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Shenpen Ösel is a tri-annual publication of Kagyu Shenpen Ösel Chöling (KSOC), a center for the study and practice of Tibetan vajrayana Buddhism located in Seattle, Washington. The magazine seeks 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 are derived from transcripts of teachings hosted by Kagyu Shenpen Ösel Chöling and other Kagyu Centers in North America. Shenpen Ösel is produced and mailed exclusively through volunteer labor and does not make a profit. (Your subscriptions and donations are greatly appreciated.) It is 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 following issues of Shenpen Ösel are formatted in the Portable Document Format (PDF)
Publications in the PDF format can be viewed, navigated and printed from a workstation using the freely available Acrobat Reader software from Adobe Systems Inc. Versions of Acrobat Reader run on DOS, Windows, Macintosh and Unix systems.  Download Acrobat Reader.  Please download the latest version of Acrobat Reader if you are having trouble reading any of the issues below. We suggest that once the magazine is completely downloaded you save it to your hard drive.  Simply click on the disk icon on the Arcobat Reader menu bar located at the upper left side of the page.

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1  MAY 1997
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.

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2  OCT. 1997
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.

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1  MARCH 1998
Commentary on the Third Gyalwa Karmapa's The Aspiration Prayer of Mahamudra by Tai Situ Rinpoche, including the original Tibetan text with translation.

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2  JUNE 1998
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.

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3  DEC. 1998
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.

VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1  APRIL 1999
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.

VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 OCTOBER 1999
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.

VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3 JANUARY 2000
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.

VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 JUNE 2000
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.

VOLUME 4, NUMBER 2 SEPT. 2000
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.

VOLUME 4, NUMBER 3 DEC. 2000
Commentary on the Ninth Gyalwang Karmapa's Pointing Out the Dharmakaya by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1 MAY 2001
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.

VOLUME 5, NUMBERS 2 & 3 DEC. 2001
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.

New Issue
VOLUME 6, NUMBERS 1&2 JUNE 2003
(Large file, please be patient)
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.