THE WISDOM ACADEMY PRESENTS
The Nine Yānas
A Dzogchen Perspective • An Online Course with Ācārya Malcolm Smith
In Ācārya Malcolm Smith’s new Dzogchen course, step off the ladder onto the ground of realization.
For centuries, the nine yānas (vehicles) have been presented as a structured ladder to awakening, with each rung leading to the ultimate goal.
In this groundbreaking new course, renowned translator Ācārya Malcolm Smith presents the textual sources that suggest the radical view that Dzogchen goes beyond this ladder of cause and effect.
With Ācārya Malcolm as your guide, you’ll explore the Dzogchen view of the entire nine-yāna system, primarily based on Śrī Siṃha’s Wheel of View and Conduct—which is based on one of the most foundational Dzogchen texts, Garab Dorje’s Great Space of Vajrasattva.
For serious students, this course clarifies how Dzogchen is distinguished from gradualist approaches with precision, depth, and insight.
The course begins January 30. Scroll down for a full schedule.
Enroll before December 1 to save $100 and enjoy lifetime access—no code needed!
Full Tuition: $297 Your Tuition: $197
After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
Without understanding Dzogchen’s position with regard to the nine vehicles, students may miss the radical simplicity and power of Dzogchen’s perspective and approach.
This course illuminates:
- Where Dzogchen stands in relation to the nine yānas
- Why its path is fundamentally different, not just more advanced
- How key concepts like karma, ālaya, and non-conceptuality are understood within Dzogchen
- How Dzogchen masters like Longchenpa have critiqued the lower yānas
- Advice on how to synthesize the entire course into a practical guide for realizing the natural state
- How and why Dzogchen can provide a swift path to awakening
- And more.
Across ten in-depth lessons, Ācārya Malcolm Smith guides you through the Dzogchen analysis of each vehicle, clarifying misconceptions and showing how Dzogchen stands outside the nine-yāna system.
You’ll learn to:
- Understand how Dzogchen views each yāna while acknowledging their provisional value
- See how the nine yānas operate as a progressive sequence of vehicles—and why Dzogchen is positioned outside that structure
- Recognize dharmatā (the fundamental nature of reality) directly, rather than through constructed stages
- See why karma and ālaya are not accepted as the dominant causes of samsaric rebirth within the Dzogchen view
- Discern decisive distinctions between Dzogchen and systems like Mahāyoga, Anuyoga, and Mādhyamaka
- Study Longchenpa’s Perfect Wings of the Great Garuda, which integrates these critiques and provides practical instructions for resting in the naturally settled state.
- And more.
Enroll before December 1 to save $100 and enjoy lifetime access—no code needed!
Full Tuition: $297 Your Tuition: $197
After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
Your Course Includes
HD Teaching Videos
Fascinating Readings
Discussion Forum
Lifetime Access
Lesson 1: Introduction to the Dzogchen Analysis of the Nine Vehicles
Explore Dzogchen’s distinctive views of the nine yānas (progressive “vehicles” or systems of practice), which replaces gradual progression with recognizing intrinsic purity. Ācārya Malcolm explains the deviations of the eight lower vehicles and the definitive presentation of dharmatā from The Great Space of Vajrasattva, raising key questions about pristine consciousness and Buddhahood.
Lesson 2: The Vehicle of Mahāyoga
Examine how Dzogchen diverges from Mahāyoga and Sakya Lamdrè (the Sakya school’s integrated “Path and Fruit” system), and the tantric traditions of the Sarma schools (the “New Translation” schools of Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug) generally.
Ācārya Malcolm clarifies Mahāyoga’s view, its key deviations, and how Dzogchen transcends effortful practices by recognizing the pristine consciousness already present in all beings.
Lesson 3: The Vehicle of Anuyoga
Explore Dzogchen’s refutations of Anuyoga and Yoga Tantra. Ācārya Malcolm explains Anuyoga’s view of the basis (the foundational ground of reality), the three natures, the five abhisaṃbodhis (aspects of awakened cognition), and why subject–object meditations fall short compared to direct perception of dharmatā.
Lesson 4: The Vehicle of the Devas and Humans
Learn how Dzogchen views karma and ālaya, rejecting them as ultimate causes of samsaric rebirth. Ācārya Malcolm shows how karmic traces lack true existence and how all phenomena are miraculous displays of bodhicitta when viewed through dharmatā.
Lesson 5: The Vehicle of the Śrāvakas
Examine Dzogchen’s views of Śrāvakayāna (the “Hearer Vehicle,” focused on individual liberation) and Mādhyamaka (the Middle Way school of philosophy). You’ll discover how Dzogchen is incompatible with the idea of non-conceptuality leading to Buddhahood and conceptuality obstructing it, and how all phenomena are the self-liberated play of dharmatā.
Lesson 6: The Vehicle of the Pratyekabuddhas
Uncover Dzogchen’s view of Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha (solitary buddha) meditation methods, including striving for cessation and rigid virtue distinctions. Ācārya Malcolm breaks down the specific arguments of Śrī Siṃha and Longchenpa regarding these methods, covering topics including the twelve links of dependent origination, the nature of outer objects, and how Dzogchen avoids denying conventional reality.
Lesson 7: The Vehicle of the Bodhisattvas
Deepen your understanding of Dzogchen’s views of Mādhyamaka and Anuyoga. Ācārya Malcolm presents Śrī Siṃha’s specific arguments against ideas from these vehicles, covering topics such as non-conceptual samādhi, the flaws in asserting a cause-and-result Buddhahood, and why Dzogchen rejects the Mādhyamaka framework of the two truths.
Lesson 8: The Vehicles of the Three Outer Tantras
Examine how the three outer tantras—Kriyā, Caryā, and Yoga Tantra—differ from the Dzogchen view. Ācārya Malcolm discusses alternative nine yānas presentations, the siddhāntas (philosophical conclusions) of knowable phenomena, and Buddhist vs. non-Buddhist ideas of self and subtle form.
Lesson 9: The Nine Yānas in the Sound Tantra Commentary
Explore the Sound Tantra Commentary’s radical claim that Dzogchen stands outside the nine yānas. Ācārya Malcolm explains the seven superiorities (ways Dzogchen surpasses other vehicles), why virtuous and non-virtuous deeds don’t affect dharmatā, and why only direct perception of dharmatā leads to Buddhahood.
Lesson 10: Longchenpa on the Nine Yānas
Conclude with Longchenpa’s synthesis in Perfect Wings of the Great Garuda. Ācārya Malcolm presents advice for resting in the naturally settled state and explains why striving and meditating on bliss, clarity, or non-conceptuality are deviations from Dzogchen’s view.
This course is designed for serious students and practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism who want a clear, classical understanding of Dzogchen’s view in relation to the nine yānas.
It is especially well-suited for:
- Dzogchen students who want to delve deeper into the tradition
- Practitioners who want to understand how Dzogchen differs from structured, gradualist paths
- Students seeking to ground their study of Dzogchen in classical sources and rigorous explanation
Enroll before December 1 to save $100 and enjoy lifetime access—no code needed!
Full Tuition: $297 Your Tuition: $197
After enrolling, check your email for a welcome email with instructions on how to take the course. When you enroll in any Wisdom Academy course, you agree to our terms of use. Enrolled students have lifetime access to course materials. Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tuition supports the creation of more courses like this one. Thank you! For more about our terms, please see the Wisdom Academy FAQ.
- January 30, 2026: Lesson 1 released at 9 a.m. US Eastern time.
- February 6: Lesson 2
- February 13: Lesson 3
- February 20: Lesson 4
- February 27: Lesson 5
- March 6: Lesson 6
- March 13: Lesson 7
- March 20: Lesson 8
- March 27: Lesson 9
- April 3: Lesson 10
Ācārya Malcolm Smith has been a student of the Great Perfection teachings since 1992. His main Dzogchen teachers are Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, the late Kunzang Dechen Lingpa, and the late H.H. Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche. He is a veteran of a traditional three-year solitary Tibetan Buddhist retreat, a published translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts, and was awarded the Āchārya 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 Sakya Trizin, Kunzang Dechen Lingpa, Khenpo Migmar Tseten, Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche, and many others. His works include Buddhahood in This Life and The Self-Arisen Vidya Tantra (vol 1) and The Self-Liberated Vidya Tantra (vol 2).
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