Michael J. Sweet

Peacock in the Poison Grove

Geshe Sopa offers insightful commentary on two of the earliest Tibetan texts that focus on mental training. Peacock in the Poison Grove presents powerful yogic methods of dispelling the selfish delusions of the ego and maintaining purity in our motives. Geshe Sopa’s lucid explanations teach how we can fight the egocentric enemy within by realizing the truth of emptiness and by developing a compassionate, loving attitude toward others.

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Mission to Tibet

Mission to Tibet recounts the fascinating eighteenth-century journey of the Jesuit priest ippolito Desideri (1684–1733) to the Tibetan plateau. The italian missionary was most notably the first european to learn about Buddhism directly with Tibetan schol ars and monks—and from a profound study of its primary texts. while there, Desideri was an eyewitness to some of the most tumultuous events in Tibet’s history, of which he left us a vivid and dramatic account.

Desideri explores key Buddhist concepts including emptiness and rebirth, together with their philosophical and ethical implications, with startling detail and sophistication. This book also includes an introduction situating the work in the context of Desideri’s life and the intellectual and religious milieu of eighteenth-century Catholicism.

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Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chodron: Immersion in the Ngagpa Tradition (#154)

In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, host Daniel Aitken is joined by Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chodron, student of the great Nyingmapa Tsa-Lung and Dzogchen master, Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche. Khandro Kunzang left behind a promising career in the early 1990’s to pursue her practice of the Dharma and became a novice nun in the Drikung Kagyu lineage, studying under Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen and H.E. Garchen Rinpoche. In 1998 she met Acharya Dawa Chhodak Rinpoche while attending a Dharma healing seminar. Between 1999 and 2009, Khandro Kunzang received the entire cycle of teachings and empowerments of the Rigdzin Sogdrub lineage from Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche, and completed many retreats under his direct supervision.

In 2011, Acharya Dawa Chhodak Rinpoche bestowed the Tri-Don (enthronement ceremony) conferring authority to guide and teach others, and giving her the title of Khandro. Since the passing of Lama Dawa Rinpoche in 2017, Khandro Kunzang divides her time between teaching and traveling tours throughout Europe and Mexico, serving as the Executive Director for Saraswati Bhawan, leading retreats and teachings at P’hurba Thinley Ling in Iowa; heading the P’hurba Peace Mandala Project International; and offering teachings, guidance, and support to students world-wide.

Khandro Kunzang and Daniel discuss

• Khandro Kunzang’s early Buddhist journey, beginning in Vermont with the book Sky Dancer about Yeshe Tsogyel;
• Dharma Protectors and drive on the spiritual quest;
• nature spirits, omens, and divination;
• the Ngagpa ordination tradition in Dolpo and throughout the Himalayan region;
• meeting Acharya Dawa Rinpoche in Oregon and her enthronement as a Khandro;
• her reckoning with Himalayan cultures and patriarchal traditions;
• 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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Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Vol. 3

Deepen your understanding of meaning and truth with the third volume of the Dalai Lama’s esteemed series Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics.

In this third volume the focus turns to exploring the philosophical schools of India. The practice of presenting the views of various schools of philosophy dates back to the first millennium in India, when proponents of competing traditions would arrange the diverse sets of philosophical positions in a hierarchy culminating in their own school’s superior tenets. Centuries later, relying on the Indian Buddhist treatises, Tibet developed its own tradition of works on tenets (grub mtha’), often centered on the four schools of Buddhist philosophy, using them to demonstrate the philosophical evolution within their own tradition, and within individual practitioners, as they progressed through increasingly more subtle expressions of the true reality.  

The present work follows in this venerable tradition, but with a modern twist. Like its predecessors, it presents the views of seven non-Buddhist schools, those of the Samkhya, Vaisesika, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Vedanta, Jaina, and Lokayata, followed by the Buddhist Vaibhasika, Sautrantika, Cittamatra, and Madhyamaka schools, arranging them like steps on a ladder to the profound. But rather than following in the sharply polemical approach of its ancient predecessors, it strives to survey each tradition authentically, relying on and citing the texts sacred to each, allowing the different traditions to speak for themselves. What, it asks, are the basic components of the world we experience? What is the nature of their ultimate reality? And how can we come to experience that for ourselves? See how the rich spiritual traditions of India approached these key questions, where they agreed, and how they evolved through dialogue and debate. 

This presentation of philosophical schools is introduced by His Holiness and is accompanied by an extensive introduction and survey by Professor Donald Lopez Jr. of the University of Michigan, who is uniquely qualified to communicate the scope and significance of this literary and spiritual heritage to modern readers.

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Shila, Samadhi, and Prajna

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Stages of the Path and the Oral Transmission

A major contribution to the literature on Buddhist practice according to the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism from its foremost interpreter.

Although it was the last major school to emerge in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Geluk school has left an indelible mark on Buddhist thought and practice. The intellectual and spiritual brilliance of its founder, the great Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), has inspired generations of scholars and tantric yogis to place him at the heart of their daily meditative practice. The Geluk tradition’s close ties to the Dalai Lamas have also afforded it an outsized influence in all aspects of Tibetan life for centuries. At its peak, its combined monasteries boasted a population in the tens of thousands, and its sway encompassed the religious landscape of Mongolia and much of Central Asia.

This widespread religious activity fostered a rich literary tradition, and fifteen seminal works are featured here representing four genres of that tradition. The first are works on the stages of the path, or lamrim, the genre for which the Geluk is most renowned. Second are works on guru yoga, centered around the core Geluk ritual Offering to the Guru (Lama Chöpa). Third are teachings from the unique oral transmission of Geluk mahāmudrā, meditation on the nature of mind. Fourth are the “guide to the view” (tatri) instructions. The volume features well-known authors like Tsongkhapa, the First Panchen Lama, and the Fifth Dalai Lama, but also important works from lesser-known figures like Gomchen Ngawang Drakpa’s stages of the path in verse and Gyalrong Tsultrim Nyima’s extensive commentary on the Lama Chöpa that interweaves precious explanations from the Ensa Oral Tradition he received from his own teacher. 

Your guide to these riches, Thupten Jinpa, maps out their historical context and spiritual significance in his extensive introduction.

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Vasubandhu’s “Three Natures”

In this plain-English commentary on Vasubandhu’s classic Treatise on the Three Natures, Ben Connelly shows the power of integrating early Buddhist psychology with the Mahayana emphasis on collective liberation. You’ll discover how wisdom from fourth-century India can be harnessed to heal and transform systems of harm within ourselves and our communities.

The three natures (svabhavas)—the imaginary, dependent, and complete, realized natures—are inherent aspects of all phenomena. The imaginary nature of things is what we think they are. Their dependent nature is that they appear to arise from countless conditions. The complete, realized nature is that they aren’t as we imagine them to be: things that can be grasped or pushed away. The three natures form the backbone of Yogacara philosophy, and by showing us how to see beyond our preconceived notions of ourselves and others, beyond the things that we’re convinced are “true,” they open up a path to personal and communal healing.

Dive into this empowering approach to freedom from suffering, from harmful personal and social patterns, and to finding peace and joyfulness in the present.

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Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: Recognizing Awareness (#146)

This Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken. Rinpoche is the author of two bestselling books and oversees the Tergar Meditation Community, an international network of Buddhist meditation centers. He is the son of the renowned meditation master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and was formally enthroned as the seventh incarnation of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche by Tai Situ Rinpoche when he was twelve years old. In addition to his extensive background in meditation and Buddhist philosophy, Mingyur Rinpoche has held a lifelong interest in psychology, physics, and neurology. 

Mingyur Rinpoche and Daniel talk about:

• recently filming our upcoming Wisdom Academy course with Mingyur Rinpoche and Venerable Anālayo;
• object- and subject-oriented meditation techniques;
• śamatha and vipaśyanā in the Mahāmudrā context;
• recognizing awareness in meditation as opposed to daydreaming;
• emptiness and manifestations of the mind;
• śamatha in generation stage Vajrayana and the book Creation and Completion;
• 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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Heidi I. Köppl: Roots of Duality (#145)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features Heidi I. Köppl, translator and interpreter for Tibetan lamas such as Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and editor-in-chief of Tara’s Triple Excellence Online Meditation Program. Heidi translated at the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Nepal for more than a decade and has been a faculty member at the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies. Heidi has a degree in Tibetology from the University of Copenhagen, and has translated works such as Illuminating the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva and Establishing Appearances as Divine.

Heidi and host Daniel Aitken discuss

• Heidi’s interest in the East and guidance from Heinrich Harrer;
• ‘coming home’ to Kathmandu, meeting Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche;
• Nyingma master Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo’s view on pure appearances;
• Mahayoga tantric philosophy of emptiness in light of Madhyamika interpretations;
• over-asserting appearances and the roots of duality;
• the terma foundations of Tara’s Triple Excellence Online Meditation Program, and its graduated daily practice of the path;
• and much more!

Be sure to check out Heidi’s upcoming events and teachings at dharmasun.org/calendar including From Kindfulness to Pure Perception, a workshop taking place July 30 & 31, 2022 from 9 to 10am EDT (New York). This workshop explores the two mindsets of seeing how kindfulness can be the basis for pure perception, and experiencing the felt sense of our own innate kindfulness and pure perception.

You can also find Tara’s Triple Excellence Online Meditation Program which starts with a free 12-day course at dharmasun.org/tte.

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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Karma Trinlay Rinpoche: Life as a Tulku (#144)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features Karma Trinlay Rinpoche, a highly accomplished Buddhist teacher and meditation master. Born in 1975 to an American mother and French Father, and recognized by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, Rinpoche is the first reincarnated Westerner of French and American origin to be recognized in the Karma Kagyu tradition of Vajrayāna Buddhism.  In 1978 he started the traditional training of tulkus under the guidance of the Venerable Kalu Rinpoche in India.  A charismatic speaker, Rinpoche is respected for his lucid mind and diligence in both study and practice. He has taught in Buddhist centers and universities throughout the world. 

Throughout this podcast, Rinpoche and Daniel discuss:

• Rinpoche’s family and identification as a tulku;
• meeting H.H. the 16th Karmapa and the foundations of H.H.’s Dharma community in Europe;
• growing up under the direct guidance of Kalu Rinpoche;
• an overview and personal perspectives of the tulku institution;
• Rinpoche’s simultaneous Buddhist and Western education in the French Alps;
• 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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Rabkar Wangchuk: Mystery of Life (#141)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features contemporary Tibetan artist Rabkar Wangchuk. Traditionally trained, Rabkar studied for seventeen years at Gyudmed Tantric University, where he also received training in Tibetan thangka painting and arts. After moving to the West, Rabkar’s style has continued evolving into its own unique form, bringing humor and a depth of meditative searching and self-awareness to the work. We’ll be celebrating the launch of Rabkar’s first solo exhibit, Mystery of Life, which includes his colorful pop-art acrylic paintings, mineral pigment on silk pieces, and 3D installations. 

In this episode, Rabkar and Daniel discuss

• Rabkar’s youth in South India, balancing family and monastic life;
• being selected for the artisan path and his apprenticeship in the tantric arts;
• the role of art and artistic training in Buddhist contexts;
• his architectural projects and other works with the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA);
• traditional Tibetan painting materials and techniques and contemporary influences;
• Rabkar’s journey in life and work leading to his current show, Mystery of Life; 
• 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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Mahāmudrā: A Practical Guide (#140)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features special guest His Eminence the 12th Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche as he and host Daniel Aitken celebrate the launch of Rinpoche’s most recent book, Mahāmudrā: A Practical Guide. H.E. Gharwang Rinpoche was born into the Sikkimese Royal Court and was recognized by H.H. the 16th Karmapa as the incarnation of the Gharwang Tulku. Rinpoche is the supreme lineage holder of the Whispered Lineage of the Zurmang Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. As head of the Zurmang Kagyu School, Rinpoche is the spiritual leader of monasteries and nunneries in Tibet, India, Nepal, and Bhutan.

In this episode, H.E. Gharwang Rinpoche and Daniel discuss

• the story behind the new book and its unique structure;
• a verse that encapsulates the essence of the book’s teachings;
• what it means to tame the mind;
• renunciation in terms of our relationship with others;
• the connection between mahāmudrā and non-attachment;
• defining the word mahāmudrā;
• faith and devotion in mahāmudrā 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 support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you!

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Open Mind

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The Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s Stages of the Path

Discover His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice for finding happiness, helping others, and applying insights from Buddhist thought to everyday life—for a life of greater harmony, meaning, and joy, for ourselves, others, and in our world.

This first volume of The Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s Stages of the Path shares His Holiness’s teachings on specific topics of vital relevance to contemporary life:

– how kindness and compassion are the foundation for individual happiness and world peace;
– how we can solve manmade problems;
– how Buddhism does not conflict with modern science and can actually contribute to its advancement;
– how gender equality is fundamental for a decent and just society;
– and much more.

His Holiness’s messages on these topics will be of value to all readers, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. These teachings embody the Dalai Lama’s generous warmth and humor, his expertise in presenting important Buddhist ideas, and his ability to inspire us toward greater kindness and happiness.

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Freedom through Correct Knowing

Discover a clear and accessible translation with commentary on key parts of Khedrup Jé’s Clearing Mental Darkness.

Composed at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and with a foreword by His Holiness, this translation with commentary on key parts of Khedrup Jé’s Clearing Mental Darkness: An Ornament of Dharmakirti’s “Seven Treatises on Valid Cognition” is intended for all levels of understanding. You’ll learn how a mind realizes its object, which types of consciousness realize their objects, and when a consciousness is considered to be valid in the sense of realizing its object. Having explained valid cognizers, or direct perceivers, which are essential to understanding the four noble truths, Khedrup Jé goes on to brilliantly elucidate this essential teaching of the Buddha and offers a lucid presentation of how to progress on the spiritual paths of liberation and enlightenment, including how to generate yogic perception directly realizing selflessness. With this, one develops an unmistaken realization of the fundamental reality of selflessness of persons and phenomena, which eliminates ignorance, the root cause of all mental afflictions and samsaric suffering.

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Digital Dharma

This is the epic story of an international rescue effort to preserve a culture’s literary history.

Originally a Mormon from Utah, E. Gene Smith, founder of the Buddhist Digital Resource Center, became the unlikely mastermind behind an international effort to rescue, preserve, digitize, and provide free access to the vast Tibetan Buddhist canon, many volumes of which had been lost or destroyed during China’s Cultural Revolution.  

Digital Dharma is a stunning visual experience offering a behind-the-scenes look into this unprecedented mission. Through hundreds of photographs taken during Smith’s trip to deliver drives containing the digitized volumes to remote monasteries in South Asia, you’ll gain extraordinary and intimate access to life inside Buddhist monasteries, to the rituals of Tibetan Buddhism, and to the insights of some of the world’s leading lamas and lineage holders. Throughout the journey, you’ll meet monks, local publishers, scholars, and dignitaries involved in the preservation movement to which Smith dedicated his life. With the accompanying historical and cultural background, you’ll develop a deeper and more personal understanding of Tibetan Buddhism and of the achievement of preserving and disseminating its sacred canon.

Gene Smith’s legacy lives on in the organization he founded in 1999, the Buddhist Digital Resource Center. BDRC’s founding mission was to digitally preserve the entirety of Tibetan Buddhist literature in order to secure it from destruction. In 2015, it expanded its mission to include all Buddhist traditions. More than twenty years later, BDRC has digitized and archived millions of pages of Tibetan, Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Khmer and Newari literature. BDRC is dedicated to seeking out, preserving, documenting, and disseminating Buddhist literature. With its text preservation programs, free online library, digital tools for researchers, and hard drive distribution programs, BDRC provides lamas, scholars, translators, Buddhist practitioners, and the general public with access to an unparalleled collection of Buddhist texts.

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Venerable Robina and Venerable Chokyi: Liberation Prison Project (#137)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features an interview with host Daniel Aitken and special guests Venerable Robina and Venerable Chokyi, discussing their work with the Liberation Prison Project.

The Liberation Prison Project offers spiritual advice and teachings, as well as Dharma books and materials, to people in prison interested in exploring, studying, and practicing Buddhism. Since 1996 the project has supported the Buddhist practice of over 20,000 men and women in prisons around the world to transform their lives.

Daniel discusses with Ven. Robina and Ven. Chokyi:

• the foundation and development of the Liberation Prison Project;
• moving examples of prisoner experiences;
• the Tibetan astrological calendar, pilgrimage, and other fundraising efforts;
• Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s book Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison
• how students provide support to prisoners through the Project;
• a new opportunity in the Liberation Prison Project Director role;
• 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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Ornament of Dakpo Kagyü Thought

The Mahāmudrā Aspiration Prayer is one of the most brilliant and popular compositions on mahāmudrā. Written in easygoing nine-meter verse, this heartfelt prayer by Rangjung Dorjé lends itself to chanting and ritualized group prayer and is at the same time intricately organized into the most profound and thorough exposition of mahāmudrā, the pinnacle of practice in the Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism. The commentary on the prayer by Mendong Tsampa Rinpoché brilliantly illuminates its subtleties, making it even more accessible for the reader, and students and teachers alike will appreciate the inclusion of the Tibetan script on facing pages of the prayer and commentary.

This is a text for encouraging study, for inspiring practice, and for the awakening of the world.

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Daniel A. Hirshberg: Nyingma Lore and Lineage (#136)

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Daniel A. Hirshberg, who earned a PhD from Harvard University in 2012 and was associate professor in the Department of Classics, Philosophy, & Religion at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Since recording this podcast, Dan left his tenured professorship to found SŌTERIC. 

In this episode, host Daniel Aitken and Dan discuss

• Dan’s path to the academic Dharma world through studying with Professor Jan Willis, Naropa University, and study and practice in Asia;
• studies with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche’s Nalandabodhi Community and the Nitartha Shedra curriculum;
• Dan’s engagement in historical studies of the influential Nyingma teacher Nyangrel (Nyangrel Nyima Özer, c.1124–1192), King Trisong Detsen, and the Padmasambhava lineage and lore;
• the foundation and culture of the terma/tertön tradition and the sacred world throughout Tibetan history and into today;
• practical perspectives on the future of Buddhist literary traditions in the modern age, and the nature of validation in authentic teachings;
• modern contemplative research and application through secular pedagogical techniques;
• Dan’s recent book, Remembering the Lotus-Born: Padmasambhava in the History of Tibet’s Golden Age;
• 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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Mind Sky

“In Zen meditation, anything that comes in your mind will eventually leave, because nothing is permanent. A thought is like a cloud moving across the blue sky. Nothing can disturb that all-encompassing vastness. This is the Dharma.” 

In a collection of talks and anecdotes, Jakusho Kwong-roshi, a Dharma successor of Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, presents his approach to Buddhist teaching. Containing photos of Kwong-roshi with his teachers, as well as a selection of his vibrant calligraphy, Mind Sky explores the profound beauty of Zen history and practice, nature, and the philosophy of the ancient Zen master Eihei Dōgen.

With an elegant simplicity, Kwong-roshi shows how Zen is experiential rather than intellectual. And with persistent practice, realization is already yours.

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