Issue 23 (Spring/Summer 2009)

As the Buddha discovered, our greatest joys and freedoms are always best when shared. When we truly care about others, we naturally strive for a wisdom that brings the longest lasting and most beneficial effect for them. This wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others is called bodhicitta. Teachings on bodhicitta provide the basis from which we can remove confusion and then become bodhisattvas, and eventually buddhas, ourselves.

The highlight of this issue of Buddhism Today is the first of a three-part series by H.H. the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, in which he offers a commentary on The 37 Practices of Bodhisattvas by Gyelsay Togmay Sangpo (born in Tibet in 1295 C.E.). The Karmapa comments on an old text but with a contemporary freshness. Then there is an interview with Shamar Rinpoche, in which he bridges the traditional, “older” Tibetan Buddhism with the contemporary Western style.

We would also invite you to check out stories of two Kagyu lamas who are not well known in the West, both of them powerful meditators. One is the story of Lama Ole Nydahl’s meeting with the Hambo Lama in Buryatia, near Ulan Ude, Russia. The other is Maria Przyjemska’s story of traveling to Lachi in eastern Tibet and meeting the yogi Tsultrim Tharchin.

All four of these pieces exemplify the meeting of the old and the new, of the East and the West, of the more traditional styles along with change. Fresh cuttings from old roots.

We look forward to bringing the second and third parts of the Karmapa’s commentary on The 37 Practices of Bodhisattvas in the next two issues of Buddhism Today.

Editorial Board

Executive Editors
Jonathan Bradley, Kenn Maly
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Anilou Price
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Monique Andrie
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Brad Glick, Lizabeth Kennedy, Jessica Prohuska
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Detlev Göbel, Josh Greene, Joshua Johnson, Tasso Kallianiotis, Joseph Lyman
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Jim Macur, Rachelle Macur
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Marcin Muchalski
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Jonathan Bradley
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Benjamin Ritchey, Renata Ritchey
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Rana Wilson
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The 37 Practices of Bodhisattvas, Part I

The 37 Practices of Bodhisattvas, Part IBy /

These teachings were given in the middle of March 2008 at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI) in New Delhi, India. Following a two-month dharma-course with Professor Sempa Dorje and Khenpo Tsering, H.H. the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje gave teachings and empowerments for one week. The participants were the students from KIBI, two Bhutan pilgrimage groups that combined this visit with their pilgrimage, and many of Karmapa’s students from the West. Responding to a request from the editors of the German magazine Buddhismus Heute for a suitable teaching, Karmapa suggested that these teachings also be published in English in Buddhism Today.

The 37 Practices of Bodhisattvas, Part I Read More »