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Elio Guarisco

Elio was born in Italy in Varese on 5th August 1954 and grew up in Como. He studied Arts and received the degree of Master of Arts before traveling to India to study Buddhism. In India in 1974 he studied Buddhism with Satya Narayan Goenka (1924-2013), the most exponent of the Vipassana Meditation Tradition, disciple of Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899-1971).

Satya Narayan Goenka and his disciples during a Vipassana retreat in 1974.

Elio Guarisco is the fifth person from the right in the last (fourth) row. After his return from India he deepened the practice of Vipassana Meditation with western teachers trained at Sayagyi U Ba Khin School (1899-1971), including John Earl Coleman (1930-2012), Robert Harry Hover (1920-2008) and Ruth Denison (1922-2015). He became an authorized instructor of Vipassana and in 1976 he organized J. E. Coleman's first retreat in Pavia.

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The first Vipassana retreat with John E. Coleman in Italy, Torrazzetta (Pavia), November 1976.

Elio Guarisco is the third person to the left in the first row (sitting), next to John E. Coleman. Then he entered the Tharpa Choeling Monastery in Switzerland, which was founded in 1977 by Kyabje Geshe Tamdrin Rabten Rinpoche (later named after him “Rabten Choeling - Centre for Higher Tibetan Studies”). Elio remained there until 1986. In this time, he learned the spoken and classic Tibetan language and deepened his knowledge of Buddhist philosophy and meditation by studying with a dozen authoritarian Tibetan teachers, especially Geshe Tamdrin Rabten (1921-1986), philosophical advisor of the Dalai Lama.

Kyabje Geshe Tamdrin Rabten Rinpoche with monks of Tharpa Choeling, 1978.

Elio Guarisco is the second person on the right in the second row. At that time Elio Guarisco was one of the co-founders of the Tibetan Buddhist Centers Ghepel Ling (with Geshe Tamdrin Rabten among the founders) and Terra delle Dakini in Milan. Elio joined the Dzogchen community in 1986, when he received teachings from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu for the first time. Invited by H.E. Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989), one of the most eminent meditation masters of Karma Kagyu School and Shangpa Kagyu, and one of the first Tibetan masters to teach in the West, Elio Guarisco moved to Darjeeling, India, where he worked

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on the translation of a large encyclopedia of Indo-Tibetan knowledge, known as Sheja Kunkyab, written by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé (an exceptional and eclectic erudite, protagonist of the non-sectarian movement in East Tibet at the end of the ninetieth century, of which H.H. XVI Karmapa recognized H.E. Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche as the Emanation of Action) for more than twenty years. In this project he was the main translator of the following volumes, which were all published by the American publisher Snow Lion, now Shambala Publications:

- Myriad Worlds (1995), - Buddhist Ethics (1997), - Systems of Buddhist Tantra (2005), - The Elements of Tantric Practice (2008)

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche.

Elio sits next to Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. During his time in India, Elio kept an active collaboration with the Dzogchen Community and especially with the Shang Shung Institute in Italy. He was also one of the founding members of the Shang Shung Institute in Italy.

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Elio Guarsisco

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Elio – the Translator and Teacher of Meditation Since 2003, Elio Guarisco has been – besides Adriano Clemente and Jim Valby - one of the three main translators of the Ka-Ter Translation Project, founded by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in 2002. Until 2006 he offered his knowledge as a teacher for future translators in the Ka-Ter Project, organized by the Shang Shung Institute Austria. Fluent in colloquial and classic Tibetan, Elio Guarisco, who was one of the world's most important translators of ancient Tibetan texts, curated various translations from Tibetan. Here is a list of books as a result of the Ka-Ter Translation Project that Elio translated and annotated, all published by Shang Shung Publications:

• The Manifestation of the Clear Light by Paltrul Rinpoche with Oral Commentary of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

• The Marvelous Primordial State: Mejung Tantra • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Longchenpa’s Advice from the Heart • Awakening upon Dying: The Tibetan Book of the Dead • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Healing with Fire: A Practical Manual of Tibetan Moxibustion • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Birth, Life and Death according to Tibetan Medicine and the

Dzogchen Teachings • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: The Practice of Tibetan Kunye Massage • Healing with YANTRA YOGA: from Tibetan Medicine to the Subtle Body, co-written by

Phuntsog Wangmo • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Chang Chog Ritual of Purification for the Deceased • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Teachings on the Healing Mantra called Dorjei Kotrab • Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye: Creative Vision and Inner Reality • Kathog Situ Chökyi Gyatso: Togden Shakya Shri – The Life and Liberation of a Tibetan

Yogin • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: The Longsal Divination of Dorje Yudrönma • Gyalwa Yangönpa: Secret Map of the Body • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Outer Rushen: Going Beyond Limitations • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: The Long Life Practice of Amitayus and the Chulen of the Three

Kayas • Yang dGon pa and His Text on the Vajra Body in Sharro, Festschrift for Chögyal Namkhai

Norbu • The Tantric Mystic of Ancient India: The Miraculous Deeds of the Eighty-Four

Mahasiddhas Other translations or original texts include:

• Life and Teaching of a Tibetan Master, Ghepeling Editions • The Foundations of Tibetan Medicine, Ghepeling Editions • Elements for the Study of Tibetan Medicine written by Dr. Thubten Phuntsog, basic text used

for studying Tibetan Medicine at Shang Shung Institute in Italy • Preface to a flash of vacuity. The Heart of Wisdom Sutra.

For many years Elio Guarisco also served as a translator for eminent Tibetan doctors and spiritual teachers, including His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama. For his activity as a translator for many Tibetan masters and organizer of congresses, events, seminars and meditation courses, Elio Guarisco contributed greatly to the introduction of Buddhism in the West, especially in Italy.

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Elio was not only a very gifted translator, but also a very special and highly qualified teacher of meditation. He followed all the Santi Maha Sangha trainings and became an authorized teacher of the Base Level, the First Level and the Second Level by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. He traveled to various countries around the world in order to give public talks, courses and seminars. Among Elio’s teachers were: Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama His Eminence Kyabje Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche His Eminence Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche His Eminence Kyabje Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche His Eminence Kyabje the First Kalu Rinpoche His Eminence Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche His Holiness Sakya Trizin His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche Lama Wangdor Geshe Yeshe Tobden Jamgon Kongtrul Gomo Tulku John E. Coleman

Elio and Geshe Yeshe Tobden

Elio and Gomo Tulku

This biography is mainly based on the words of Elio Guarisco, and are compiled by Paolo Roberti di Sarsina with the supervision and authorization of Elio. Oliver Leick has actualized the parts on the Ka-Ter Translation Project, edited the text and did the lay-out. December 2020