Your guide in this course will be Thupten Jinpa, the renowned Buddhist scholar and longtime translator for the Dalai Lama who has been a key contributor throughout the Mind & Life Dialogues. B. Alan Wallace, Anne Treisman, and Amishi Jha then share three perspectives on attention from a Buddhist, psychological, and neuroscientific viewpoint. Thupten Jinpa and Catherine Kerr offer Buddhist and neuroscientific understandings on how objects are ascertained and constructed in the processes of perception. Then Jay Garfield and Matthieu Ricard investigate the nature of self, exploring tendencies toward self-grasping and how our own deeply held views of self can lead to either suffering or compassionate action. The course concludes with a powerful teaching from His Holiness the Dalai Lama from the Mind & Life archives.

To further support and deepen your understanding of the concepts presented in this course there are also three guided meditations from Jack Kornfield, Lama Willa Blythe Baker, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Additionally, you’ll have access to a course forum where you can discuss your learnings with an international community of students.

This course offers a unique opportunity to explore the mind from a variety of angles through archival footage, following along with His Holiness the Dalai Lama as he pursues his lifelong passion for science.

Learn more about the course speakers here.

All proceeds from this course go toward funding the nonprofit activities of Wisdom Publications and the Mind & Life Institute. We thank you for your support!

PREVIOUS EPISODE

On the occasion of His Holiness the Sakya Trichen’s birthday (September 7), we wanted to take this opportunity to express our appreciation and respect for this beloved teacher. We’re also celebrating His Holiness’s birthday with a special offer: for the month of September 2020, you can get his full Freeing the Heart and Mind trilogy for just $29.95 (full value: $50.85) for the print editions or $19.99 for the ebook editions.

This trilogy is “required reading” for any Sakya practitioner, and will also be deeply inspiring for Buddhists of all traditions.

The series covers a wide range of teachings, including:

In volume 1, an explanation of the teaching Matchless Compassion by the Indian saint Virupa, a selection of commentaries on the essential teaching called Parting from the Four Attachments.
In volume 2, two texts by the legendary thirteenth-century Drogön Chögyal Phagpa. A founding father of the Sakya school, Chögyal Phagpa became the first imperial preceptor under Kublai Khan and thus converted the Mongols to Tibetan Buddhism. His two texts presented here, A Gift of Dharma to Kublai Khan and A Garland of Jewels—the second of which was written as advice for Prince Gibek Timur—are marvels of insight.
And in volume 3, down-to-earth advice for practicing in the world today, including the principles of tantra, ecology from a Buddhist perspective, biographies of great women practitioners, and other fascinating topics.

We hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to be inspired by His Holiness’s teachings!

Michael Mendizza Interviews His Eminence Professor Samdhong Rinpoche

In this clip, hear Michael Mendizza interview His Eminence Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, renowned Buddhist Scholar and the first Kalon Tripa (Prime Minister) of the Central Tibetan Administration in Exile. Filmed in Dharamsala, India, Michael asks Rinpoche about how we should think about studying across multiple traditions as well as J. Krishnamurti’s thoughts on this subject.

Listen to Michael Mendizza’s episode on The Wisdom Podcast

Malcolm Smith: Translating The Tantra Without Syllables and The Blazing Lamp Tantra

Posted August 7, 2020

For this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Wisdom author and renowned Tibetan Buddhist translator, Malcolm Smith. Malcolm has been a student of the Great Perfection teachings since 1992 and studied under Dzogchen masters Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and the late Kunzang Dechen Lingpa. His translations include Buddhahood in this Life: The Great Commentary of Vimalamitra, which is one of the earliest and most influential tests of the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Most recently, Malcolm has published the second installment of a multi-volume translation project of the Seventeen Tantras, which are among the most essential texts of the Great Perfection tradition. The first installment includes The Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra (Vol 1) and The Self-Liberated Vidyā Tantra (Vol 2), published in 2019. His most recent translation is of The Tantra Without Syllables (Vol 3) and The Blazing Lamp Tantra (Vol 4), published in 2020.

In this fascinating conversation, Malcolm and Daniel focus on Malcolm’s most recent translation of Volumes 3 and 4, discussing why these, like Volumes 1 and 2, are essential to an overall understanding of the whole Dzogchen system. You’ll hear Malcolm give a brief overview of the history of the Seventeen Tantras in relationship to Dzogchen, Dzogchen’s central teachers and texts, and how the Seventeen Tantras fit within other Tibetan Buddhist traditions. You’ll also hear why these two texts—The Tantra Without Syllables (Vol 3) and The Blazing Lamp Tantra (Vol 4)—are published together. Malcolm explains how these two texts contain some of the most detailed expositions on two essential practices of the Great Perfection: trekchö, the view, and thögal, the meditation.

Malcolm and Daniel also discuss the nature of restriction of these texts both historically and for contemporary students of Dzogchen.

This episode was recorded as part of our new series, Wisdom Dharma Chats, where you can attend live video versions of the Wisdom Podcast from the comfort of your own home. Wisdom Dharma Chats also include a Q&A where you can ask questions directly to Buddhist teachers, practitioners and scholars. To watch the video version of this podcast, visit our Wisdom Dharma Chats page.

To hear Malcolm’s Wisdom Podcast on The Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra (Vol 1) and The Self-Liberated Vidyā Tantra (Vol 2), which is the first 2-volume set of the Seventeen Tantras, click here.

About the Interviewee

Malcolm Smith has been a student of the Great Perfection teachings since 1992. His main Dzogchen teachers are Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and the late Kunzang Dechen Lingpa. He is a veteran of a traditional three-year solitary Tibetan Buddhist retreat, a published translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts, and was awarded the ācārya degree by the Sakya Institute in 2004. He graduated in 2009 from Shang Shung Institute’s School of Tibetan Medicine. He has worked on translations for renowned lamas since 1992, including His Holiness the Sakya Trichen Rinpoche, Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche, Kunzang Dechen Lingpa, Khenpo Migmar Tseten, Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche, Khenchen Könchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche, and many others.

Previous Episode

Venerable Robina Courtin: Understanding the Buddha’s Teachings for Ourselves

Next Episode

Michael Mendizza: Conversations with Samdhong Rinpoche and J. Krishnamurti

The Center for Contemplative Research

Illuminating the Mind: Exploring Buddhism and Science with the Dalai Lama

The Freeing the Heart and Mind Trilogy

Michael Mendizza Interviews His Eminence Professor Samdhong Rinpoche

Michael Mendizza: Conversations with Samdhong Rinpoche and J. Krishnamurti

Extra Content

About the Interviewee

The Buddhist Analysis of Matter

Wisdom Dharma Chats | Robert Thurman (2)

Wisdom Dharma Chats | Jessica Pimentel

Wisdom Dharma Chats | Ven. Robina Courtin

The Four Immeasurables, Part 2

The Four Immeasurables, Part 2

What is Bodhicitta?

Wisdom Dharma Chats | Lama Alan Wallace

Malcolm Smith: Translating The Tantra Without Syllables and The Blazing Lamp Tantra

About the Interviewee

Wisdom Dharma Chats | Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Wisdom Dharma Chats

Join Wisdom

Buddhist Perspectives of the Mind and How We Experience the World

How to Grieve: Pain, Gratitude, & Peace

The Range of the Bodhisattva, A Mahāyāna Sutra (byang chub sems dpa’i spyod yul)