The Wisdom Podcast

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features an interview with Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche—teacher, filmmaker, writer, and founder of several nonprofit initiatives including 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha . This episode was a special launch celebration for the 84000 app . Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken discuss the importance and challenges of tr...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features an interview with special guest Karl Brunnhölzl , celebrating the launch of his book Milarepa’s Kungfu . In this episode, Karl and host Daniel Aitken discuss the origin of the book’s unusual title, what inspired Karl to create this book, why the text explored in the book is so important, exploring the meaning of...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Achariya Doug Qapel Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei, both trained in the Karma Kagyu lineage. They follow the tradition of the late Namgyal Rinpoche, a pioneer weaving together Eastern and Western traditions. Qapel and Catherine Sensei teach meditation and act as spiritual mentors to students internationally and at their retreat c...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features an interview with David Nichtern , a senior Buddhist teacher, meditation guide, Emmy award–winning composer and musician, and founder of Dharma Moon . David is the author of two books with Wisdom: Awakening from the Daydream and Creativity, Spirituality, and Making a Buck . In this episode, David and host Daniel A...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo. Tenzin Palmo is a bhikṣuṇī in the Drukpa lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and a brilliant teacher who is able to touch the hearts of many with her presence, her profound understanding of the Dharma, and its relevance and application in daily life. Tenzin Palmo is an author and founder of the Dongyu...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison . Koshin is an author, Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, and certified chaplaincy educator. Koshin and host Daniel Aitken discuss the Commit-to-Sit: 90-Day Commitment to Practice he ran earlier this year; his most recent book, Wholehearted ; his wisdom for makin...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with beloved teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken discuss practice during lockdown (this episode was recorded in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic), working with anxiety and stress, how to choose which teachings to follow, how to understand the nature of your mind, how Ri...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with renowned translator and scholar Robert Thurman. Dr. Thurman and host Daniel Aitken cover topics such as the not-self; the nature of nirvana; how we try to conceive ultimate reality and its true nature; understanding the importance of negation; and much more. Remember to subscribe to the Wisdom...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with renowned translator and scholar Vesna A. Wallace. She and host Daniel Aitken discuss the Kalachakra Tantra , including the subtle body in the Kalachakra, what makes the Kalachakra unique, and much more. Vesna teaches South Asian and Inner Asian religions and advanced Sanskrit courses in the De...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with beloved teacher Guy Armstrong . He and host Daniel Aitken discuss many aspects of Guy’s journey into Dharma and his practice with many famous Theravadin masters, as well as themes of interest to Guy, like emptiness. Guy has been leading insight meditation retreats since 1984 in the United Stat...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche, the lineage holder of Shangpa Kagyu. Rinpoche and Daniel discuss  what it means to be a lineage holder; how lineage helps preserve the Dharma; the difference between tradition and lineage; how to connect with a lineage; how to think about doubt in the practice; how and why...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with Ven. Sangye Khadro , a Tibetan Buddhist nun and author of the bestselling book How to Meditate: A Practical Guide . Ven. Khadro (Kathleen McDonald) tells us how she discovered Buddhism and how she wrote How to Meditate , including how she teaches meditation to Westerners who typically come to B...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with Lama Alan Wallace , author, scholar, president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies , and Founder, President, and Director of Contemplative Training at the Center for Contemplative Research. Lama Alan has also edited, translated, written, and contributed to more than forty...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with distinguished translator and scholar Donald S. Lopez Jr. Donald is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the department of Asian languages and cultures at the University of Michigan. He is the author and translator of numerous books, including...

In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast , host Daniel Aitken interviews artist and author Rima Fujita . You’ll hear about Rima’s upbringing in Japan and how she became Buddhist; a dream she had which helped her discover the ways she could support Tibet; how her friendship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama developed; dreams as a part of her creative process; the stories behind her new book with Wisdom...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features a conversation with writer, professor, and Wisdom author Christopher Ives. Chris has published two books with Wisdom: Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage and Meditations on the Trail: A Guidebook for Self-Discovery , which came out on May 11, 2021. In this conversation, Chris and host Daniel Aitken explore the idea at the heart of these two books: tha...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with Lama Migmar Tseten. In this episode, we celebrated the launch of Lama Migmar’s first major book, The Play of Mahamudra . In it, Lama Migmar provides essential commentary on the mystical songs of the Indian Buddhist rebel-saint Virupa. One of the most celebrated tantric masters of Buddhist Indi...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with Thupten Jinpa Langri , renowned scholar, translator, and interpreter for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In this conversation, Jinpa gives wonderful advice on how to read Dharma texts and integrate them with your practice. He also discusses the art of memorization, which texts most need to be tran...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast , recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with Sarah Harding, a translator and qualified lama in the Shangpa Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Sarah and host Daniel Aitken discuss many topics including her new book with Wisdom, Four Tibetan Lineages. In 1972, Sarah became a student and translator of Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989), one of the...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with simplicity blogger and bestselling author Leo Babauta. Leo created Zen Habits, a Top 25 blog with over a million readers, when he started writing to chronicle and share what he’s learned while changing a number of habits, including waking early, losing weight, quitting smoking, becoming a runner...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features a conversation with special guest and beloved teacher Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. In this episode, Rinpoche and host Daniel Aitken discuss what it means to train in tenderness, including opening the heart to people we find difficult; the central teachings of his new book Peaceful Heart: The Buddhist Practice of Patie...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat , features a conversation with guest Thupten Jinpa Langri. This Dharma Chat was a special book launch where we celebrated the release of Jinpa’s translation of Tsongkhapa’s Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Candrakīrti’s Entering the Middle Way. Topics discussed include the significance of this text, common misunders...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features an interview with Malcolm Smith, renowned Tibetan Buddhist translator. Malcolm is the translator of two box sets from the Seventeen Tantras, published by Wisdom: The Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra (Vol. 1) and The Self-Liberated Vidyā Tantra (Vol. 2), and The Tantra Without Syllables (Vol. 3) and The Blazing Lamp Tantra...

This episode of the Wisdom Podcast features an interview with Mark Van Buren, a mindful living trainer, yoga and meditation instructor, personal trainer, and musician who has been promoting health and wellness for over a decade. He’s the author of A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness and Your Life IS Meditation .   Mark discusses: how it can sometimes feel like everyday life is in opposition to prac...

For this episode of the Wisdom Podcast, host Daniel Aitken interviews poet and teacher John Brehm. Wisdom is proud to have published two of John’s books: his collection The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy , which came out in 2017, and his 2021 book The Dharma of Poetry . In this episode we explore the fascinating and profound territory where spirituality and poetry come together, with...