Product categories Karl Brunnhölzl

UPDATED! 2023 Buddha Nature Sourcebook: Fourth Vajra Point, Vol. I & II (eBook available!)

$99.95
eBook available!

A Commentary by Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen and Karl Brunnhölzl

This is a newly updated sourcebook, a set of two volumes, produced from a series of talks given by Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen at Nītārtha Institute, Gampo Abbey, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, in August and September 1998, and by a series of talks given by Karl Brunnhölzl at Nītārtha Institute, Nalanda West, Seattle, Washington, United States, September, October, and November 2018.

Available as eBook:

Google Play: volume 1 and volume 2

Apple Book: volume 1 and volume 2
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The Presentation of Paths, Bhūmis & Results in the Causal Yāna of Characteristics in the Treasury of Knowledge – Root Text

$40.95

Root text written by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé.

Translated by Karl Brunnhölzl.

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The Heart Attack Sūtra: A New Commentary on the Heart Sūtra

$16.95
The hardcopy book is shipped from the US. International customers may wish to explore local booksellers, Shambala Publications, or Amazon to save on shipping cost.

Author: Mitra Dr. Karl Brunnhölzl
A guide to the famous Heart Sūtra that reveals the tenderness and compassion underlying the striking rhetoric of this popular Buddhist text The radical message of the Heart Sūtra, one of Buddhism’s most famous texts, is a sweeping attack on everything we hold most dear: our troubles, the world as we know it, even the teachings of the Buddha himself. Several of the Buddha’s followers are said to have suffered heart attacks and died when they first heard its assertion of the basic groundlessness of our existence—hence the title of this book. Overcoming fear, the Buddha teaches, is not to be accomplished by shutting down or building walls around oneself, but instead by opening up to understand the illusory nature of everything we fear—including ourselves. In this book of teachings, Karl Brunnhölzl guides practitioners through this ‘crazy’ sutra to the wisdom and compassion that lie at its core. Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.
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The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyü Tradition – Root Text (Recommended)

$78.00

ROOT TEXT
Madhyamaka is a potent and universally accessible means of calming our suffering and awakening to our innate wisdom. The Center of the Sunlit Sky artfully rescues this brilliant teaching from its unwarranted reputation for intellectual opacity and reinstates it as a supremely practical tool kit for everyday living. The aim of this book is to take Madhyamaka out of the purely intellectual corner into which it unjustly gets boxed. It is an attempt to show how Madhayamaka actually addresses and works with all of our experiences in life. The book follows the original Indian sources as well as the standard commentaries on Madhyamaka in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. At the same time, these materials are adapted for a contemporary audience, combining the familiar sharpness of Madhyamaka reasonings (launching a massive assault on our cherished belief systems) with exploring the practical relevance of the Madhyamaka way of mind training. Also available as an eBook for Kindle devices. Note that the hardcopy book is shipped from the US. International customers may wish to explore local booksellers or Amazon.com to save on shipping cost.

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SELECCIONES DE LA PRESENTACIÓN DE MADHYAMAKA en EL TESORO DE CONOCIMIENTO

$21.95

SELECCIONES DE LA PRESENTACIÓN DE MADHYAMAKA en EL TESORO DE CONOCIMIENTO por Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

Traducción del tibetano al inglés: Karl Brunnhölzl, New Brunswick, Canadá, 2002

Traducción del inglés al español: Israel Lifshitz, Morelia, México 2014

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Mining for Wisdom within Delusion

$39.95
The hardcopy book is shipped from the US. International customers may wish to explore local booksellers, Shambala Publications, or Amazon to save on shipping cost.

Author: Dr. Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl

Mining for Wisdom within Delusion: Maitreya's "Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena" and Its Indian and Tibetan Commentaries
Maitreya’s Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena distinguishes the illusory phenomenal world of saṃsāra produced by the confused dualistic mind from the ultimate reality that is mind’s true nature. The transition from the one to the other is the process of “mining for wisdom within delusion.” Maitreya’s text calls this “the fundamental change,” which refers to the vanishing of delusive appearances through practicing the path, thus revealing the underlying changeless nature of these appearances. In this context, the main part of the text consists of the most detailed explanation of nonconceptual wisdom—the primary driving force of the path as well as its ultimate result—in Buddhist literature. The introduction of the book discusses these two topics (fundamental change and nonconceptual wisdom) at length and shows how they are treated in a number of other Buddhist scriptures. The three translated commentaries, by Vasubandhu, the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, and Gö Lotsāwa, as well as excerpts from all other available commentaries on Maitreya’s text, put it in the larger context of the Indian Yogācāra School and further clarify its main themes. They also show how this text is not a mere scholarly document, but an essential foundation for practicing both the sūtrayāna and the vajrayāna and thus making what it describes a living experience. The book also discusses the remaining four of the five works of Maitreya, their transmission from India to Tibet, and various views about them in the Tibetan tradition.
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Luminous Heart: Essential Writings of Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa

$32.95
Available as an eBook for Apple and Android devices.

The hardcopy book is shipped from the US. International customers may wish to explore local booksellers, Shambala Publications, or Amazon to save on shipping cost.

Translator: Dr. Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl
An extraordinary collection of writings on buddha nature by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339). The Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje’s unique and balanced view synthesizes Yogācāra Madhyamaka and the classical teachings on buddha nature. His work focuses on the transition from ordinary deluded consciousness to enlightened wisdom, the characteristics of buddhahood, and a buddha’s enlightened activity. Included are commentaries by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé that supplement the view of the Third Karmapa on two fundamental treatises on buddha nature, emphasizing the luminous empty mind of buddha nature as presented by the great Indian masters Maitreya and Asaṅga. For those practicing the sutrayāna and the vajrayāna in the Kagyü tradition, what these texts describe can be transformed into living experience.
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Groundless Paths: The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition

$54.95
The hardcopy book is shipped from the US. International customers may wish to explore local booksellers, Shambala Publications, or Amazon to save on shipping cost.

Translator: Mitra Dr. Karl Brunnhölzl

The Abhisamayalamkara summarizes all the topics in the vast body of the praj aparamita sutras. Resembling a zip-file, it comes to life only through its Indian and Tibetan commentaries. Together, these texts not only discuss the "hidden meaning" of the praj aparamita sutras--the paths and bhumis of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas--but also serve as contemplative manuals for the explicit topic of these sutras--emptiness--and how it is to be understood on the progressive levels of realization of bodhisattvas. Thus these texts describe what happens in the mind of a bodhisattva who meditates on emptiness, making it a living experience from the beginner's stage up through buddhahood.

Groundless Paths contains the first in-depth study of the Abhisamayalamkara (the text studied most extensively in higher Tibetan Buddhist education) and its commentaries from the perspective of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. This study consists mainly of translations of Maitreya's famous text and two commentaries on it by Patrul Rinpoche. These are supplemented by three short texts on the paths and bhumis by the same author, as well as extensive excerpts from commentaries by six other Nyingma masters, including Mipham Rinpoche. Thus this book helps close a long-standing gap in the modern scholarship on the praj aparamita sutras and the literature on paths and bhumis in mahayana Buddhism.

Arya Maitreya's Ornament of Clear Realization, with its Indian and Tibetan commentaries, presents the complex dynamics of the path to liberation as a succession of realizations of the empty nature of all phenomena. This presentation is a powerful antidote to whatever two-dimensional views we might hold about spiritual experience and the journey to enlightenment.

Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.
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Gone Beyond (Volume 2): The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü Tradition

$44.95
The hardcopy book is shipped from the US. International customers may wish to explore local booksellers, Shambala Publications, or Amazon to save on shipping cost.

Translator: Mitra Dr. Karl Brunnhölzl

The Abhisamayalamkara summarizes all the topics in the vast body of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. Resembling a zip-file, it comes to life only through its Indian and Tibetan commentaries. Together, these texts not only discuss the "hidden meaning" of the Prajnaparamita Sutras—the paths and bhumis of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas—but also serve as contemplative manuals for the explicit topic of these sutras—emptiness—and how it is to be understood on the progressive levels of realization of bodhisattvas. Thus these texts describe what happens in the mind of a bodhisattva who meditates on emptiness, making it a living experience from the beginner's stage up through buddhahood. Gone Beyond contains the first in-depth study of the Abhisamayalamkara (the text studied most extensively in higher Tibetan Buddhist education) and its commentaries in the Kagyu School. This study (in two volumes) includes translations of Maitreya's famous text and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla (the first translation ever of a complete commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara into English), which are supplemented by extensive excerpts from the commentaries by the Third, Seventh, and Eighth Karmapas and others. Thus it closes a long-standing gap in the modern scholarship on the Prajnaparamita Sutras and the literature on paths and bhumis in mahayana Buddhism. The first volume presents an English translation of the first three chapters of the Abhisamayalamkara and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa. The second volume presents an English translation of the final five chapters and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa. Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.
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Gone Beyond (Volume 1): The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyü Tradition

$54.95
The hardcopy book is shipped from the US. International customers may wish to explore local booksellers, Shambala Publications, or Amazon to save on shipping cost.

Translator: Mitra Dr. Karl Brunnhölzl
The Abhisamayalamkara summarizes all the topics in the vast body of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. Resembling a zip-file, it comes to life only through its Indian and Tibetan commentaries. Together, these texts not only discuss the "hidden meaning" of the Prajnaparamita Sutras—the paths and bhumis of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas—but also serve as contemplative manuals for the explicit topic of these sutras—emptiness—and how it is to be understood on the progressive levels of realization of bodhisattvas. Thus these texts describe what happens in the mind of a bodhisattva who meditates on emptiness, making it a living experience from the beginner's stage up through buddhahood. Gone Beyond contains the first in-depth study of the Abhisamayalamkara (the text studied most extensively in higher Tibetan Buddhist education) and its commentaries in the Kagyu School. This study (in two volumes) includes translations of Maitreya's famous text and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla (the first translation ever of a complete commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara into English), which are supplemented by extensive excerpts from the commentaries by the Third, Seventh, and Eighth Karmapas and others. Thus it closes a long-standing gap in the modern scholarship on the Prajnaparamita Sutras and the literature on paths and bhumis in mahayana Buddhism. The first volume presents an English translation of the first three chapters of the Abhisamayalamkara and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa. The second volume presents an English translation of the final five chapters and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa. Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.
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Commentary on the Presentation of Paths, Bhūmis & Results in the Causal Vehicle of Characteristics from the Treasury of Knowledge by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye

$45.95

A commentary by Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen and Mitra Dr. Karl Brunnhölzl.

Root text translation by Mitra Dr. Karl Brunnhölzl.
Digital edition: https://publications.nitarthainstitute.org/product/commentary-on-the-presentation-of-paths-bhumis-results-in-the-causal-vehicle-of-characteristics-from-the-treasury-of-knowledge-ebook/

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A Compendium of the Mahāyāna: Asaṅga’s Mahāyānasaṃgraha and Its Indian and Tibetan Commentaries

$150.00
Also available as an eBook for Apple and Android devices.

Limited supply.

The hardcopy book is shipped from the US. International customers may wish to explore local booksellers, Shambala Publications, or Amazon to save on shipping cost.

Author: Asaṅga
Translator: Karl Brunnhölzl
Winner of the Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation. The first complete English translation of Asaṅga's Mahāyānasaṃgraha, the most important and comprehensive Indian Yogācāra text, and all its available Indian commentaries. The Mahāyānasaṃgraha, published here with its Indian and Tibetan commentaries in three volumes, presents virtually everything anybody might want to know about the Yogācāra School of mahāyāna Buddhism. It discusses in detail the nature and operation of the eight kinds of consciousness, the often-misunderstood notion of “mind only” (cittamātra), dependent origination, the cultivation of the path and its fruition in terms of the four wisdoms, and the three bodies (kāyas) of a buddha. Volume 1 presents the translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha along with a commentary by Vasubandhu. The introduction gives an overview of the text and its Indian and Tibetan commentaries, and explains in detail two crucial elements of the Yogācāra view: the ālaya-consciousness and the afflicted mind (kliṣṭamanas). Volume 2 presents translations of the commentary by Asvabhāva and an anonymous Indian commentary on the first chapter of the text. These translations are supplemented in the endnotes by excerpts from Tibetan commentaries and related passages in other Indian and Chinese Yogācāra works. Volume 3 includes appendices with excerpts from other Indian and Chinese Yogācāra texts and supplementary materials on major Yogācāra topics in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha.
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