Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness

By: Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Lama Shenpen Hookham - translator

Narrated by: Ken Cohen

This new edition of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche's classic teaching on progressive stages of meditation on emptiness was updated in 2016 by Lama Shenpen Hookham.

Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness is a series of meditation practices on Emptiness, a particular aspect of the Buddha's teachings. The idea is that by beginning with one's first rather coarse commonsense understanding, one progresses through increasingly subtle and more refined stages until one arrives at complete and perfect understanding. Each stage in the process prepares the mind for the next in so far as each step is fully integrated into one's understanding through the meditation process.

Concise but comprehensive, Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness lays out in a practical and systematic way the teachings of the Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, one of the most erudite scholars and accomplished yogis of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism of our day. Khenpo Rinpoche is especially well-known for his breadth of vision and the clarity of his Dharma expositions, uniting prodigious scholarship with great compassion.

Lama Shenpen Hookham, translator and arranger of Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness, has been a student of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche since the 1970s. A prolific writer, translator, and teacher, she is the founding lama of the Awakened Heart Sangha, a worldwide spiritual community based in the UK.

©2016 Shenpen Hookham and The Marpa Foundation for the Study, Practice, and Support of the Buddha Dharma (P)2017 Ken Cohen

Critic reviews

What Dharma Teachers Are Saying About the 2016 Edition

“The Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness is a signature teaching and systematic method of instruction taught by my amazing guru, Khenchen Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Profound and concise, it is a transformative way for sincere students at any level of study to connect with the experience of shunyata. Lama Shenpen Hookham's skillful presentation of Rinpoche's teaching on these progressive stages so many years ago has been a great and enduring gift to the dharma world. I am delighted by this revised edition, which will benefit all who take its pithy wisdom to heart” - Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

“Khenpo Rinpoche’s text, expertly translated and arranged by Lama Shenpen Hookham, is an eminently practical tool to familiarize ourselves with the notoriously difficult Buddhist notion of emptiness through a gradual approach and make it a personal experience in all its facets” - Karl Brunnholzl

Excellent explanation of some odd views

Excellent look at different Buddhist understandings of emptiness. My only qualm is with the traditions studied. It seems that Buddhism branched off of Hinduism, which originally said "We're all the one nondual mind of reality experiencing itself as both all subjects and all objects." This very simple view got enormously complicated in Buddhism, which insisted that all thoughts of an Absolute behind reality are empty. Finally, the work of Buddhist geniuses devoting their whole lives to it over centuries collaped this into a view that sounds much like the Hinduism it started from, the Shentong view that "The absolute nondual consciousness behind reality gives rise to all subjects and all objects." I wonder what was gained by these lifetimes of hairsplitting complication? Just like kids rebelling against the parents they're fated to become?

Excellent!

An amazing and profound text that is accessible and understandable. The reading narration is excellent too.
The way all audio Dharma books should be.
Under 3 hours at 1.1x speed. So you can absorb the book in an evening. And easy to listen to over again. A blessing for Dharma practitioners.

Insightful and engaging

Excellent book with wonderful voice narration. The book delves into deep philosophical waters, questioning the very nature of our perception of the physical world and its ramification on how we process reality. The narrator, Ken Cohen, did an excellent job conveying the ideas in an appropriately soothing, relaxing tone.

Because I have resistance to it

Because I have resistance to it I am playing it over & over and slowed down the speed a little to have a chance to accept it’s wisdom with a mind so slippery as mine. Ken Cohen is one of my favorite voices in the universe so it has an overall soothing effect whether I refuse to listen closely and follow or not. I think it is a jewel, but I try not to think too much lest I feel stupid. I am a rogue wanderer who enjoys breathing, mind control practices and absolute truth in all of its forms.

needed!

You may struggle in May take many listening. What shall be remembered will be remembered. " Done is what had to be done "
🕉🧘‍♂️ EMAHO GLORIOUS 🙏