Shenpen Ösel Magazine

Posted on Friday, December 12th, 2014

Between the years of 1997 and 2003, Kagyu Shenpen Ösel Chöling published transcripted Buddhist teachings in the tri-annual magazine Shenpen Ösel.

The magazine sought to present the teachings of recognized and fully qualified lamas and teachers, with an emphasis on the Karma Kagyu and the Shangpa Kagyu lineages. The contents were derived from transcripts of teachings hosted by Kagyu Shenpen Ösel Chöling and other Kagyu Centers in North America.

It was published with the aspiration to present and make available the clear light of the Buddha’s teachings. May it bring benefit and may all be auspicious. May all beings be inspired and assisted in uncovering their own true nature.

The Issues (.pdf format):

Issue 1

Teachings on meditation and compassion by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; on the six aspects of the bardo, the intermediate state, by Tai Situ Rinpoche; and on sitting meditation by Lama Tashi Namgyal.

Issue 2

Teachings on tranquillity and insight meditation by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; on the four levels of refuge by Kabje Kalu Rinpoche; on Tilopa’s six essential points of meditation by Lama Tashi Namgyal; and on how to abandon desire by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.

Issue 3

Commentary on the Third Gyalwa Karmapa’s The Aspiration Prayer of Mahamudra by Tai Situ Rinpoche, including the original Tibetan text with translation.

Issue 4

Commentary on Nagarjuna’s madhyamaka teachings taken from Sixty Stanzas of Reasonings. Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness, and The refutation of Criticism by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; teachings on the tantric path and mahamudra by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.

Issue 5

Extensive teachings on the natural bardo (interval or in-between state) between birth and death; the bardo of suffering and misery at the time of death; powa and the clear light bardo of dharmata; and the bardo of becoming, the intermediate state, by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.

Issue 6

Teachings on Mind, Karma, Ego-formation and Liberation and on Mahamudra: The Essence of All the Buddha’s Teachings by Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche; teaching on chöd, cutting through the four maras, and techniques of tranquillity and insight meditation by Tenga Rinpoche; and a commentary on the twenty emptinesses by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.

Issue 7

In Praise of the Dharmadhatu by Arya Nagarjuna; commentarial teachings on In Praise of the Dharmadhatu by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche; songs of realization by Jetsun Milarepa, Gyalwa Götsangpa, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, and Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) and commentary on these songs by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.

Issue 8

Tilopa’s mahamudra instructions to Naropa, Mahamudra Upadesha; teachings on Mahamudra Upadesha by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; teachings on achieving exertion on the path by Lama Tashi Namgyal; information on Thrangu Rinpoche’s Vajra Vidya Institute.

Issue 9

The Medicine Buddha Sadhana (practice) in Tibetan, transliteration, word-for-word translation, and full literary translation; teachings on the Medicine Buddha Sadhana by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; The Very Essence of Mind, Mahamudra, the One Sufficient Path by Gampopa; commentary on The Very Essence of Mind, Mahamudra, the One Sufficient Path by Tenga Rinpoche; report on Kala Rongo monastery for women and Korche Monastery for men in eastern Tibet, as well as the building of a monastic college, elementary schools, and stupas, and the provision of medical care in eastern Tibet.

Issue 10

A Joyful Aspiration: Sweet Melody for Fortunate Ones by the Seventeenth Karmapa, Urgyen Trinley Dorje; A Song by the Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje; commentary on the Medicine Buddha Sutra by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; The Twelve Great Aspirations of the Medicine Buddha; The Sky-Dragon’s Profound Roar by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche; on the importance of concentration by Lama Tashi Namgyal.

Issue 11

Commentary on the Ninth Gyalwang Karmapa’s Pointing Out the Dharmakaya by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.

Issue 12

Commentary on Jamgon Kontrul’s text, Creation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation, given by the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. The Cultivation of Bodhicitta and Taking and Sending by Lama Tashi Namgyal.

Issue 13

Commentary on Chandrakirti’s Entrance to the Middle Way by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Commentary on Gyalwa Götsangpa’s Eight Cases of Basic Goodness Not to Be Shunned by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. A Prayer To Avert Nuclear War by Chatral Rinpoche.

Issue 14

Commentary on the Ninth Gyalwang Karmapa’s Mahamudra: The Ocean of Definitive Meaning by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; Commentary on the Two Truths by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche; Supplication to the Takpo Kagyus; The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge; Thrangu Rinpoche to Build Traditional Tibetan Retreat Center in Colorado Mountains.