Ācārya Malcolm Smith: The Dzogchen Aural Lineage (#205)
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Join Daniel Aitken and Ācārya Malcolm Smith as they discuss the roots of Dzogchen and the aural lineage in the Great Perfection tradition as described in Malcolm’s newest translation Yoga Of The Natural State, releasing in the winter of 2025 and available now for pre-order. In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, explore the historical transmission of Dzogchen teachings through the textual and aural lineages and the roles these play in preserving the authenticity and comprehensibility of the teachings. You won’t want to miss this illuminating conversation.
You’ll hear Daniel and Malcolm discuss:
- the process of translating Longchenpa’s writings;
- differences between ‘awareness of awareness’ and the true nature of rigpa;
- key Dzogchen terms such as original purity (ka dag) and natural perfection (lhun grub);
- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and his impact on spreading Dzogchen teachings to the West; and
- much more!
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About the Interviewee
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. Previous works with Wisdom Publications include Buddhahood in This Life, The Self-Arisen Vidya Tantra (vol 1) and The Self-Liberated Vidya Tantra (vol 2), and The Tantra Without Syllables (Vol 3) and The Blazing Lamp Tantra (Vol 4).
