Welcome to The Four Immeasurables, Part 1! In this course, taught by Lama Alan Wallace—a teacher internationally renowned for the clarity and profundity of his teachings—you’ll learn about the following areas of Buddhist study and practice:

the theory and application of the first two of profound practices known as the Four Immeasurables, or the Divine Abidings (brahmaviharas): loving-kindness and compassion (the second two are sympathetic joy and equanimity, to be covered in Part 2 of this course, coming Fall 2020)
the first two of the four “greats”: Great Loving-Kindness and Great Compassion. In Lama Alan’s teaching, the “four greats” require a fundamental shift from aspiration to intention.

Both parts of the course will also touch on:

Pith instructions on different methods of shamatha and vipashyana
the cultivation of bodhicitta
the practice of sadhana
the practice of relative and ultimate bodhicitta in the context of Dzogchen
and much more.

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The first lecture of the Wisdom Lecture Series Creativity Spirituality & Making a Buck is available to all members of the Wisdom Experience. Fill out the form below to make a Free account now and start watching, or click here to join as a Plus or All-Access member and get access to much more. If you already have an account, click log in in the top right. Please note: by filling in this form, or joining via our Join page, you agree to receive email communications from Wisdom.

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Norman Fischer: A Poet’s Path to Awakening

Posted May 1, 2020

For this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Norman Fischer, American poet, writer, and Soto Zen priest. Norman is the author of many popular books including his most recent publication, The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path. In this fascinating conversation, you’ll hear Norman share stories from his own spiritual journey—from aspiring young poet living in the woods of Northern California, to meditation teacher and celebrated writer. Norman talks about how early encounters with death predisposed him to religious and philosophical inquiry, and how reading the existentialists would pave the way for a fascination with Zen. You’ll also hear Norman discuss the topic of doubt. Rather than providing faith or certainty, Buddhism for Norman provides a path—a set of questions in which we discover what life is and who we are. Lastly, Norman talks about what it means to be a teacher of the Dharma, as well as his own relationship to himself as a teacher of Buddhism.

About the Interviewee

Norman Fischer is a poet, author, and Zen Buddhist teacher and priest. A graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, he has been publishing poetry since 1979. He is the author of seventeen books of poetry, six books of prose on Zen and religion, as well as numerous articles and essays. His most recent publication is The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path. He is also author of Experience: Thinking, Writing, Language, and Religion, a collection of essays about experimental writing as spiritual practice.

Norman has been a Zen Buddhist priest for nearly thirty years. He served as abbot for the San Francisco Zen Center from 1995 to 2000. He is the spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, an organization dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhist teachings to Western culture, which he founded in 2001. One of the most highly respected contemporary Zen teachers in America, his Zen teaching is known for its eclecticism, openness, warmth, and common sense, and for his willingness to let go of everything, including Zen.

Bio and images courtesy of Norman Fischer.

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Shohaku Okumura Roshi: Stories from Modern Zen Masters

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The Extremely Secret Dakini of Naropa has become the basis for almost every subsequent Vajrayogini commentary in the Gelug tradition. Kyabje Pabongkha’s commentary is both very thorough in its presentation and deeply inspiring, providing rich detail on essential elements of Vajrayogini practice:

all eleven yogas of the generation stage
the transference of consciousness
tsok offering
left-sided conduct
and many other auxiliary practices

There is also a stunning explanation of the completion stage that provides many extraordinarily profound methods unique to the practice of Vajrayogini. The second half of the book contains several sadhanas for the practice of Vajrayogini, including six-session guru yoga as well as two sadhanas on the transference of consciousness.

The Dechen Ling Practice Series from Wisdom Publications is committed to furthering the vision of David Gonsalez (Venerable Losang Tsering) and the Dechen Ling Press of bringing the sacred literature of Tibet to the West by making available many never-before-translated texts.

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This is a study and the first complete English translation of the Mahāyāna Sūtra, the Bodhi-sattva-gocara, which presents one of the only Buddhist teachings extant on what might be called a “Buddhist theory of war.” The main body of the text takes the form of a dialogue between King Caṇḍapradyota and the Nirgrantha sage, Satyaka, who is later revealed by Śākyamuni Buddha to be a bodhisattva of high attainment.

The author’s introductory essay traces the ways in which the later Indian and Tibetan commentarial traditions have drawn on this sūtra in order to expound upon key themes in Buddhist ethics, law, and state policy, to highlight their positions in opposition to their non-Buddhist contemporaries. From the author’s analysis, it is clear that this sūtra has been seminal in the ethical reflections of generations of Indian and Tibetan Buddhists, though it appears that it was not well known in East Asia.

A companion volume of a Tibetan critical edition is also available.

This book is an intimate dialogue that examines the interplay of emotional and spiritual development through the lens of Zen Buddhism and psychotherapy. Zen and Psychotherapy artfully illuminates the intrinsic connections between the two practices, and demonstrates how the traditions can be complementary in helping to live a truly fulfilled and contented life.

Zen teacher and psychologist Joseph Bobrow deftly shows how the major themes of trauma, attachment, emotional communication, and emotional regulation play out in the context of Zen and of psychotherapeutic practice, and how, in concert, both provide a comprehensive, interactive model of fully functioning human life.

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Gil Fronsdal: The Wisdom of Many Traditions

Posted April 10, 2020

For this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Gil Fronsdal, American Buddhist writer, teacher, and scholar in both the Zen and Theravada traditions. Gil was ordained as a Sōtō Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and later became a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985.

As someone committed to two distinct traditions, Gil brings an unusual breadth and depth of knowledge to his practice. Incredibly self-aware in his observations about his own spiritual development, Gil describes his training in vipassana with U Pandita and how the practice of mental noting radically transformed his Zen practice of shikantaza. You’ll hear Gil describe so many fascinating epiphanies along his journey—for example, how learning the difference between mindfulness and concentration was a liberating experience for him. You’ll also hear how meditation is actually a form of deep expression for Gil—a way of accessing a deeper wellspring of life—and how this is connected to a sense of wholeness and integrity for him, both on the cushion and off.

About the Interviewee

Gil Fronsdal is the founding teacher and a co-guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California, as well as guiding teacher at the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California. Gil has practiced Zen and Vipassana since 1975 and has been teaching since 1990. He has an undergraduate degree in agriculture from U.C. Davis where he was active in promoting the field of sustainable farming. In 1998 he received a PhD in religious studies from Stanford University, where he studied the earliest developments of the bodhisattva ideal. He is the author of The Buddha Before Buddhism: Wisdom from the Early Teachings and A Monastery Within, among many other titles, as well as a translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications.

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Daniel Goleman: The Mind and Meditation

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Norman Fischer: A Poet’s Path to Awakening

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The Kālacakratantra

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Alleviating the Pain of Loneliness

The Four Immeasurables, Part 1

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Turning Poison Into Beauty

Atiśa’s Special Instructions on the Middle Way

The Ecosattva Path

Norman Fischer: A Poet’s Path to Awakening

About the Interviewee

Working with the Three Kinds of Attachment

The Extremely Secret Dakini of Naropa

We Need to Realize Selflessness

Empty is the World

The Range of the Bodhisattva, a Mahāyana Sūtra (Ārya-bodhisattva-gocara)

Zen and Psychotherapy

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Joy of Seclusion

Gil Fronsdal: The Wisdom of Many Traditions

About the Interviewee

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