Course Overview

Classical Buddhist maps speak of three great “turnings of the wheel”:

• The first turning reveals the path of liberation from suffering — the early teachings on the Four Noble Truths, no-self, and nirvana.
• The second turning proclaims the radical emptiness of all things — showing that even the “parts” we cling to as real are empty, fluid, dependently arisen.
• The third turning introduces the language of luminosity and Buddha-nature — pointing to the innate clarity and radiance of mind, and offering refined methods for recognizing it.

For more than a thousand years, practitioners have awakened through these turnings. Emptiness has always been as empty as ever.

But the world of form — the world that emptiness appears as — has not stood still.

In the centuries since the last major evolution of Buddhism, we’ve seen explosive growth in:

• science and technology
• psychology and developmental theory
• art, culture, and communication
• social systems, values, and identities

These evolutionary waves have reshaped what it means to be a human being, and therefore what it means to wake up as a human being. Our phones, our feeds, our politics, our traumas, our freedoms — none of this was on the Buddha’s historical radar, even though his realization can fully illuminate all of it.

A growing number of teachers and practitioners are therefore asking:

What happens when we bring the timeless realization of emptiness and luminosity into conscious relationship with an evolving, hyper-complex world of form?

This is what we are calling “The Fourth Turning”:

• not a replacement for the earlier turnings,
• but a way of transcending and including them,
• honoring their depth while integrating the profound insights of modern and postmodern life.

Buddhism’s unique flexibility — its emphasis on direct experience, emptiness, and skillful means — makes it especially capable of embracing these new forms without losing its essence.

And the implications reach far beyond Buddhism itself. Whether you identify as Buddhist, Christian, “spiritual but not religious”, or none of the above, this inquiry speaks to a single living question:

How do we recognize our timeless nature right now,
while fully inhabiting an evolving world that will never be the same again?

The Fourth Turning is an invitation to sit in that question — and to let it transform the way you see yourself, others, and the world.

What You'll Learn

Toward a Fourth Turning (by Ken Wilber)

Ken Wilber summarizes some of the most important items that any new Turning of the Wheel of Dharma might want to seriously consider.

The Fourth Turning of Buddhism Conference

Ken, Diane, Andrew, and Doshin further unpack the integral approach to Buddhist practice in this 5-hour collection of videos from the Fourth Turning Conference in Boulder, CO.

Frequently Asked Questions