The Wisdom Journal, Summer 2017 by Wisdom Publications

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F R O M T H E P U B L I S H E R Welcome to another issue of the Wisdom Journal. We’re delighted to announce that due to all of your encouragement, we’re moving from two issues a year to three. Please keep sending us your feedback (to marketing@wisdompubs.org), letting us know what you love about this publication and how we might improve it. In the coming months, we’ll be publishing not just one, but two new books from His Holiness the Dalai Lama! We’re particularly excited to announce the publication of a biography of his senior tutor, Kyabjé Ling Rinpoché, written by His Holiness himself. It’s titled The Life of My Teacher. Be sure to check out some of the amazing photos included in the work (page 8). Also coming this year is Approaching the Buddhist Path, the first in an eight-volume series in which His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Ven. Thubten Chodron present the stages of the Buddhist path in a manner suitable for the modern reader (page 7).

Cover photo of Mahabodhi Temple in India by Ariyathailand

Recently, I had a wonderful time interviewing Mingyur Rinpoche for the Wisdom Podcast. This issue features an excerpt from the interview in which Rinpoche discusses his near-death experience at the beginning of his wandering retreat (page 10). We’re also happy to announce the publication of Rinpoche’s children’s book, Ziji: The Puppy Who Learned to Meditate. Look for it this fall. There’s so much more for you to enjoy in this issue, but let me draw your attention to one last thing: a preview of Bhikkhu Bodhi’s new translation of the Suttanipāta with commentaries (page 4). This latest volume in the Teachings of the Buddha series, available now for pre-order at wisdompubs .org/suttanipata, translates the most ancient layer of the Buddha’s teachings along with its classical commentaries. Please enjoy, Daniel Aitken Publisher Wisdom Publications

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3 1 L E A V I N G T H E P R I S O N O F T H O U G H T Ajahn Brahm

L O V I N G K I N D N E S S Bhikkhu Bodhi The Metta Sutta, along with its commentary, lovingly translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

1 6 T E A C H I N G M I N D F U L N E S S Excerpts from Sumi Loundon Kim, Deborah Schoeberlein David, and Krissy Pozatek 1 8 T H E D R E A M , T H E M Y S T E R Y, A N D T H E S I L E N C E James William Coleman

7 M I N D A N D E M O T I O N S O N T H E B U D D H I S T P A T H His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron

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L I N G R I N P O C H É ’ S E S C A P E T O I N D I A His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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An interview with Mingyur Rinpoche

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LOVINGKINDNESS A

G U I D E T O T H E M E T T A S U T T A E X C E R P T S F R O M T H E S U T T A N I P Ā T A  T R A N S L A T E D B Y B H I K K H U B O D H I

he Metta Sutta (or Karan.iyametta Sutta) is the most popular discourse in the Theravāda canon. It belongs to a group of three discourses—along with the Ratana and Mahāmaṅgala Suttas— considered “protective suttas” (paritta) and sources of blessing. The theme of the sutta, as is clear from the title, is the practice of meditation on loving-kindness. While this meditation is open to everyone, monastics and laypeople alike, the sutta describes the practice in the context of monastic life, as is clear from the virtues inculcated in the opening stanzas: humility, contentment, frugality, sense restraint, and courtesy toward lay supporters.

L O V I N G - K I N D N E S S

Just as a mother would protect her son,

( M E T T A

her only son, with her own life,

S U T T A )

This is what should be done by one skilled in the good, having made the breakthrough to that peaceful state: he should be able, upright, and very upright,

so one should develop toward all beings   a state of mind without boundaries.

amenable to advice and gentle, without arrogance.

And toward the whole world

[He should be] content and easily supported,

one should develop loving-kindness, a state of mind without boundaries—

of few duties and a frugal way of living;

above, below, and across—

of peaceful faculties and judicious,

unconfined, without enmity, without adversaries.

courteous, without greed when among families. Whether standing, walking, sitting,  He should not do anything, however slight,

or lying down, as long as one is not drowsy,

because of which other wise people might criticize him.

one should resolve on this mindfulness:

May all beings be happy and secure;

they call this a divine dwelling here.

may they be inwardly happy. Not taking up any views,   Whatever living beings there are

possessing good behavior, endowed with vision,

whether frail or firm, without omission,

having removed greed for sensual pleasures,

those that are long or those that are large,

one never again comes back to the bed of a womb.

middling, short, fine, or gross; whether they are seen or unseen,  whether they dwell far or near,  whether they have come to be or will come to be, may all beings be inwardly happy. No one should deceive another,  nor despise anyone anywhere.  Because of anger and thoughts of aversion no one should wish suffering for another.

C O M M E N T A R Y O N L O V I N G - K I N D N E S S F R O M P A R A M A T T H A J O T I K Ā I I

What is the origin? It is said that bhikkhus, harassed by deities on a slope of the Himalayas, went to the Blessed One at Sāvatthī, and the Blessed One spoke this discourse to them for protection and as a meditation subject. That is a brief account. But the following is a detailed account. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī as the time for the rains retreat was approaching. At the time several bhikkhus from different provinces who had learned a meditation subject from the Blessed One approached him with a wish to enter the rains retreat elsewhere. The Blessed One explained meditation subjects suitable for the 84,000 different kinds of temperament in this way: To those of a lustful temperament, he taught the eleven meditation subjects on the unattractive nature of the body by way of both the sentient (living) and insentient (dead) bodies. To those of a hating temperament, he taught the four meditation subjects, loving-kindness and so forth. To those of a deluded temperament, he taught such meditation subjects as mindfulness of death. To those of a discursive temperament, he taught such meditation subjects as mindfulness of breathing and the earth kasin.a. To those of a faith temperament, he taught such meditation subjects as recollection of the Buddha. And to those of an intellectual temperament he taught such meditation subjects as the delineation of the four elements. Then five hundred bhikkhus who had learned a meditation subject from the Blessed One went out seeking suitable lodgings and a village as an alms resort. They traveled by stages until they saw, on the frontier, a mountain in the Himalayas that was made of stone slabs the color of bluegreen crystal. It had cool, thick shade, and it was adorned with blue-green jungle groves. The ground was strewn with sand like silver foil inlaid with nets of pearls, and it was surrounded by pools of pure, sweet, cool water. The bhikkhus passed one night there, and in the early morning, after attending to their bodily needs, they entered a nearby village for alms. The village consisted of a thousand families who lived in dwellings close together, and the people there were faithful and confident. Since monks were a rare sight in the frontier region, as soon as they saw the bhikkhus the people were filled with rapture and joy. They fed the bhikkhus and begged them: “Stay right here, Bhante, for the three months of the rains retreat.” They built five hundred meditation huts, which they provided with all the necessary implements: beds, chairs, jugs for drinking water and washing water, and so forth. The next day the bhikkhus entered another village for alms, and there too the people served them in the same way and

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begged them to stay for the rains retreat. Noting that there was no obstacle, the bhikkhus consented. They entered the jungle grove and meditated energetically all day and night; when the time gong was struck, they carried on practicing careful attention and sat at the feet of the trees. The splendor of those virtuous bhikkhus surpassed the splendor of the tree deities, who came down from their own palaces, and taking their children, roamed about here and there. This was similar to the situation when kings or royal ministers have gone to a village and occupy the space amid the houses of the villagers, and the people in the houses come out and stay elsewhere, looking on from a distance, wondering, “When will they leave?” Just so, the deities abandoned their own palaces, and roaming about here and there, they looked on from a distance, wondering: “When will the venerable ones leave?” Then they considered: “The bhikkhus have entered the first rains retreat and will have to stay here for three months. But we will have to withdraw, taking our children, and it will be a long time before we are able to live here again. Come now, let’s show the bhikkhus frightening objects.” That night, as the bhikkhus were meditating, the deities created the forms of terrifying yakkhas standing before each one, and they also made frightening sounds. When the bhikkhus saw those forms and heard those sounds, their hearts trembled, and they became pale and sallow. Because of this, they could not focus their minds, and with their minds scattered, repeatedly agitated by fear, they lost their mindfulness. Then, when they lost their mindfulness, the deities created foul odors. It seemed as if their brains were being crushed by the foul odors and they experienced severe headaches, yet they did not inform one another of what was happening. F I N I S H T H E S T O R Y AT

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T H E S U T TA N I PĀTA AN ANCIENT COLLECTION O F T H E B U D D H A’ S D I S C O U R S E S TOGETHER WITH ITS C O M M E N TA R I E S T R A N S L AT E D F R O M T H E PĀ L I BY BHIKKHU BODHI

MIND AND EMOTIONS ON THE

BUDDHIST PAT H AN EXCERPT FROM APPROACHING THE BUDDHIST PATH BY THE DALAI LAMA AND THUBTEN CHODRON

e are emotional beings. Our feelings of pleasure or pain provoke different emotions, and our emotions motivate us to act. Some of our emotions are afflictive and unrealistic; others are more realistic and beneficial. As a result, some of our actions bring more pain, while others bring happiness. Learning to differentiate destructive from constructive emotions so we can subdue the former and nourish the latter is a worthy endeavor on a personal as well as societal level. Buddhas have eliminated all afflictive emotions, but that does not mean that they are emotionally flat, apathetic, and unreceptive to human contact. In fact, it is the opposite: by going through the gradual process of overcoming destructive emotions such as greed and anger, buddhas have built up and expanded constructive emotions such as love and compassion. Due to this inner transformation, their work in the world is wiser and more effective. [â&#x20AC;Ś] HAPPINESS AND UNHAPPINESS, VIRTUE AND NONVIRTUE While both Buddhism and psychology seek to help people have more happiness and fulfillment and decrease their unhappiness and misery, they differ somewhat in what they consider positive and negative emotions. Some psychologists and scientists I have spoken with say that a negative emotion is one that feels bad and makes the person unhappy at the time it is manifest in the mind. A positive emotion makes the person feel happy at the time it is manifest. In Buddhism, what differentiates positive and negative emotions is not our immediate feeling of happiness or discomfort but the happiness or suffering that is the long-term result of those emotions. That is because the long-term effects of our actions are considered more important than their short-term effects, which tend to be fleeting in comparison. If, in the long term, an emotion produces unpleasant experiences, it is considered negative; if it brings happiness in the long term, it is positive. Buddhism explains that virtuous (positive, constructive, wholesome) emotions lead to happiness in the long term, while nonvirtuous (negative, destructive, unwholesome) emotions lead to suffering.

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other than to escape from the Norbulingka Palace in Lhasa. I told the precious tutor that he should accompany me. Consequently, in his rooms at the Shapten temple, he took off his robes and put on a lynx hide undergarment owned by his predecessor, a brown woolen chupa belonging to the labrang manager, and a fox-fur hat. He carried with him in the pockets of his chupa a golden amulet box containing the photograph of Kyabjé Phabongkha impressed with his thumbprint on the back and a small ivory statue of Vajrabhairava carved by the Mongolian artist Dharma. He also sorted out and took some of his daily recitation texts. He told the monk Chösang Thutop to take good care of his pet dog Drölma. The manager told the other attendants that Rinpoché was going to the hermitage for a few days, thereby ensuring the secrecy of the situation. N O M A W E A L T H K N O W I L E F T B

Photos by Brian Beresford, courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archives

LING RINPOCHÉ’S ESCAPE TO INDIA

AN EXCERPT FROM THE LIFE OF MY TEACHER

BY HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

T T E W E T A E H I

R H O W M U C H H A V E , W E A L L L L H A S T O B E N D O N E D A Y .

At ten o’clock that evening, the precious tutor, his manager and attendant, Kyabjé Trijang Rinpoché and his attendants, the ministers Surkhang, Shenkha, and Neshar, and my three household attendants emerged through a secret door on the veranda of the Kalsang Palace and climbed onto a tarpaulin-covered transport truck. At Chapgo bridge we left the truck and walked as far as the Ramagang ferry site. Having crossed the river, we continued on horseback. We traveled as far as Ushang, where in the ninth century the famous emperor Tri Ralpachen, one of the three ancestral Dharma kings of Tibet, stopped to take tea in its temple. The following evening we stayed at Kyishong Rawamé Monastery. We traveled through Chongyé Riwo Dechen and Yartö Drala, and then Rinpoché went ahead to Thösam Dargyé Ling Monastery, a great monastic center of Yarlung that was affiliated to the labrang.

s I wrote in the book My Land and My People, the confrontation between Tibet and China escalated a few days after the conclusion of the Great Prayer Festival. One afternoon a large convoy of Chinese vehicles was seen traveling from the Nortölingka toward Lhasa. Everybody said they were probably heading for the Norbulingka. The situation had now become very dangerous, and some people were saying that it was vital for Rinpoché to secretly flee Lhasa for a while. Because of this, Rinpoché had picked up his bowl for drinking tea and was ready to leave. However, it was not deemed necessary to leave that day.

When I finally arrived at Dargyé Ling, Guru Vajradhara greeted me with an incense-led procession, and as soon as I arrived in my rooms, he offered me the three representations. That evening the monastery cared for me and all the government officials and attendants with excellent hospitality, providing all that was needed. On the twenty-sixth of March, at Yulgyal Lhuntsé Dzong, the residence of the former rulers of Jayul, Tenzin Norbu and Miwang Tsokyé Dorjé, a new Tibetan administration in the manner of a temporary government was created. During the ceremonies for the auspiciousness of its declaration, Rinpoché kindly performed the mandala eulogy.

On the evening of March the seventeenth, the situation had become so serious that I was powerless to do anything

All the while we were escaping we wore the clothes of laymen, and this prompted Rinpoché to joke, “Today we

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a long time. Rinpoché wrote down the words to the song.

Sakya Trizin, Ling Rinpoché, the Dalai Lama, and Trijang Rinpoché sit and Drukpa Thuksé Rinpoché, Düdjom Rinpoché, and Kalu Rinpoché stand in front of the Mahabodhi stupa in Bodhgaya, early 1960s. Photo courtesy Yongzin Lingtsang Labrang.

have had to become Bodongpas.” As we were approaching Tsona, a plane flew overhead from southeast to northwest. Rinpoché was concerned that this was a spy plane and that we could be bombed. On horseback Rinpoché only recited prayers, and that night he slept very well. On the thirty-first of March, we reached Chudangmo, the border of Tibet and India, and we felt very relieved to be free of Chinese oppression and danger. Eventually we arrived at Tawang in Mön, Arunachal Pradesh. Rinpoché stayed in a house below the monastery. Tsona Göntsé Rinpoché offered Rinpoché all provisions and invited him to stay in a small hermitage, where they engaged in private conversation. Göntsé Tulku had been a student at Drepung Monastery. While he was studying there and after he had left, he had been to discourses given by Phabongkha Rinpoché and had received teachings on Sanskrit grammar from him together with Ling Rinpoché. Therefore they were Dharma friends and they had exchanged texts and letters over time. He had received teachings from Phabongkha Rinpoché on peaceful and wrathful Mañjuśrī combined, and from his notes taken at those teachings, he offered to Rinpoché the notes on the practice of longevity and requested the Vajradhara tutor to live a long life. Four days after leaving Tsona, having traveled through Tawang, we arrived at Bomdila. There, Kyabjé Trijang Rinpoché offered a spontaneous song in the form of a request for tutor Ling Rinpoché to remain in this world for

animal possessed fortunate karma.

While we were traveling through Pangjen district, the horse belonging to Lochö the cook fell into a ravine and died. That evening Lochö offered butter lamps, and Rinpoché asked his attendant, the Amdo monk Jinpa Gyatso, to recite the five common aspiration prayers in their entirety. Moreover, the Vajradhara tutor himself along with Trijang Rinpoché recited prayers and made their own fervent prayers for the horse. Clearly, that

Rinpoché’s manager remarked that he was concerned as they had not been able to bring any belongings from the labrang. To which Rinpoché replied, “Now the most important thing is that we, and in particular the Dalai Lama, have managed to escape to safety. It is because of the kindness of the Dalai Lama that we have safely reached the freedom of India. If we had remained in Tibet, we would all have been separated by the Chinese and been subject to the oppression of harsh treatment in prison. What would that have been like? Think like this and put aside your material concerns. Be happy and content that we are alive. No matter how much wealth we have, we all know it all has to be left behind one day. Only for us, leaving behind our possessions has come a little early now. Because of our karmic debt, now we have to pay back the loan. It is good we had something to pay with.”

THE LIFE OF MY TEACHER A BIOGRAPHY OF K YA B J É L I N G R I N P O C H É BY HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G AT

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Stories of

Wandering and Awakening An Interview with Mingyur Rinpoche

Photo by Kevin Sturm

n a recent episode of the Wisdom Podcast, publisher Daniel Aitken interviewed Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche—one of the new generation of Tibetan Buddhist masters. In late 2015 Rinpoche returned from a four-year wandering retreat, and in the condensed conversation below, he shares personal stories about the profound experiences of his recent retreat.

So I don’t mind there’s no particular bed, no particular mattress, and no particular shelter. But I’m just feeling embarrassed because I never used to stay like that before. So finally, I went to a dormitory and paid 100 rupees, less than $2 for 12 hours. It was very nice. I couldn’t stay there more than three days. So I thought, what shall I do now? I don’t have any plan. So I bought a map of India.

Daniel Aitken: Rinpoche, I heard you describe that in your retreat, early on you got quite ill and came near to death.

On the map, there are all the holy places of Buddhism and Hinduism; how to go about by bus, how to go about by train, what platform, things like that. So I took a train from there to nearby Kushinagar. I stayed at Kushinagar in the guesthouse, very cheap. I cannot stay on the street. I thought maybe I will treat this as training for a few weeks.

Mingyur Rinpoche: So I left my monastery with a few thousand rupees, maybe five thousand or six thousand rupees or something like that. First I stopped in Varanasi for three days at the train station. I stayed at the train station outside on the street and I felt very embarrassed. It looked like everybody is looking at me, and there are some police there and I thought they are also looking, you know.

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After all my money is finished, then I thought, this is a good opportunity to really move onto the street—no choice—and stay on street. I don’t have money to buy food. So I went to ask at the restaurant that before, when I had money, I ate from. Later I went there and asked them,

“I don’t have money, can I you give me leftover food?” So they gave me leftover food. Every night I have to go there.

DA: This experience of freshness, did it fade or can you keep this?

Then that leftover food has some, maybe food poisoning—I got a virus. I have diarrhea for three days. Then on day four, I cannot really move. My body became very, very weak. Then in the afternoon, 2 to 3 p.m. I thought, “Now I’m going to die. Should I go back? Should I stay? If I want to go back, I can make one phone call and go back, right?” So, no rest for two hours. After that I make a decision that I am going to stay.

MR: It’s always there, but sometimes up, sometimes down.

S U DDEN LY M Y M IN D C O M PL ETELY O PEN ED. THEN THERE’S N O F EAR, N O THIN G .

And then I feel quite happy. We have this dying meditation, Actually, it’s really, really beneficial for me. I really learned bardo practice, so I did continue to do that and let it go, let a lot. Particularly at the beginning, that first month was very challenging. it go, let it go. Then in the morning around 1 to 2 a.m. I see my head kind of here; all sides dissolve, and my body DA: So now you’ve come back from this four-year retreat, become paralyzed. But my mind is very clear; I rest in med- did this change the way you think of what you want itation. Then there’s a lot of process, like falling and floating, to do? so many things, one by one, one by one. Then I feel like I MR: The main thing is the same. The teaching lineage is am going to become unconscious. Suddenly my mind com- always there, from 2,500 years back. So I will continue to pletely opened. Then there’s no fear, nothing. I’m so happy. teach. Particularly now I want to focus on, of course, medBut happy, not in the sense like, “Yahoo!” Not excitement— itation and view, but more about the conduct and how to so grounded, but so free, like a blue sky without clouds, apply meditation in daily life. And also, different types of with sun shining. Something you can experience, but personality. One meditation technique is not suitable for cannot put into words. The normal monkey mind is gone. everybody. The variety, the mentality is different, culture, Normally when we think there’s an image, there’s words, or life, different style. So I try to focus more on practice, it’s mixed together. But that time, I know without thinking. dependent on mentality. And that doesn’t have a front, back, it doesn’t have time, no DA: Is there anything else you would like to share with our location. And I remained in that state until morning. readers? DA: For how long, Rinpoche? MR: So, for applying meditation in life, there are two MR: Four, five hours. Then in the end, I felt like this is not important things. One is daily practice. Maybe you can do the time—this is not the end, not the time for me to go. simple things—don’t promise too much at the beginning. That feeling became stronger. There’s some kind of feeling Something you can do even five minutes, like sitting on a of compassion. And then suddenly I felt my body, and then cushion, formal practice. Then you need to make that into slowly, slowly I feel like breathing. Before that, I thought habit. If it does not become your habit, like a daily routine, my breath has also stopped, but I don’t know, because I then you don’t have much effort—because we’re all lazy, cannot check. But my body was paralyzed—I tried to move actually, just like me when I was [young]...In Buddhism, for sure. Like when you’re in lucid dream and try to move many, many practices are daily routine, gyün kher, what we your body, you cannot move, right? Just like that. And then call daily routine. I come back. Then everything is so nice. Normally when I So, how to build a daily routine? It would take thirty days. stay on the street I feel very uncomfortable, right? So after You have to do meditation five minutes every day wheththat the street is like my home. er you like it or don’t like it. After thirty days it becomes DA: Wow. a habit, and then it’s easy. That’s the formal meditation. MR: It’s so nice. The ground is so…grounded. Then I look Informal meditation, you can meditate everywhere, at the trees, the leaves are very green and fresh. Then the anytime—while you’re eating, talking, driving—for three breeze, it’s moving, like dancing…so fresh and happy. I seconds, four seconds. You don’t need to look for a cushion stand up and I feel thirsty, I wanted to drink water. So I or have a particular body posture. Everywhere, anytime. walk a few steps, and become unconscious. Someone took me to the hospital and I woke up in the hospital. The person gave me a little bit of money also and then he said he’d pay the bill, and then he’s gone. So one day later I’ve Listen to the full interview and others with recovered. Then I bought a train ticket again, since there’s guests Bhikkhu Bodhi, Dan Harris, and more some money. I went to the Himalayan Mountains. at wisdompubs.org/podcast.

W I S D O M P U B S . O R G

Duration of Grief An excerpt from Bearing the Unbearable by Joanne Cacciatore

“I have faith in nights.” —Rainer Maria Rilke

’m often asked the question about grief ’s duration.

learn from and transform suffering has also enlarged.

Just this morning I had an email from a sibling grieving a murdered brother who asked, “How long will this take?”

Even so, I would gladly give back my newfound strength and flexibility to have Cheyenne. And yet, the other side of that truth is that decades later I am more whole today than I would have been without having known and loved my daughter.

The people who ask me such things are often the newly bereaved or those who deeply care for them, wishing for life to be as it once was. For those grieving, it is impossible to imagine that this peculiar and idiosyncratic pain will ever end, that life will ever be “normal” again, that the tears will run dry. And truly, things cannot and will not ever be exactly as they were—because we and our world are changed. Some claim that it is time that heals, but I see this process a bit differently. Certainly, time allows some necessary space, a kind of respite, from the despair of early grief. Personally, though, I don’t actually feel that my grief has diminished over time. I can still access the deep, vivid grief of losing my daughter, Cheyenne. The idea that grief incrementally weakens by the mere passage of time has not been my truth. Nor would I wish it to be. It isn’t how much time has passed that counts. It’s what we—and others around us—do with that time. I decided early that I would not be willing to fragment parts of myself in order to make me—or those around me—comfortable. And, by allowing myself to be with grief, to bear its weight, to carry it, I have become stronger. Eventually I became strong enough to help others carry their grief. If we were to use a 1–10 scale, my grief varies day to day across the whole range, but my capacity to cope is almost always (in recent years) at a 9 or a 10. It happened like this:

Those we love deeply who have died are part of our identity; they are a part of our biography. We feel that love in the marrow of our bones.

Slowly at first, very slowly, I started to stretch and exercise my “grief-bearing muscles” by being with my pain. Carrying such formidable weight, my muscles hurt at first—almost constantly, they ached and burned with pain—as my body objected to the new weight I had to carry. T H E W E I G H T I N E E D E D T O B E A R N E V E R C H A N G E D — O N L Y M Y A B I L I T Y T O C A R R Y I T.

Over time, as I kept stretching, kept lifting grief ’s weight, I grew stronger and more flexible—becoming better able to carry grief in all its myriad shape-shifting forms. The weight I needed to bear never changed—only my ability to carry it.

There is a lingering call to remember them that, though sometimes muted by the chaos of the world, never fades away. When we dismiss that call, the cost to ourselves is fragmentation and disconnection, and the cost to society is an emotional impoverishment that ignores grief and causes it to be reborn into self-and-other. Seeking to live without grief, we diminish our ability to feel truly content. Turning toward the shattered pieces of our selves, choosing to stand in the pain, is a serious responsibility. When we remember our beloved dead, we bridge the gap of space and time between us and them and bring them back into the whole of our reality. Particularly when life has regained a tempo of comfort, surrendering to grief is an act of necessary courage.

I wanted to adapt to the weight rather than having to overcome it, to force healing, or to be at BEARING THE war with my U N B E A R A B L E  grief or myself. And through such adaption, my heart has grown bigger, and my capacity to

LOVE, LOSS, AND THE H E A R T B R E A K I N G PAT H O F G R I E F  J O A N N E C A C C I A T O R E  C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G AT

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The Wisdom Podcast The Wisdom Podcast is a Buddhist podcast that features interviews with leading thinkers from the Buddhist world. Each episode takes you on a fascinating exploration of Buddhism and meditation as our guests share stories and discuss life-changing practices, timeless philosophies, and new ways to think and live. Subscribe now via your favorite podcasting app, and let us know what you think!

BHIKKHU BODHI Translating the Buddha

H.H. THE KARMAPA Vegetarianism, Online Education, and Nunsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ordination

KAMALA MASTERS Dhamma in Daily Life

KOSHIN PALEY ELLISON Zen and the Art of Caregiving

MINGYUR RINPOCHE Stories of Wandering and Awakening

SHARON SALZBERG Faith and Doubt

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GUY ARMSTRONG

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Emptiness: A Practical Course for Meditators

Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions

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Shamatha and Vipashyana in the Dzogchen Tradition

Delve into the profound and frequently misunderstood topic of emptiness— one of Buddhism’s most central teachings—with clear, illuminating guidance from renowned insight meditation teacher Guy Armstrong.

In this course with Ven. Thubten Chodron, strengthen your knowledge and practice of Buddhism by understanding its varied traditions—how they came to be, what makes them different from each other, and what they have in common.

LAUNCHES OCTOBER 16 Explore shamatha and vipashyana meditation, deepening your practice and understanding with the precise and rich teaching of B. Alan Wallace.

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Teaching Mindfulness SITTING TOGETHER A F A M I LY- C E N T E R E D C U R R I C U L U M O N M I N D F U L N E S S , M E D I TAT I O N , AND BUDDHIST TEACHINGS BY SUMI LOUNDON KIM

umi Loundon Kim’s Sitting Together is a new, thoughtful three-volume set that provides a complete curriculum for adults and children to learn about mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhist teachings together, either in the home, in partnership with other families, or with a local center. The curriculum for children spans topics such as meditation, kindness, character, and nature, and lessons include age-appropriate meditation instructions, songs, activities, games, storybook suggestions, and discussion topics. Enjoy below a sample meditation from the Children’s Lesson Plans volume, Lesson 1.1: Breathing Meditation and download an activity at our website. S T O R Y: Z I J I

Publisher’s Description: Ziji is a noisy, bouncy puppy who lives with the Anderson family—Mom, Dad, Jenny, and baby Jack. He loves to bark and play and—most of all—chase pigeons in the park. Then one day, Ziji sees a new boy from Jenny’s school, Nico, sitting in the park. What is Nico doing? Why does he look so calm and happy? Ziji can’t wait to find out. Questions 1. H ow does Nico teach Ziji meditation? What do you do to meditate?

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the grass and goes bouncing off again. You drag it back. The mind is like a puppy, because sights, sounds, and even thoughts are constantly distracting it. So, we can get our puppy mind to take a rest in one spot by bringing it back to our breath. M E D I TAT I O N : A D E E P B R E AT H

Let’s begin by noticing how we are feeling right at this moment. If there was one word to describe how you are right now, think of it and remember it. Now, take a deep breath in, beginning way down in the belly, and up, up, up through the ribs into the top of the throat. And a long, deep exhale, letting the air out in reverse from the throat, ribs, and now down into the belly. And again . . .

2. H ow do Ziji’s reactions to the pigeons change? What does Ziji learn when a loud motorcycle passes by him?

Now check in with yourself again. What two words would you use to describe how you felt before and how you felt after the deep breath?

3. How is our mind like a pond?

[Allow students to share their words.]

Note: An excellent guide for parents and teachers is found on pages 50–53 of Ziji.

When do you think taking a deep breath will be helpful to you in the future?

DISCUSSION: PUPPY MIND

Visit MindfulFamilies.net for mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhist resources for families.

In order to meditate, we need to calm our minds down. Our mind is like a puppy. How many of you have had a puppy before? [Pause for replies.] Well, as you know, trying to get a puppy to stay in one spot is quite a challenge. You’ve got the puppy sitting there, panting, wagging its tail, and suddenly it sees a butterfly and it goes running off. You drag the puppy back and it sits again. But in half a second it sees a bone over in

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Greeting the Day with Mindfulness

From Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness: A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything by Deborah Schoeberlein David

L E A R N M O R E AT

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NO FEELING IS FINAL F R O M B R AV E PA R E N T I N G : A B U D D H I S T- I N S P I R E D GUIDE TO RAISING E M O T I O N A L LY R E S I L I E N T CHILDREN B Y K R I S S Y P O Z AT E K

learned to work with emotions in two places: in my career in wilderness therapy and through Buddhism. Although they are very different disciplines, they share core concepts. In wilderness therapy, emotions are viewed just as they are. There are no labels or projections of good or bad, right or wrong. Though kids in wilderness settings still have their own idiosyncratic way of amplifying feelings—such as yelling, posturing, or giving up—at a

hat’s the first thing you like to do when your students enter the classroom? I like to greet them by acknowledging their presence and communicating welcome. This feels good for me, and I know they are more likely to learn when they soften into the learning environment. Since genuine greetings support positive outcomes in the classroom, why not adapt the same methodology first thing in the morning? Best practices in the classroom are often relevant at home. I like to acknowledge the experience of shifting from sleep into conscious awareness silently, with a sense of gratitude. The feeling is more an attitude than a statement, but it includes recognition—“I’m here, now”—and appreciation—“I’m glad to know that I’m here.”

core place the message is that there is nothing wrong with feeling “negative” emotions in and of themselves. What becomes clear in the wilderness is that the problem is the behavior—not the emotion. When kids feel anger, it is validated; when kids show disrespect and defiance, there are consequences. The essential distinction is this: all feelings are accepted and all behaviors must be accounted for. In the wilderness, this becomes straightforward. Furthermore, in wilderness therapy, the coping mechanisms that are used in day-today life to manage one’s emotions may not exist. There are no doors to slam, televisions to escape to, computer games to play, cell phones to gossip on, or junk food or other addictions to indulge in. There is nothing for kids to reach for in order to numb themselves. Of course there are still mental layers of defense—such as closing-off, denial,

You might greet the day silently, or with words like “Here I am,” “Okay, it’s morning. Let’s go,” or “Hello, day!” Or you might look out the window each morning before you get out of bed to meet the day with your eyes. The nature of a greeting is personal; it has to feel right for you as both giver and receiver. Mindfulness plays a role in all these greetings. First, you attend to the experience of noticing that it’s morning. Next, you begin to become aware that your experience of noticing the morning cues you to greet the day. Finally, you offer your greeting with awareness that this greeting welcomes you to the day and the day to you. Greeting the day involves witnessing and participating in its arrival, and your gesture of acknowledgment merges mindfulness with your behavior.

lying, or sarcasm—but they break down when the child spends time in a raw and exposed landscape. Without escape mechanisms, the greatest lesson of wilderness therapy is how to sit with your feelings. Emotions begin to be experienced in an unadulterated way, which is refreshing and new to most kids. This opening up and validation of feelings is also socially endorsed through daily groups. When adolescents in the wilderness experience their feelings, they notice that they eventually pass. In fact, research shows that the life span of an emotion lasts three to thirty minutes—if we let it be. C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G AT

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T H E D R E A M , T H E M Y S T E R Y, AND THE SILENCE A N E X C E R P T B U D D H A ’ S D R E A M B Y

J A M E S

F R O M T H E O F L I B E R A T I O N

W I L L I A M

C O L E M A N

Photo by David Gabriel Fischer

f we pay careful attention, it is quite possible to become aware of the various patterns and processes of our thinking mind, but the deeper layers of consciousness are a different matter. Very few of us have any direct knowledge of the subterranean flow of the subconscious mind that we have been discussing, nor are we aware of our original “pure” sensations for more than a fleeting instant before they are transformed by our habits and predispositions. We have had to rely on the great sutras, reflection, study, research, and the teachings of the most advanced yogis to put together our map of the psyche. And for most of us, it remains more of a useful theory than something we directly experience.

What we do experience directly is the endless flow of phenomena that arise in our awareness, which we have called the stream of consciousness. Images, ideas, sensations, and emotions succeed each other, one after the other, in a cascading stream that we appropriate as “my experience” in the

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ongoing story we tell about our lives. But what happens if we direct our attention away from the fascinating stories we weave about who we are and what we are doing, and focus directly on the phenomena we experience? What do we see? What is the true nature of phenomena? In the Sutra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets, the Buddha tells us that all the phenomena in this flowing stream of consciousness have three fundamental characteristics, which are called parikalpita, paratantra, and parinishpanna in Sanskrit. Parikalpita is usually translated as the “imagined” or “imputational” character. In a more poetic and evocative translation, Reb Anderson Roshi calls it “the dream.” The point is that part of each thing we unenlightened beings perceive is imaginary—something that we project on to the world that isn’t really there. The sutra likens it to the cataracts in a blind man’s eyes that distort everything he sees. But unlike cataracts, whose distortions are a more or

less accidental result of physical damage to the eye, our mind actively works to construct and inhabit its delusions, and we will fight tenaciously to avoid giving them up. The result is that most of us live our entire lives in a dream: a dream of independence, autonomy, separation, and gain and loss—a dream of suffering. Of course, everything we experience isn’t pure delusion. When we gaze directly at reality and try to grasp it with our thoughts and concepts, we experience paratantra, the “other-dependent characteristic” of phenomena. The idea that phenomena are “other-dependent”—that each object depends on countless other causes and conditions outside itself for its existence—also implies another critical fact: impermanence. When the causes and conditions that create a phenomenon change, the phenomenon itself must change or disappear. Everything that arises must also cease.

or any one of a thousand other names, but whatever words we use, we run the danger of confusing them with reality itself. So for now, let’s just call it “the silence”—not the silence that is the mere absence of sound, but the vast boundless silence that underlies all sound and appearance. P A R T O F E A C H T H I N G W E U N E N L I G H T E N E D B E I N G S P E R C E I V E I S I M A G I N A R Y — S O M E T H I N G T H A T W E P R O J E C T O N T O T H E W O R L D T H A T I S N ’ T R E A L L Y T H E R E .

Psychologically, what these great teachings tell us is that from the time we learn our first words until our final breath, our mind spins out an endless fantasy. We live in a dream dominated by the stories we tell about ourselves: stories about who we are, about what people think of us, about what we are going to do. We weave countless plots Taken together, the teachings of about how we will get what we want impermanence and other-dependence and avoid what we don’t, and we worry are foundational principles for all the about what will happen if they fail. Of different schools of Buddhism. So course, we aren’t the only ones in our it would be easy to assume that the dream. There are many others there other-dependence and impermanence too: friends, lovers, and enemies. There of phenomena are their ultimate nature. are people who help and support us, But as profound as that idea is, it is still people who torment and afflict us, and just an idea, an imputation. The teachings of the third turning tell us that the countless others we see as the passive observers of our great drama. Animals, true nature of reality is completely inplants, supernatural beings, and just conceivable and ungraspable. The only about anything else can also become way we can know the other-dependent part of the elaborate backdrop we paint is by confusing it with the ideas and for our personal drama. Yet no matter concepts we project on to it. But in fact, how enthralling, sooner or later our it is completely inconceivable, a total dreams will lead us into suffering; enigma, what Anderson Roshi calls after all, they aren’t actually real. “the mystery.” Only when we stop confusing the ideas and concepts we project onto reality with reality itself, and we rest in the pure suchness of things just as they are, do we know parinishpanna—the “pattern of full perfection” or the “thoroughly established character” of phenomena. We might also call this the ultimate, the absolute, awakened buddha nature,

Some philosophers believe we are trapped in a solipsistic world of our own creation, but though each of us has our own individual dream, we dream our dreams together. The culture that succors us, defines our world, and shapes our aspirations is nothing more than a dream we share. It is, nonetheless, a uniquely powerful dream, and we ignore its awesome strength at our own peril. There is no surer way of being ostracized and excluded than threatening the dream your fellows share, whether by your speech, your actions, or even by mere accident. Ask the young man beaten to a pulp because he is “a queer,” the rape victim turned out by her family because she was no longer “pure,” or the refugee driven from her homeland because she refused to accept that her oppression was ordained by God. We are terrified that we might see our dreams for the illusions they are, and we protect them with bloody force. But of course, it seldom has to go that far. The mere fact that everyone around us shares those dreams makes it likely that we will accept them without ever thinking much about it. If we do stray, we are told in countless subtle and not-so-subtle ways to get back on the path. A smirk, a cutting bit of sarcasm, or a cold stare quickly reminds us of the fate that waits those who threaten those cherished dreams. Such is the power of those dreams that few people see through them until they lead into a maelstrom of suffering, and even then, such insight is more the exception than the rule.

T H E B U D D H A’ S DREAM OF L I B E R AT I O N FREEDOM, EMPTINESS, A N D A W A K E N E D N AT U R E J A M E S W I L L I A M C O L E M A N  C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G AT

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Suffering and Happiness Are the Work of the Mind An Excerpt from Tales for Transforming Adversity by Khenpo Sodargye

was chatting recently with a very good friend. We talked THE BENEFITS OF about many things, from Dharma to daily life, engrossed P U R E P E R C E P T I O N in pleasant conversation. Suddenly it was time for lunch, For us ordinary people, the appearances projected by and someone brought us a bowl of noodles. As soon as I saw the mind are mostly impure. As great masters have said, it, my mouth started watering, and when I tasted it, it was “Buddhas see every sentient being as a buddha, demons see fantastic. It had never occurred to me that meeting a good all sentient beings as demons, and ordinary people see all friend could make food taste so good. The power of the sentient beings as ordinary.” Just because someone appears mind really is incredible. offensive to us, we should be slow to judge, since we cannot I remember when I was just a little boy, my father took me be sure what distortions cloud our view. to Trango. On the way, we passed through a small town Some people become irritated easily by others and are very called Drimdu. We had a bowl of noodles in a little noodle “talented” at diagnosing others’ faults. They can see a louse shack. Even now, several decades later, I still remember on the face of others but cannot see even a yak on their own how good those noodles were. Since then I’ve tasted a lot of face. They cannot see their own faults even when they are as famous delicacies, but none of them has ever matched the huge and obvious as Mount Meru. flavor of that bowl of noodles. Of course, I know very well The Treasury of Aphorisms says, “The noble ones examine that the noodles in such a small town couldn’t have been their own faults, while the inferior only look at others’ that extraordinary, but everything is affected by our moods. faults.” Virtuous people maintain an inward awareness every I could have been especially delighted because back then it moment, so that they can perfect their virtue. However, would have been a rare chance for me to eat out or because people with unruly minds place their eyes externally, in those days there wasn’t a lot of good food to be had. searching for others’ flaws without missing even a trace. One fable gives a similar illustration. Once, an exiled They scrutinize others, not letting even a hint of a fault pass. emperor tasted some particularly good tofu. It was so Sometimes they even wear magnifiers, attempting to find delicious that he thought it must be as good as ambrosia in bones in an egg. They are blind to others’ merits, but once heaven. When he returned to the palace after his exile, he they come upon a fault, they act like they have found a commanded many great chefs to reproduce this tofu. No precious jewel. matter how skilled they were or how much they tried, the As you may know, the realization of a person cannot be tofu never tasted as good. His attachment to that flavor was judged from external appearances. In the past, the eightyso extreme that he had chefs who failed beheaded. Had he four great Indian adepts did not outwardly behave in accord understood the meaning of “the object is the work of the with the Dharma. Some of them were butchers, some mind,” he would never have gone that far! Unfortunately, prostitutes, and others performed the menial jobs of the very few people in this world understand the relation lower castes. However, their wisdom and merit far surpassed between the mind and the external world. ordinary people. They appeared ordinary, but they were great bodhisattvas within. It is said that to speak ill of the enlightened one incurs terrible negative karma. Since people

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are not always what they appear, we should not rush to judgment. A pile of ashes might appear harmless, but if there are still sparks within it, you may still get burned. It is better to enjoy hearing your own faults than to enjoy hearing the faults of others. If you become aware of your own shortcomings, you can fix them. But if you habitually look for others’ shortcomings, you see no saving grace in them even if they are real buddhas or bodhisattvas. The wise adopt a pure perception of everyone. ACCEPTING CHANGE Nothing in this world is absolutely still. Everything is moving and changing. Because of impermanence, our happiness can’t last forever—it can turn into suffering at any moment. Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Verses on the Middle Way says, Anything impermanent is subject to falling apart, and falling apart is not happiness. Therefore what is impermanent is said to be suffering. Once, there was a young and headstrong princess, pampered by her father the king. No matter what she wanted, the king would do whatever he could to fulfill her wishes. One day it was raining hard, and when the rain spattered on the puddles in the palace yard, it made lots of bubbles, which fascinated the princess so much that she told the king, “I want a garland of water bubbles to adorn my hair.” The king answered, “That’s impossible.” The princess insisted, saying that if she didn’t get what she wanted she would die. The king was frightened and convened all the artisans in the kingdom, commanding them to make a garland of water bubbles for the princess. Many young artisans were at their wit’s end and extremely anxious for fear of the princess’s disappointment. One old craftsman claimed that he could do what she wanted on the condition that the princess be his consultant. The king was overjoyed and sent his daughter to the craftsman’s workshop. The craftsman told the princess, “I can make the garland, but I can’t tell nice water bubbles from ugly ones. Please bring me the ones you want, and then I will make them into a garland for you.” The princess happily agreed and went to choose her water bubbles, but even after trying a long time, she couldn’t catch a single one. Exhausted, she turned around and ran into the palace to tell her father, “Water bubbles are very pretty, but when I catch them, they don’t even last a moment. I don’t want them anymore.”

Suffering is rooted in clinging. The more deeply you realize the law of impermanence, the less overwhelming your suffering will be. If, for instance, you understand the impermanence of fame, its loss won’t surprise you. If you understand the impermanence of affection, its failure won’t make you desperate. If you make peace with the impermanence of life, you can recover from the devastation of a loved one’s death. J U S T B E C A U S E S O M E O N E A P P E A R S O F F E N S I V E T O U S , W E S H O U L D B E S L O W T O J U D G E , S I N C E W E C A N N O T B E S U R E W H A T D I S T O R T I O N S C L O U D O U R V I E W .

At the time of the Buddha, a woman who was abandoned by her husband lost her child to a fatal illness shortly afterward. The woman was overcome with sorrow. With her child’s corpse in her arms, she went to the Buddha and beseeched him out of his great compassion to bring the child back to life. The Buddha said, “First bring me a mustard seed from a household where nobody has died.” The woman went from door to door, but not a single family had been spared from death. Finally she realized that people are bound to die and that everybody is equal in this way. She then began to make peace with her child’s passing. Su Shi said, “The moon waxes and wanes, dim and bright; likewise, people can become happy or sad, together or separated.” This is the law of impermanence, and nobody can transcend it. If you understand this, your mind will open, and change won’t drive you to despair.

TA L E S F O R TRANSFORMING ADVERSITY A B U D D H I S T L A M A’ S ADVICE FOR LIFE’S UPS AND DOWNS KHENPO SODARGYE L E A R N M O R E AT

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Honesty Black Bear came to a meeting late and said, “I’m feeling frazzled after dealing with my cubs. What if I don’t feel compassionate?” Raven said, “Fake it.” “That doesn’t seem honest,” said Black Bear. “It doesn’t begin with honesty,” said Raven.

T H E R AV E N ’ S SOURCES AN EXCERPT FROM NELSON FOSTER’S NEW FOREWORD TO ZEN MASTER RAVEN

en Master Raven belongs, in a quirky sort of way, to a thousand-year-old literary tradition within the immense archives of Ch’an and Zen writings. Called yü-lu in Chinese or goroku in Japanese, such texts present themselves as life histories of great masters but ignore virtually all that contemporary biographies emphasize, reporting nothing of their subjects’ childhood traumas, mature personalities, family conflicts, social stature, tastes, politics, or peccadilloes and seldom even describing their looks or habits. Instead, these accounts confine themselves almost exclusively to brief, freestanding dialogues (thus the term yü-lu, “discourse records”) that the masters are purported to have had in the course of their careers. […]

In adopting the yü-lu format for his book, Robert Aitken—Aitken Rōshi, as he was fondly known to his students—laid unequivocal claim to this heritage, yet by setting it in the forest and assigning its dialogues to birds and beasts, at the same time he opened up an ironic and humorous distance from Zen tradition. Clearly he wanted it both ways, and I advise you to read it both ways: simultaneously as a serious record of his six decades practicing and eventually teaching Zen and as a lark, a merry improvisation by an old man living in retirement, entertaining himself and fully intending to entertain others as he set forth the path of liberation.

Z E N M A S T E R R AV E N THE TEACHINGS OF A WISE OLD BIRD ROBERT AITKEN C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G AT

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Illustration by Jennifer Rain Crosby

Becoming M Buddhas An Excerpt from Shantideva’s Guide to Awakening By Geshe Yeshe Tobden

ental afflictions are enemies that deprive us of our freedom; we discuss them in order to generate the desire to be free from them and to understand reality, not in order to feel discouraged. If we were not able to eliminate them, then talking about the mental afflictions would make us feel depressed and would be pointless. If, however, we are suffering and experience discomfort, with the understanding that these mental afflictions are a form of illness that arise due to our disturbing conceptions, we will be able to cure them and eliminate the suffering that accompanies them. First, we must closely examine our own conditions, since it is natural to be concerned about ourselves. Later on, we need to extend our concern to others, who suffer just as much as we do, and keep their situations in mind. If we are able to recognize that all beings experience suffering, we will be concerned about the welfare of each of them. Love and compassion will arise, and with them the extraordinary wish to do something for others. We must understand that it is possible to realize a state in which all mental afflictions have been eradicated and all positive qualities have evolved. We must also understand that this is something not just for ourselves to realize, but for all beings. Once we do this, we will then desire to reach that state in order to help others do the same. Without this inner development we will experience difficulties and become

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Photo of Hiranya Verna Mahabitar in Nepal by Swodesh Sakya

discouraged. Once we have realized wisdom and compassion, it will be our natural capacity to think of others! When presidents and prime ministers were schoolchildren, they could not imagine how they could become world leaders. How did they reach that level? First, they went to school and learned whatever they could. Then they took humble jobs and slowly realized that they could do better. Others also noticed that they were talented and encouraged them. Gradually, they acquired the necessary knowledge, and as a result they eventually achieved these roles. No one becomes a prime minister just after finishing school, but only gradually. Likewise, on the spiritual path, we first generate the fear of being reborn into unhappy rebirths. We extend such fear to all of cyclic existence. We continue by nurturing the desire that all beings may be free from cyclic existence until we develop the aspiration to achieve the state of a buddha for their sake, the highest aim of someone who practices the Dharma. We need to begin by generating love and compassion for our friends, relatives, and loved ones, then move on to generating love and compassion for those toward whom we feel indifferent, and finally for our enemies. In this way we include all beings. We will then be able to generate the

extraordinary aspiration to save all beings, although we will soon realize that we are not capable of doing so unless we reach buddhahood. The mind that generates this desire is bodhichitta, a mind present in all buddhas and bodhisattvas. If it were not possible to benefit all beings, there would be no buddhas or bodhisattvas... It is definitely possible to attain the state of buddha and help all beings do the same. The nature of the mental afflictions is the same for everyone. It is not true that only some people are able to eliminate them whereas others cannot, and it is as possible to help all beings as it is to help one of them. In the Bodhicharyavatara we read that even flies and insects possess the seed of buddhahood and can attain this state through right effort. Why then canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we do the same, endowed as we are with intelligence and the ability to discern what is good from what is not?

S H A N T I D E VAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; S G U I D E TO AWAKENING A C O M M E N TA R Y O N T H E B O D H I C H A R YAVATA R A GESHE YESHE TOBDEN C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G AT

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BUDDHISM IN PRACTICE A N E X C E R P T F R O M B E C O M I N G T H E C O M PA S S I O N B U D D H A BY LAMA YESHE

1. In the space in front of you is Guru Avalokiteshvara. He sits on a throne held up by snow lions and looks at you lovingly. At his heart is the wisdom-being, Avalokiteshvara himself. 2. Recite the Seven-limb Prayer, make a mandala offering, and recite the Prayer of the Graduated Path. 3. Now visualize that the throne melts into light and absorbs into Guru Avalokiteshvara’s body. His radiant light body melts into the moon at his heart, simultaneously from the feet upward and the crown downward. Then the moon absorbs into the Hrih at its center, which becomes like an egg of radiant light. This radiant light enters your central channel and descends to your heart chakra, the essence of Avalokiteshvara becoming one with you. The egg-light radiates throughout your entire nervous system. 4. All the energy of your own body melts, dissolves, into radiant light. This light becomes smaller, smaller… atoms…neutrons…then disappears into empty space. Let go into nothingness, with one part of your mind understanding the right view of non-self-entity. 5. Now a precious lotus appears. On the lotus is a moon with a beam of light at its center. Concentrate on the beam of light. Feel unity with the beam of light; let your mind sink into it. Don’t think, “Now I’m concentrating.” Feel that your mind actually goes into that beam of light; don’t feel that you are looking at it from the outside. Light radiates out from the beam to embrace all universal phenomena. 6. Then you hear the divine sound of Om mani padme hum coming from space, energizing, stimulating Photo of Mani Wall at Tso Moriri Lake by Daniel Prudek

the light to absorb back into the beam at your heart. Your liberated wisdom energy beam of light instantly transforms into Avalokiteshvara. See each part of yourself clearly: your divine, radiant light body, as clean and clear as crystal; your two hands holding the rosary and lotus; the other two hands at your heart; your eyes; the antelope skin draped over your left shoulder. Everything is clean-clear. Concentrate on this clarity. Do not feel that you are looking at an object outside yourself, as if it were another person. Feel: “This blissful, nonduality rainbow body is me; this is who I am.” This is divine pride. 7. Now change your concentration. At the heart of you, Avalokiteshvara, there is a radiant light moon and upon it a beam of light. Instantly, your Avalokiteshvara rainbow body dissolves into the moon, from the feet upward and the crown downward. The moon then dissolves into the beam of light. This becomes smaller, smaller…atoms…neutrons…and eventually disappears into empty space: experience nonduality, non-selfentity. Now, in space, a beam of light appears on a moon, which transforms into Avalokiteshvara, which is yourself. See this clearly and at the same time experience the right view of emptiness. Experience this as if you were a magician who has conjured up, say, a horse: when ordinary people see it they think it is real, but the magician, who also sees it, knows that it is not. In this way, experience the mahamudra deity.

T WO K I N D S O F M E D I TAT I O N In developing perfect concentration on the mahamudra deity, we first need to develop an intellectual understanding. Then we meditate without intellect; we just let go. However, some meditators think, “The intellect is garbage; I should give it up,” while others think that the intellect is more important than concentration. Actually, both attitudes are wrong. We need both intellectual understanding and samadhi. With intellect alone, you can never experience emptiness, the mahamudra deity. Without letting go of intellect and going into contemplation, you will end up with your own fantasy rather than the real experience. However, when you start meditating, you need the intellect to put your mind into the right channel. Once it’s there, you let go, without intellect, and the experience automatically comes. The first step, during which you use the intellect, is called che gom—analytical meditation. Gom means meditation— penetrative, intensive analytical wisdom that clarifies the situation. This is explained in great detail in the lamrim teachings. Then, when everything is set up, you let go of intellectualization: this is called jog gom. It’s like driving a car. First you have to become familiar with everything—brakes, gears, steering wheel, and so forth—and then, when you are familiar, you can just let go and drive. If you try to drive without first becoming familiar with every aspect of driving, you will crash, but when you are clear, you can just drive spontaneously. Meditation is similar. First, check up how much intellect you need before letting go into contemplation. Then you can be like the fish that just glides through water without disturbing it. CLARITY AND DIVINE PRIDE When concentrating on the mahamudra deity, you need two qualities: clarity and divine pride. In Tibetan, clarity is selnang, where sel means clear and nang means view. Clarity is the antidote to your ordinary vision and mundane thoughts, which are released automatically. When your view is clear and divine, you cannot be energized by the mundane view, and your restless mind is cut. Divine pride—thinking, “I am the mahamudra

deity”—is an antidote to the ordinary concepts of ego; it counters the psychological belief in the fantasy of your own identity. The Tibetan for pride is ngagyel. At the moment, with respect to what we think we are, we’re living in a fantasy world. It’s completely imagined— like thinking there’s an elephant in our bedroom. What we think we are has nothing whatsoever to do with reality. Hearing this might freak you out—“I know who I am!” But, according to Lord Buddha, our ego’s way of putting together what we are is a total fantasy. We create this bubble of our own identity and then spend all our time running here and there trying to keep it together. You can see the psychological effect of divine pride. When you feel that your liberated wisdom energy is the mahamudra deity Avalokiteshvara, there’s no way you can be depressed; there’s no room. There’s no way an elephant can enter your bedroom, either. When you meditate, first put energy into developing clarity: perceiving yourself very clearly as the mahamudra deity. Once you have confidence that your visualization is clear, generate divine pride. If your divine pride is too strong and you lose clarity, adjust your meditation. Similarly, if you feel dissatisfied when you are concentrating, if you start thinking, “I need more clarity,” and try too hard, you will become distracted. It’s important to feel satisfied. Just put your mind on the object and let go. If you always want more, your mind will get distracted; there’ll be too much excitement. Be skillful—you need to know how much energy to put into clarity and divine pride. However, you will learn this from your own experience. THE BODY IS IMPORTANT, TOO Tantric yoga emphasizes the physical as well as the psychological—both are important. You cannot say, “Oh, my rag body is no good, I don’t care about it!” This is not right. In fact, certain initiations come with a vow that says you should never criticize your body but see it in a positive way, take care of it, and keep it clean and healthy. Of course, the Hinayana part of the lamrim does talk about how the five aggregates are in the nature of suffering, and this is also correct. There is no contradiction between the Hinayana and the Vajrayana; it’s a question of the individual’s level of mind. All these teachings are a part of the graduated path to enlightenment. At the beginning we need a certain approach; then, when realizations come, we discard it and move on. According to tantric yoga, this body is very precious, like a diamond—we can use its energy on the blissful path to liberation.

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Also, there are explanations about how each chakra has a different function. Let’s say you have a difficult time experiencing bliss in your meditation. Your concentration might be good, but you find it difficult to experience bliss. What you can do in that case is bring the mantra down from the heart chakra to the navel, and concentrate on that. See if the feeling changes; see if you feel bliss. If that does not work, you can bring the mantra down even further, to the lower chakra, and contemplate the mantra there. That should automatically produce a blissful experience. However, if you experience bliss without penetrative, intensive wisdom, the right view, your bliss becomes an ordinary state of mind. Therefore, when experiencing bliss, it is very important that you simultaneously have the recognition of emptiness. You need that energy in order to make your experience transcendent. Actually, if you really understand the mahamudra body, the evolutionary stage, you don’t need to do anything; bliss and emptiness naturally come together. The nature of the rainbow body is automatically blissful and clean-clear. Just seeing the divine Avalokiteshvara body completely energizes transcendent bliss in the same way that seeing a beautiful human body energizes blissful samsaric energy. Just seeing Avalokiteshvara’s rainbow body brings an incredibly blissful experience and a feeling of unity, of non-self-entity. When you really understand this process, these things come together. This teaching by Lama Yeshe is based on the guru practice called The Inseparability of the Spiritual Master and Avalokiteshvara: A Source of All Powerful Attainments written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

BECOMING THE C O M PA S S I O N B U D D H A TA N T R I C M A H A M U D R A F O R E V E R Y D AY L I F E LAMA YESHE C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G AT

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was paddling through the impact zone at Ocean Beach. Ocean Beach is widely known to have one of the hardest paddle-outs in the world. I’ve watched professional surfers try to make it out on big days and get sent back to the beach whimpering. There are few, if any, channels and the currents pouring in and out of the San Francisco Bay can reach seven knots, sweeping surfers up and down like driftwood on rapids. People drown there every year. On this particular day, the waves were like endless frothy barricades. I’d been paddling for twenty minutes and I still wasn’t outside. I pushed and pumped and heaved and whined. The sea punched and kicked and jammed sand down my throat. And in the midst of this abuse, I realized how much I loved surfing. I loved the actual riding of the wave, of course. But I also loved the challenge of the paddle. It wasn’t always like that. And maybe I was just happy to be back in the water after living in India for months. Or maybe my mind was more accepting after hanging with all the ultra-happy Tibetan monks. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized every surfer has to like paddling, at least a little. This was because extremely little of each surf session is spent actually standing up on your surfboard on a wave—maybe one percent—so if you’re looking to have a good time it’s essential to find a way to enjoy paddling, or at least good-naturedly bear it. And in that way, I thought, surfing is kind of a good metaphor for the rest of life. The extremely good stuff—chocolate and great sex and weddings and hilarious jokes—fills a minute portion of an adult lifespan. The rest of life is the paddling: work, paying bills, flossing, getting sick, dying.

PA D D L I N G OUT An Excerpt from Saltwater Buddha By Jaimal Yogis

I loved the actual riding of the wave, of course. But I also loved the challenge of the paddle.

S A LT W AT E R B U D D H A A SURFER’S QUEST TO FIND ZEN ON THE SEA JAIMAL YOGIS C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G AT

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Coming Soon O N

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All of us at Wisdom are eager to share an exciting slate of new books with you this fall. In celebration of Bhante Gunaratana’s ninetieth birthday, we are happy to announce a new compilation of his master works: The Mindfulness in Plain English Collection. This beautifully crafted hardbound edition of some of Bhante G’s most classic books will also be accompanied by a new edition of his autobiography, Journey to Mindfulness. This fall we will also publish what has been a heart-project of H. H. the Dalai Lama—the first volume of a new series, Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics: The Physical World. Conceived and compiled by the Dalai Lama and edited by Thupten Jinpa, this extraordinary volume documents a sophisticated tradition of scientific thinking in India, with investigations of atomic theory, the relativity of time, the concept of multiple world systems, and fetal development. Ajahn Brahm’s newest book, Bear Awareness: Questions and Answers on Taming Your Wild Mind, was conceived to commemorate his fortieth anniversary of becoming a

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monk. In his usual pithy and witty form, Brahm covers topics like the “Hahayana” approach to meditation and kindfulness in this wise book from a master meditator. We are also pleased to announce the publication of a brilliant children’s book by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and Torey Hayden, Ziji: The Puppy Who Learned to Meditate. This will surely become a family favorite as kids will love the scruffy puppy who learns to calm his mind and free himself from the distractions of chasing pigeons. There are several other books on the horizon this fall, including Unsubscribe: Opt Out of Delusion, Tune In to Truth, a new book by Josh Korda drawing on his wisdom as a Dharma Punx teacher that will help us live authentically amid the myriad challenges we face; the eagerly awaited fifth and final volume in Geshe Sopa’s Steps on the Path to Enlightenment, his commentary on Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo that covers the topic of insight; Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community, by Larry Yang, a timely book by a longtime teacher in the insight meditation community; and many, many more that we can’t wait to share with you. Stay tuned! Yours in the Dharma, Brianna Quick And the Wisdom editorial team

E B O O K

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

On Compassion Learn compassion from a master with these four powerful teachings: • • • •

Why Others Need Our Compassion We Are Responsible for All Sentient Beings Why It Is Possible to Generate Compassion Approaching Enemies with Compassion

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ometimes ridiculous thoughts will swirl through your mind when you meditate. You might catch yourself thinking about washing the shirt you’ve been wearing all day and then pondering whether to hang it on the line at the shoulder seams or upside down or whether to fold it in half. Being bombarded with reasonable thoughts seems bad enough, but, you might ask, how do ridiculous thoughts seep in? The simple answer is that when you run out of reasonable thoughts, you move on to stupid thoughts. Any thought will do! It’s just like watching TV when you’re really bored: first you try to find an interesting program, but when you can’t, you’ll watch anything— even the most stupid stuff—to kill time. However, when you value stillness, you won’t be bombarded by thoughts at all. When you do experience some stillness, please don’t be afraid of it. Many people are outside their comfort zone in silence. They’re so used to thinking and they’ve become very good at it. They’re familiar with thoughts; it’s their usual hanging-out place. But no thoughts—that’s weird! They’re not quite sure what to do when there are no thoughts swirling around in their head. So they make some thoughts up, and it makes them feel good. It’s comfortable; it’s what they’re used to. It’s just like when a man has been released from prison: he doesn’t know how to relate to life outside. Inside prison he knew how the system worked and was comfortable. But leaving jail—that’s weird.

L E AV I N G THE PRISON OF THOUGHT AN EXCERPT FROM B E A R AWA R E N E S S BY AJAHN BRAHM

In silence you’re leaving the prison of thought. It’s weird at first, but just relax into the silence. Don’t be afraid, and you’ll soon get used to it. You realize that you don’t have to waste your time on stupid thoughts. After a while you learn to enjoy your house just as it is, and you don’t want to waste time watching TV shows. Instead, you use your time wisely by being silent.

BEAR AWARENESS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS O N TA M I N G Y O U R W I L D MIND AJAHN BRAHM

Photo by Allef Vinicius

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Teachings of the Buddha

“The masterful translations of the Buddha’s teachings by Bhikkhu Bodhi in the Teachings of the Buddha series have been a gold mine of Dharma riches made eminently available to us all.” —Joseph Goldstein The world-renowned Teachings of the Buddha series, developed under the guidance of the scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, features English translations of the historic Buddha’s original teachings. These teachings, which range from basic ethics and proper human relations, to instructions in meditation and liberating insight, unfold in a fascinating procession of scenarios that often show the Buddha in living dialogue with people from the many different strata of ancient Indian society. After the Buddha’s passing, a record of what he said was maintained as an oral tradition. Those who heard the teachings would periodically meet with others for communal recitations of what they had heard and memorized. In due course, these recitations from memory were written down, laying the basis for all subsequent Buddhist literature. The Pāli canon is one of the earliest of these written records and is the only complete early version that has survived intact. The Buddha’s discourses were assembled into four major collections called Nikāyas, which have been preserved through the centuries in the ancient Indian language known as Pāli. Most of these volumes were translated, edited, and introduced by Bhikkhu Bodhi, a veteran translator who lived for over twenty years in Sri Lanka. Bhikkhu Bodhi has endeavored to ensure that these translations are both accurate and eloquent. To further assist the reader, each volume is equipped with valuable introductory material, copious footnotes, and thematic indexes. These translations have won the esteem of scholars, Buddhist practitioners, and students of Buddhist literature around the world and are indispensable to any collection of Buddhist texts.

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Bhikkhu Bodhi

“As close as we’ll get to the original teachings and account of the life of the Buddha.” —Tricycle

BUDDHIST SYMBOLS

AN EXCERPT FROM BUDDHIST S Y M B O L S I N T I B E TA N C U LT U R E B Y D A G YA B R I N P O C H E

The Lotus (padma, Skt. padma)

he lotus is altogether one of the best-known symbols. It is considered to be a symbol of purity, or of pure or divine origination, for, although it has its roots in the mud of ponds and lakes, it raises its flower in immaculate beauty above the surface of the water. It is true that there are other waterplants that bloom above the water, but only the lotus, owing to the strength of its stem, regularly rises eight to twelve inches above the surface. Within the group of Eight Symbols also, the lotus stands for purity, especially mental purity.

BUDDHIST SYMBOLS I N T I B E TA N C U LT U R E D A G YA B R I N P O C H E L E A R N M O R E AT

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T H E L I F E O F S A K YA PA Ṇ Ḍ I TA AN EXCERPT FROM LUMINOUS LIVES: THE STORY OF THE E A R LY M A S T E R S O F T H E L A M ’ B R A S T R A D I T I O N I N T I B E T T R A N S L AT E D B Y C Y R U S S T E A R N S

he Master Translator, the relative of this great jetsun, abandoned the concept of family relation, and [viewing] him as no different than Vajradhara, pleased him with great devotion. He precisely mastered absolutely all the tantras, the Oral Instructions [of the lamdré], and so forth. Moreover, the life story of this Master Translator, if expressed in detail, I have heard to be like this: In regard to the Dharma Lord’s life story, Rinpoche commented, “Ācārya Mātr.cet.a stated, ‘Not being omniscient [myself], while you are omniscient, how can I understand you, Omniscient One?’ Likewise, the expression of his [i.e., Sakya Pan.d.ita’s] qualities must be spoken by one equal to him. Others are not able to express them. Nevertheless, since blessings will come, I will express a little. This Dharma Lord,” at the time he first entered into the womb of his mother, displayed incredible dream signs. A nāga king adorned with a jeweled headdress and so forth came. So it has been stated. While he was residing in the womb, fine dream signs, such as fine meditative concentration, came to the mother. I have heard that at birth, after which the signs of the birth of a bodhisattva occurred, and not long after, when he had been somewhat reared, he was able to understand a little of the Sanskrit language by the force of awakened propensities. When he spoke in [Sanskrit], the mother exclaimed, “Is this one actually retarded?” The lord replied, “He knows Sanskrit, so have no fear that your son is retarded.” Also, when he was just able to crawl, he would write Indian letters in nāgara, lañcana, and so forth, on the ground with his finger, act like he was reading them, and then erase them. So it has been stated.

He stated that he understood early both the Indian and Tibetan scripts, without studying, and didn’t remember which one he understood first. Furthermore, his excellent behavior was pleasurable to everyone. He was calm and disciplined, and had a fine disposition. He was gentle, moderate in speech, and bright, and fully upheld good qualities. He was devoted to his masters and elders, and very polite and respectful. His sense faculties were restrained, and he was compassionate to sentient beings.

In brief, by reaching the far shore of knowing the five fields of knowledge, he has become a great consummate pan.d.ita. Obtaining numerous realized meditative concentrations, the fame of his reputation has filled all directions, and he has brought infinite trainable beings to spiritual maturation and liberation. Xylograph of Sakya Pandita from The Sakya Lam ‘bras Literature Series, 16:2

SAKYA PAN.D.ITA’S SPECIAL QUALITIES

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Furthermore, with true devotion we should study under this great being who is truly expert in what is done by experts, such as the three activities of explication, disputation, and composition. Then, when he had reached the age of seventy, he passed into bliss at the capital Liang-chou, on the fourteenth day of the eleventh month in the wood-pig year.

Furthermore, by engaging in meditation he gained control of numerous meditative concentrations. I have seen his prophecies that several future events would “happen like this,” happen exactly like that, due to the force of his mastery of the movements of the profound outer and inner dependently arisen LUMINOUS LIVES connections. At a T H E S T O R Y O F T H E E A R LY time when there MASTERS OF THE LAM ’BRAS TRADITION IN TIBET were none but CYRUS STEARNS a few disciples, he stated, “At a L E A R N M O R E AT later time I will WISDOMPUBS.ORG/WJSUMMER17

For the purposes of this Journal, all Tibetan names in Wylie transliteration have been changed to the phonetic. 34

go to a place where there is a different kind of language, and some benefit will come to the Doctrine.” That happened exactly. Moreover, he is endowed with uncommon signs of having pleased Mañjughos.a. On several occasions when he engaged in meditation, inconceivable meditative concentrations arose. He never had ordinary thoughts, and whatever he did in the midst of many people, such as considering something, he could not be distracted by other influences. He had inconceivable such qualities. He has enormous blessing, and the perfect power to achieve the desired goal if it is prayed for.

In the Buddha’s Words

A regular Wisdom Journal feature with passages from the Pāli Canon. MINDFULNESS OF BREATHING. “And how, bhikkhus, is mindfulness of breathing developed and cultivated, so that it is of great fruit and great benefit? “Here a bhikkhu, gone to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty hut, sits down; having folded his legs crosswise, set his body erect, and established mindfulness in front of him, ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out. “Breathing in long, he understands: ‘I breathe in long’; or breathing out long, he understands: ‘I breathe out long.’ Breathing in short, he understands: ‘I breathe in short’; or breathing out short, he understands: ‘I breathe out short.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body [of breath]’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body [of breath].’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquillising the bodily formation’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquillising the bodily formation.’ “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing rapture’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing rapture.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing pleasure’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing pleasure.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the mental formation’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out

experiencing the mental formation.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquillising the mental formation’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquillising the mental formation.’ “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the mind’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing the mind.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in gladdening the mind’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out gladdening the mind.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in concentrating the mind’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out concentrating the mind.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in liberating the mind’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out liberating the mind.’ “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in contemplating impermanence’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out contemplating impermanence.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in contemplating fading away’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out contemplating fading away.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in contemplating cessation’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out contemplating cessation.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in contemplating relinquishment’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out contemplating relinquishment.’ “Bhikkhus, that is how mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. Ānāpānasati Sutta, MN 118

THE MIDDLE LENGTH D I S C O U R S E S O F T H E B U D D H A  A T R A N S L AT I O N O F T H E M A J J H I M A N I K ĀYA T R A N S L AT E D B Y B H I K K H U Ñ Ā N . AMOLI AND BHIKKHU BODHI

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THE ATTENTION REVOLUTION B. Alan Wallace 224 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

BUDDHISM FOR DUDES Gerry Stribling 144 pages | $14.95 ebook $10.99

WHO ORDERED THIS TRUCKLOAD OF DUNG? Ajahn Brahm 184 pages | $9.95 ebook $7.99

LIBERATION IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND Pabongka Rinpoche 896 pages | $28.95 ebook $19.99

THE HIDDEN LAMP Florence Caplow and Susan Moon 440 pages | $18.95 ebook $13.99

DON’T WORRY, BE GRUMPY Ajahn Brahm 240 pages | $16.95 ebook $11.99

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THE GRACE IN AGING Kathleen Dowling Singh 240 pages | $17.95 ebook $11.99

A NEW BUDDHIST PATH David R. Loy 176 pages | $16.95 ebook $11.99

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Tibetan Buddhist Books THE WHEEL OF LIFE The Dalai Lama 160 pages | $17.95 | ebook $12.99 Using the Wheel of Life and the twelve links of dependent origination, the Dalai Lama deftly illustrates how our existence, though fleeting and often full of woes, brims with the potential for peace and happiness.

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THE NYINGMA SCHOOL OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM Dudjom Rinpoche  1,584 pages | $90.95 ebook $39.99

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THE KARMAPAS AND THEIR MAHAMUDRA FOREFATHERS Khenpo Sherap Phüntsok  344 pages | $34.95 ebook $19.99

INTRODUCTION TO TANTRA Lama Yeshe 192 pages | $16.95  ebook $12.99

BECOMING VAJRASATTVA Lama Yeshe 320 pages | $18.95 ebook $13.99

THE BLISS OF INNER FIRE Lama Yeshe 256 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

HEART OF THE GREAT PERFECTION Düdjom Lingpa  Translated by B. Alan Wallace 344 pages | $19.95 ebook $11.99

BUDDHAHOOD IN THIS LIFE Translated by Malcolm Smith 248 pages | $29.95 ebook $17.99

THE MIDDLE WAY The Dalai Lama 200 pages | $17.95 ebook $12.99

WISDOM OF THE KADAM MASTERS Thupten Jinpa 232 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

THE BOOK OF KADAM Translated by Thupten Jinpa  752 pages | $59.95 ebook $34.99

TRANSFORMING PROBLEMS INTO HAPPINESS Lama Zopa Rinpoche 104 pages | $15.95 ebook $9.99

DYING WITH CONFIDENCE Anyen Rinpoche 192 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

STEPS ON THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT Volume 4: Śamatha Geshe Lhundub Sopa 224 pages | $29.95 ebook $17.99

STILLING THE MIND  B. Alan Wallace  224 pages | $17.95  ebook $13.99

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THE ZEN TEACHINGS OF HOMELESS KODO Kosho Uchiyama and Shohaku Okumura 288 pages | $17.95 | ebook $11.99

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ZEN Kōun Yamada 248 pages | $19.95 ebook $11.99

THE GATELESS GATE Kōun Yamada 336 pages | $19.95 ebook $14.99

DŌGEN’S EXTENSIVE RECORD Taigen Dan Leigthton and Shohaku Okumura 824 pages | $26.95 ebook $19.99

REALIZING GENJOKOAN Shohaku Okumura 328 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

ENTANGLING VINES Thomas Yuhō Kirchner  352 pages | $28.95 ebook $19.99

ZEN QUESTIONS Taigen Dan Leighton 312 pages | $17.95 ebook $13.99

LIVING BY VOW Shohaku Okumura   320 pages | $18.95 ebook $13.99

MOON BY THE WINDOW Shodo Harada  256 pages | $24.95 ebook $18.99

THE BOOK OF EQUANIMITY Gerry Shishin Wick 352 pages | $19.95 ebook $14.99

HARDCORE ZEN Brad Warner 232 pages | $16.95 ebook $10.99

NOVICE TO MASTER Sōkō Morinaga 160 pages | $15.95 ebook $9.99

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THE ART OF JUST SITTING John Daido Loori 256 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

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Theravada Books THE NUMERICAL DISCOURSES OF THE BUDDHA Bhikkhu Bodhi 1,994 pages | $75.00 | ebook $39.99 . A full translation of the Anguttara Nikāya. “As close as we’ll get to the original teachings and account of the life of the Buddha.”—Tricycle

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THE BUDDHA’S TEACHINGS ON SOCIAL AND COMMUNAL HARMONY Bhikkhu Bodhi 240 pages | $17.95 ebook $11.99

THE CONNECTED DISCOURSES OF THE BUDDHA Bhikkhu Bodhi 2,080 pages | $75.00 ebook $39.99

THE MIDDLE LENGTH DISCOURSES OF THE BUDDHA Bhikkhu Ñānamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi 1,424 pages | $65.00 ebook $29.99

MANUAL OF INSIGHT Mahāsi Sayadaw 744 pages | $39.95 ebook $19.99

FOOD FOR THE HEART Ajahn Chah 432 pages | $18.95 ebook $13.99

EIGHT MINDFUL STEPS TO HAPPINESS Bhante Gunaratana 288 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

ABHIDHAMMA STUDIES Nyanaponika Thera  176 pages | $18.95 ebook $13.99

IN THIS VERY LIFE Sayadaw U Pandita  320 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

WISDOM WIDE AND DEEP Shaila Catherine 576 pages | $22.95 ebook $16.99

THE SOUND OF SILENCE Ajahn Sumedho  240 pages | $16.95 ebook $11.99

MINDFULNESS WITH BREATHING Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu 184 pages | $16.95 ebook $11.99

UNTANGLING SELF Andrew Olendzki 200 pages | $17.95 ebook $11.99

WHO IS MY SELF? Ayya Khema 376 pages | $18.95 ebook $13.99

BEING NOBODY, GOING NOWHERE Ayya Khema 192 pages | $16.95 ebook $12.99

MINDFULNESS, BLISS, AND BEYOND Ajahn Brahm 160 pages | $16.95 ebook $11.99

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About Wisdom Wisdom Publications is the leading publisher of contemporary and classic books and practical works on Buddhism, mindfulness, and meditation. We trace our beginnings to the influential Tibetan teachers Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Lama Yeshe’s vision of “publications for wisdom culture” led to the founding of Wisdom. We are a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to • connecting you with Buddhist wisdom, • cultivating writers and teachers the world over, • advancing critical scholarship, • preserving and sharing Buddhist literary culture, • and helping people find and engage with the teachers, teachings, and practices for a wise and compassionate life. Publishers Tim McNeill Daniel Aitken

Production Ben Gleason Lindsay D’Andrea

Editorial Josh Bartok David Kittelstrom Laura Cunningham Brianna Quick Mary Petrusewicz

Sales & Foreign Rights Pema Shastri Administration Kaley Shumake

Marketing Lydia Anderson Kestrel Slocombe Wisdom Publications is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Catalog design by Amy Kunberger

Photo by David Gabriel Fischer 42

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In our previous issue, we mistitled the excerpt from Zen Echoes: Classic Koans with Verse Commentary by Three Female Zen Masters, translated by Beata Grant. We apologize for the mistake and for any confusion.

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Chia Tao | Translation by Mike Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor from The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: Buddhist Poet Monks of China

Photo by Alexandre Godreau W I S D O M P U B S . O R G

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