Happy New Year! We’re excited to share what’s new to the Wisdom Experience this January with you and hope these resources provide you with moments of inspiration, adventure, and awakening in the new year. Remember to keep an eye out for the membership level icon in the corner of each image. These mark what level of membership the content is available too.
During the month of January, Nāgārjuna’s Middle Way and the film Tibetan Buddhism: Cycles of Interdependence are available to Free members.
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.
Filmed between 1979 and 1980 at Likir Monastery and the surrounding village, Tibetan Buddhism: Cycles of Interdependence depicts the interwoven nature of the traditional ways of life and Tibetan Buddhism. Throughout the film, you’ll see how this interdependence enables monks and lay-people to preserve and flourish in the fragile ecological ecosystem of the high barren plains surrounded by giant Himalayan peaks and nurtured by trickling, life-sustaining mountain streams.
Don’t forget, you can invite your friends to sign up for a Free membership to join you.
Wisdom is happy to announce that the recordings of our one-day retreat with Guy and Sally Armstrong, Empty and Aware, are now available for All-Access members.This retreat is focused on experience orientated practice related to the nature of the awareness that will be familiar to those following the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions. With the guidance of the Armstrongs, this practice will lead you to discover a dimension of your mind that is inherently free by recognizing awareness and its connection to the truth of emptiness.
The teachings in this retreat are designed for someone who is familiar with basic insight meditation practices, but will also be beneficial for experienced students as well as those just starting their exploration of emptiness. No matter where you’re starting from, this intensive one-day experience will help you dive deeper into your practice.
Be sure to check out all our Wisdom Dharma Chat recordings, including our most recent with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche!
This Wisdom Dharma Chat features host Daniel Aitken speaking with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche is a world-renowned Tibetan Buddhist teacher and meditation master in the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions. Rinpoche and Daniel briefly discuss Rinpoche’s Wisdom Academy online course Shila, Samadhi, and Prajna, then Rinpoche gives a teaching and answers questions.
Discover all of the books in our Reading Room under the “Explore” menu on our website. Books in our Reading Room are available exclusively for Plus and All-Access members.
New and Featured in the Reading Room
Noble Truth, Noble Path
by Bhikkhu Bodhi
“With his intimate knowledge of the suttas and a heartfelt wish for the welfare of beings, Bhikkhu Bodhi has crafted an anthology that takes us straight to the heart of the Buddha’s teachings, then leads us with great skill into their depths. This profound book urges us to stay focused on the path and motivates us to practice with diligence and integrity so as to free our hearts from the conundrum of craving. Timeless and timely, it is a guide to awaken us to our highest potential. For the dedicated practitioner, this may be the most precious book you will ever hold in your hands.”—Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni
Realizing the Profound View
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron
“A beautiful addition to the golden rosary of the Library of Wisdom and Compassion, this invaluable text generously introduces us to the actual analytic practices that help us realize the true nature of reality. Discovering the Middle Way, we come to see how dualistic thinking breeds suffering, while deep investigation leads us to radiant wisdom. His Holiness and Ven. Chodron have made these powerful practices immediately accessible. Bravo!”—Judith Simmer-Brown, Distinguished Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies, Naropa University, author of Ḍākinī’s Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism
Also in Your Reading Room
Exclusively for Plus and All-Access members
- Reading the Buddha’s Discourses in Pāli by Bhikkhu Bodhi
- Natural Liberation by Gyatrul Rinpoche, B. Alan Wallace
- Freeing the Heart and Mind: Volume 1 by His Holiness the Sakya Trizin
- How to Meditate by Kathleen McDonald (Sangye Khadro)
- and many more!
New Releases & Back in Stock
The following books were released in December, are available to purchase early on our website, or are now back in stock:
- Daughters of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Anālayo
- Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics: Volume 3, Philosophical Schools by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, edited by Thupten Jinpa, translated and introduced by Donald S. Lopez, Jr
- Realizing the Profound View by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Thubten Chondron
- Stages of the Path and the Oral Transmission translated by Thupten Jinpa
- Noble Truths, Noble Path by Bhikkhu Bodhi
This Wisdom Podcast episode features translator and philosopher Mark Siderits, who trained in Asian and Western philosophy at the University of Hawaii and Yale University. He is the author or editor of five books including Nāgārjuna’s Middle Way and has published numerous articles on a wide variety of subjects in Indian Buddhist philosophy and comparative philosophy. Much of his work aims at building bridges between the classical Indian tradition and contemporary philosophy.
In this episode, host Daniel Aitken and Mark discuss:
- Mark’s introduction to Western and Asian philosophy through D.T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, and Ludwig Wittgenstein;
- metaphysics and soteriology in Buddhist and western philosophy;
- tensions between modern Buddhism and the cognitive sciences;
- and much more!
Don’t miss our new Gompa Wisdom Teaching! All-Access and Plus members can enjoy this rare opportunity to receive a comprehensive three-day teaching from H. H. the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Thinley Lhundup on the revered text Introduction to Mahamudra: The Co-emergent Unification composed by Drikung Kyopa Jigten Sumgon (1143–1217) the founder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage. This special teaching, recorded at Drikung Kagyu Jangchubling Monastery, at Dehradun, India, includes a detailed commentary on the four preliminary practices, the ‘pointing out’ introductions, both with regard to recognizing the nature of mind itself and the nature of appearances, and related oral transmissions.
Don’t miss out on the Middle Way teachings of Atiśa, one of the greatest thinkers in the history of Indian Buddhism. In this Wisdom Academy online course you’ll be guided by Lama Alan Wallace as he presents his translation and guides students through this newly uncovered Atiśa text, Pith Instructions on the Middle Way (Madhyamakopadeśa), with commentary by Prajñāmokṣa.
In this course you’ll learn:
- Atiśa’s practical techniques of meditating on the Mādhyamaka middle way philosophy
- how to understand the Dzogchen tradition and Mādhyamaka meditation on the nature of the mind
- advice on properly establishing the correct middle way view
- and much more!