This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features an interview with host Daniel Aitken and special guests Venerable Robina and Venerable Chokyi, discussing their work with the Liberation Prison Project. The Liberation Prison Project offers spiritual advice and teachings, as well as Dharma books and materials, to people in prison interested in exploring, studying, and practicing Buddhism. Since 1996 the project has supported the Buddhist practice of over 20,000 men and women in prisons around the world to transform their lives. Daniel discusses with Ven. Robina and Ven. Chokyi: the foundation and development of the Liberation Prison Project; moving examples of prisoner experiences; the Tibetan astrological calendar, pilgrimage, and other fundraising efforts; Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s book Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison how students provide support to prisoners through the Project; a new opportunity in the Liberation Prison Project Director role; and much more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post Venerable Robina and Venerable Chokyi: Liberation Prison Project (#137) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Daniel A. Hirshberg, who earned a PhD from Harvard University in 2012 and was associate professor in the Department of Classics, Philosophy, & Religion at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Since recording this podcast, Dan left his tenured professorship to found SŌTERIC.  In this episode, host Daniel Aitken and Dan discuss Dan’s path to the academic Dharma world through studying with Professor Jan Willis, Naropa University, and study and practice in Asia; studies with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche’s Nalandabodhi Community and the Nitartha Shedra curriculum; Dan’s engagement in historical studies of the influential Nyingma teacher Nyangrel (Nyangrel Nyima Özer, c.1124–1192), King Trisong Detsen, and the Padmasambhava lineage and lore; the foundation and culture of the terma/tertön tradition and the sacred world throughout Tibetan history and into today; practical perspectives on the future of Buddhist literary traditions in the modern age, and the nature of validation in authentic teachings; modern contemplative research and application through secular pedagogical techniques; Dan’s recent book, Remembering the Lotus-Born: Padmasambhava in the History of Tibet’s Golden Age; and much more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post Daniel A. Hirshberg: Nyingma Lore and Lineage (#136) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Dr. Alejandro Chaoul, who has studied Tibetan yoga for thirty years with the tradition’s greatest masters, including Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Dr. Chaoul and host Daniel Aitken explore Tsa Lung Trul Khor (“channel/wind obstacle-clearing techniques”) yoga practice and its place in Dzogchen meditation; the practice of “Body Buddhism,” integrating the body with the mind and breath; the benefits of purification practices like Tsa Lung Trul Khor and the subtle body; practices to help restore “dimmed awareness” to clarity; quick techniques that can be applied immediately in practice and daily life for balancing;  his book with Wisdom, Tibetan Yoga: Magical Movements of Body, Breath, and Mind; and more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post Alejandro Chaoul on Body Buddhism (#135) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live at the 2021 Serenity Ridge Dialogues features a conversation between H. H. the 42nd Sakya Trizin, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, & B. Alan Wallace, moderated by Daniel Aitken. Topics discussed include body, breath, mind, and the nature of consciousness in scientific and spiritual paradigms; views on the source of mind and the influence of the brain; integration of science and spirituality in the understanding of the nature of the mind; introspective techniques such as vipassana and samatha, and the cultivation of attention, insight, and compassion; Alaya consciousness, primordial mind, Rigpa, and the differing Mahayana interpretations of Buddha nature; awe, devotion, and faith in the experience of dream-like reality; and more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post H. H. the 42nd Sakya Trizin, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, & B. Alan Wallace in Conversation (#134) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a discussion with special guests Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Ven. Anālayo, Rinpoche, and host Daniel Aitken discuss many Buddhist ideas and practices, comparing what different Buddhist traditions have to say about them, including how the Buddha practiced; understanding mindfulness across different Buddhist traditions; the difference between mindfulness and awareness and how we translate the original terms for these practices; defining terms like space and emptiness and how we think about emptiness; emptiness and compassion; and much more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: Early Buddhism and Dzogchen (#133) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Alexander Berzin. Alex is a translator and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. A prolific author and translator, he has published seventeen books and is also the founder of StudyBuddhism.com, an extensive source of authentic Buddhist teachings, presented in a down-to-earth and practical way. Alex and host Daniel Aitken discuss his journey into Buddhism, which started with practicing yoga at thirteen; how he was impacted by meeting the Dalai Lama; his encounters with great teachers like Serkong Rinpoche, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, and others; the special training he received in the Kalachakra Tantra; his adventures teaching Buddhism around the world, including giving some of the first public Buddhist teachings in eastern Europe after the Soviet Union broke up; and much more. Alex began his study of Buddhism in 1962 at Rutgers and then Princeton Universities, and he received his PhD in 1972 from Harvard University. His main teachers have been His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, and Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. Practicing under their supervision, he completed the major meditation retreats of the Gelug tradition. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post Alexander Berzin: Dharma for Everyone (#132) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Pamela Weiss. Pamela is the author of A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism, a teacher in the Insight tradition, and has received Dharma transmission from Teah Strozer at the Brooklyn Zen Center. Pamela and host Daniel Aitken discuss how she found Buddhism through illness, and the vital role of self-compassion on her path; key ideas in Zen, such as the practice of “just sitting,” and Pamela’s own journey and insights with these practices; her fascinating journey between the world of the monastery and the lay world; her recent book; and much more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post Pamela Weiss: Real Health, Real Freedom, and Fierce Feminine Buddhism (#131) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features an interview with Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche—teacher, filmmaker, writer, and founder of several nonprofit initiatives including 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. This episode was a special launch celebration for the 84000 app. Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken discuss the importance and challenges of translating the Buddha’s words, how we should think about the Buddha’s original teachings, how Buddhism guides us through thinking about concepts like ignorance (rather than sin) and merit (as something that brings us closer to the truth), the role of technology in learning, practicing, and teaching Dharma, and much more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche: 84000 App Launch Celebration (#130) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features an interview with special guest Karl Brunnhölzl, celebrating the launch of his book Milarepa’s Kungfu. In this episode, Karl and host Daniel Aitken discuss the origin of the book’s unusual title, what inspired Karl to create this book, why the text explored in the book is so important, exploring the meaning of view, meditation, and conduct, the important role of devotion in practice, shock as a teaching tool, the meaning of nonconceptuality, and more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom Podcast for more great conversations on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. And please give us a 5-star rating in Apple Podcasts if you enjoy our show—it’s a great support to us and it helps other people find the podcast. Thank you! The post Karl Brunnhölzl: Milarepa’s Kungfu (#129) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Achariya Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei, both trained in the Karma Kagyu lineage. They follow the tradition of the late Namgyal Rinpoche, a pioneer weaving together Eastern and Western traditions. Qapel and Catherine Sensei teach meditation and act as spiritual mentors to students internationally and at their retreat center in British Columbia, Canada. This interview features stories about their lineages, Namgyal Rinpoche, Sayadaw U Thila Wunta, His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa, and  Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. They also share how they are building on this legacy through group guru, conscious community, integration of the shadow, and other approaches to dharma teaching and practice.   Qapel and Catherine Sensei have offered teaching on their Dharma if You Dare podcast, which started in 2009, as well as authored two books Wasteland to Pureland: Reflections on the Path to Awakening and Dharma if You Dare. The post Achariya Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei: Journeying Across Traditions (#128) appeared first on The Wisdom Experience.