Karen Derris

Storied Companions

“With my diagnosis of grade IV brain cancer, I no longer observe the truth of impermanence from a critical, analytical distance. I am crashing into it, or it into me.”

Facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, Karen Derris—professor, mother, and Buddhist practitioner—instinctually turned to books. By rereading ancient Buddhist stories with fresh questions and a new purpose in mind, she discovered evolving ways to make them immediate and real. Storied Companions interweaves Karen’s memoir of her lived experiences of trauma and terminal illness with stories from Buddhist literary traditions, sharing with the reader how she found ways to live fully even with the reality that she won’t live as long as she needs—or wants.

Using her knowledge, practice, and imagination, Karen illustrates how placing yourself within narratives can turn them from distant and static sources into companions, and from companions into guides. Reading along with her, you’ll realize how this practice of reading and these ancient narratives can help us come to terms with impermanence, develop empathy and compassion, and realize our own interconnectedness.

Honest, powerful, and insightful, Storied Companions itself becomes an invaluable companion, guiding the reader to discover new ways of facing and experiencing life, death, and impermanence.

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Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche: Lineage, Renunciation, and Engaged Buddhism (#120)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche, the lineage holder of Shangpa Kagyu. Rinpoche and Daniel discuss 

• what it means to be a lineage holder;
• how lineage helps preserve the Dharma;
• the difference between tradition and lineage;
• how to connect with a lineage;
• how to think about doubt in the practice;
• how and why renunciation is important for our lifelong practice, including how Rinpoche has applied the practice of renunciation in his own life;
• what it’s like to be recognized and trained as a tulku in today’s world;
• Rinpoche’s latest social engagement projects;
• why retreat is important, and the kind of joy you can discover on long retreat;
• 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 it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!

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Alan Wallace: Solitude and Resilience (#118)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with B. Alan Wallace, author, scholar, president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, and Founder, President, and Director of Contemplative Training at the Center for Contemplative Research. Alan has also edited, translated, written, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture, as well as the interface between science and religion.

In this conversation, recorded in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Alan gives timely teachings on the benefits of inner and outer solitude. He offers advice on how to not feel like a victim of circumstances, but instead reframe periods of involuntary solitude as opportunities to slow down, practice cultivating the mind, and reassess both personal and societal trajectories. You’ll hear about this and so much more in this truly inspiring episode

You may also like: The Joy of Solitude: An Excerpt from Focused and Fearless by Shaila Catherine

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!

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Milarepa’s Kungfu

Coming soon! This book will be published in October 2021. Enter your name and email below to be notified when the book is available for purchase.

Discover a meditation master’s “kungfu of the mind.”

The view is the wisdom of being empty
Meditation is luminosity without fixation
Conduct is a continual flow free of attachment
Fruition is nakedness bare of any stain

This is the first stanza of Milarepa’s Ultimate View, Meditation, Conduct, and Fruition: pith instructions originally sang to the great yogi Rechungpa, Milarepa’s disciple. These teachings are Milarepa’s direct offering to his disciple of his own profound realization, gained after many years of dedicated practice. Karl Brunnhölzl, acclaimed translator and senior teacher at the Nalandabodhi community of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, calls this hard-earned understanding “kungfu”: “Gong means ‘skillful work,’ ‘hard training,’ or ‘endeavor,’ and fu means ‘time spent…’ The term refers to Milarepa’s diligent and skillful training in the techniques to realize the nature of his mind and benefit countless sentient beings.”

Ultimate View, Meditation, Conduct, and Fruition is a work of remarkable depth and clarity. In just five verses, Milarepa gives incisive instructions for progressing and for avoiding pitfalls in the stages of practice:

• • View: the basis or ground from which the proper meditation, conduct, and fruition of mahāmudrā can arise
  • Meditation: the training in or the familiarization with that view
  • Conduct: the natural outflow of having familiarized with the view in meditation
  • Fruition: the final outcome of having fully assimilated and realized the view, whose essence is not different from it

Milarepa dedicates one verse to each stage, and Karl dedicates one chapter to each verse, weaving in wisdom from other Milarepa songs, comments by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso and from Karl’s own insight. Readers can thus fully immerse themselves in each point of Milarepa’s extraordinary teaching. 

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Donald Lopez: Encounters with Great Texts and Great Lamas (#117)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with distinguished translator and scholar Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Donald is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the department of Asian languages and cultures at the University of Michigan. He is the author and translator of numerous books, including Beautiful Adornment of Mount Meru, Opening the Eye of New Awareness, and In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by Gendun Chopel (University of Chicago, 2009).

He and host Daniel Aitken discuss his translation work, amazing encounters he has had with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other lamas, 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 it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!

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Rima Fujita: Illustrating the Dalai Lama’s Life (#116)

In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken interviews artist and author Rima Fujita. You’ll hear about Rima’s upbringing in Japan and how she became Buddhist; a dream she had which helped her discover the ways she could support Tibet; how her friendship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama developed; dreams as a part of her creative process; the stories behind her new book with Wisdom, The Extraordinary Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; and much more.

Be sure to keep up with Rima’s work and events:

• Buy The Extraordinary Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• Visit Rima’s website: https://rimafujita.com/
• Follow Rima on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rimafujita

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!

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The Dharma of Well-Being

Welcome to The Dharma of Well-Being! In this course, drawn on insights and methods from both the Buddhist tradition and Western psychology and philosophy, B. Alan Wallace invites you to investigate the causes of both genuine unhappiness and genuine well-being. You’ll start by looking into what genuine well-being is before delving into what it is not as Alan explores the causes of suffering, mental afflictions, and unhappiness, along with the internal factors that often prevent us from being truly happy. He then turns to the causes of genuine happiness and offers skills, practices, and insights that will help you achieve genuine happiness and well-being in your own life.

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The Dharma of Well-Being

Drawing on insights and methods from both the Buddhist tradition and Western psychology and philosophy, B. Alan Wallace invites you to investigate the causes of both genuine unhappiness and genuine well-being. You’ll start by looking into what genuine well-being is before delving into what it is not as Alan explores the causes of suffering, mental afflictions, and unhappiness, along with the internal factors that often prevent us from being truly happy. He then turns to the causes of genuine happiness and offers skills, practices, and insights that will help you achieve genuine happiness.

We hope you’ll join us and take the next step on your path toward developing genuine well-being in your life.

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Lama Migmar Tseten: The Play of Mahamudra (#114)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with Lama Migmar Tseten. In this episode, we celebrated the launch of Lama Migmar’s first major book, The Play of Mahamudra. In it, Lama Migmar provides essential commentary on the mystical songs of the Indian Buddhist rebel-saint Virupa. One of the most celebrated tantric masters of Buddhist India, Virupa’s songs describe his realization of mahamudra, the ultimate nature of reality. Intimate and highly engaging, The Play of Mahamudra unpacks these songs with meticulous clarity, making Virupa’s insights accessible to modern readers.

Topics discussed include

• the life of Virupa,
• Virupa’s connection to different deities and practices,
• Virupa’s dohas, or songs of experience,
• mystical experiences of mahamudra,
• the difference between flow states and mystical experiences,
• the connection between the completion stage and mahamudra practice,
• 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 way to support us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!

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Tibetan Art Calendar 2022

The Tibetan Art Calendar is a beautiful, affordable way to enjoy authentic, meaningful, and deeply inspiring works of sacred art, year-round.

This calendar features the artwork of Tibetan artist Tashi Dhargyal, who paints traditional subjects in the classical style, from goddesses of compassion to fierce protectors of the Buddha’s teachings. Tashi trained with master painter Venerable Sangye Yeshi at a school established at the behest of the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. For five years he was the artist-in-residence at Ganden Jangtse Monastery before coming to the United States to continue his craftsmanship. This calendar features his most striking and powerful pieces, which will be enjoyed by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.

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Questioning the Buddha

In the forty-five years the Buddha spent traversing northern India, he shared his wisdom with everyone from beggar women to kings. Hundreds of his discourses, or sutras, were preserved by his followers, first orally and later in written form. Around thirteen hundred years after the Buddha’s enlightenment, the sutras were translated into the Tibetan language, where they have been preserved ever since. To date, only a fraction of these have been made available in English. Questioning the Buddha brings the reader directly into the literary treasure of the Tibetan canon with thoroughly annotated translations of twenty-five different sutras. Often these texts, many translated here in full for the first time, begin with an encounter in which someone poses a question to the Buddha.

Peter Skilling, an authority on early Buddhist epigraphy, archaeology, and textual traditions, has been immersed in the Buddhist scriptures of diverse traditions for nearly half a century. In this volume, he draws on his deep and extensive research to render these ancient teachings in a fresh and precise language. His introduction is a fascinating history of the Buddhist sutras, including the transition from oral to written form, the rise of Mahayana literature, the transmission to Tibet, the development of canons, and a look at some of the pioneers of sutra study in the West.

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Exchanging Air with Trees

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Sarah Harding: Dharma Journeys of Practice & Translation (#112)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with Sarah Harding, a translator and qualified lama in the Shangpa Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Sarah and host Daniel Aitken discuss many topics including her new book with Wisdom, Four Tibetan Lineages.

In 1972, Sarah became a student and translator of Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989), one of the first Tibetan masters to teach in the West. She works as a teacher, oral interpreter, and translator, and has taught in the religious studies department of Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Sarah translated Creation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation by Jamgön Kongtrul and is currently working on translations of Tibetan Buddhist texts as a fellow of the Tsadra Foundation.Sarah recalls how she began reading Buddhist texts, including The Life of Milarepa, when she was in high school. In subsequent years, she traveled across the world, eventually ending up in the Darjeeling region of India, where she became a student of Kalu Rinpoche in the Shangpa lineage along with a handful of other Westerners. Following time spent traveling back and forth between India and Nepal, Sarah went to northern Thailand and attended a retreat with Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw, and she comments on the differences of practice in a Theravada context. Finally, after a return to America, she embarked on a three-year retreat in France and recounts what daily life was like there and the difficulty of integrating back into society afterwards. Sarah and Daniel also get into a discussion of Sarah’s experiences with the traditional practice of chöd.To learn more about some of the tantric meditation practices that Sarah mentions, please check out her translated work, Creation and Completion, available through Wisdom.

Remember to subscribe and give the Wisdom Podcast a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show!

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Leo Babauta: Zen Habits (#111)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with simplicity blogger and bestselling author Leo Babauta.

Leo created Zen Habits, a Top 25 blog with over a million readers, when he started writing to chronicle and share what he’s learned while changing a number of habits, including waking early, losing weight, quitting smoking, becoming a runner, eliminating debt, and more. In this wide-ranging conversation, Leo shares some of his approaches to eliminating “bad” habits and developing “good” habits, explaining how bringing awareness to thought and behavior allows for examination of deeply embedded psychological patterns and is thus instrumental in creating sustainable change within oneself. 

Remember to subscribe and give the Wisdom Podcast a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show!

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The Extraordinary Life of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

One of the most revered spiritual figures of our time—His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama—tells the story of his life in this intimate, timeless, and approachable book. Featuring luminous illustrations from world-renowned artist Rima Fujita and some never-before-shared details, it’s the perfect way to explore the life of the Dalai Lama. This simple yet powerful text combined with stunning artwork will captivate readers of all ages—and will take you on a mystical journey you won’t soon forget.

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Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche: Peaceful Heart: The Buddhist Practice of Patience (#110)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with special guest and beloved teacher Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.

In this episode, Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken discuss

• what it means to train in tenderness, including opening the heart to people we find difficult;
• the central teachings of his new book Peaceful Heart: The Buddhist Practice of Patience;
• how patience helps and sustains our well-being;
• specific steps we can take to transform difficult thoughts and emotions that we have about other people;
• how to work with anger;
• and much more.

Remember to subscribe and give the Wisdom Podcast a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show!

Mentioned in this episode

• Learn more about Mangala Shri Bhuti
• Learn more about Peaceful Heart
• Learn more about Training in Tenderness
• Follow Rinpoche on Instagram
• Follow Mangala Shri Bhuti on Instagram
• Discover Rinpoche’s art on his website

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Storied Companions

“With my diagnosis of grade IV brain cancer, I no longer observe the truth of impermanence from a critical, analytical distance. I am crashing into it, or it into me.”

Facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, Karen Derris—professor, mother, and Buddhist practitioner—instinctually turned to books. By rereading ancient Buddhist stories with fresh questions and a new purpose in mind, she discovered evolving ways to make them immediate and real. Storied Companions interweaves Karen’s memoir of her lived experiences of trauma and terminal illness with stories from Buddhist literary traditions, sharing with the reader how she found ways to live fully even with the reality that she won’t live as long as she needs—or wants.

Using her knowledge, practice, and imagination, Karen illustrates how placing yourself within narratives can turn them from distant and static sources into companions, and from companions into guides. Reading along with her, you’ll realize how this practice of reading and these ancient narratives can help us come to terms with impermanence, develop empathy and compassion, and realize our own interconnectedness.

Honest, powerful, and insightful, Storied Companions itself becomes an invaluable companion, guiding the reader to discover new ways of facing and experiencing life, death, and impermanence.

• Buy

Malcolm Smith: Translating the Tantras (#108)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features an interview with Malcolm Smith, renowned Tibetan Buddhist translator. Malcolm is the translator of two box sets from the Seventeen Tantras, published by Wisdom: The Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra (Vol. 1) and The Self-Liberated Vidyā Tantra (Vol. 2), and The Tantra Without Syllables (Vol. 3) and The Blazing Lamp Tantra (Vol. 4).

Daniel and Malcolm discuss the connection between the channels and various states of consciousness, the Seventeen Dzogchen Tantras, many facets of Dzogchen practice and philosophy, and much more!

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Courageous Compassion

Courageous Compassion, the sixth volume of the Library of Wisdom and Compassion, continues the Dalai Lama’s teachings on the path to awakening. The previous volume, In Praise of Great Compassion, focused on opening our hearts with love and compassion for all living beings, and the present volume explains how to embody compassion and wisdom in our daily lives. Here we enter a fascinating exploration of bodhisattvas’ activities across multiple Buddhist traditions—Tibetan, Theravāda, and Chinese Buddhism. 

After explaining the ten perfections according to the Pāli and Sanskrit traditions, the Dalai Lama presents the sophisticated schema of the four paths and fruits for śrāvakas and solitary realizers and the five paths for bodhisattvas. Learning about the practices mastered by these exalted practitioners inspires us with knowledge of our minds’ potential. His Holiness also describes buddha bodies, what buddhas perceive, and buddhas’ awakening activities. 

Courageous Compassion offers an in-depth look at bodhicitta, arhatship, and buddhahood that you can continuously refer to as you progress on the path to full awakening.

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