Conversations on Buddha-Nature

Regular live interviews with Buddhist practitioners, scholars, and thinkers. This is a space for stimulating and inspiring conversations on Buddha-Nature and related subjects. As a part of the Buddha-Nature Project of the Tsadra Foundation, Karma Phuntsho will host conversations with a Buddhist leader, influencer or expert each month on the theories and practices of Buddha-Nature, which will be live on Facebook and recorded on Zoom. An exercise of mindful listening, right speech, and wholesome exploration of meaning and nature of life, these conversations aim to enhance the understanding and awareness of Buddha-Nature and promote the ethos of innate goodness and positive perception.

October 30th, 2021 · Komarovski on Śākya Chokden's Unique Views on Buddha-Nature

Yaroslav Komarovski

Śākya Chokden's Unique Views on Buddha-Nature

October 30th, 2021 · 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Please join us live on Zoom by signing up here or find us on Facebook live on Saturday, October 30th at 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, 4:00 PM CET, 8:00 PM Bhutan Time. The recording will later be made available online here on this website.

Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho will have another "Conversation on Buddha-Nature" with one of the world's most knowledgeable scholars of Śākya Chokden (1428–1507), Yaroslav Komarovski.

Śākya Chokden (1428–1507) was one of the most important thinkers of the Sakya tradition and had many complex views on Buddhist philosophy and practice, especially Madhyamaka and theories related to buddha-nature teachings, some of which are quite unique in the history of Buddhism.

Yaroslav Komarovski is a full professor of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His recent books include Radiant Emptiness: Three Seminal Works by the Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden (Oxford 2020), Tibetan Buddhism and Mystical Experience (Oxford 2015), and Visions of Unity: The Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden’s New Interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka (SUNY 2011). If you would like to read some of his papers on Shakya Chokden, you can find them freely available online here: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/do/search/?q=author_lname%3A%22Komarovski%22%20AND%20author_fname%3A%22Yaroslav%22&start=0&context=52045&sort=date_desc&facet=

September 25th, 2021 · Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo: Buddha-Nature Is Who We Really Are

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Buddha-Nature Is Who We Really Are

September 25th, 2021 · 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

The full recording as well as clips organized by topic is now available online here on this website: Buddha-Nature Is Who We Really Are

July 31st, 2021 · Dorji Wangchuk: Buddha by Nature or Buddha by Nurture: Deliberations on the Buddha-Nature Theory in the Nyingma Tradition

Professor Dorji Wangchuk

Buddha by Nature or Buddha by Nurture: Deliberations on the Buddha-Nature Theory in the Nyingma Tradition

July 31st, 2021 · 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Please join us live on Zoom by signing up here or find us on Facebook live on Saturday, July 31st at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, 5:00 PM CET, 9:00 PM Bhutan Time. The recording will later be made available online here on this website.

June 26, 2021 · Kokyo Henkel: Buddha-Nature in Early Chan and Japanese Zen

Rev. Kokyo Henkel

Buddha-Nature in Early Chan and Japanese Zen

June 26th, 2021 · 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

See the edited clips by topic and a detailed description here.

In this video Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho and Rev. Kokyo Henkel discuss buddha-nature in early Chan and Japanese Zen and comparisons with Tibetan Dzogchen. They also discuss some Koans, Dōgen, and many textual sources from Indian sutras in Tibetan and Chinese translation to sources for key schools of Buddhism in China and Japan up to more modern texts.

Kokyo Henkel has been practicing Zen since 1990 in residence at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (most recently as Head of Practice), Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, No Abode Hermitage in Mill Valley, and Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan. He was ordained as a priest in 1994 by Tenshin Anderson Roshi and received Dharma Transmission from him in 2010. Kokyo is interested in exploring how the original teachings of Buddha-Dharma from ancient India, China, and Japan can still be very much alive and useful in present-day America to bring peace and openness to the minds of this troubled world.

Kokyo has also been practicing with the Tibetan Dzogchen ("Great Completeness") Teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche since 2003, in California, Colorado, and Kathmandu.

May 29, 2021 · Klaus-Dieter Mathes: Buddha-Nature Theories from Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century Tibet

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Buddha-Nature Theories from Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century Tibet

Professor Klaus-Dieter Mathes, one of the world’s most learned and published specialists on the topic of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism, spoke with Lopen Karma Phuntsho about the various interpretations of tathāgatagarbha teachings in Tibet, including those of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, Longchenpa, Gö Lotsawa, Dölpopa, Butön, and Tsongkhapa.

Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Mathes is the Head of the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. Dr. Mathes has published widely on Mahāmudrā, Tibetan Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, and the interpretations of Buddha-nature in Tibet. Many of his books can be found on this website, including the recent The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet and A Direct Path to the Buddha Within. Klaus-Dieter also hosted the Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia Symposium in 2019. From 1980-1984 he lived in the Himalayas and studied Buddhism, later obtaining a master's degree in Tibetology from the University of Bonn and then a Doctorate from Marburg in 1994 with a study of the Yogācāra text Dharmadharmatāvibhāga (published in 1996 in the series Indica et Tibetica). He served as the director of the Nepal Research Centre and the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project in Kathmandu from 1993 to 2001.

April 24, 2021 · Judy Lief: Tenderness and the Awakening of Buddha-Nature

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Tenderness and the Awakening of Buddha-Nature

::“Before any kind of perception occurs, wakefulness is already there—beyond concept, beyond limitation, beyond anything measurable. We can all awaken—that is the hope and the potential.”—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Judith L. Lief is a Buddhist teacher, writer, and editor. She was a close student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who empowered her as a teacher, and she has edited many of his books including The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma volumes and Milarepa. She has been a teacher and practitioner for over 35 years and continues to teach and lead retreats throughout the world. Lief is also active in the field of death and dying and is the author of Making Friends with Death.

March 27, 2021 · Karma Lekshe Tsomo: Buddha-Nature and Social Justice

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Karma Lekshe Tsomo: Buddha-Nature and Social Justice

Venerable Tsomo is an inspiration to all Buddhists interested in living a socially conscious life and is known around the world for her warmth, knowledge, and clear approach to teaching and speaking about life, Buddhism, and social activism. She co-founded Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women, which hosts the Sakyadhita Conference, the largest and most important meeting of Buddhist women in the world.

October 24, 2020 · Conversations on Buddha-Nature: Matthieu Ricard - Buddha-Nature, Happiness and Altruism

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Matthieu Ricard: Buddha-Nature, Happiness and Altruism

Can we be happy and compassionate without Buddha-Nature? Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho will discuss themes of buddha-nature, happiness, and altruism with world-renowned Buddhist monk, photographer, writer, and activist Matthieu Ricard.

Can we be happy and compassionate without Buddha-Nature? Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho will discuss themes of buddha-nature, happiness, and altruism with world-renowned Buddhist monk, photographer, writer, and activist Matthieu Ricard. Learn more about Matthieu's work at Karuna-Shechen or MatthieuRicard.org.

Watch his wonderful TED talk here or listen to this fascinating interview at the On Being program on NPR.

November 28, 2020 · Robert Thurman: Conversations on Buddha-Nature 11-28-2020 - Buddha-Nature as the Foundation of Freedom

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Robert Thurman: Buddha-Nature as the Foundation of Freedom

Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho discussed themes of freedom, spirituality, and buddha-nature with world-renowned Buddhist scholar, translator, writer, and activist Robert Thurman.

Tsadra was live on Zoom and Facebook on Saturday, November 28th at 10 AM Eastern Standard Time with Karma Phuntsho and Doctor Robert Thurman, who discussed themes of freedom, spirituality, and buddha-nature as well as his own practice life and understandings of Buddha-Nature texts.

February 27, 2021 · Geshe Lhakdor: Conversations on Buddha-Nature 02-27-2021 - The Human Capacity to Flourish

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Geshe Lhakdor: Buddha-Nature as the Foundation of Freedom

What is our capacity for compassion? Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho discussed themes of buddha-nature and human flourishing with renowned Buddhist monk and Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, Venerable Geshe Lhakdor.