Professionals Endorsements of The Radiant Mind Course

Ken Wilber - Founder, Integral Institute, Robert Thurman, President of Tibet House in New York, Isaac Shapiro - International Advaita Teacher, John Welwood - Buddhist Psychologist, Allan Combs - Author, The Radiance of Being, Lama Palden Drolma - Founder Sukhasiddhi Foundation, Chuck Hillig, Author, series of enlightening books, and Stuart Sovatsky - President, Association of Transpersonal Psychology and more below....

Radiant Mind is a brilliant postmodern implementation of Buddhist nondual wisdom. Peter Fenner has taken the refined deconstructive practices that have liberated ten of thousands of Asian contemplatives and adapted them for effective Western use. This course brings the ultimately liberating experience of selfless engagement within the reach of Western spiritual discoverers. I highly recommend it.

Robert Thurman, Buddhist Scholar, President of Tibet House in New York

Peter Fenner has been working hard for many years on translating essential Dharma teachings into a modern secular language and format, and his course is an innovative and creative distillation that offers useful exercises for integrating the teachings into everyday life.

John Welwood, Toward a Psychology of Awakening

Peter Fenner is remarkable. No matter what path you follow, the ability to move into the clarity and ease of pure nondual awareness is priceless. Peter transmits this experience through his very presence; and in his Radiant Mind Course you will joyfully and effortlessly learn to live it as well. What could be finer?

Allan Combs, The Radiance of Being

Peter Fenner's Radiant Mind Course is brilliant, avant-guarde, and original in it's presentation of non-dual awareness as it applies to the therapeutic arena. Peter continues to be a pioneer in this field and has synthesized aspects of Buddhist teaching, particularly Dzogchen and applied it to this Radiant Mind Course. The course material compiled from Peter's lifetime of study and practice is exceptional, no words can adequately express the rare jewels transmitted in this writing.

Roberta Godbe, Ph.D.
Psychologist, San Francisco

Peter has a unique capacity for observing and dismantling the conditioned mind. He listens not only to what people say, but sensitively reads verbal intonation and body language, in order to discover the subtlest forms of habituation and conditioning. Beyond inviting people to observe their preferences he gives no explicit direction about what to do or not do. He offers his own observations about what people are constructing out of the present moment and invites them to do the same.

As people's conditioned ways of thinking and feeling dissolve they begin to enter new territory where they may feel vulnerable and unsafe. At this point Peter's respectful and finely-tuned guidance engenders a confidence and capacity for many to leave the ruts of self-identification and move into a experience of unstructured awarenessæwhat in different traditions has been called "not knowing", "contentless wisdom" or "no-mind". In this experience, people are fully present to themselves and others, but there are no structures against which to measure, compare, or even describe the experience. The experience is deeply centered, yet poised, open and responsive to whatever may arise.

When this state of unconditioned consciousness emerges in a group setting, the experience is stabilized by gently observing how we close it down by identifying that which is essentially "nothing" as some "thing" we can be attached to. In Peter's hands this process consists of continually letting go of fixed concepts of practice and attainment, as they arise, in order to reach an open, dynamic and unstructured state of consciousness where there is nothing more to gain and no fear of loss Peter's work is a consistent and authentic synthesis of his immersion in the Buddhist Madhyamika and Dzogchen traditions, combined with his study of Western psychotherapy and depth psychology. His years of formal training have allowed him integrate the experiential heart of these traditions and teach without any need to refer to them. His years of contemplative training as a Buddhist monk have broughthim a deep inner stillness and utmost respect for the people with whom he works. Forgoing any fixed method or predetermined structure, he fully engages himself in his contemplative dialoguesæwith warmth, and a seriousness of intent that is juxtaposed with humor and absurdity. The foremost source, though, that accounts for the quality of his work, is his own extraordinary presence.

Silvia Ostertag Zen teacher, Director of Bildungsstätte Seeg, Germany

Peter has the talent to present the most refined teachings of Tibetan Buddhism in a way that makes them directly accessible to the ordinary, worldly consciousness. He never uses theoretical references which would be obscure to the uninitiated. His clear, concise and simple language comes from his inner experience, which is transmitted with sharpness, subtlety and sensitivity.

Peter has a consummate skill in revealing the paradoxes and absurdities of our inner functioning, thereby giving us an opportunity to discover the unconscious fixations that underlie our beliefs, convictions and affirmations.His teaching acts as a living koan, allowing the mind to abdicate its pretensions of omnipotence and discover an omnipresent silence that lies behind mental activity.

Beyond the technique of his work, Peter radiates a transparent, attentive and silent presence which gives an authenticity and undeniable value to his presentations. His teaching comes from a living experience and not fromsecond-hand theoretical knowledge.

Jean-Marc Mantel, M.D.
Psychiatrist, Vence, France

The space you create is like a mirror held up in front of me so that I can seemy constructions as they appear, simply for what for they are. In that mirroring they seem to deconstruct. It brings things back home, to just being here now, being present as is. It is a pure simplicity such that even this feels like saying too much.

Lynn Marie Lumiere
Psychologist, San Francisco

Meeting Peter is an experience in itself. For years I have met all over the world a lot of so-called guides in the psychotherapy and religious fields. Most of then teach something and do otherwise. To share some time with Peter is to encounter someone whose words and deeds are attuned. This is a very rare and precious opportunity.

He is poised and humorous at the same time. His words are chiseled; none is fortuitous although all are spontaneous. They scan and reach the inner core of our behavior with a deep understanding and a wide sympathy. They never hurt even if they come and touch our difficulties to adjust to the realities of life.

His technique, "so to say", is inspired by years of study, meditation, sincere and deep engagement towards truth, whatever that may be. He has been able to digest the teachings he received and the experiences he went through, to find the elementary structure of them all. Now he comes to us and proposes a kind of work so simple that we feel troubled and ask "Is it that only?" But if we simply try his proposal, we know that "Yes, this is the keyless-key!" to encounter life in all its dimensions, from the so-called grossest to the said subtle and transcendent aspects. All we need is to be fully present and lucid towards the reality of each moment.

I cannot explain for explaining would make the whole thing complicated where spontaneity only is invited. What he points must and can be lived to resume our natural "freedom-peace-and-bliss".

Martine Quentric-Seguy
Psychotherapist, Paris

Over the past several years I have had the opportunity to experience Peter Fenner's work. This has been fruitful for my dharma practice and understanding, as well as being thoroughly enjoyable. Peter spent nine years as a Gelukpa monk. He completed his Ph.D. in Buddhist studies, focusing his dissertation on Madhyamika, The Middle Way, most particularly on Nagarjuna's teachings on emptiness. Like his root teacher, the beloved Lama Yeshe, Peter has a fresh, unusual approach. Through a natural process of deconstruction, underlying assumptions and belief systems that bind us to habitual patterns are revealed. As these belief structures and preferences rise to the surface, the sun of awareness dissolves fixations. As fixations are released, the space of suchness opens, and participants can experience the fresh, open quality of aware presence. Peter's approach has shown itself to be useful for beginners as well as for more advanced practitioners. I heartily recommend his work as a complementary adjunct to meditation practice.

Lama Palden Drolma, Sukhasiddhi Foundation

I am very impressed with the psychospiritual work of Peter Fenner. His clear and quiet presence helps to deconstruct the subtlest concepts held dear to the ego in a way that is uniquely suited to the individual person. His refusal to support or validate any construct of mind, and his ability to mirror or describe in energy model the frame of reference created by those constructs, lays bare the underlying Reality in a way that the client can experience himself—as he is—more fully. Out of this experience comes the detachment from thought, emotion and sensation via which "healing" or "knowing" occurs.

Sheila Krystal, PhD
Psychologist, Berkeley

If you are interested in the Radiant Mind Course a Free Video Interview is available of Peter Fenner being asked about the Course, what the unconditioned mind is and how people can tell if they are experiencing nondual awareness.