The Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism began in the eleventh century with such renowned figures as Marpa and Milarepa, and its seminal meditative traditions are Mahāmudrā and the six Dharmas of Nāropa. Mahāmudrā teachings focus on the cultivation of profound insight into the nature of the mind. The Mahāmudrā texts in this volume include a lucid work by the celebrated master Tselé Natsok Rangdröl and works by the twelfth-century master Shang Rinpoche, the great Third Karmapa, the Eighth Tai Situ, and Drukpa Pema Karpo. The volume also contains an inspirational work by Gampopa, the Drigung Kagyü root text, The Single Viewpoint, the Sixth Shamarpa’s guide to the six Dharmas of Nāropā, and finally an overview of tantric practice by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, author of the famous Moonlight of Mahāmudrā. The texts in this volume were selected by the preeminent scholar of the Kagyü school, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.
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Read the biographies of Gampopa, Sherab Jungne, Lama Shang, and the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje at the Treasury of Lives.
One of the most beloved Buddhist books of all time—having inspired popular musicians, artists, a documentary film, and countless readers—is now in an expanded, new edition, loaded with extras. Absolutely absorbing from start to finish, this is a true story you might truly fall in love with.
At only 24, Maura O’Halloran left her Irish-American family stateside and traveled to Japan, where she began studying under a Zen master. She would herself become recognized as a Zen master—in an uncommonly brief amount of time. Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind is Maura’s beautifully-written account of her journey. These journal entries and letters home reveal astonishing, wise-beyond-her-years humor, compassion, wisdom, and commitment.
This expanded edition includes never-before-seen entries and poems, the author’s unfinished novel, and an afterword that discusses the book’s cultural impact. It will be a must-have for Maura’s previous fans—and will surely find her thousands of new ones.
The stories in You Are Not Here and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction dramatize the spirit of Buddhism, often with wit, always with verve, and each in some distinctly vivid way. Only a few of these stories touch on the Dharma explicitly and this book takes you on an inward tour across the whole world-to the jungles of Indonesia, a fog-shrouded park in San Francisco, the sun-blistered African veldt, a Burmese monastery surrounded by gun-fire, and the church-like sanctuary of a Nebraska barn, just to name a few. Collectively these stories paint a living portrait of the face of Buddhism, and readers may discover that that face is a strangely familiar one-and that every journey only ever leads home.
Edited by Keith Kachtick—the author of Hungry Ghost: A Novel (A New York Times Notable Book),You Are Not Here and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction—offers more surprising and transcendent work from some of fiction’s famous names, alongside that of names you’ve never heard before—but surely will again:
Lama Surya Das, Keith Kachtick, Robert Olen Butler, Kate Wheeler, Anne Donovan, Samantha Schoech, Mary Yukari Waters, Andrew Foster Altschul, Jess Row, Anh Chi Pham, Sean Murphy, Pico Iyer, Dan Zigmond, Michele Martin, Sean Hoade, Jeff Davis, Jake Lorfing, Geshe Michael Roach, Anne Carolyn Klein, Dean Sluyter, Mark Salzman, and Hal Hallstein.
Combining the genius of Chan (Zen) Buddhism and Daoism with rigorous physical and martial discipline and breathing exercises, the training that originated at China’s famous Shaolin Temple was a unique elixir that would change the way the world perceived mind and body. Here, Andy James exposes the hitherto unrecognized spiritual legacy of Shaolin Temple, which has provided modernity with comprehensive, time-tested techniques in martial arts, health maintenance, energetic healing and spiritual transformation.
In addition to Buddhism and Daoism, James explores Qigong (Chi Kung) and the “internal” systems of martial arts such as Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan). While many books have traced Chan’s story into Japan, James remains in China to explain how the unique spiritual, martial and energetic traditions of the Shaolin Temple continued to interact and evolve in dynamic relation to culture, society, and the individual. This engaging and very personal book will appeal to martial arts enthusiasts, healing arts professionals, and anyone interested in the mind-body connection.
For centuries, Dzogchen—a special meditative practice to achieve spontaneous enlightenment—has been misinterpreted by both critics and malinformed meditators as being purely mystical and anti-rational. In the grand spirit of Buddhist debate, 19th century Buddhist philosopher Mipham wrote Beacon of Certainty, a compelling defense of Dzogchen philosophy that employs the very logic it was criticized as lacking. Through lucid and accessible textural translation and penetrating analysis, Pettit presents Mipham as one of Tibet’s greatest thinkers.
Learn more about the Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism series.
Read Mipham Gyatso’s biography at the Treasury of Lives.
The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception is a revised edition of the classic guide to the Lamdre, a key system of meditation of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Written by one of the first Tibetan masters to live and teach in the United States, it is rendered in a lyrical style that entertains, inspires, and motivates the reader. A key work for all those who are eager to develop and deepen their meditation practice.
Learn more about Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrup at the Treasury of Lives.
Written by a great modern Nyingma master, Dudjom Rinpoche’s The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism covers in detail and depth both the fundamental teachings and the history of Tibetan Buddhism’s oldest school. This, the first English translation of His Holiness’ masterwork, constitutes the most complete work of its type in the West.
An absolute treasure for students of the tradition, it is also an indispensable reference for anyone with an interest in Buddhism. The book includes chronologies and glossaries that elucidate Buddhist doctrine, and it provides fascinating insights into the Buddhist history of Tibet. Two treatises form the present volume, namely the Fundamentals of the Nyingma School and the History of the Nyingma School. Among the most widely read of all His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche’s works, these treatises were composed during the years immediately following his arrival in India as a refugee. His intention in writing them was to preserve the precise structure of the Nyingma philosophical view within its own historical and cultural context.
This is the first time this text has been available in a trade edition. Beautifully presented, this single-volume edition represents a truly wonderful gift, and features illustrations in black and white and in color, plus maps, bibliographic information, and useful annotations.
Dreams play a powerful role in the sacred biographies of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: they foretell the births of religious figures, describe their accomplishments, and reveal esoteric teachings.
In this fascinating study of the Buddhist dream experience, Dr. Serinity Young explores the complex functions of dreams in the sacred biographies of the Buddha and other central Buddhist figures, and reveals the ever-changing nature of dreams in Buddhist thought and practice.
Young presents a fascinating, culturally varied picture of the Buddhist dream experience and its revelations about Buddhist ideas of consciousness, cognition, and salvation. Using biographies of the Buddha and other important Buddhist figures, Serinity Young explores the functions of dreams and maps their role at the intersection of biography, history, and religious belief.
Associated with the promotion of world peace, the Kalachakra—or “Wheel of Time”—tantra is one of the most detailed and encompassing systems of theory and practice within Tibetan Buddhism. This book contains a complete translation of the Kalachakra initiation ritual as conferred by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, along with his commentary and a comprehensive introduction by Professor Jeffrey Hopkins that explores the Kalachakra’s rich symbolism, meaning, and history. The book also includes the Six-Session Yoga.
Daily Doses of Wisdom draws on the richness of Buddhist writings to offer a spiritual cornucopia that will illuminate and inspire day after day, year after year. Sources span a spectrum from ancient sages to modern teachers, from monks to laypeople, from East to West, from poetry to prose. Each page, and each new day, reveals another gem carefully selected from the entire list of titles published by Wisdom.
Waking Up Together is written for those who want to journey to new depths of intimacy, both spiritually and in their love relationship. The book shows how a committed, long-term relationship can enhance spiritual development and how relationships can be transformed by spiritual practice. Written by two Zen teachers married for thirty-seven years, it shows that relationships and all that arise from them can be a help—not a hindrance!—as we seek greater freedom and joy. It is possible to wake up together!
Going far beyond merely recommending skills and strategies to improve relationships, Waking Up Together serves as a guide in our ongoing process of spiritual discovery and intimacy. Throughout the book the authors intermingle stories and poems along with anecdotes from their married life, empowering couples to awaken to an ever-expanding experience of relationship that is full of spontaneity, mystery, awe, love, and unlimited possibility. Waking Up Together will be useful for couples of all persuasions. It affirms and encourages couples to cultivate the richness of their own relationship, and open to the unbounded potential of love.
Joel & Michelle Levey have taught thousands of people around the globe to live in greater harmony and balance. Field-tested and refined over many years, the Leveys’ unique approach to stress-mastery and personal development offers step-by-step guidance for developing personal strengths, enhancing the quality of life, and making a real contribution to the world.
The Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration and Meditation offers a treasury of their most useful teachings:
- Waking up throughout the day—finding your meditation practice and sticking to it.
- Balancing breath, brain, and mind-mastering stress—enhancing performance in every arena of your life.
- Creative intelligence—the dynamic synergy of active and quiet mind skills.
- Mastery, mystery, and meditation—awakening to your true nature.
- Inspired Work—relaxation, concentration, and meditation on the job.
A vital blend of profoundly practical skills, advice, instruction, and encouragement makes Fine Arts a complete course for awakening more fully to your highest potentials in each moment of your life.
Mahāmudrā meditation is simultaneously the most profound of meditative disciplines and the most accessible for modern practitioners. Traditionally passed orally from teacher to disciple, mahāmudrā instructions point the meditator to the innate perfection of every experience.
When it first appeared in 1986, Mahāmudrā: The Moonlight—Quintessence of Mind and Meditation was the first presentation in English of a major Tibetan Buddhist work on meditation. This classic guide was composed in the sixteenth century by an eminent lama of the Kagyu school and is so comprehensive and practical that it is still widely used today as a manual. Divided into two major sections, it presents first the common approach and then the mahamudra approach to tranquility (shamatha) and insight (vipashyana) meditation.
Poster-sized reproductions of classical paintings produced to the highest standards.
The antique scroll-art masterpieces seen in Wisdom’s Tibetan Art Calendars are called thangkas. While the thangka is common to Tibetan Buddhists, its finest examples are highly sought-after in the international art community and have become hot properties in the same vein as Oriental rugs and ceramics. As a result, the best of these works are seldom, if ever, available for public viewing.
This is why Wisdom’s Tibetan Art Calendars are so special. It’s an affordable way to enjoy incredibly rare and meaningful works of sacred art, year-round. These sacred paintings by Tibet’s master painters represent a variety of classical images, mandalas, deities, and icons. Each poster-sized picture is produced to the highest printing standards, and is suitable for framing. Complete with in-depth explanations of their cultural and philosophical significance, these exquisite fine art reproductions will be treasured for years to come.
This bundle includes calendars from 2007, 2009, and 2020. Our German partners in this endeavor are no longer able to commit to the demands of production, meaning this is your last chance to purchase these beautiful paintings while supplies last. The 2009 calendar features episodes from Buddha Shakyamuni’s life, Milarepa, Vajrakilaya, Karmapa and much more. Our 2020 calendar features Tibetan artist Tashi Dhargyal’s most striking and powerful pieces, which will be enjoyed by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.
Please note that calendars cannot be shipped via USPS Media Mail. If you are ordering a calendar and Wisdom books, you may wish to place the book orders separately to ensure the least expensive shipping.
A collection of the favorite guided meditations of senior monks and nuns of the International Mahayana Institute of the FPMT. These meditations center on different Buddhist themes and provide a good resource for the practicing meditator. The book also includes brief spiritual autobiographies that allow the reader to trace each contributors’ entry into and study of Tibetan Buddhism.
Our true spiritual friends are the positive potentials in our minds, which will never never disappoint us and never desert us. Similarly, the generous and personal meditations offered in this book help us develop these potentials and thus are true friends to whom we can always turn. Likewise, the Sangha, as the ordained followers of the Buddha upon whom the continuity of the Buddha’s teachings depend, are spiritual friends who encourage us and inspire us to transform our minds.
This unique book—the first from the International Mahayana Institute—contains meditations written by eighteen nuns and monks of the IMI Sangha as well as an autobiographical essay from each in which these nuns and monks share how they came to the ordained life.
What is the subtle relationship between mind and body? What can today’s scientists learn about this relationship from masters of Buddhist thought? Is it possible that by combining Western and Eastern approaches, we can reach a new understanding of the nature of the mind, the human potential for growth, the possibilities for mental and physical health?
MindScience explores these and other questions as it documents the beginning of a historic dialogue between modern science and Buddhism. The Harvard Mind Science Symposium brought together the Dalai Lama and authorities from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, and education. Here, they examine myriad questions concerning the nature of the mind and its relationship to the body.
Winner of the 2014 Khyentse Foundation Translation Prize.
Nāgārjuna’s renowned twenty-seven-chapter Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā) is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. It is the definitive, touchstone presentation of the doctrine of emptiness. Professors Siderits and Katsura prepared this translation using the four surviving Indian commentaries in an attempt to reconstruct an interpretation of its enigmatic verses that adheres as closely as possible to that of its earliest proponents. Each verse is accompanied by concise, lively exposition by the authors conveying the explanations of the Indian commentators. The result is a translation that balances the demands for fidelity and accessibility.
- Learn more about the Classics of Indian Buddhism series.
Wisdom’s volume On Zen Practice was conceived as the essential primer for beginning Zen practice, offering insight to every aspect of Zen training. The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment takes the reader to the next level, exploring some of the more subtle and sophisticated topics in Zen.
The first two parts of the book explore enlightenment and delusion: What is nature of enlightenement? What does it mean to describe enlightenment as sudden or gradual? What is the nature of delusion, and how can watch out for the particular delusion that masquerades as enlightenment? The third part looks at “enlightenment in action”—what it means for someone to living and acting in order with the deep wisdom of enlightenment, and how we can practice learning “learning how to be satisfied” and enjoy serenity and transquility. The final section is a moving and powerful firsthand account of one woman’s solitary realization of the deepest truths—a story that can become an inspiration for all of us. The contributors to this volume include some the pioneering masters who were seminal in helping Zen take firm root in American soil.
This Truth Never Fails is a playful yet well-grounded narrative of a year in the life of an unusual Zen master. Far from the silent and detached stereotype of Zen teachers, Rynick writes with disarming humor, offering both the struggles and the joys of ordinary life as opportunities for insight. Anyone looking for inspiration to bring a simple spiritual awareness into their daily lives, and also those interested in finding ways to more deeply integrate faith (in any tradition) with practice will find this book reassuring and encouraging.
This book appeals to the broad “mindfulness” and “general spirituality” audiences that transcend any one formal tradition. Leaning toward Anne Lamott’s humor, universal spirituality, and Mary Oliver’s love of the natural world, Rynick’s writing bypasses Zen theory and doctrine. Simple, clear prose illustrates, vividly, an insightful and tender appreciation of ordinary life as the Way itself.
Includes a brief “study guide for further inquiry” offering opportunities for personal reflection and exploration on themes touched on in the book.
Drawing inspiration from such diverse sources as Khalil Gibran, Virginia Woolf, and Frank Sinatra, as well as the Bible and the great Zen masters of old, this book offers a path to rich and lasting happiness achieved through what Huston Smith calls “goal-attaining patience.” In Joyously Through the Days, Les Kaye explores life’s every day complexities and instructs us in the Zen way through our human foibles. Through awareness, patience, and generosity, Kaye argues, we can respond with creative calm to the uncertain conditions of modern life.