Buddhism Guides
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 runs through this sweet, accessible telling is that, “Everything changes, day to night. Everything changes, and that’s all right.” Ivan Bercholz, publisher of Bala Kids,...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 your email address, you will receive access to the full 73 minute interview between Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche and Pema Chödrön and 6 short clips highlighting...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 encourage the development of Buddhist resources for parents and children. This year, the prize will be offered to the best children's book about one or...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 natural seat, the home ground of the warrior-bodhisattva. Sitting meditation cultivates loving-kindness and compassion, the relative qualities of bodhichitta. It gives us a way to...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 were generous, or caring, or contributed to someone’s well-being. If something comes to mind, allow the happiness that may come with the remembrance. If nothing comes...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 our best to understand that things really aren’t the way they seem at all. But if that seems a bit far off at first, it’s...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 monk at the Monastery of Grandma Hom’s Knoll (Wat Don Yai Hom). Not long after his ordination he took up the thudong practice and left...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 entitled “The World Is Round or Spherical” under the pseudonym Honest Dharma (Drangpo Dharma). Above the essay was a map of the world drawn by...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, what is often lacking is an understanding of the overall approach and intent of the Zen way. Without this understanding it will be difficult to...The Practice of Loving-Kindness | An Excerpt from Comfortable with Uncertainty
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 gratitude or appreciation—our current ability to feel goodwill. In a very nontheoretical way we contact the soft spot of bodhichitta. Whether we find it in the tenderness of feeling love or the vulnerability of feeling lonely is immaterial....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 through the ancestral gateway, if you don’t cut off the mind-road, you live a ghost’s life, clinging to weeds and trees. What is this gateway...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 be more accurate to describe it as an ethico-philosophy to be practiced by each follower. And it is only by practice, by an uphill spiritual...

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 Publications. We come from a wide array of backgrounds, and each of us has a unique story about how we found our way into our...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: See also an excerpt from the introduction Art Engle has a Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from the University of Wisconsin; adjunct professor, interpreter, and translator; active in the development of a program for teaching Buddhist classics that integrates a study of the...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 you chose to translate these? Thomas Doctor: There is a set of thirteen classic Indian texts that make up the core curriculum of sutra studies...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 that "if I have any understanding of compassion and the bodhisattva path, it all comes from studying this text. " The living tradition of this...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) and the idea that Buddhism could be practiced in the West was not even thinkable. What a difference from today! So, as a young man...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 to the States when I was 11. We studied Chan Master Sheng Yen. He was to become my Shifu, or "teacher-father, " the most important...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 to say. It's just got a unique chemistry that has worked in many ways for many people. ZMBM can be a warm, inviting introduction to...