This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a special guest, Khandro Kunga Bumma . As a young woman, Khando-la had a vision to leave her homeland of Tibet and go to Nepal. There, she met a hermit sage who told her that she had to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After a difficult journey, including major health challenges, she finally met His Holiness and began serving as a medium of the oracle Tenma. In 2012, Lama Zopa Rinpoche introduced Khandro-la to...
Jul 21, 2023•52 min•Ep. 165
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features the return of special guest Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, PhD . Karl was originally trained as a physician. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, as well as the Nitartha Institute , founded by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter of Tibetan a...
Jun 30, 2023•49 min•Ep. 164
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features Geshe Tenzin Namdak . After completing his university studies in Hydrology, Geshe la worked as an environmental researcher in the Netherlands. He began studying Buddhism at Maitreya Institute and was eventually ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama before completing the 20-year Geshe degree at Sera Jey monastic university in India, as well as the traditional one-year Vajrayana study program at Gyume Tantric College. Currently, he is the resident teac...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 163
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast , Wisdom CEO Daniel Aitken interviews renowned teachers Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. This conversation heralded the beginning of the 2020 Serenity Ridge Dialogues, an online summit exploring the intersection of spirituality and science. In this episode, Daniel and the two Rinpoches discuss many facets of Dharma practice in the modern world, including: Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s inspiration for starting the Dialogues What motivated the ...
May 15, 2023•57 min•Ep. 162
This Wisdom Podcast filmed as a live Wisdom Dharma Chat features special guest Venerable Bhikku Bodhi. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk from New York City, born in 1944. He obtained a BA in philosophy from Brooklyn College and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School. After completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received novice ordination in 1972 and full ordination in 1973, both under the leading Sri Lankan scholar-monk, Ven. Balangoda Anan...
Apr 15, 2023•57 min•Ep. 161
This Wisdom Podcast filmed as a live Wisdom Dharma Chat features special guest Karl Brunnhölzl. Originally trained as a physician, Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, PhD, received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, as well as the Nitartha Institute , founded by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter of Tibetan and English. Karl is a senior te...
Mar 31, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 160
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features special guest His Eminence the 12th Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche speaking with host Daniel Aitken. His Eminence the 12th Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche was born a son of the Sikkimese royal court and was recognized by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa as the twelfth incarnation of the Gharwang tulkus. Rinpoche is the supreme lineage holder of the Whispered Lineage of the Zurmang Kagyu tradition. He teaches around the world...
Mar 03, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 159
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features Shaila Catherine, who has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than eight years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has taught insight meditation since 1996 in the U.S. and internationally, dedicating several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal, and Thailand. She is the founder of Bodhi Courses —an online Dhamma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay —a Buddhist meditation center in Silicon Valley. Shaila has compl...
Feb 18, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 158
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features Cortland Dahl speaking with host Daniel Aitken. 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 addi...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 157
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features Susan A. Landesman interviewed by Prof. Robert Thurman and host Daniel Aitken. Susan A. Landesman, independent scholar and educator in New York City, is the author and translator of “ The Tārā Tantra: Tārā’s Fundamental Ritual Text (Tārā-mūla-kalpa) ,” “ Goddess Tārā: Silence and Secrecy on the Path to Enlightenment ,” “ Tara ” (in the Oxford Bibliographies ), and “ The Tārā Tantra: Part II: The Uttara-tantra...
Jan 13, 2023•56 min•Ep. 156
This Wisdom Podcast features Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison. Koshin is an author, Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, and Certified Chaplaincy Educator. He has six years of training at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association as well as clinical contemplative training at both Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Medical Center which culminated in his roles as an ACPE Certified Educator, chaplain, and Jungian psychotherapist. He began his formal Zen training in 1987, and ...
Nov 11, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 155
In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , host Daniel Aitken is joined by Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chodron, student of the great Nyingmapa Tsa-Lung and Dzogchen master, Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche. Khandro Kunzang left behind a promising career in the early 1990’s 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...
Nov 04, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 154
This Wisdom Podcast episode features Geshe YongDong Losar. Geshela is a Tibetan Bön lama, or spiritual teacher, in the Yungdrung Bön lineage, which is rooted in the indigenous spiritual tradition of the Himalayas. He lives in Courtenay, British Columbia, where he established and directs Sherab Chamma Ling , the only Tibetan Bön Buddhist Center in Canada. He teaches in many centers and universities around the world and has also founded the Bon Da Ling center in Costa Rica. In this episode, Geshe ...
Oct 28, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 153
This Wisdom Podcast features translator and philosopher Mark Siderits, trained in Asian and Western philosophy at the University of Hawaii and Yale University. Mark has taught both Asian and Western philosophy for many years at Illinois State University, and as Professor of philosophy at Seoul National 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 compar...
Oct 22, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 152
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features Thupten Jinpa Langri and host Daniel Aitken. Thupten Jinpa, educated in the classical Tibetan monastic academia and Geshe Lharampa, 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, Jinpa has been the principal English translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Jinpa and Daniel discuss: details a...
Oct 14, 2022•58 min•Ep. 151
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features James B. Apple , Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary. James’ research focuses upon critical analysis of Mahāyāna sūtras and topics within Indian and Tibetan Buddhist scholasticism. His numerous books and articles include Stairway to Nirvāṇa , A Stairway taken by the Lucid , Jewels of the Middle Way , Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Illuminator of the Awakened Mind , and An Old Tibetan Dunhuang Manuscript of the Avaivartikacakrasūtra . In this ep...
Sep 16, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 149
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features host Daniel Aitken 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 Bud...
Sep 02, 2022•58 min•Ep. 148
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with special guest Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Mathes, Head of the Department of South Asian, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna. Host Daniel Aitken and Klaus-Dieter discuss: his initial interest in western philosophy and physics, and his journey physically and intellectually to the east; translating and studying with Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche; Kagyu and Jonang traditions and the Kalachakra Tantra; emptiness and in...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 147
This Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken. Rinpoche is the author of two bestselling books and oversees the Tergar Meditation Community, an international network of Buddhist meditation centers. He is the son of the renowned meditation master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and was formally enthroned as the seventh incarnation of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche by Tai Situ Rinpoche when he was twelve years old. In addit...
Aug 05, 2022•55 min•Ep. 146
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features Heidi I. Köppl, translator and interpreter for Tibetan lamas such as Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and editor-in-chief of Tara’s Triple Excellence Online Meditation Program . Heidi translated at the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Nepal for more than a decade and has been a faculty member at the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies. Heidi has a degree in Tibetology from the University of Copenhagen, and has translated ...
Jul 22, 2022•54 min•Ep. 145
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features Karma Trinlay Rinpoche , a highly accomplished Buddhist teacher and meditation master. Born in 1975 to an American mother and French Father, and recognized by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, Rinpoche is the first reincarnated Westerner of French and American origin to be recognized in the Karma Kagyu tradition of Vajrayāna Buddhism. In 1978 he started the traditional training of tulkus under the guidance of the ...
Jul 15, 2022•59 min•Ep. 144
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features Wisdom author Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo: scholar, author, and meditation teacher. Born in Germany in 1962 and ordained in Sri Lanka in 1995, Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo completed a PhD thesis on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta at the University of Peradeniya in 2000, and is faculty member and scholar at several academic institutions. Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo has authored several books on meditation and early Buddhism, such as Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization ,...
Jul 08, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 143
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features poet, writer, and Sanbo Zen teacher Henry Shukman . Henry is Guiding Teacher at Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, studying primarily with Joan Rieck Roshi, John Gaynor, Ruben Habito Roshi, and continuing his training under Yamada Ryo’un Roshi. He also trained in mindfulness practice with Shinzen Young, and has published nine books to date, including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He writes regularly for ...
Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 142
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features contemporary Tibetan artist Rabkar Wangchuk. Traditionally trained, Rabkar studied for seventeen years at Gyudmed Tantric University, where he also received training in Tibetan thangka painting and arts. After moving to the West, Rabkar’s style has continued evolving into its own unique form, bringing humor and a depth of meditative searching and self-awareness to the work. We’ll be celebrating the launch of Ra...
Jun 10, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 141
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features special guest His Eminence the 12th Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche as he and host Daniel Aitken celebrate the launch of Rinpoche’s most recent book, Mahāmudrā: A Practical Guide . H.E. Gharwang Rinpoche was born into the Sikkimese Royal Court and was recognized by H.H. the 16th Karmapa as the incarnation of the Gharwang Tulku. Rinpoche is the supreme lineage holder of the Whispered Lineage of the Zurmang Kagyu tradi...
Jun 03, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 140
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with special guest Matthew Kapstein Ph.D., Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Chicago, director of Tibetan Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études Paris, and co-editor of the online Oxford Bibliographies of Buddhism . His numerous publications include Buddhism Between Tibet and China , Reason’s Traces , Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet , and The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism . Matthew...
May 20, 2022•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 139
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features Shaila Catherine, who has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than eight years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has taught insight meditation since 1996 in the U.S. and internationally, dedicating several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal, and Thailand. She is the founder of Bodhi Courses —an online Dhamma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay —a Buddhist meditation center in Silicon Valley. Shaila has compl...
May 16, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 138
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 20,00...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 137
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 Wil...
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 136
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 ...
Mar 18, 2022•50 min•Ep. 135
