Shows / The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
The Open Treasury is free Dharma audio for everyone, forever. Original courses and readings across the Buddhist tradition - the Lotus Sutra chapter by chapter, the great Dzogchen tantras, Mahamudra, the Visuddhimagga path of purification, and the masters from Garab Dorje to Tilopa - narrated by Tara, an AI voice, produced with Joseph Matten. Every episode is CC0 1.0 Universal: copy it, share it, build on it. Courses are provisional renderings - original AI-voiced works, not authoritative…
Episodes
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
The Buddha's Turning Point: The Pleasure He Stopped Fearing
The turning point in MN36: failed austerity, the remembered jambu tree, non-sensual pleasure, restored strength, four jhanas and the three knowledges. Own…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Jhana the Brasington Way: Pleasure, Steadiness, and the Question of Depth
A practical explanation of Leigh Brasington's pleasant-sensation doorway to the first jhana, followed by a short map of the first four states. Includes a fair…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Guhyagarbha: A Map of the Commentators
A public bibliographic orientation to Longchenpa, Mipham and Rongzom on the Guhyagarbha Tantra. Distinguishes root text, extensive commentary, overview and…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Longchenpa's Jewel Ship: How to Read the All-Creating King
Longchenpa's Jewel Ship: How to Read the All-Creating King. A non-procedural contribution to the All-Creating King commentary conversation: the teacher/student…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
The Contemplative Toolbox: Buddhist Approaches
The contemplative toolbox: Buddhist approaches. An original comparative survey of protective meditations, noting, calm abiding and insight, mind training, and…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
The Fly Out of the Bottle: Ludwig Wittgenstein
The Fly Out of the Bottle: Ludwig Wittgenstein - the full eight-chapter course. The Vienna house and what it cost, the aeronaut who walked into Russell's…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Namkhai Norbu: The Jewel of the Sky
An eight-chapter guided course on Chogyal Namkhai Norbu (1938-2018): the recognized tulku who never took a throne, the country doctor of Khamdogar who gave him…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Heidegger: The Question of Being
An eight-chapter guided course on Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) and Being and Time: the Messkirch childhood and the Brentano book that posed the question of…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Hegel: The Labor of the Negative
An eight-chapter guided course on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831): the Tübingen trio with Hölderlin and Schelling, the Phenomenology finished as…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Kant: The Law Within
An eight-chapter guided course on Immanuel Kant: the clock of Königsberg and the young Kant of Swedenborg and Rousseau, the Copernican turn (synthetic a…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Dolpopa: Empty of Other
An eight-chapter guided course on Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292-1361), the master from Dolpo who taught emptiness of other: the Sakya education and the title…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Khentrul Rinpoche: The Jonang Teachings
Nine episodes, one course: love as enjoyment and compassion as fearlessness, death as daily practice, zhentong ('empty of other'), the Kalachakra and its Six…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Plato: The Examined Life
From Socrates's trial to the invisible ring, the divided soul, the cave and the philosopher-rulers: an introduction to Plato that takes the arguments seriously…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Aryadeva: Crash Course
Aryadeva, traditionally called Madhyamaka's second founder: the Sri Lankan prince of the biographies, the gift of an eye, the one-eyed verse that challenges…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Spinoza: God or Nature
An own-words introduction to Baruch Spinoza: the excommunicated lens grinder of Amsterdam, the Ethics built like geometry from definitions to blessedness, God…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Moggallana: Crash Course
An own-words introduction to Moggallana, the Buddha's chief disciple in psychic power: the friends' pact under the wanderer Sanjaya and the four-line verse…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Sariputta: Crash Course
An own-words introduction to Sariputta, the Buddha's chief disciple in wisdom: the pact under the wanderer Sanjaya and the four-line verse that changed…
The Open Treasury: Narrated by TaraCandrakirti and Tsongkhapa: The Search for the Chariot
An own-words introduction to Candrakirti, Tsongkhapa and Prasangika Madhyamaka: Nagarjuna's emptiness, arguing without a thesis, the chariot and the search for…
The Open Treasury: Narrated by TaraVasubandhu and Asanga: Mind Only
An own-words introduction to Vasubandhu, Asanga and Yogacara: mind-only arguments, the eight consciousnesses and storehouse, the three natures, the path and…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Dignaga and Dharmakirti: Smoke and Fire
An own-words introduction to Dignaga, Dharmakirti and the Buddhist pramana tradition: perception and inference, smoke and fire, the three conditions, apoha…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Longchenpa: Primordial Purity, Spontaneous Presence
An own-words introduction to Longchenpa: life and works, the nine vehicles, mind and awareness, primordial purity and spontaneous presence, one ground and two…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Abhinavagupta: The Recognition
An own-words introduction to Abhinavagupta as a thinker: Kashmir, consciousness and freedom, recognition, the means, aesthetics and rasa, and later reception…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Nagarjuna: Emptiness Itself Is Empty
An own-words introduction to Nagarjuna and Madhyamaka: svabhava, dependent arising, emptiness, analysis of motion and time, the two truths, self, Buddha…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Lacan: The Mirror and the Real
An own-words introduction to Jacques Lacan: the mirror stage, language and the unconscious, desire and lack, the Real, jouissance, clinic, critics and legacy…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi: The Uncarved Block
An own-words introduction to Laozi and Zhuangzi: textual history, Dao, wu wei, water, the valley, the uncarved block, language, perspective, Cook Ding and the…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Wittgenstein: Meaning Is Use
An own-words introduction to Ludwig Wittgenstein: the Tractatus, pictures and facts, the ladder, meaning as use, language games, family resemblances…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Tantraloka: Light on the Tantras
An own-words introduction to Abhinavagupta's Tantraloka: reflection, consciousness, speech, the alphabet, the means, grace and Kula. Traditional composition…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Mahanirvana Tantra: A Tantra for Householders
An own-words survey of the Mahanirvana Tantra: Brahman and the Divine Mother, household life, rites, death, social law and avadhutas. Dating and authorship are…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Dhanyashtakam: The Blessed Octet
An own-words course on the Dhanyashtakam: knowledge, renunciation, the three desires, neti neti and companionship. Attribution to Shankara is traditional and…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Tantrasara: The Essence of the Tantras
An own-words introduction to Abhinavagupta's Tantrasara: light and self-awareness, the means, thirty-six tattvas, grace, initiation and the Kula context…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Shiva Sutras: Consciousness and Its Bondage
A guided introduction to the Shiva Sutras: the Vasugupta origin stories, consciousness and bondage, the three means, mantra, will and ordinary life…
The Open Treasury: Narrated by TaraIshaputra: The Man Behind the Snow
An own-words survey of Ishaputra's public talks and his lineage's public articles: freshness of mind, imagination and spiritual experience, bondage and…
The Open Treasury: Narrated by TaraKnowing and Seeing: The Full Road
Knowing and Seeing, Pa-Auk Sayadaw's handbook of insight practice, as a complete course: the full road from virtue through concentration to the knowledge and…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Drukpa Kunley: The Divine Madman: Crash Course
The series ends in a tavern: the monk who handed back his vows, wandered Bhutan with a bow on his back and an ale cup in his fist, insulting abbots and…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Milarepa: The Cotton-Clad: Crash Course
The proof of concept of Tibetan Buddhism: a young sorcerer who murdered thirty-five people in one afternoon and became the most beloved human being in Tibetan…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Naropa: The Scholar Who Jumped: Crash Course
The most educated man in the series: chancellor of Nalanda, guardian of the northern gate - who learned the difference between the words and the meaning by…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Marpa: The Translator: Crash Course
The least mystical job title in the series - lotsawa, the translator: a landowner with a temper who turned his inheritance into gold and crossed the Himalaya…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Tilopa: The Sesame Grinder: Crash Course
The watershed of the series: buffalo herder, book-drowner, night-shift errand man, day-shift sesame-thrasher - the holiest disqualifying resume in Buddhism…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Saraha: The Arrow Maker: Crash Course
The greatest Brahmin scholar of Nalanda, fully awakened by a woman selling arrows at a crossroads: the walk-out from the vows, the cremation ground, and the…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Nagarjuna: The Serpent Library: Crash Course
The man who taught this whole series its grammar: Nagarjuna, the second Buddha by job description, whose one idea - emptiness - protects the space from…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Dudjom Lingpa: The Delusory Visionary: Crash Course
The last great treasure-revealer: an unlettered nomad from Amdo who swallowed three treasure caskets in dreams, taught what fell out, and left thirteen…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Yeshe Tsogyal: The Pen in the Cave: Crash Course
The Mother of Tibetan Buddhism: the possible queen with a bigger paper trail than confirmed kings, the consort and scribe who wrote through the night in the…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Sri Singha: The Vault Keeper: Crash Course
The lion who archived the Great Perfection: the disputed birthplace (China, Khotan, or Burma), the nine-day levitating journey, the entire corpus divided into…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Padmasambhava: The Second Buddha: Crash Course
The Lotus-Born, Guru Rinpoche: lotus-born infant, crown prince, monk, charnel-ground yogi, sorcerer, kingdom-tamer, and librarian of the future - the mountain…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Rongzom: The Black Snake Discourse: Crash Course
Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo, the Lion of Speech: the lay householder the Blue Annals called Tibet's unequalled scholar, the Old School's defender against the new…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Garab Dorje: The First Human: Crash Course
The first human holder of the Great Perfection: the nun Sudharma's dream in Oddiyana, the child who recited tantras at birth, the four-line verse in Tibetan…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Virupa: The Man Who Stopped the Sun: Crash Course
Virupa, the founder of the Sakya Lamdre and the man who stopped the sun over a bar tab: the toilet rosary, the six nights of empowerment, the praises in…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Garab Dorje: The First Hand
Everything that survives of Garab Dorje, the first human master of Dzogchen, in one definitive course: the Three Statements testament in full in English and…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
UNBOUND - Buddhism from the Ground Up in One Hour
If you had one hour to teach someone Buddhism from the ground up: the highest view, the mechanics of the path, and the stages to full awakening, with every…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Two Flames of the Great Perfection
Are Bon Dzogchen and Nyingma Dzogchen the same teaching, and who holds the highest-view tantras across the Tibetan schools? A one-hour original course; every…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
The Whole Shelf - Every Dzogchen Tantra in One Listen: Crash Course
All the Dzogchen tantras in one listen: how the path evolves text by text through the mind, space and instruction series, flowing into Mahamudra. Sources…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
TANTRA-01 REDUX - The Cuckoo of Awareness: Crash Course
The Rig pa'i khu byug, the first Dzogchen text in history: six verses, the Vairotsana story, the Dunhuang manuscript, four translations side by side…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Ganges Mahamudra: Crash Course
Tilopa's Ganges Mahamudra, sung to Naropa on the banks of the Ganges, as a full course with commentary. Quoting the Lotsawa House translation by Bieler (CC…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Garab Dorje's Three Statements: Crash Course
The Three Statements That Strike the Vital Point - the whole of Dzogchen in three lines - as a full course with commentary. Quoting the Lotsawa House…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
Pa-Auk: Crash Course
The Pa-Auk method from zero to hero: samatha to vipassana, the way it is actually taught in the Pa-Auk tradition. With reference to Pa-Auk Sayadaw's Knowing…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
VISUDDHIMOGGA 01 - The Island: Crash Course
The path of purification as an island in the flood: what the Visuddhimagga is, why virtue, concentration and wisdom, and the map of the whole climb. With…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
VISUDDHIMOGGA 02 - The Workshop: Crash Course
Virtue as the workshop of the mind: sila cleaned, kept and used, and why nothing later works without it. With reference to Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, tr…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
VISUDDHIMOGGA 03 - The Gate: Crash Course
Concentration as the gate: the hindrances, the kasinas, and the threshold of absorption. With reference to Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, tr. Bhikkhu Nanamoli…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
VISUDDHIMOGGA 04 - The Absorptions: Crash Course
The jhanas from the inside: what each absorption feels like, how it is entered, and what it is for. With reference to Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, tr. Bhikkhu…
- The Open Treasury: Narrated by Tara
VISUDDHIMOGGA 05 - The Frames: Crash Course
The four frames of reference: mindfulness of body, feelings, mind and dhammas as the turn to insight. With reference to Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, tr…