Wisdom Rising by Tsultrim Allione Book Recommendation by Robert AF Thurman
In this short video Tibet House US President Robert AF Thurman gives a book review of Tsultrim Allione book “Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine.
“Wisdom Rising is my journey, discovering the Tibetan Tradition, finding the dakinis, finding the mandala and it is also your journey. The book takes you into your own wisdom. It gives you a method to access your own inner wisdom so that you have the strength and the empowerment to create the change you want to see in your own life and in the world”
Tsultrim Allione from Wisdom Rising
Interspersed with moving biographical stories, Lama Tsultrim examines the five wisdom dakinis, female deities in Tibetan Buddhism, who embody profound wisdom and the empowered feminine. “They are luminous, subtle spiritual energy, the gatekeepers and the guardians of the unconditioned wisdom and sacred earth,” Allione writes. In Tibetan art, they are depicted as naked, except for ornaments, dancing, wild and powerful.
Each of the five dakinis is associated with a difficult emotion such as depression, anger, arrogance, craving, or envy as well as a corresponding wisdom energy such as equanimity and discernment. The dakinis and these energies are the elements of a mandala, a Buddhist psychogram, a map of our inner world. In Wisdom Rising, Allione teaches the Mandala of the Five Dakinis, a practice that brings together sound, visualization and meditation to help us transform challenging emotions into their wisdom counterparts.
Although the practices featured in Wisdom Rising are based in Tibetan Buddhism, they are accessible to readers of any faith or gender identity. For those interested in mindfulness, this work offers a path to a deeper and more embodied spiritual practice. For those long immersed in Buddhism, it provides rich, new insights into familiar concepts.
Allione places her teachings in the context of recent feminist resistance including the women’s marches, the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.
To watch videos from past teachings with Joan Halifax at the Newark Peace Summit please visit www.tibethouse.us.
About Tsultrim Allione
Lama Tsultrim Allione is an author, internationally known Buddhist teacher, and the founder and resident lama of Tara Mandala Retreat Center. She is the author of Women of Wisdom and national bestseller, Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict, which is now translated into seventeen languages, and Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine.
Born in New England to an academic and publishing family, Lama Tsultrim traveled to India in her late teens and in 1970, at the age of twenty-two, was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun by H. H. the Sixteenth Karmapa. After four years living as a nun practicing meditation in the Himalayan region, she returned her monastic vows, married, and raised a family of three children. She has a Master’s degree in Buddhist Studies/Women’s Studies from Antioch University. Her writings and teachings come from her sublime Tibetan lamas as well as her experience as a Western woman and mother. She is known for her ability to translate the wisdom of the ancient Tibetan Buddhist tradition into clear teachings that are relatable and relevant to Western audiences.
Connect with Tsultrim Allione
About Robert AF Thurman
Suggested Books & Audio by Robert AF Thurman:
Man of Peace: Illustrated Life Story of Tibet’s Dalai Lama (Book), Infinite Life: Awakening to Bliss Within (Book), Anger: The Seven Deadly Sins (Book), Inner Revolution (Book), Circling the Sacred Mountain : A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas (Book), Essential Tibetan Buddhism (Book), The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Book of Natural Liberation Through Understanding in the Between (Book) The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism (Book), The Central Philosophy of Tibet (Book), The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture (Book), Life & Teachings of Tsong Khapa (Book), Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World (Book) & Liberation Upon Hearing in the Between: Living with the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Audio).
