamudra and Dzogchen master that illuminates the transmission of sacred teachings in a modern world—a world we inhabit too, where the miraculous and the mundane exist side by side.
This special, revised edition of the modern classic includes a handsome slipcase and features new images and color illustrations.
The Jhanas
Experience new levels of joy, calm, and clarity with this revised and enhanced edition of the bestselling Focused and Fearless.
The Pāli word jhāna literally means “to meditate.” It also refers to a traditional series of states of absorption, each deeper than the last, in which the mind is undistracted by sensation, thoughts, or moods. Shaila Catherine’s friendly, wise approach, blended with contemporary examples and pragmatic “how to” instructions that anyone can try, will show meditators (and non-meditators) how to attain these extraordinary states with relative ease.
But jhāna practice is about much more than just meditation or concentration; it offers a complete path toward bliss, fearlessness, and true awakening. From the introduction:
Jhānas are states of happiness that can radically transform the heart, reshape the mind, imbue consciousness with enduring joy and ease, and provide an inner resource of tranquility that surpasses any conceivable sensory pleasure. Jhānas are states of deep rest, healing rejuvenation, and profound comfort that create a stable platform for transformative insight. In this approach to jhāna, we use the calming aspects of concentration to support the investigative aspects of insight meditation. The fruit of concentration is freedom of heart and mind.
This new edition of the meditation classic clarifies crucial points and offers twenty-one additional exercises, making this a great book for both those new to jhāna practice and those looking to deepen their practice.
Bearing the Unbearable
In this journaling book, grief expert Joanne Cacciatore provides support and guidance, as writing prompts, for anyone experiencing traumatic loss and grief. This beautifully designed book offers 52 writing prompts for exploring grief and journaling about those whom we’ve lost. Writing about those we’ve lost can be part of a contemplative practice, alone or with therapists, family, friends, or with a grief support group. However you use this journal and its writing prompts, please take the time to write from the heart, really be with each prompt, dive deeply—and do so with a spirit of love and compassion for all beings, including yourself.
A Note from Dr. Jo:
This journal is an invitation. A passage. An open heart. Use the prompts throughout for deep contemplation. Write your experiences, feelings, memories of your beloved. Know that, wherever you are, you are not alone in this. We grievers, we rememberers, walk the same road, some ahead and some behind. But we walk together. Let this journal be the invisible thread that weaves together our hearts and souls and minds as we endure one more day—together, never alone. Let this journal be a space in which you remember and grieve and explore.
You can also explore Dr. Jo’s books, Bearing the Unbearable and Grieving is Loving, her Cards for Bearing the Unbearable, as well her Wisdom Academy course, Bearing the Unbearable.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: Dorje Drolö and the Power of the Mind (#183)
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat features special guest, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Born in the Himalayan border regions between Tibet and Nepal, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a rising star among the new generation of Tibetan Buddhist teachers. His candid, often humorous accounts of his personal difficulties have endeared him to audiences around the world.
During this Wisdom Dharma Chat host, Daniel Aitken, and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche discuss:
- Dorje Drolö, a Buddhist practice meant specifically for use during difficult times in human history;
- Rinpoche’s upcoming teachings in Nepal this June;
- the imaginative power of the mind;
- wrathful deities; and
- much more!
Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!
Abiding in Emptiness
Before the growth of the Mahāyānā and the Perfection of Wisdom, the Buddha gave his own teachings, to his attendant Ānanda, on the importance of emptiness (Pāli suññatā, Sanskrit śūnyatā) in formal meditation and everyday practice. In this volume, renowned scholar-monk Bhikkhu Anālayo explores these teachings and shows us how to integrate them into our lives.
Bhikkhu Anālayo draws from instructions found in the Greater and the Smaller Discourses on Emptiness (the Mahāsuññatasutta and the Cūḷasuññatasutta). In each chapter, he provides a translation of a pertinent excerpt from the discourses, follows this with clear and precise explanations of the text, and concludes by offering instructions for practice.
Step by step, beginning with daily life and concluding with Nirvana, Bhikkhu Anālayo unpacks the Buddha’s teachings on the foundational teaching of emptiness.
Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland
This elegant and precise rendering of Nāgārjuna’s work is certain to become the touchstone translation of this celebrated Buddhist text.
In this profound work of five hundred verses, we encounter a presentation of Buddhism that integrates both the worldly and the transcendent. The clear and sagacious advice laid out on every page serves as a road map to one’s highest goal—whether that goal is a better life, here called the Dharma of ascendance, or the ultimate one of spiritual freedom, the Dharma of the highest good. The verses, written for an unnamed ruler, touch on questions of statecraft, but their broader themes speak to us today because they tackle the difficulty of integrating one’s spiritual journey with the social and political demands of daily life.
Nāgārjuna was an Indian Buddhist teacher, probably of the second century CE, who was renowned for his astute articulation of the philosophy of the Middle Way (Madhyamaka). His thoroughgoing critique of all forms of essentialism became a touchstone for Mahāyāna Buddhism in India, Tibet, and throughout East Asia, and his importance for the development of the Mahāyāna tradition can scarcely be exaggerated.
The translators here first rendered Nāgārjuna’s letter for the Dalai Lama’s teachings on the work in Los Angeles in 1997. While that commemorative edition was translated from the Tibetan, the present volume prioritizes the surviving Sanskrit verses along with the only known Indian commentary, by the eleventh-century scholar Ajitamitra. This is the first complete translation in English of the Precious Garland that takes the Indian text and commentary as its primary authorities. In addition, they provide rigorous working editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan verses they translate.
Learn more about the Classics of Indian Buddhism series.
Making Sense of Mind Only
This survey of the Yogācāra school of Indian Buddhism makes its key texts and ideas accessible and relevant through engaging, contemporary examples. It interprets Yogācāra Buddhism as a coherent system of ideas and practices in relation to the path to liberation.
Mahāyāna Buddhism arose in classical India and flourished in China, Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. While one of its major Indian schools, the Middle Way (Madhyamaka) focuses on the concept of emptiness—that all phenomena lack their own essence—the Yoga Practitioners school (Yogācāra) focuses on the cognitive processes whereby we impute such essences. Through everyday examples and analogues in cognitive science, author William Waldron makes Yogācāra’s core teachings—the three turnings of the Dharma-wheel, the three-nature theory, the store-house consciousness, and the idea of mere perception—accessible to a general audience. Countering the common view of Yogācāra as a form of idealism, he treats Yogācāra Buddhism as a coherent system of ideas and practices on its own terms, with dependent arising its guiding principle. He first examines early Buddhist texts that show how our affective and cognitive processes shape the way objects and worlds appear to us, and how we erroneously grasp onto them as essentially real—perpetuating the engrained habits that bind us to saṃsāra. After analyzing the early Madhyamaka critique of essences, he then examines how Yogācāra texts, such as the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and Stages of Yogic Practice, build upon these earlier ideas to argue that our constructive processes also occur unconsciously. Not only are we collectively, yet mostly unknowingly, constructing our shared realities—our cultural worlds—they are also mediated through the store-house consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna)—functioning as a kind of “cultural unconscious.” Next, Vasubandhu’s Twenty Verses argues that we can learn to recognize such objects and worlds as “mere perceptions” (vijñāpti-mātra) and thereby abandon our enchantment with the products of our own cognitive processes. The author walks us through the Mahāyāna path to this transformation as gracefully laid out in Maitreya’s Distinguishing Phenomena from their Ultimate Nature. Finally, he considers how Yogācāra perspectives inspire us to rethink religion in our scientific and pluralistic age.
Meditation in the Theravada Abhidhamma
Acclaimed scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi guides us expertly through the study of meditation in the Theravada tradition. In ten lessons based on the Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (Abhidhammattha Sangaha), he examines chapter 9, “The Compendium of Meditation Subjects.” This important chapter can be considered the culmination of the entire Abhidhamma system as it offers a framework for the practice of meditation leading to realization—a concise overview of the whole path explained in detail in the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, by the great fifth-century scholar Buddhaghosa. In his signature lucid style, Bhikkhu Bodhi explores two aspects of classical Buddhist meditation: samatha (serenity) and vipassanā (insight), aimed respectively at samādhi (concentration) and the realization of the paths and fruits. You’ll come away with a clear understanding of the entire terrain of Buddhist meditation, from beginning to end.
This course is available as a free offering to all Free, Plus, and All-Access members of the Wisdom Experience. We hope you enjoy this as a sample of the courses that are available to you in Wisdom Academy. Click here to join!
Inside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara
In this down-to-earth book, Ben Connelly sure-handedly guides us through the intricacies of Yogacara and the richness of the “Thirty Verses.” Dedicating a chapter of the book to each line of the poem, he lets us thoroughly lose ourselves in its depths. His warm and wise voice unpacks and contextualizes its wisdom, showing us how we can apply its ancient insights to our own modern lives, to create a life of engaged peace, harmony, compassion, and joy.
In fourth-century India one of the great geniuses of Buddhism, Vasubandhu, sought to reconcile the diverse ideas and forms of Buddhism practiced at the time and demonstrate how they could be effectively integrated into a single system. This was the Yogacara movement, and it continues to have great influence in modern Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. “Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only,” or “Trimshika,” is the most concise, comprehensive, and accessible work by this revered figure.
Vasubandhu’s “Thirty Verses” lay out a path of practice that integrates the most powerful of Buddhism’s psychological and mystical possibilities: Early Buddhism’s practices for shedding afflictive emotional habit and the Mahayana emphasis on shedding divisive concepts, the path of individual liberation and the path of freeing all beings, the path to nirvana and the path of enlightenment as the very ground of being right now. Although Yogacara has a reputation for being extremely complex, the “Thirty Verses” distills the principles of these traditions to their most practical forms, and this book follows that sense of focus; it goes to the heart of the matter—how do we alleviate suffering through shedding our emotional knots and our sense of alienation?
This is a great introduction to a philosophy, a master, and a work whose influence reverberates throughout modern Buddhism.
Calm Breath, Calm Mind
In this new online course from beloved Bön teacher Geshe YongDong Losar, find out how your breath can be a guide on your journey from suffering to profound well-being.
In the course, Geshe-la guides you through a deep exploration of the breath. Rooted in the Tibetan Bön tradition, the breath and movement practices you’ll learn will help you rediscover your breath as a calming and liberating vehicle for your journey from suffering and stress to freedom and ease.
Tuition: $297
Includes lifetime access for enrolled students!
After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
Tibetan Yoga, Part 2
In the second course from beloved Tibetan yoga teacher Dr. Alejandro Chaoul, explore the magical movements of the Aural Transmission of Zhang Zhung at a profound level. You’ll learn important breathing practices and unlock the power of the pervasive breath.
This course will focus specifically on the pervasive breath (khyab lung) which Shardza Rinpoche, a 19th-century Bon Dzogchen master who composed an essential commentary on the root text for this course, calls the “principal breath.” While other breath practices are related to specific parts of the body, this breath pervades throughout as a “mandalic breath.”
The course began July 12, 2024, but you can take the course at your own pace as enrolled students have ongoing access.
Tibetan Yoga, Part 2 takes your Tibetan yoga journey deeper as it guides you through exercises involving the pervasive breath to help you in your meditation practice and daily life.
Tuition: $297
After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
Mind Training
“Mind training” or lojong is a popular and highly effective approach for cultivating the awakening mind. It’s a simple yet powerful method for radically transforming our minds away from self-centeredness and toward the awakened mind of other-centered altruism.
Now, you can discover this transformation for yourself in the Wisdom Academy’s new online course with Thupten Jinpa, renowned translator, scholar, author, teacher, and principal English translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
In this 10-week course, you’ll journey far beyond the traditional seven-point mind training. With Jinpa as your guide, you’ll be introduced to a much broader, deeper, and more profound way of understanding and practicing lojong.
After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
Through inspiring teaching videos, specially-curated readings (including a brand new translation from Jinpa, created for this course), guided practices, and live Q&As with Jinpa, you’ll begin to see the vast potential of mind training for your own mind and life.
Part of what lojong practice reveals to us is the unlimited power our mind has to truly uproot our self-cherishing and self-attachment, to turn suffering into resilience and strength, and to see what it would mean to live each day with an awakening mind.
Come find out for yourself. Enroll today and begin a profound journey of transformation.
Scroll down for a full schedule and more information.
Tuition: $397
After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
The Illusory Body and Mind
H. E. Kalu Rinpoche possesses a remarkable ability to convey the true power and possibility of the Dharma.
In this new online course, he delves deep into Vajrayana practice as he shares the teachings of numerous pioneers of the Shangpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, including Niguma, Sukhasiddhi, Tangtong Gyalpo, Taranatha, and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye.
You’ll be guided through an introduction to two key completion stage practices from among Niguma’s six yogas—the illusory body and mind and bardo (intermediate state) practices.
The course provides a precious opportunity to receive some of the most profound teachings of Buddhism as they’re illuminated and explained by a remarkable teacher.
H. E. Kalu Rinpoche masterfully brings together his deep knowledge of Dharma and his clear, compassionate understanding of modern life and the challenges on the path to liberation.
The course explores:
• bardo practice
• deity yoga
• the nature of mind
• practicing with the challenges of everyday life
• the illusory body and mind meditation
• and much more.
This is a truly rare opportunity and we hope you’ll join us!
Tuition: $297 USD
This course is in self-study mode, so you can take it at your own pace. After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
How the Mind Works
If you’ve ever wished for teachings on Buddhist psychology that are accessible and yet capture richness and depth, including insights applicable to everyday life, this course is for you.
Explore the great landscape of the mind through Buddhist psychology in this extraordinary course. Your guide is Thupten Jinpa, renowned scholar, translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and one of the world’s leading experts on Buddhism.
This is a precious opportunity to explore your mental and emotional life in depth with one of the world’s leading experts on Buddhism.
As you deepen your understanding of how your mind works, you’ll find out how to develop greater continuity between meditation and daily life.
This course is in self-study mode, so you can learn at your own pace. Read on for more information or click the button below to save your seat today.
Tuition: $397 USD
When you enroll in this course you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
Encountering the Mind’s Natural Luminosity
Discover how to intuitively recognize your mind’s essential character under the guidance of renowned teacher Lama Alan Wallace.
In Encountering the Mind’s Natural Luminosity, you’ll learn a unique mode of knowing that gives you access to this vital intuition. This mode presents a different path from both experiential scientific exploration and inference supported by reason.
Scroll down to learn more, or click below to save your seat today. You’ll enjoy ongoing access to course materials. The course started on June 14, 2024 but you can learn at your own pace. Please scroll down for the full schedule.
Tuition: $247 USD
Terms: Students are not required to take The Dharma of Well-Being Part 1 and Part 2 before engaging with Part 3, but it is recommended. After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
