Karl Brunnholzl Guides

Asanga and Yogacara: A Guide for Readers

Asanga and Yogacara: A Guide for Readers

Asanga Learn More A Reader's Guide to the great 4th century Indian master Asanga and Yogacara: A Guide for Readers 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 [...]
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Tangtong Gyalpo: A Guide for Readers

Tangtong Gyalpo: A Guide for Readers

Tangtong Gyalpo: A Guide for Readers Tangtong Gyalpo (1361-1485 CE), or "The King of the Empty Plain," was a Buddhist mahasiddha, physician, blacksmith, architect, and civil engineer. He's also known by the names Chakzampa, the "Iron Bridge Builder," and Tsondru Zangpo, "Excellent Persistence." Many people believe he was an emanation of both Padmasambhava (known as [...]
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Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso: A Guide for Readers

Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso: A Guide for Readers

Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso: A Guide for Readers Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist teacher in the Kagyu tradition. Born to a nomad family in Ngangchen, Kham (the eastern region of Tibet), Khenpo Tsültrim began his training under Lama Zopa Tarchin at an early age. He later attended intensive retreats and continued his training [...]
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The Works of Karl Brunnhölzl: A Guide for Readers

The Works of Karl Brunnhölzl: A Guide for Readers

The Works of Karl Brunnhölzl: A Guide for Readers This guide for readers is dedicated to the works of author, translator, and teacher, Karl Brunnhölzl. Originally trained as a physician, Karl Brunnhölzl later studied Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy at the Marpa Institute for Translators and later the Nitartha Institute. Since 1989 he has been [...]
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Nagarjuna: A Reader’s Guide

Nagarjuna: A Reader’s Guide

Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Piith Instructions Translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl Three other praises of Nagarjuna’s are included in the collection Straight from the Heart, also translated and introduced by Karl Brunnhölzl</a>. Interestingly, in these praises, Nagarjuna often refers to buddhahood in positive terms, in contrast to much of his other work, which […]

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The Heart Sutra: A Reader’s Guide

The Heart Sutra: A Reader’s Guide

The Heart Sutra: A Reader's Guide     This is part of a series of articles on the arc of Zen thought, practice, and history, as presented in The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World.  You can start at the beginning of this series or [...]
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The Thirteen Core Indian Buddhist Texts: A Reader’s Guide

The Thirteen Core Indian Buddhist Texts: A Reader’s Guide

Khenpo Shenga (1871–1927) There are thirteen classics of Indian Mahayana philosophy, still used in Tibetan centers of education throughout Asia and beyond, particularly the Nyngma tradition, with overlap with the others.  They cover the subjects of vinaya, abhidharma, Yogacara, Madhyamika, and the path of the Bodhisattva.  They are some of the most frequently quoted texts [...]
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The Five Maitreya Texts: The “Zip Files” of the Mahāyāna

The Five Maitreya Texts: The “Zip Files” of the Mahāyāna

by Karl Brunnhölzl The five works that the Tibetan tradition ascribes to Maitreya resemble zip files that contain all the profound and vast topics of the Buddhist teachings. In their traditional order: The Ornament of Clear Realization comments on the emptiness taught in the Prajnaparamita Sutras and on what happens in the minds of bodhisattvas [...]
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