Sexism and Buddhist Nuns
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo — the British-born nun who lived twelve years in a Himalayan cave, took bhikkhuni ordination, and founded Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh — gives the talk that became the rallying call of the contemporary Buddhist women's movement. Tenzin Palmo, who has earned the right to speak as a senior contemplative, lays out the structural disadvantages faced by women in every Buddhist tradition with the directness of someone with nothing left to lose. The talk has been viewed by hundreds of thousands and reshaped the conversation across the Tibetan world.
The landmark advocacy talk of the contemporary Buddhist women's movement — from one of the most senior Western female monastics in the Tibetan tradition.
The sangha responds.
More foundational talks from Vajrayana.
Pointing Out Instruction
Nagi Gompa, Early 1990s
Recorded at Nagi Gompa, the hermitage above Kathmandu where Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche received students for the last decades of his life. This is the foundational document of the Mahamudra–Dzogchen unification that defined the Chokling Tersar lineage in the modern era — the lineage that, through Tulku Urgyen's sons (Chökyi Nyima, Tsoknyi, Mingyur, and Phakchok's father), has become arguably the single most influential Tibetan teaching transmission in the contemporary world. The pointing-out is direct, plain, and absolutely uncompromising. The voice is unmistakable.
Mahamudra and Mahasandhi
Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche — eldest son of Tulku Urgyen, abbot of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling at Boudhanath, and founder of the Rangjung Yeshe Institute — gives the doctrinal heart of his father's lineage in his own voice. The talks lay out the unification of Mahamudra (the New Translation school's culminating practice) and Mahasandhi/Dzogchen (the Old Translation school's), as transmitted through the Chokling Tersar. For students of the Boudhanath lineage and TPS's Lumbini-anchored Vajrayana audience, this is the central living transmission.
Essence Love, Well-Being, and Okayness
Festival of Faiths 2018
Tsoknyi Rinpoche — second son of Tulku Urgyen and one of the most accessible Vajrayana voices in the West — gives the signature teaching that has become the centerpiece of his Pundarika Foundation curriculum. 'Essence love' is the irreducible warmth at the base of every healthy mind; 'well-being' is its felt expression; 'okayness' is the ground from which contemplative practice can actually proceed. Without it, Tsoknyi argues, every advanced practice eventually collapses. With it, all of them flower.