The Wisdom Podcast

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , fea tures Susan A. Landesman interviewed by Prof. Robert Thurman and host Daniel Aitken. Susan A. Landesman, independent scholar and educator in New York City, is the author and translator of “ The Tārā Tantra: Tārā’s Fundamental Ritual Text (Tārā-mūla-kalpa) , ” “ Goddess Tārā: Silence and Secrecy on the Path to Enligh...

This Wisdom Podcast features Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison. Koshin is an author, Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, and Certified Chaplaincy Educator. He has six years of training at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association as well as clinical contemplative training at both Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Medical Center which culminated in his roles as an ACPE Certi...

In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , host Daniel Aitken is joined by Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chodron, student of the great Nyingmapa Tsa-Lung and Dzogchen master, Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche. Khandro Kunzang left behind a promising career in the early 1990’s to pursue her practice of the Dharma and became a novice nun in the Drikung Kagyu lineage, studying unde...

This Wisdom Podcast  episode features Geshe YongDong Losar. Geshela is a Tibetan Bön lama, or spiritual teacher, in the Yungdrung Bön lineage, which is rooted in the indigenous spiritual tradition of the Himalayas. He lives in Courtenay, British Columbia, where he established and directs Sherab Chamma Ling , the only Tibetan Bön Buddhist Center in Canada. He teaches in many centers and universitie...

This Wisdom Podcast  features translator and philosopher Mark Siderits, trained in Asian and Western philosophy at the University of Hawaii and Yale University. Mark  has taught both Asian and Western philosophy for many years at Illinois State University, and as Professor of philosophy at Seoul National University. He is the author or editor of five books including “ Nāgārjuna’s Middle Way ” and...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , fea tures Thupten Jinpa Langri and host Daniel Aitken. Thupten Jinpa, educated in the classical Tibetan monastic academia and Geshe Lharampa, equivalent to a doctorate in divinity. Jinpa also holds a BA in philosophy and a PhD in religious studies, both from the University of Cambridge, England. Since 1985, Jinpa has been...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features James B. Apple , Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary. James’ research focuses upon critical analysis of Mahāyāna sūtras and topics within Indian and Tibetan Buddhist scholasticism. His numerous books and articles include  Stairway to Nirvāṇa ,  A Stairway taken by the Lucid ,  Jewels of the Middle Way ,  Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Illuminator...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features host Daniel Aitken joined by Malcolm Smith—translator in th e Tibetan Buddhist tradition and long-time practitioner of Dzogchen. Malcolm Smith has been a student of the Great Perfection teachings since 1992, his main Dzogchen teachers being Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and the late Kunzang Dechen Lingpa. He is a veteran...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with special guest Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Mathes, Head of the Department of South Asian, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna. Host Daniel Aitken and Klaus-Dieter discuss: his initial interest in western philosophy and physics, and his journey physically and intellectually to the east; translating and studying with Khenp...

This  Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken. Rinpoche is the author of two bestselling books and oversees the Tergar Meditation Community, an international network of Buddhist meditation centers. He is the son of the renowned meditation master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and was formally enthroned as the seven...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features Heidi I. Köppl, translator and interpreter for Tibetan lamas such as Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and editor-in-chief of Tara’s Triple Excellence Online Meditation Program . Heidi translated at the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Nepal for more than a decade and has been a faculty member at the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddh...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , fea tures Karma Trinlay Rinpoche , a highly accomplished Buddhist teacher and meditation master. Born in 1975 to an American mother and French Father, and recognized by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, Rinpoche is the first reincarnated Westerner of French and American origin to be recognized in the Karma Kagyu tradition of...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast fea tures Wisdom author Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo: scholar, author, and meditation teacher. Born in Germany in 1962 and ordained in Sri Lanka in 1995, Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo  completed a PhD thesis on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta at the University of Peradeniya in 2000, and is faculty member and scholar at several academic institutions. Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo  has authored...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Cha t , features poet, writer, and Sanbo Zen teacher Henry Shukman .  Henry is Guiding Teacher at  Mountain Cloud Zen Center  in Santa Fe, studying primarily with Joan Rieck Roshi, John Gaynor, Ruben Habito Roshi, and continuing his training under Yamada Ryo’un Roshi. He also trained in mindfulness practice with Shinzen Young, a...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features contemporary Tibetan artist Rabkar Wangchuk. Traditionally trained, Rabkar studied for seventeen years at Gyudmed Tantric University, where he also received training in Tibetan thangka painting and arts. After moving to the West, Rabkar’s style has continued evolving into its own unique form, bringing humor and a...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features special guest His Eminence the 12th Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche as he and host Daniel Aitken celebrate the launch of Rinpoche’s most recent book,  Mahāmudrā: A Practical Guide . H.E. Gharwang Rinpoche was born into the Sikkimese Royal Court and was recognized by H.H. the 16th Karmapa as the incarnation of the Gharw...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast  features an interview with special guest Matthew Kapstein Ph. D., Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Chicago, director of Tibetan Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études Paris, and co-editor of the online  Oxford Bibliographies of Buddhism . His numerous publications include Buddhism Between Tibet and China , Reason’s Traces ,   Co...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast  features Shaila Catherine, who has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than eight years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has taught insight meditation since 1996 in the U.S. and internationally, dedicating several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal, and Thailand. She is the founder of   Bodhi Courses — an online Dhamma class...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features an interview with host Daniel Aitken and special guests Venerable Robina and Venerable Chokyi, discussing their work with the Liberation Prison Project . The Liberation Prison Project offers spiritual advice and teachings, as well as Dharma books and materials, to people in prison interested in exploring, studyin...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Daniel A. Hirshberg , who earned a PhD from Harvard University in 2012 and was associate  professor in the Department of Classics, Philosophy, & Religion at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Since recording this podcast, Dan left his tenured professorship to found SŌTERIC .  In this episode, host Daniel...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Dr. Alejandro Chaoul , who has studied Tibetan yoga for thirty years with the tradition’s greatest masters, including Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Dr. Chaoul and host Daniel Aitken explore Tsa Lung Trul Khor (“channel/wind obstacle-clearing techniques”) yoga practice and its place in Dzogchen meditation; the pract...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live at the 2021 Serenity Ridge Dialogues features a conversation between H. H. the 42nd Sakya Trizin, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, & B. Alan Wallace , moderated by Daniel Aitken. Topics discussed include body, breath, mind, and the nature of consciousness in scientific and spiritual paradigms; views on the source of mind and the influence of the...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a discussion with special guests Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Ven. Anālayo, Rinpoche, and host Daniel Aitken discuss many Buddhist ideas and practices, comparing what different Buddhist traditions have to say about them, including how the Buddha practiced; understanding mindfulness acros...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast  features an interview with Alexander Berzin. Alex is a translator and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. A prolific author and translator, he has published seventeen books and is also the founder of StudyBuddhism.com , an extensive source of authentic Buddhist teachings, presented in a down-to-earth and practical way. Alex and host Daniel Aitken discuss his journey in...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Pamela Weiss . Pamela is the author of A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism , a teacher in the Insight tradition, and has received Dharma transmission from Teah Strozer at the Brooklyn Zen Center . Pamela and host Daniel Aitken discuss how she found Buddhism through illness, and the vital role of self-compassion on her pat...