In this episode of the Wisdom podcast, host Daniel Aitken travels to Berkeley, California, to speak with Venerable Ajahn Brahm, a meditation teacher in the Thai Forest tradition and author of many popular books including Falling Is Flying; The Art of Disappearing; and Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond . In this conversation, you’ll hear Ajahn Brahm talk about his early interests in theoretical physics at Cambridge University and how this intersected with his interest in Buddhist thought. He talks a...
Sep 06, 2019•1 hr 2 min
For this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken travels to Whidbey Island off the coast of Washington State to speak with Cyrus Stearns, independent scholar and translator in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Cyrus is the author of several books, including Taking the Result As the Path: Core Teachings of the Sakya Lamdré Tradition . Cyrus has had the rare opportunity of working in an intimate context with some of the greatest masters in the Sakya tradition. In this rich conversation, he...
Aug 16, 2019•1 hr 26 min
For this very special episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, the 42nd throne holder of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. In this fascinating conversation, you’ll hear His Holiness talk about his childhood growing up in the prestigious Khön family of Tibet. It was the Khön family who originally founded the Sakya order in the 11th and 12th centuries. His Holiness talks about what it was like growing up as the eventual successor to his fathe...
Jul 26, 2019•41 min
For this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Dr. Barry Magid , psychoanalyst, meditation teacher, and author of Nothing Is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans . Since the 1970s, Barry has dedicated his life’s work to the integration of Western psychoanalytic psychology and Zen Buddhism. In this fascinating conversation, Barry describes his initial encounters with Buddhist ideas and how he came to agree with some while pushing back on others. He explains how his psychoan...
Jul 05, 2019•1 hr 22 min
For this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with John Dunne, Distinguished Professor of Contemplative Humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of Foundations of Dharmakīrti’s Philosophy , published by Wisdom. John’s research focuses on Buddhist philosophy in relationship to contemplative practice, religious studies, and cognitive science. In this rich conversation, John covers a wide array of fascinating topics. He talks about the innate need for physiol...
Jun 13, 2019•1 hr 36 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Charles Hallisey, scholar and beloved professor at Harvard Divinity School. Professor Hallisey’s research centers on Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Pali language and literature, Buddhist ethics, and literature in Buddhist culture. His most recent book is Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women (Harvard University Press, 2015). In this fascinating conversation, Professor Hallisey shares his earliest e...
May 21, 2019•1 hr 35 min
Since this is our official 75th episode of the Wisdom Podcast, we thought we would rebroadcast our very first episode in commemoration of this meaningful milestone here at Wisdom. For this special conversation, host Daniel Aitken traveled to Dharamsala, India, to meet with His Holiness the Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, leader of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. His Holiness talks about many topics, including the efficacy of listening to Dharma classes, receiving empowerments, and taki...
Apr 13, 2019•23 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Graham Coleman, editor and critically acclaimed filmmaker in the Tibetan Buddhist world. In this lively conversation, Graham shares fascinating stories from the making of his feature-length documentary, Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy . An invaluable exploration of the sacred in Tibetan Buddhist culture, this extraordinary film includes rare and historic footage shot in Dharamsala, Ladakh, and Bouda, Nepal. Graham also shares what i...
Mar 22, 2019•49 min
On this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Narayan Helen Liebenson, revered meditation teacher and author of The Magnanimous Heart , published by Wisdom. Narayan is a guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, as well as at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center where she has taught since its inception in 1985. Her training over the past forty years includes study and practice with meditation masters in the Theravada, Zen, and Tibetan t...
Feb 26, 2019•1 hr 9 min
On this special Losar episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken travels to Kathmandu to speak with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, world-renowned teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and founder of the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal. In this special teaching, Rinpoche shares his past life memories and talks about his own experiences with the continuity of consciousness. He then speaks about consciousness itself as well as delusion—how we perceive what is not real as real, what is unclean ...
Feb 05, 2019•28 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Alejandro Chaoul, scholar and practitioner in the Bön tradition of Tibet and teacher of tsa lung trul khor , the art of Tibetan yantra yoga. In Tibetan, tsa lung means “channels and winds” while trul khor translates as “magical movements.” Alejandro is a professor at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he researches Tibetan mind-body techniques for cancer patients. In this fascinating conversation, you’ll hear A...
Jan 12, 2019•1 hr 1 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Mark Van Buren, author of A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness , published by Wisdom. Mark is a specialist in mindful living, yoga, and meditation, and has been promoting health and wellness for over a decade. Beginning with a meditation class in high school, Mark has found himself encountering Buddhist teachings and practices with increasing frequency throughout his life. In this episode, you’ll hear Mark share anecdotal storie...
Dec 21, 2018•57 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Sharon Salzberg, world-renowned meditation teacher and practitioner, and New York Times bestselling author. Sharon is also cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre Massachusetts, the first ever western meditation center established in the United States. In this episode, you’ll hear Sharon discuss one of her all-time favorite topics: the practice of metta , or loving-kindness. Sharon talks about what initially drew ...
Dec 01, 2018•34 min
In this episode, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Malcolm Smith, translator in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and long-time practitioner of Dzogchen. In this rich conversation, Malcolm discusses one of the most influential texts in all of Tibetan Buddhism, the Seventeen Tantras of the Great Perfection. Malcolm shares the fascinating history of these eleventh-century teachings, and reads from his recent translation of two of its central texts, the Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra ( Rigpa Rangshar ) and the...
Nov 10, 2018•1 hr 2 min
In this special episode of the Wisdom Podcast, we are joined by Wisdom Publications’ cofounder and spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist scholar and meditator who for 30 years has overseen the spiritual activities of the extensive worldwide network of centers, projects and services that form the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), which he founded with Lama Thubten Yeshe. Rinpoche is the author of several books including The Four Nob...
Oct 11, 2018•1 hr 18 min
On this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Christopher Ives , scholar and practitioner in the Zen Buddhist tradition, and author of Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage , recently published by Wisdom. Chris specializes in modern Zen ethics, as well as Buddhist considerations of nature. In this conversation, you’ll hear Chris talk about his first exposure to American Zen in college during the 1970s, and how his upbringing in New England prepared him for a very differe...
Sep 28, 2018•1 hr 17 min
On this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Janet Gyatso , renowned scholar and professor of Buddhist Studies at Harvard University . Janet is the author of several publications on the cultural and intellectual history of Tibetan Buddhism, including her award-winning book on the history of Tibetan medicine in early modern Tibet, Being Human in a Buddhist World . In this rich conversation recorded at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, you’ll hear Janet tell stories of...
Sep 14, 2018•1 hr 27 min
On this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with David Nichtern, celebrated musician and senior teacher in the lineage of renowned Tibetan Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. David is also author of Awakening from the Daydream , published by Wisdom. In this fascinating conversation, you’ll hear Daniel and David discuss the idea of mantra and the spiritual capacity of sound. As both a practitioner and seasoned musician, David shares his thoughts on the transf...
Sep 05, 2018•58 min
On this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, meditation teacher and practitioner in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and author of The Logic of Faith: the Buddhist Path of Finding Certainty Beyond Belief and Doubt. In this rich conversation, you’ll hear Elizabeth speak about her spiritual curiosity as a child and young adult, and her early ventures to Nepal where she met her husband and teacher Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Having spent four years in...
Aug 17, 2018•1 hr 7 min
On this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken travels to Montreal to speak with Thupten Jinpa, scholar and former monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and primary English translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama since 1985. In this rich conversation, Jinpa describes his intellectual training at Shartse College of Ganden Monastic University in South India, and reveals fascinating insights on the value of memorization as well as the art of debate in monastic education. Having worke...
Jul 31, 2018•1 hr 21 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Lama Tsultrim Allione, teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and author of Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine. Lama Tsultrim is also founder and spiritual director of Tara Mandala Retreat Center in southern Colorado. In this rich conversation, you’ll hear Lama Tsultrim tell stories from her remarkable spiritual journey—from her ordination by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa as a young woman, to...
Jul 16, 2018•1 hr 18 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Geshe Tashi Tsering, a teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition who was recently appointed abbot of Sera Mey Monastery by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In this episode, you’ll hear Geshe Tashi share stories from his scholastic journey—from his early years at Sera Mey that would eventually lead to a geshe lharampa degree, to his years teaching at Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London. Upon encouragement by His Holiness the Dalai La...
Jun 29, 2018•1 hr 16 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken speaks with Bhikkhu Anālayo, prolific writer and scholar of early Buddhist thought, and author of Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research, recently published by Wisdom. As part of a special live event, Daniel is joined by Professor Charles Hallisey of Harvard Divinity School as they speak with Venerable Anālayo on the topic of rebirth and its particular significance to early Buddhist doctrine. In this rich conversation, Venerable A...
Jun 08, 2018•50 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, Daniel Aitken speaks with H. E. Dza Kilung Rinpoche, revered teacher in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, and head of Kilung Monastery in East Tibet. Kilung Rinpoche was discovered as a reincarnation of H. H. Jigme Ngotsar Gyatso, a yogi who built Kilung Monastery in the eighteenth century. Jigme Ngotsar was also one of four main disciples of Jigme Lingpa, a revered visionary of the Nyingma lineage, and among the chief tertöns , or treasure revealers,...
May 25, 2018•51 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, Daniel Aitken speaks with Dr. Sonam Thakchoe, professor of Buddhist philosophy at the University of Tasmania and former monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Sonam was a child during the Cultural Revolution in Tibet. At just ten years old, Sonam fled to India with his father, where he began his formal education at the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India, before eventually earning a PhD in Indo-Tibetan philosophy. In this episode, Sonam recalls...
May 11, 2018•1 hr 25 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, Daniel speaks with Dr. Richard Salomon, Professor of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington and a leading figure in the field of early Buddhist studies. You’ll hear Richard discuss his groundbreaking scholarship in the field of ancient Gāndhārī literature. His new book, The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhāra, is a fascinating look at the oldest Buddhist manuscripts ever to be uncovered. You’ll learn the historical and religious ...
Apr 20, 2018•1 hr
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, we meet Karl Brunnhölzl, celebrated teacher, translator, and author in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Originally trained as a medical doctor, Karl practiced medicine for twenty years before dedicating his life full-time to translation of Tibetan Buddhist texts. You’ll hear Karl share stories of his early ventures throughout Asia while still in medical school. Eventually, Karl would come to study with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche as well as Khenpo Tsultrim Gyam...
Apr 09, 2018•55 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, we meet Dungse Jampal Norbu, Dharma teacher in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and son of the revered Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Dungse was raised in a Tibetan-American family in Colorado. At the instruction of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Dungse’s father set him on a path to uphold and continue his lineage in the Dzogchen Longchen Nyingtik tradition. You’ll hear Dungse share stories from his cross-cultural evolution as a student, practitioner, and teache...
Mar 16, 2018•49 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, Daniel Aitken speaks with Dr. Karen Derris , scholar of South and Southeast Asian Buddhist traditions and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Redlands . In recent years, Karen had the rare opportunity of working one-on-one with His Holiness the Karmapa as an editor of his book, Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society , published by Wisdom. You’ll hear Karen share stories from the time she spent studying in Nepal as an undergradu...
Mar 02, 2018•59 min
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded with a live audience, Daniel Aitken speaks with Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche, revered teacher in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and founder of the Danakosha Dharma Center in Finland. Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche was recognized by His Holiness Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche as a reincarnation of Drupwang Rogza Sonam Palge, a hidden yogi of eastern Tibet. Third in his line of tulkus, Rinpoche shares stories from the legendary lives of his earlier incarnations ...
Feb 21, 2018•44 min
