Explore the three great teachings of the Buddha.

• The First Turning of the Wheel: Insight into the nature of suffering—and the way out of it—from the four noble truths and the eightfold path

• The Second Turning of the Wheel: Teachings on emptiness from the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra

• The Third Turning of the Wheel: Guidance for practitioners and teachings on awakened Buddha nature

In clear language, James William Coleman, professor of sociology at the California Polytechnic State University, guides us through the ancient sutras that preserve the Buddha’s message, illuminating their meaning for today’s world and tying the Buddha’s wisdom together for us. The book concludes with chapters from two great teachers, Reb Anderson from the Zen tradition and Lama Palden from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, on how to use meditation to bring the Buddha’s wisdom into our daily lives.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: The Wheel of Dharma

Part I: The Three Turnings of the Wheel

1. The First Turning of the Wheel: The Four Noble Truths and the Pali Canon

2. The Second Turning of the Wheel: Emptiness and the Perfection of Wisdom

3. The Third Turning of the Wheel: Untying the Knot of the Sutra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets

Part II: Turning the Wheel in the Twenty-First Century

4. Practicing the Dream

5. Tasting the Truth of the Buddha’s Words: A Zen Perspective            

            by Reb Anderson Roshi

6. Envisioning Tara: A Vajrayana Perspective

            by Lama Palden Drolma

7. The Buddha’s Dream

James Coleman has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is currently a professor of sociology at the California Polytechnic State University. He is one of the founders of the White Heron Sangha in San Luis Obispo, California.

Reb Anderson Roshi is a lineage-holder in the Soto Zen tradition and a senior Dharma teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Minnesota and left advanced study in mathematics and Western psychology to come to Zen Center in 1967. He practiced with Suzuki Roshi, who ordained him as a priest in 1970 and gave him the name Tenshin Zenki ("Naturally Real, The Whole Works"). He received Dharma transmission in 1983 and served as abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center's three training centers (City Center, Green Gulch Farm, and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center) from 1986 to 1995. Tenshin Roshi continues to teach at Zen Center, living with his friends and family at Green Gulch Farm. He is author of Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains: Dharma Talks on Zen Meditation, Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts, and The Third Turning of the Wheel: Wisdom of the Samdhinirmocana Sutra.

Lama Palden Drolma is the founder and spiritual director of Sukhasiddhi Foundation and a cofounder of the Feminine Wisdom School. She completed the traditional Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat in the Shangpa and Karma Kagyu lineages under the previous Kalu Rinpoche’s guidance in 1985. In 1986 she became one of the first Western women to be authorized as a lama in the Vajrayana tradition. In addition to Kalu Rinpoche, she has studied with many of the great Tibetan masters from all lineages, including the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Bokar Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Dezhung Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, and the Dalai Lama. Lama Palden was profiled in Shambhala Sun magazine as one of the women “changing the face of Buddhism.”