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Wisdom Dharma Chat | Cortland Dahl

This Wisdom Dharma Chat features host Daniel Aitken speaking with Cortland Dahl. Cortland is a scientist, translator, and meditation teacher who offers workshops and leads retreats around the world. He has practiced meditation for nearly three decades and has spent time on retreat in monasteries and retreat centers throughout Japan, Burma, and India, including eight years spent living in Tibetan refugee settlements in Kathmandu, Nepal. In addition to his work as an Instructor for the Tergar community and Executive Director of Tergar International, Cortland serves as Research Scientist and Chief Contemplative Officer at UW-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds and the center’s affiliated non-profit, Healthy Minds Innovations. Cortland is actively involved in scientific research and has published articles on the impact of meditation practices on the body, mind, and brain. He has also published twelve books of translations of classical texts on Buddhist philosophy and meditation.

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Wisdom Dharma Chat | Dafna Yachin

In this Wisdom Dharma Chat, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Dafna Yachin. Dafna is the director of Digital Dharma, a documentary that delves into Gene Smith’s work preserving and digitizing Tibetan texts, and one of the authors of Digital Dharma: Recovering Wisdom, a new photo book that offers a stunning visual experience and a behind-the-scenes look into Smith’s trip to deliver drives containing the digitized volumes to remote monasteries in South Asia.

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This page is only visible to students enrolled in the Wisdom Academy online course Tsongkhapa’s Madhyamaka.

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Wisdom Dharma Chat | Thupten Jinpa

In this Wisdom Dharma Chat, host Daniel Aitken is joined by Thupten Jinpa, educated in the classical Tibetan monastic academia and Geshe Lharam (equivalent to a doctorate in divinity). Jinpa also holds a BA in philosophy and a PhD in religious studies, both from the University of Cambridge, England. Since 1985, he has been the principal translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This engaging Dharma Chat includes details about the upcoming Wisdom Academy online course, Tsongkhapa’s Madhyamaka, and further courses in the broader program Jinpa will teach on the Wisdom Academy.

References Mentioned in Chat

At the start of the conversation, Jinpa mentions several texts and translations. They can predominantly be found in the Library of Tibetan Classics series and the Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics series.

In answer to Jinpa’s question about Tsongkhapa’s five great Mādhyamaka treatises, he lists:

1. Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path, Vol.III, Tsongkhapa (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2002)

2. The Central Philosophy of Tibet, Robert Thurman (Princeton University Press, 1984)

3. Ocean of Reasoning, Tsongkhapa, translated by Geshe Ngawang Samten and Jay Garfield (Oxford University Press, 2006)

4. Illuminating the Intent, Tsongkhapa, Thupten Jinpa (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2021)

5. Middle–Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path, Tsongkhapa (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2021)

Jinpa responded to a question about prerequisites for the online course, stating that there were none but if someone wanted introductory materials he recommended reading either Essence of the Heart Sutra or The Middle Way by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Jinpa and Daniel also discuss Jinpa’s new translation of the Stages of the Path and the Oral Transmission; click the link to register to be notified when it becomes available.

During the Wisdom News segment, Daniel mentioned the upcoming free conference Dharma in Daily Life conference, and Ligmincha International s‘ upcoming retreat and dialogues, The Five Element Retreat and Serenity Ridge Dialogues. You can register to attend in two ways:
1. Online over Zoom
2. In-person or commuter

Wisdom Dharma Chat | Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chodron

In this Wisdom Dharma Chat, host Daniel Aitken is joined by Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chodron.

Khandro Kunzang has been a devoted student and follower of the Dharma for most of her life. In the early 1990’s, she left behind a promising career, family, home, and friends, 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 in the winter months; serves as the Executive Director for Saraswati Bhawan, leads retreats and teachings at P’hurba Thinley Ling in Iowa; heads the P’hurba Peace Mandala Project International; and offers teachings, guidance, and support to students world-wide.

Wisdom Dharma Chat | Malcolm Smith (3)

In this Wisdom Dharma Chat, host Daniel Aitken is joined by Malcolm Smith—translator in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and long-time practitioner of Dzogchen. Malcolm Smith has been a student of the Great Perfection teachings since 1992, his main Dzogchen teachers being 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, and 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.