Buddhism Guides
Bodhisattva’s Jewel Garland: An Excerpt from Kadam, Part One
Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland: A Root Text of Mahāyāna Instruction from the Precious Kadam Scripture Excerpted from Kadam: Stages of the Path, Mind Training, and Esoteric Practice, Part One By Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye Translated by Artemus B. Engle About Kadam The third volume of this series covers the teachings and practices of the Kadam lineage. This tradition [...]Illuminating the Mind to See One’s Nature: The Root of Taoist Inner Practice
Illuminating the Mind to See One's Nature: The Root of Taoist Inner Practice An Excerpt from Taoist Inner Alchemy By Master Huang Yuanji & Ge Guolong Translate by Mattias Daly About This Excerpt Taoism and Buddhism, specifically Chan Buddhism, share many similar ideas including the concept and practice of inner cultivation, the nature of emptiness [...]Leigh Brasington on Ayya Khema, Metta Practice, and The Path to Peace
Listen to author and editor Leigh Brasington in conversation with Shambhala Publications staff about The Path to Peace: A Buddhist Guide to Cultivating Loving-Kindness and his teacher, Ayya Khema. After talking about Ayya Khema as a teacher, Leigh discusses metta practice and how it relates to samatha, vipassana, and the jhanas. He then leads us [...]A Reader’s Guide to Shantideva and the Way of the Bodhisattva
Shantideva and The Way of the Bodhisattva Learn More A Reader's Guide to the Essential Work on the Bodhisattva Path A Reader's Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva See Also: Profiles of early Indian Mahayana figures | Tibetan Masters of the 8th Century | Tibetan Masters of the 10th-11th Centuries Nagarjuna | Aryadeva | Asanga | Shantideva | Xuanzang | The Seventeen Pandits of Nalanda The great nineteenth-century [...]Khyentse Foundation Second Children’s Book Prize Winner Announced
Khyentse Foundation and Bala Kids are delighted to announce that Carol Dodd is the winner of this year’s Children’s Book Prize. Carol Dodd is a first-time author based in Hawai’i. She wrote a magical, lyrical children’s book on impermanence for ages 4–8, which will be published through Bala Kids in 2021. The central theme that [...]Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche & Pema Chödrön in Conversation | Free Video Offering
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche and Pema Chödrön Discuss the Innate Tenderness of Our Hearts ENTER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO ACCESS THE COMPLETE VIDEO INTERVIEW. In this interview, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche sits down with Pema Chödrön to discuss his book, Training in Tenderness, cultivating compassion, and the innate tenderness of our hearts known as tsewa. After entering [...]Announcing the Second Khyentse Foundation Children’s Book Prize
Theme: Stories that Teach Foundational Buddhist Topics After a successful competition in 2017, Khyentse Foundation and Bala Kids are once again teaming up to offer the Khyentse Foundation Children’s Book Prize for best Buddhist children’s manuscript. Khyentse Foundation and Bala Kids have the shared vision to inspire and educate future generations about Buddhism and to [...]Learning to Stay | An Excerpt from The Places that Scare You
Practicing Meditation As a species, we should never underestimate our low tolerance for discomfort. To be encouraged to stay with our vulnerability is news that we can use. Sitting meditation is our support for learning how to do this. Sitting meditation, also known as mindfulness-awareness practice, is the foundation of bodhichitta training. It is the [...]Remembering the Good within You | An Excerpt from Lovingkindness
Two Exercises for Your Practice Remembering the Good within You Sit comfortably, in a relaxed way, and close your eyes. As much as possible, let go of analysis and expectation. For ten to fifteen minutes, call to mind something you have done or said that you feel was a kind or good action—a time you [...]The Gift of Sadness | An Excerpt from Sadness, Love, Openness
Sadness Is Not the End Meditating While Thinking There is, however, one particular method that benefits everyone alike: acknowledging that nothing lasts. We instinctively feel that things are going to stay more or less the same and that the people around us will remain, but that’s not the case. If we can, we should try [...]Temple Boy and Spitting Cobra | An Excerpt from In the Cool Shade of Compassion
A Lesson on Revenge Ajan Ngoen was born in 1890 in the Village of Grandma Hom’s Knoll in Nakhon Pathom, a province about sixty kilometers west of Bangkok. Ngoen’s father was a farmer and herbal doctor who taught him mantras and medicine from palm-leaf texts. In 1910 Ngoen (which means “silver”) was ordained as a [...]The World Is Round or Spherical | An Excerpt from Gendun Chopel
from Melong Gendun Chopel contributed both poetry and essays to Melong (“Mirror”), the Tibetan-language newspaper published in Kalimpong by the Tibetan Christian from Khunnu, Dorje Tharchin, also known as Tharchin Babu. Its full title in Tibetan was Mirror of the News from Various Regions. In the June 28, 1938, issue, Gendun Chopel published an essay [...]The Approach and Intent of Zen | An Excerpt from The Rinzai Zen Way
Understanding the Rinzai Zen Way Studying Zen, one rides all vehicles of Buddhism; practicing Zen, one attains awakening in a single lifetime. —Eisai [From a teisho given in February 2012] In speaking with many beginning Zen students, it seems apparent that although they may be familiar with some of the methods of Zen practice, [...]The Practice of Loving-Kindness | An Excerpt from Comfortable with Uncertainty
The following excerpt is from Comfortable with Uncertainty By Pema Chodron Paperback | eBook Seven-Step Practice To move from aggression to unconditional loving-kindness can seem like a daunting task. But we start with what’s familiar. The instruction for cultivating limitless maitri is to first find the tenderness that we already have. We touch in with our [...]Visitation-Land Dog Nature | An Excerpt from No-Gate Gateway
A Dog Too Has Buddha-Nature A monk asked Master Visitation-Land: “A dog too has Buddha-nature, no?” “Absence,” Land replied. No-Gate’s Comment To penetrate the depths of Ch’an, you must pass through the gateway of our ancestral patriarchs. And to fathom the mysteries of enlightenment, you must cut off the mind-road completely. If you don’t pass [...]Why Buddhism for Black America Now? | An Excerpt from Taming the Ox
The Buddhist, Black Experience Originally published in 2014 What I propose is a spiritual revolution. —His Holiness the Dalai Lama The State of Black America In his 1970 work, Buddhist Ethics, Hammalawa Saddhatissa writes in the preface, “Strictly speaking, Buddhism is not a religion in the generally accepted sense of the word, and it would [...]Introduction to The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Vol. 8
CLICK HERE to read the complete introduction from The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Volume Eight. See more about the Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa here.Book Club Discussion | Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chögyam Trungpa
by Kate White Kate, our Production Coordinator/Designer, sums up our August meeting of the new Shambhala Publications Book Club! August’s book selection was Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. We invite you to take part by sharing your comments below. There are a lot of different kinds of people who work at Shambhala [...]A Lecture Series on Asanga’s Bodhisattvabhumi with Translator Artemus Engle
In conjunction with the Tsadra Foundation, premier translator and scholar Artemus Engle brings Asanga's masterpiece, the Bodhisattvabhumi, to life, unlocking what can be an intimidating text and making its important and power to light. Part 1: Part 2: The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpassed Enlightenment$59.95 - HardcoverBy: Artemus B. Engle & Asanga Add to Cart See [...]A Walk with Dogen into Our Time
In 1954 poet Allen Ginsberg wrote a poem called “Song” that acknowledges the weight of our human circumstance and suffering in a particular and somewhat unusual way. I believe it may also provide a gateway to the following writings by Zen master Eihei Dogen, who addressed the nature of reality as he came to understand the world of people and things through his lifetime practice of Zen.
Translating the Maitreya Treatises: An Interview with Thomas Doctor
We recently interviewed Thomas Doctor, a translator on the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, about the importance of their recent translations of the Maitreya texts and commentaries. Shambhala Publications: The Dharmachakra Translation Committee has now published two of the five Maitreya texts, with a third on the way soon. Can you give a brief overview of why [...]A New Perspective on an Ancient Practice: An Interview with Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Shambhala: How did you first encounter Zen, and what was your introduction to practice like? Norman Fischer: I got involved at first through reading-reading and thinking about my life. This was in the very early days, when there were no Zen centers or practice centers of any kind (at least that I was aware of) [...]The Way of the Bodhisattva: An Immersive Workshop in Boulder May 18-22, 2016
[Note, this event occurred in the past and the videos are all available on this site for free.] Few texts are more frequently taught and quoted, have as colorful a history, and as much relevance to Buddhists today more than the eighth-century Indian Buddhist monk Shantideva's The Way of the Bodhisattva. The Dalai Lama has said [...]Pointing to the Heart of the Buddhadharma: An Interview with Guo Gu, author of The Essence of Chan
Shambhala: Can you tell us something about your background-how you encountered the Buddhadharma? Guo Gu: I first learned meditation when I was in Taiwan at age four. A meditation master named Guangqin taught me how to sit in meditation, and I thought it was fun to copy what he was doing. Later, my family immigrated [...]Normalcy at Its Best: An Interview with David Chadwick, Biographer of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Shambhala: Your teacher Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind has now been in print for more than forty years, and is still often recommended as the best first book to read about Zen practice. Why do you think its popularity has endured throughout the explosion of Buddhist publishing the last few years? David Chadwick: Hard [...]