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Francesca Fremantle, who co-translated the Tibetan Book of the Dead with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote Luminous Wisdom, one of the favorite books here at Shambhala Publications and the tens of thousands who read it.

Here is a talk where she presents the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

The following talk is from Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo’s Course: Living the Dharma: How to Practice Buddhism and Make It Count. We have made this final talk available here as a podcast as we think this is one of the most important, powerful, and clear presentations on the importance of Sangha, or spiritual community, we have ever heard.

For many in the West, taking refuge in the Buddha and the Dharma is really easy, but the third jewel, the Sangha, can feel more challenging and perhaps less necessary. This talk will almost certainly shift this perception.

Here you will listen to Rinpoche explain how essential sangha is, the reason so many communities face hardship after a lama passes away, and how each of us can be a part of creating communities even stronger than before by employing the methods taught in The Way of the Bodhisattva, the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva and Lojong, or Mind-Training practices.

Many of us here at Shambhala Publications have found this to be eye-opening, a cause of self-reflection, and a call to action. We hope you enjoy it.

For more on the course, you can also visit shambhala.com/sangha.

This episode is in a series on Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Precious Instructions. In this session, translator Sarah Harding focuses on two connected lineages: the Zhije tradition of Padampa Sangye and Machik Lapdrön’s Chöd. This is an area of Sarah’s expertise, having translated Machik’s Complete Explanation and the volumes on Chöd and Zhije. Here, she presents an overview of some of the most interesting aspects of each.

In this session, teacher, author, and editor Judy Lief joins Wulstan in a discussion looking at the text and its application in the modern age where issues of gender, ethics, and other topics are the focus.

The focus here are the chapters "Diligence" (or Heroic Perseverance), "Meditative Concentration," and the "Wisdom" chapter where he presents emptiness as understood in the Madhyamaka tradition.

The talk focuses on the translation of the text itself and how a master translator approaches such a daunting and challenging masterpiece. With a rich background of language expertise, deep knowledge of both Buddhist traditions and Western religion, and, most importantly, extensive involvement in Buddhist practice, Wulstan weaves his own experiences as a translator in with his interaction with the Bodhicharyavatara, specifically. He and Holly also discuss issues related to translating classical Sanskrit texts into Tibetan, by detailing the challenges of style, word choice, and considerations of audience—all while referencing different translations (Wallace, Crosby/Skilton, Batchelor, Eliot) to demonstrate how certain choices were made. Wulstan will share how the Padmakara Translation Group used Khenpo Kunpel’s commentary to inform their translation and discusses the complexities of presenting the text in English in a way that elevates the text rather than diminishes it.