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A list of all pages that have property "Bio" with value "See biography at Orgyen Khamdroling's website [http://www.orgyenkhamdroling.org/biography]". Since there have been only a few results, also nearby values are displayed.

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  • Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche  + (The 7th Dzogchen Ponlop (Karma Sungrap NgeThe 7th Dzogchen Ponlop (Karma Sungrap Ngedön Tenpa Gyaltsen, born 1965) is an abbot of Dzogchen Monastery, founder and spiritual director of Nalandabodhi, founder of Nītārtha Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies, a leading Tibetan Buddhist scholar, and a meditation master. He is one of the highest tülkus in the Nyingma lineage and an accomplished Karma Kagyu lineage holder.</br></br>Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche was born in 1965 at Rumtek Monastery (Dharma Chakra Center) in Sikkim, India. His birth was prophesied by the supreme head of the Kagyu lineage, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, to Ponlop Rinpoche's parents, Dhamchö Yongdu, the General Secretary of the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, and his wife, Lekshey Drolma. Upon his birth, he was recognized by the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa as the seventh in the line of Dzogchen Ponlop incarnations and was formally enthroned as the Seventh Dzogchen Ponlop at Rumtek Monastery in 1968.[1]</br></br>After receiving Buddhist refuge and bodhisattva vows from the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Dzogchen Ponlop was ordained as a novice monk in 1974. He subsequently received full ordination and became a bhikṣu, although he later returned his vows and is now a lay teacher.</br></br>Rinpoche received teachings and empowerments from the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Dilgo Khyentse, Kalu Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (chief Abbot of the Kagyu lineage), Alak Zenkar Rinpoche, and Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, his root guru.</br></br>Ponlop Rinpoche began studying Buddhist philosophy at the primary school in Rumtek at age 12. In 1979 (when Rinpoche was fourteen), the 16th Karmapa proclaimed Ponlop Rinpoche to be a heart son of the Gyalwang Karmapa and a holder of his Karma Kagyu lineage. In 1980 on his first trip to the West, he accompanied the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa to Europe, United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia. While serving as the Karmapa's attendant, he also gave dharma teachings and assisted in ceremonial roles during these travels.[2]</br></br>In 1981, he entered the monastic college at Rumtek, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies where he studied the fields of Buddhist philosophy, psychology, logic, and debate. During his time at Rumtek, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche worked for the Students' Welfare Union, served as head librarian, and was the chief-editor of the Nalandakirti Journal, an annual publication which brings together Eastern and Western views on Buddhism. Rinpoche graduated in 1990 as Ka-rabjampa from Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies in Rumtek Monastery. (Ka-rabjampa means "one with unobstructed knowledge of scriptures", the Kagyu equivalent of the Sakya and Gelug's geshe degree.) He simultaneously earned the degree of Acharya, or Master of Buddhist Philosophy, from Sampurnanant Sanskrit University. Dzogchen Ponlop has also completed studies in English and comparative religion at Columbia University in New York City. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen_Ponlop_Rinpoche Source Accessed Nov 19, 2019])</br></br>For further information about Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, visit his [https://dpr.info/ Official Website]t his [https://dpr.info/ Official Website])
  • Ven. Cheng Kuan  + (The Venerable Cheng Kuan is the founder, pThe Venerable Cheng Kuan is the founder, president, and abbot of Americana Buddhist Temple (Michigan) and Mahavairocana Temple (Taiwan), as well as the founder and president of the Neo-carefree Garden Buddhist Canon Translation Institute (Taiwan).</br></br>He became an ordained Buddhist monk in 1988 under Master Hsien-Ming (the 45th-generation patriarchate holder of the Tien-Tai sect). </br></br>Born in 1947 in Taipei, Taiwan, he graduated from the English department of Taiwan Normal University (1977–1978) and attended graduate school at Texas Christian University (1979–1982).</br></br>His publications include many translations of Buddhist sutras: ''The Sutra of 42 Chapters'' (2005), ''The Diamond Sutra'' (2005), ''The Altar Sutra'' (2005), ''The Sutra of Consumate Enlightenment'' (2009), ''The Sutra of Terra-Treasure'' (2009), ''The Heart Sutra'' (2012), and ''The Lotus Sutra of Wondrous Dharma'' (2014). </br></br>His other writings in English include: ''The Sweet Dews of Ch'an'' (1995), ''Three Contemplations toward Buddha Nature'' (2002), and ''Tapping the Inconceivable'' (2002). (Source: Adapted from author's biography in ''Three Contemplations Toward Buddha Nature'', 2018)ntemplations Toward Buddha Nature'', 2018))
  • Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje  + (The eighth member of the incarnation lineaThe eighth member of the incarnation lineage of the Karmapas, Mikyö Dorje, was a prolific scholar and an acclaimed artist, often credited with the development of the Karma Gadri style of painting. Though he only lived into his mid-40's his contributions to the Karma Kagyu and Tibetan tradition, in general, were immense. His collected works are said to have originally filled thirty volumes and he is widely held to be one of the most significant of the Karmapa incarnations.</br></br>For a detailed discussion of The Eighth Karmapa's life, with interesting reference to source texts, see the [https://kagyuoffice.org/life-of-mikyo-dorje/ 17th Karmapa's teachings from February 2021].</br></br>'''From the book, ''Karmapa: 900 Years'' (KTD Publications, 2016, revised 3rd edition):'''</br></br>Mikyö Dorje is among the greatest scholars Tibet has ever produced. He was an active participant in the rigorous intellectual debates of his day, making major contributions in virtually all areas of textual study. He was an accomplished Sanskritist, and wrote Sanskrit grammars alongside works ranging from poetry to art to tantra. The Eighth Karmapa’s voluminous writings include substantial commentaries on all the principal Sanskrit texts, clarifying points of confusion and deeply engaging with their inner meaning. The act of composing philosophical texts within the Karma Kagyu—a lineage so fully devoted to attaining realization through practice—is wholly unlike the act of producing philosophical texts in a modern academic or scholastic setting. Rather, the philosophical works of Mikyö Dorje point out the way to view reality in order to be liberated from the cycles of samsaric suffering. As such, his compositions are a supreme act of kindness. It is said that Mikyö Dorje’s deeds in recording his insight and understanding in his commentaries had the effect of doubling or tripling the lifespan of the Karma Kagyu lineage.(Source: Page 73, ''Karmapa: 900 Years'' (KTD Publications, 2016, revised 3rd edition). E-Book available online here: http://www.ktdpublications.com/karmapa-900-third-edition-e-book/ .</br></br>Mikyö Dorje left numerous Buddhist writings on all major and minor topics, including a biography of Bodong Chogle Namgyal (1376–1451), entitled ''Ocean of Miracles'' (ngo mtshar gyi rgya mtsho), a Gongchik commentary, and he introduced a special guru yoga in four sessions, which is the basis for contemporary Karma Kagyu practice. See a list of Tibetan works by the 8th Karmapa available as free ePubs on [https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/book-author/eighth-karmapa-mikyo-dorje/ Tsadra Foundation's DharmaCloud website].</br></br>'''For more biographical information see the following sources:'''</br>*Rheingans, Jim. 2017. ''The Eighth Karmapa's Life and His Interpretation of the Great Seal: A Religious Life and Instructional Texts in Historical and Doctrinal Contexts''. Bochum, Germany: Projekt Verlag. </br>*[https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:P385 BDRC Person page for The 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje]</br>*[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1335480 WikiData entry for The 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje]</br>*[https://www.himalayanart.org/items/560 Himalayan Art Resource page for The 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje]</br>*[https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/People/Karmapa,_8th Tsadra Foundation person page for The 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje]</br>*[https://kagyuoffice.org/life-of-mikyo-dorje/ Official Karmapa Office Page on the 8th Karmapa]</br>*[http://tsurphu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19:the-eighth-karmapa-mikyo-dorje-1507-1554&catid=10&Itemid=280&lang=en Tsurphu Monastery Page on the 8th Karmapa]mid=280&lang=en Tsurphu Monastery Page on the 8th Karmapa])
  • Geshe Lobsang Dargyay  + (The late Geshe Lobsang Dargyay was trainedThe late Geshe Lobsang Dargyay was trained at Drepung Monastery in Tibet. He got his doctorate in Buddhist and Tibetan Studies from the Ludwig Maximilians Universität and held teaching and research positions in Vienna, Hamburg, and Calgary. Geshe-la was the first Tibetan to receive a doctorate from a Western university. He passed away in 1994. ([https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/geshe-lobsang-dargyay/ Source Accessed Sept 23, 2020])</br></br>For a more complete biography, see [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xzc6AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT11&lpg=PT11&dq=Freedom+From+Extremes/In+Memoriam:+Geshe+Lobsang+Dargyay+(1935-94)by+Eva+Neumaier&source=bl&ots=a2vMqwcDeb&sig=ACfU3U1uAhLezrS11HGmbnKtWcEX30VAsQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4m_PKy4jnAhUJGc0KHXxeDagQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Freedom%20From%20Extremes%2FIn%20Memoriam%3A%20Geshe%20Lobsang%20Dargyay%20(1935-94)by%20Eva%20Neumaier&f=false "In Memoriam: Geshe Lobsang Dargyay (1935–94)"] by Eva Neumaier, in ''Freedom from Extremes: Gorampa's "Distinguishing the Views" and the Polemics of Emptiness'' (Wisdom Publications, 2007), xi–xiv.ishing the Views" and the Polemics of Emptiness'' (Wisdom Publications, 2007), xi–xiv.)
  • Dudjom Rolpa Tsal  + (There seems to be some confusion regardingThere seems to be some confusion regarding this figure, and he is likely conflated with a later figure of the same name on his BDRC page, namely the Tertön Dudjom Rolpa Tsal that was a student of Dzogchen Khenpo Padma Vajra and teacher to Kathok Situ Chökyi Gyamtso and others. The Dudjom Rolpa Tsal whose Red Garuda treasure is included in the Terdzö, seems to have lived circa the 17th-18th centuries. Kongtrul doesn't give much details in his brief biography of him, other than that Kathok Rigdzin seems to have met him in his younger years. However, in the addendum included by Kongtrul in the text found in the Terdzö, which delineates the lineage from which he received this particular treasure, it is clear that this figure lived a couple generations before Kongtrul. The text in question comes from the Tertön's student Drime Zhingkyong (b. 1724), whom was the son of Chöje Lingpa and the teacher of several prominent lamas, such as Kunzang Ngedön Wangpo and Getse Mahāpaṇḍita, that lived toward the second half of the 18th century. Therefore, the BDRC page in which we find the Tertön's collected works is inaccurate in its biographical details and subsequently in the associated persons, all of which are related to the later Dudjom Rolpa Tsal that lived in the 18-19th centuries. However, Jeff Watt's description on HAR of the image included here does seem to reference the correct Dudjom Rolpa Tsal, a.k.a. Pema Chögyal. In this image we find Drime Zhingkyong depicted as a disciple of the Tertön.yong depicted as a disciple of the Tertön.)
  • Tsarchen Losal Gyamtso  + (Tsarchen Losal Gyatso was the founder of tTsarchen Losal Gyatso was the founder of the Tsar subschool of the Sakya tradition and of its main monastery, Dar Drangmoche Monastery in the province of Tsang. A number of his writings survive such as his compositions on the Hevajra visualization (Tib. ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར, Wyl. nyi ma'i 'od zer) and on the Vajrayogini teachings. His biography was written by the Fifth Dalai Lama. His chief disciples were Jamyang Khyentse Wangchuk, who is compared to the sun, and Mangtö Ludrup Gyatso, who is likened to the moon, as well as Yol Khenchen Shyönnu Lodrö, the Third Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso, and Bokarwa Maitri Döndrup Gyaltsen. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Tsarchen_Losal_Gyatso Rigpa Wiki])p?title=Tsarchen_Losal_Gyatso Rigpa Wiki]))
  • Alak Zenkar Rinpoche  + (Tudeng Nima is the 2nd Alak Zenkar RinpochTudeng Nima is the 2nd Alak Zenkar Rinpoche. The 1st Alak Zenkar Rinpoche, Pema Ngödrup Rolpai Dorjé, lived from 1881 to 1943. For a short biography, see Tulku Thondup, ''Masters of Meditation and Miracles'' (Shambhala Publications, 1996), 275–77.</br></br>Tudeng Nima Rinpoche is the Director of the Paltseg Tibetan Rare Texts Research Center, TBRC board member, visiting scholar at the University of Virginia, and board member of the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture. In 2000-2003, he was a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University in the East Asian Institute. From 2004 to the present he has been a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia. Tudeng Nima Rinpoche has written many papers for which he has received numerous awards. He has rescued and reproduced thousands of important and rare Tibetan texts. He has made outstanding contributions to Tibetan culture and education and is renowned as one of the world’s leading Tibetan Buddhist scholars. ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!footer/about/board Adapted from BDRC September 17, 2020])</br></br>[http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Alak_Zenkar_Rinpoche Rigpa Wiki Bio]title=Alak_Zenkar_Rinpoche Rigpa Wiki Bio])
  • Tulku Orgyen Topgyal  + (Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche (o rgyan stoTulku Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche (o rgyan stobs rgyal rin po che, b. 1951) is the elder son of the 3rd Neten Chokling Rinpoche. He is considered to be an incarnation of Taksham Nuden Dorje. After the death of his father, he took care of Pema Ewam Chogar Gyurme Ling Monastery in Bir, India, for many years before handing it over to the 4th Neten Chokling Rinpoche. He is a disciple of Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Renowned for his vast memory of the lives of past teachers, he recounted The Life of Chokgyur Lingpa to Erik Pema Kunsang. (Source: Enlightened Vagabond)ma Kunsang. (Source: Enlightened Vagabond))
  • HE Tulku Pema Rigtsal  + (Tulku Pema Rigtsal Rinpoche is the SupremeTulku Pema Rigtsal Rinpoche is the Supreme Head of Namkha Khyung Dzong Monastery in Humla, Nepal ("upper Dudjom lineage" known as Namkha Khyung Dzong, formerly based at Mount Kailash in Tibet). At the age of three he was recognized by Dudjom Rinpoche as the reincarnation of “Chimed Rinpoche,” who is the emanation of the Great Indian Siddha “Dampa Sangye” and spiritual head of the renowned Shedphel Ling Monastery in Ngari, Tibet. In 1985 he reconstructed the Namkha Khyung Dzong Monastery in Humla, Nepal, and has taught the 13 major philosophical texts (Shungchen Chusum) for 24 years. His religious guidance has inspired hundreds of ascetics and other practitioners in Tibet.</br></br>Rinpoche has studied the Vajrayana tradition of the Nyingma lineage from renowned spiritual masters: Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche, Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, Trulshik Rinpoche, and Domang Yangthang Rinpoche. ([https://rubinmuseum.org/events/event/mindfulness-meditation-with-tulku-pema-rigtsal-rinpoche-02-22-24/ Source Accessed January 23, 2024])</br></br>According to Rigpa Wiki: Tulku Pema Rigtsal gives teachings on the Dudjom Tersar Ngöndro, the ''The Words of My Perfect Teacher'', ''Bodhicharyavatara'', and the Richö, Nang Jang, Neluk Rangjung, and other Dudjom Tersar teachings, to the people of Humla and those from the Ngari part of Tibet.</br></br>Tulku Pema Rigtsal also holds Summer and Winter Dharma Teaching sessions every year for more than five hundred practitioners including monks, ngakpas (yogis) and nuns residing in Humla and Ngari, Tibet. Hundreds of hermits are practising in caves and solitary locations in Humla, Nepal and Ngari, Tibet under his instruction and guidance.</br></br>Among his writings, there are:</br>:a commentary on the Calling The Lama From Afar of Dudjom Rinpoche</br>:a biography of the Degyal Rinpoche (the first).</br>:his first book in Tibetan, entitled “Semkyi Sangwa Ngontu Phyungwa” (translated and published in English as [[The Great Secret of Mind]]).cret of Mind]]).)
  • Lama Sherab Dorje  + (Tulku Sherdor is Executive Director of BlaTulku Sherdor is Executive Director of Blazing Wisdom Institute. Born in Montreal, Canada in 1961, he began studying Buddhist Insight meditation from a very young age, and met his principal teacher, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, in Nepal in 1981. He was fortunate to study with other pre-eminent masters of the 20th century, including His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Khetsun Zangpo Rinpoche, Dung Say Trinley Norbu Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, and many others. He completed a 3-year lama retreat in the Karma and Shangpa Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism, and a year-long solitary retreat in the Chogling Tersar practice lineage held by Tulku Urgyen. Over the past 18 years he has traveled far and wide, teaching and working with and translating for a great number of distinguished Nyingma and Kagyu meditation masters, such as helping Trangu Rinpoche establish the monastic retreat program at Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in the early 1990s; helping Kenpo Sonam Topgyal Rinpoche re-establish the vajrayana Buddhist tradition for the Chinese community in Thailand in the mid-1990s; and working closely with his precious teacher, His Holiness Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, to advance many philanthropic projects in Tibet dedicated to world peace. (Source: [http://www.blazingwisdom.org/id1.html Blazing Wisdom Institute])om.org/id1.html Blazing Wisdom Institute]))
  • Tulku Urgyen Chemchok  + (Tulku Urgyen Chemchog (1915?-2003?) was onTulku Urgyen Chemchog (1915?-2003?) was one of the closest disciples of Khenpo Ngawang Palzang and a disciple of Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje. He was able to teach quite a few disciples in secret while spending twenty years in Chinese labor camps in Tibet. After being freed, he lived and taught in Konjo province. After his passing away, his body shrank to the size of an arm's length, a phenomenon considered to be similar, though not identical, to the achievement of</br>the rainbow body. (Source: Enlightened Vagabond). See also his biography on [http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Gojo_Orgyen_Chemchok Rigpa Wiki].hp?title=Gojo_Orgyen_Chemchok Rigpa Wiki].)
  • Ulrike Roesler  + (Ulrike Roesler received her PhD in Indian Ulrike Roesler received her PhD in Indian Studies from the University of Münster (Germany) with a thesis on the notion of "light" in the Vedas. For more than a decade she has been teaching Indian and Tibetan Studies as well as Buddhist Studies at the universities of Marburg, Freiburg, and Oxford. Her research interests include Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, the history of the Tibetan Kadam school, and Tibetan biographical and narrative literature. Her German translation and study of Potowa Rinchen Sal's ''Dharma Exemplified (Dpe chos)'' was published by Reichert Verlag (Weisbaden) in 2011. With Linda Covill and Sarah Shaw, she coedited ''Lives Lived, Lives Imagined: Biography in the Buddhist Traditions'' (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010). (Source: [https://books.google.com/books?id=B68aCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT918&lpg=PT918&dq=Ulrike+Roesler+received+her+PhD+in+Indian+Studies+from+the+University+of+M%C3%BCnster+(Germany)+with+a+thesis+on+the+notion+of+%22light%22+in+the+Vedas.&source=bl&ots=MWXJJre-DW&sig=ACfU3U0oqRUrOgdcIk9dgYb82jAVXyqQdQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSs6jojd3rAhWomeAKHTpUCPkQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Ulrike%20Roesler%20received%20her%20PhD%20in%20Indian%20Studies%20from%20the%20University%20of%20M%C3%BCnster%20(Germany)%20with%20a%20thesis%20on%20the%20notion%20of%20%22light%22%20in%20the%20Vedas.&f=false "About the Contributors," ''Stages of the Buddha's Teachings: Three Key Texts'', Wisdom Publications, 2015])s," ''Stages of the Buddha's Teachings: Three Key Texts'', Wisdom Publications, 2015]))
  • Thubten Rinchen  + (Ven. Thubten Rinchen met the Dharma at theVen. Thubten Rinchen met the Dharma at the Drepung Loseling Monastery in India in 2015, and then studied and practiced at the Drepung Loseling center in Atlanta, where she took refuge with Geshe Dadul Namgyal. She met Venerable Chodron during a trip to India in 2016 and was able to first visit the Abbey in 2017. After another short winter visit, she was able to spend much of the summer of 2019 at the Abbey, including attending the Exploring Monastic Life program.</br></br>While Ven. Rinchen initially put her monastic aspirations on hold for opportunities in Atlanta and India, the COVID pandemic provided a helpful reminder about the impermanent and unsatisfactory nature of samsara. She moved to the Abbey in August of 2020 and began Anagarika training in October of that year. After a fruitful discernment period, she requested ordination and received her Shikshamana ordination at the Abbey from Venerable Chodron in August of 2021. </br></br>Prior to coming to the Abbey, Ven. Rinchen was involved in the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, which provided many opportunities to travel to the Tibetan Monasteries in India to teach physics to monks and nuns, which she did every summer from 2015 to 2019. She taught physics at a college in Atlanta, and performed research in medical physics.</br></br>At the Abbey, Ven. Rinchen is part of the finance team, facilitates SAFE, assists with IT, and keeps the website running. She also enjoys caring for the kitties, tending the vegetable garden, studying Tibetan, and cooking Indian food. (Source: [https://sravastiabbey.org/community-member/thubten-rinchen/ Sravasti Abbey])y-member/thubten-rinchen/ Sravasti Abbey]))
  • Karma Lekshe Tsomo  + (Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a specialistVenerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a specialist in Buddhist studies, has taught at USD since 2000. She offers classes in Buddhist Thought and Culture, World Religions, Comparative Religious Ethics, Religious and Political Identities in the Global Community, and Negotiating Religious Diversity in India. Her research interests include women in Buddhism, death and dying, Buddhist feminist ethics, Buddhism and bioethics, religion and politics, Buddhist social ethics, and Buddhist transnationalism. She integrates scholarship and social activism through the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and Jamyang Foundation, an innovative education project for women in developing countries, with 15 schools in the Indian Himalayas, Bangladesh, and Laos. Karma Lekshe Tsomo studied at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India for 15 years. She obtained a BA from Berkeley and a PhD from the University of Hawai‘i in Comparative Philosophy. ([https://www.sandiego.edu/cas/theology/faculty-and-staff/biography.php?profile_id=190 Source: University of San Diego Home Page])ource: University of San Diego Home Page]))
  • Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen  + (Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen is the sVenerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen is the spiritual director of Sakya Phuntsok Ling Centers for Tibetan Buddhist Study and Meditation. He is a widely recognized and accomplished teacher and translator of Buddhism. His Holiness Sakya Trizin and other high lamas of the Sakya Order have repeatedly praised his Dharma activities as exemplary.</br></br></br>Training and Dharma Work:</br></br></br>As a youth, Khenpo Kalsang met his first teacher, Venerable Tharig Tulku Rinpoche, and from him received novice ordination and monastic and religious training. He received full ordination and advanced religious training from His Eminence Luding Khenchen Rinpoche.</br></br>After assisting Venerable Tharig Tulku Rinpoche in building the first Sakya monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, Khenpo Kalsang served as assistant abbot, teacher of young monks, disciplinarian and also held other religious offices. He continued to pursue advanced Dharma study, requesting and receiving many special teachings in both sutra and tantra from His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, His Eminence Luding Khenchen Rinpoche, His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, Venerable Khenpo Appey Rinpoche and Venerable Khenpo Rinchen. From His Eminence Dezhung Rinpoche, he also received many special Sakya oral instructions.</br></br>In recognition of his accomplishment of study and meditation, His Holiness the Sakya Trizin requested Khenpo Kalsang to lead the meditation training sessions during His Holiness’ bestowal of the precious Lam Dre teaching cycle in Friday Harbor, Washington in 1995.</br></br>At the request of His Holiness the Sakya Trizin and his own students, Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen has translated numerous major Sakya texts into English. These include His Holiness’ autobiography, the Hevajra Cause and Path Initiations, the Anatomy of the Lam Dre Teaching and numerous other tantric texts, sadhanas and prayers. His Holiness the Sakya Trizin chose Khenpo Kalsang to provide simultaneous English interpretation when he bestowed the Collection of All the Sadhanas teaching cycle in Kathmandu in 1994. Khenpo Kalsang has also served as interpreter for the teaching tours of His Eminence Luding Khen Rinpoche, His Eminence Dezhung Rinpoche and Venerable Tharig Tulku Rinpoche.</br></br>Founding Sakya Phuntsok Ling</br></br>In 1986, at the request of students in the Washington, D.C. area, Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen established Sakya Phuntsok Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies and Meditation.</br></br>With the blessings of His Holiness the Sakya Trizin and His Eminence Dezhung Rinpoche and the expert teaching and wise guidance of Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen, Sakya Phuntsok Ling has flourished, and the Center’s activities have been praised by His Holiness and other high lamas of the Sakya Order.</br></br>Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen continues to teach and guide students at Sakya Phuntsok Ling, in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington D.C. He is active in translation of Sakya texts and travels regularly to give teachings at Sakya centers in the United States. (Source: [http://sakyaphuntsokling.org/khenpo-kalsang-gyaltsen/ Sakya Puntsok Ling Official Website])alsang-gyaltsen/ Sakya Puntsok Ling Official Website]))
  • Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö  + (Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö is a renowVenerable Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö is a renowned contemporary Nyingma teacher of Tibetan Buddhism based at Larung Gar (formally known as the Serthar Larung Five Sciences Buddhist Institute), where he serves as a standing Vice Principal. He is a native of Draggo (Ch: Luhuo) County in Sichuan Province. He is an influential public intellectual. Read more [https://www.luminouswisdom.org/index.php/biography/biography-2 here].org/index.php/biography/biography-2 here].)
  • Yeshe Tsogyal  + (Yeshe Tsogyal was the principal consort ofYeshe Tsogyal was the principal consort of Guru Padmasambhava. She was Vajravarahi in human form and also an emanation of Tara and Buddhalochana.</br>She was born as a princess in the clan of Kharchen. According to some accounts her father was called Namkha Yeshe and her mother was Gewa Bum. In other histories, such as the Zanglingma and the biography revealed by Taksham Nüden Dorje, her father is named as Kharchen Palgyi Wangchuk, who is otherwise said to have been her brother. Yet another version names her father as Tökar Lek and her mother as Gyalmo Tso.</br></br>She became the consort of King Trisong Detsen before being offered to Guru Rinpoche as a mandala offering during an empowerment. She specialized in the practice of Vajrakilaya and experienced visions of the deity and gained accomplishment. In Nepal, she paid a ransom for Acharya Salé and took him as her spiritual consort. Through the power of her unfailing memory, she collected all the teachings given by Guru Rinpoche in Tibet and concealed them as terma. At the end of her life, it is said, she flew through the air and went directly to Zangdokpalri. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Yeshe_Tsogyal Rigpa Wiki])index.php?title=Yeshe_Tsogyal Rigpa Wiki]))
  • Zach Larson  + (Zach Larson is a practitioner in the LongcZach Larson is a practitioner in the Longchen Nyingthig lineage of the Nyingma School, who works as a translator, editor and author. He was born in 1978 in Wisconsin and received a BA in "Buddhism and Politics" at UW-Madison in 2001 after a year-long study-abroad program in Kathmandu, Nepal in which he met his first teacher, Changling Tulku Rinpoche of Shechen Monastery, with whom he studied the Longchen Nyinthig preliminaries for six months. While working on the research project "Nonviolence in Tibetan Culture: A glimpse at how Tibetans view and practice nonviolence in politics and daily life," he met and received profound blessings from Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche and offered to compile and translate teachings by him in the coming years. Chatral Rinpoche approved of the idea, and Larson returned to Wisconsin to study Tibetan language and Buddhism for three years at the UW-Madison Graduate School. He returned to Nepal in 2004 and compiled, edited, and translated Chatral Rinpoche's biography and teachings into the book ''Compassionate Action: The Teachings of Chatral Rinpoche'', which was published by Shechen Publications in New Delhi in 2005.</br></br>Larson attended the full Nyingma Kama Wang with Trulshik Rinpoche in the winter of 2004 in Boudha and received the Kunsang Lama'i Shelung empowerment from Tsetrul Rinpoche in January 2005.</br></br>Snow Lion Publications released an expanded and updated version of ''Compassionate Action'' in 2007. The book has since been translated into Spanish (2009), Indonesian (2009), and Russian (2010). ([https://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Zachary_Larson Source Accessed Nov 21, 2023])hary_Larson Source Accessed Nov 21, 2023]))
  • Zaya Pandita  + (Zaya Pandita or Namkhaijamts (1599–1662) wZaya Pandita or Namkhaijamts (1599–1662) was a Buddhist missionary priest and scholar of Oirat origin who is the most prominent Oirat Buddhist scholar. Among his accomplishments is the invention of the Clear Script.</br></br>Zaya Pandita was the fifth son of Babakhan, a minor Khoshut prince. After Babakhan converted to Tibetan Buddhism in the early 17th century, he, like many other Oirat princes, wished for one of his sons to enter the Buddhist clergy. In pursuit of his wish, Babakhan chose Zaya to become a śrāmaṇera ("novice monk"). In 1615, Zaya journeyed to Lhasa where he would study and practice Buddhism, including study under the guidance of the Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, 4th Panchen Lama.</br></br>In 1638, Zaya Pandita left Tibet at the direction of the Panchen Lama to conduct missionary work among the Mongols. One year later in 1640, he assisted Erdeni Batur, Khun Taiyishi of the Choros (Oirats) tribe, in assembling a pan-Mongol conference between the Oirat and the Khalkha Mongols. The purpose of the conference was to encourage the formation of a united Mongolian front against potential external enemies, such as the Kazakhs, Manchus, and Russians and to settle all internal matters peacefully. The conference produced a code, which provided protection from foreign aggression to both the Oirat and the Khalkha and guaranteed the free movement of people throughout Mongol land.</br></br>When not engaged in diplomacy between the Oirat and the Khalkha, Zaya Pandita spread Tibetan Buddhism to the Oirats, the Khalkha and even the Kalmyk people in far away Russia. In furtherance of his missionary work, Zaya Pandita composed a new alphabet, based on the traditional Mongolian alphabet, called "Clear script" (''todo bichig'') to transcribe the Oirat language as it is pronounced. By doing so, Zaya Pandita eliminated the ambiguities of the traditional Mongolian alphabet.</br></br>From the time Zaya Pandita developed the Clear Script in 1648 until his death in 1662, he translated approximately 186 Buddhist texts from Tibetan language to the Oirat language while still serving the religious needs of the Oirat tribes in Dzungaria.</br></br>The todo bichig script is still used by Oirats in Xinjiang with slight revisions, and is taught alongside standard classical written Mongolian in that region. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaya_Pandita Source Accessed Oct 6, 2023])</br></br>According to Fredrick Liland, "The Oirat scholar Zaya Pandita (1599-1662) according to his biography made a new translation of the BCA. Zaya Pandita was influential in spreading the Buddhist faith also among the Kalmyks, a Mongolian people who migrated to the shore of the Caspian Sea in the 17th Century. He is said to have translated a large number of texts into the Oirat/Kalmyk language, so it is quite likely that the BCA was among these. The translation of Zaya Pandita has however not been found. (Source: Liland, Fredrik. "Later Editions and Translations." In "The Transmission of the Bodhicaryāvatāra: The History, Diffusion, and Influence of a Mahāyāna Buddhist Text," 49–58. MA thesis, University of Oslo, 2009.)–58. MA thesis, University of Oslo, 2009.))
  • Thich Nhat Hanh  + (Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiZen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiritual leader, poet, and peace activist, renowned for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. A gentle, humble monk, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called him “an Apostle of peace and nonviolence” when nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Exiled from his native Vietnam for almost four decades, Thich Nhat Hanh has been a pioneer bringing Buddhism and mindfulness to the West, and establishing an engaged Buddhist community for the 21st Century. Read his biography [https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/biography/ here].rg/about/thich-nhat-hanh/biography/ here].)
  • Isidro Gordi  + ([Isidro Gordi] was born in Mollet del Vall[Isidro Gordi] was born in Mollet del Vallés (Barcelona) in 1954. A pacifist from a very young age, he was one of the first conscientious objectors in Spain, which is why he suffered exile from 1973 to 1977. During this time he traveled throughout Europe, landing for a long period of time in Greece, whose culture and customs captivated him and aroused his “appetite for the East”. He returned to Spain thanks to the pardon granted after Franco's death.</br></br>Nostalgic for the Greek islands, in 1979, he settled in Menorca where his first encounter with a Tibetan Master, Lama Orgyen, an expert in Buddhist rituals, took place with whom he took refuge. From those days he became a student of Tibetan Buddhism, a tireless seeker of the teaching that will already be an integral part of his life. Together with his wife, Marta Moll, became one of the pioneers of Buddhism in Spain, deploying its dissemination work through Ediciones Amara , a publishing house specializing in Buddhist philosophy.</br></br>In Menorca, in 1980, he created the Dharma Institute under the guidance of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a resident of England and abbot at the time of the Manjushri Institute. His wish was to establish a study center where the Buddhist Dharma could be made known with rigor and seriousness. Determined to have the best means to do so, Isidro invites Venerable Geshe Tamding Gyatso as Master resident in Menorca(1927-2002) exiled at that time in India. After a long legal process, Geshe Tamding Gyatso arrived on the island in 1987. That endearing old man would not only become the Master of the Heart of Isidro and Marta, but also almost a grandfather to his children Shanti and Amara who practically saw him daily. During twelve very intense years Isidro received the nectar of the Dharma from the mouth of Geshe Tamding Gyatso , who was one of the most learned Geshes of the famous Ganden monastery. ([https://escuelalaicadebudismoymeditacion.es/index.php/quienes-somos/isidro-gordi Source Accessed Mar 19, 2021])sidro-gordi Source Accessed Mar 19, 2021]))
  • Tsechokling Yeshe Gyaltsen  + ([https://bo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%BD%A1%E[https://bo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%BD%A1%E0%BD%BC%E0%BD%84%E0%BD%A6%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A0%E0%BD%9B%E0%BD%B2%E0%BD%93%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A1%E0%BD%BA%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A4%E0%BD%BA%E0%BD%A6%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A2%E0%BE%92%E0%BE%B1%E0%BD%A3%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%98%E0%BD%9A%E0%BD%93%E0%BC%8B You can read a short Tibetan biography on the Bo Wiki here]. </br></br>First Tsechokling Yongdzin Tulku, Yeshe Gyeltsen (yongs 'dzin ye shes rgyal mtshan, 1713-1793) was an important scholar of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism and was a tutor of the 8th Dalai Lama Jampel Gyatsho (1758-1804).</br></br>He received his education in the monastery Trashilhünpo. In 1756 he founded the monastery Trashi Samtenling (bkra shis bsam gtan gling).</br></br>One of his most famous works is The Necklace of Clear Understanding, An Elucidation of Mind and Mental Factors (Tib. སེམས་དང་སེམས་བྱུང་གི་ཚུལ་གསལ་པར་སྟོན་པ་བློ་གསལ་མགུལ་རྒྱན་, Wyl. sems dang sems-byung gi tshul gsal-par ston-pa blo gsal mgul rgyan). A commentary on the Abhidharma topic of the mind and mental factors. This Tibetan text has been translated into English by Herbert Guenther & Leslie S. Kawamura, in a text entitled Mind in Buddhist Psychology. ([https://encyclopediaofbuddhism.org/wiki/Yongdzin_Yeshe_Gyeltsen Source: Encyclopedia of Buddhism])</br></br>Six printings of his collected works (each in 19 or 25 volumes, depending on the printing, and [[Yongs 'dzin ye shes rgyal mtshan gyi gsung 'bum|32 volumes in modern book print]]) are cataloged on [https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:WA1022 BDRC.org].ary.bdrc.io/show/bdr:WA1022 BDRC.org].)
  • Gene Smith  + ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!footer/about/genes[https://www.tbrc.org/#!footer/about/genesmith Founder of TBRC, now BDRC]</br>*[https://84000.co/obituary-of-e-gene-smith/ Obituary on 84000]</br>*[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/01/AR2011010102390.html Obituary in Washington Post]</br>*[http://digitaldharma.com/home Documentary film about his life and work: Digital Dharma]</br>''[https://www.tbrc.org/#!footer/about/genesmith Biography from BDRC]:'' </br></br>E. Gene Smith (BDRC Founder and Senior Research Scholar) was born in Ogden, Utah in 1936. He studied at a variety of institutions of higher education in the United States: Adelphi College, Hobart College, University of Utah, and the University of Washington in Seattle.</br></br>In 1959, the Rockefeller Foundation, seeing the opportunity to promote Tibetan studies, funded the establishment of nine centers of excellence worldwide, one of which was at the University of Washington.</br></br>Under the auspices of the Rockefeller grant to the Far Eastern and Russian Institute, nine Tibetans were brought to Seattle for teaching and research, including the Ven. Deshung Rinpoche Kunga Tenpai Nyima, the tutor to the Sakya Phuntsho Phodrang. Smith had the good fortune to study Tibetan culture as well as Buddhism with Deshung Rinpoche and the rest of the Tibetan teachers in Seattle from 1960 to 1964. He lived with the Sakya family for five years. He spent the summer of 1962 travelling to the other Rockefeller centers in Europe to meet with the Tibetan savants there.</br></br>In 1964 he completed his Ph.D. qualifying exams and travelled to Leiden for advanced studies in Sanskrit and Pali. In 1965 he went to India under a Foreign Area Fellowship Program (Ford Foundation) grant to study with living exponents of all of the Tibetan Buddhist and Bonpo traditions.</br></br>He began his studies with Geshe Lobsang Lungtok (Ganden Changtse), Drukpa Thoosay Rinpoche and Khenpo Noryang, and H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He decided to remain in India to continue serious study of Tibetan Buddhism and culture. He travelled extensively in the borderlands of India and Nepal. In 1968 he joined the Library of Congress New Delhi Field Office. He then began a project which was to last over the next two and a half decades: the reprinting of the Tibetan books which had been brought by the exile community or were with members of the Tibetan-speaking communities in Sikkim, Bhutan, India, and Nepal.</br></br>He became field director of the Library of Congress Field Office in India in 1980 and served there until 1985 when he was transferred to Indonesia. He stayed in Jakarta running the Southeast Asian programs until 1994 when he was assigned to the LC Middle Eastern Office in Cairo.</br></br>In February 1997 he took early retirement from the U.S. Library of Congress to become a consultant to the Trace Foundation for the establishment of the Himalayan and Inner Asian Resources (HIAR) library.</br></br>In December 1999 he and a group of friends established the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center in Cambridge.</br></br>He passed away on December 16, 2010. (Source Accessed on June 30, 2020), 2010. (Source Accessed on June 30, 2020))
  • Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu  + (Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu (born Osbert John S. MoorÑāṇamoli Bhikkhu (born Osbert John S. Moore; 25 June 1905 – 8 March 1960) was a British Theravada Buddhist monk and translator of Pali literature.</br></br>Born in Cambridge, Osbert was the only child of biologist John Edmund Sharrock Moore and Heloise Moore (née Salvin). He was named after Heloise's father, the naturalist Osbert Salvin. He studied modern languages at Exeter College, Oxford. He helped a friend to run an antiques shop before joining the army at the outbreak of World War II, joining the anti-aircraft regiment before being transferred to the Intelligence Corps officer-cadet training camp. He was posted to a camp on the Isle of Man to help oversee Italian internees.</br></br>In 1944 he was posted to Italy serving as an intelligence officer interrogating spies and saboteurs. During this period he discovered Buddhism via Julius Evola's ''The Doctrine of Awakening'', a Nietzschean interpretation of Buddhism. This work had been translated by his friend Harold Edward Musson, also an intelligence officer serving in Italy.</br></br>After the war Moore joined the Italian section of the BBC. Moore and Musson, who shared a flat in London, were quite disillusioned with their lives and left to Sri Lanka in 1949 to become Buddhist monks. On 24 April 1949 they received the novice (samanera) ordination or going forth, ''pabbajjā'', from Ñāṇatiloka at the Island Hermitage. In 1950 they received their bhikkhu ordination at Vajirarama Temple Colombo. Ñāṇamoli spent almost his entire monk life of eleven years at the Island Hermitage.</br></br>After having been taught the basics of Pali by Nyanatiloka Mahathera, Ñāṇamoli acquired a remarkable command of the Pali language and a wide knowledge of the canonical scriptures within a comparatively short time. He is remembered for his reliable translations from the Pali into English, mostly of abstruse texts such as the Nettippakaraṇa which are considered difficult to translate. He also wrote essays on aspects of Buddhism. By 1956 he had translated ''Visuddhimagga'' into English and got it published as ''The Path of Purification''. He also compiled ''The Life of the Buddha'', a reliable and popular biography of the Buddha based on authentic records in the Pali Canon. His notes with his philosophical thoughts were compiled by Nyanaponika Thera and published as ''A Thinker's Note Book''.</br></br>His handwritten draft translation of the Majjhima Nikaya was typed out after his death and edited by Bhikkhu Khantipalo, and partly published as ''A Treasury of the Buddha's Discourses'' and then edited again by Bhikkhu Bodhi and published as ''Middle Length Discourse of the Buddha'' and published by Wisdom Publications in 1995. Other draft translations, edited and published after his death, are ''The Path of Discrimination'' (''Paṭisambhidāmagga'') and ''Dispeller of Delusion'' (''Sammohavinodanī''). ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%91%C4%81%E1%B9%87amoli_Bhikkhu Source Accessed May 18, 2021])oli_Bhikkhu Source Accessed May 18, 2021]))
  • Āryadeva  + (Āryadeva (3rd century), a disciple of NāgāĀryadeva (3rd century), a disciple of Nāgārjuna, is a central figure in the development of early Indian Madhyamaka philosophy. Āryadeva’s Hundred Verses Treatise (Bai lun) was one of the three basic texts of the Chinese Madhyamaka school founded by the central Asian monk Kumārajīva (b. 344–d. 413), which accordingly was called the Sanlun (Jpn. Sanron), or “three-treatise” school. According to the biography that Kumārajīva translated into Chinese, Āryadeva was born into a South Indian Brahmin family, became Nāgārjuna’s disciple, was renowned for his skill in debate, and was murdered by a student of a defeated teacher. Candrakīrti (b. c. 570–d. 650), in his commentary on Āryadeva’s major work, the Four Hundred Verses (Catuḥśataka), reports that Āryadeva was born on the island of Sinhala (Sri Lanka) as a king’s son, renounced his royal status, became a monk, and traveled to South India, where he studied with Nāgārjuna. Some scholars suggest that Āryadeva is the elder deva mentioned in the Mahāvaṃsa and Dīpavaṃsa chronicles of early Sri Lankan religious history. Āryadeva did not write commentaries on Nāgārjuna’s works but, rather, wrote autonomous treatises that defended Madhyamaka beliefs against its Buddhist and non-Buddhist critics. He devotes the first eight chapters to explaining ethical behavior and such practices as generosity, which form the basis for the bodhisattva’s accumulation of merit (puṇya). The latter eight chapters refute wrong views about the independent existence of external phenomena and the self, defending the Madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness and the dependently arisen nature of all things. The Catuḥśataka presents the path to the attainment of buddhahood as structured around these two requisites of merit and knowledge (jñāna). As an introduction to the practices of a bodhisattva, the Catuḥśataka prepares the ground for Śāntideva’s later (c. 8th-century) and more extensive treatment in Introduction to the Practices of a Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra). Apart from some fragments of the Catuḥśataka, none of the works the Chinese and Tibetan canons attributed to Āryadeva survive in Sanskrit. [https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0065.xml From Oxford Bibliogrpahies ]</br></br>[https://www.academia.edu/39006061/%C4%80ryadeva_full_version_ See Tillemans article on Āryadeva] appearing in the forthcoming 2022 Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy (McClintock, Edelglass, and Pierre-Julien Harter).ock, Edelglass, and Pierre-Julien Harter).)
  • Anyen Rinpoche  + (See biography at Orgyen Khamdroling's website [http://www.orgyenkhamdroling.org/biography])
  • Raja, K.K.  + (Hon. Director, Adyar Library and Research Hon. Director, Adyar Library and Research centre, Chennai and formerly Professor and Head of Sanskrit Department, Madras University.</br><br><br></br>Born in an aristocratic family in Central Kerala famous for scholarship and patronage, he had his education in B.A. Maths (Trichur), M.A. (Sanskrit) and Ph.D. at Madras University.</br><br><br></br>On a British council scholarship in London (1952-1954) took Ph.D in Sanskrit. President’s awards for scholarship in Sanskrit in 1991.</br><br><br></br>Publications includes Indian Theories of Meaning (Adyar), Contribution of Kerala to Sanskrit Literature, New Catalogues Catalogorum, Vol III-V (Associate Editor) volumes VI-XII (chief Editor), Madras. Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies (gen. Ed. Potter) volume V. Philosophy of the grammarians (with Coward) member of Editorial Board Foundation of Language) (volumes I-XII), Adyar Library Bulletin from 1954, chief Editor, Annuals of Oriental Research, University of Madras (1970-80). Participated in International Congress of Orientalists in 1961, Member of Government delegation to Mexico conference, closely associated with IGNCA., ICPR, Rastirya Sanskrit Samstham Sahitya Academi.</br><br><br></br>Visited Scandinavian Countries at the invitation of Scandinavian Institute of Oriential Research. Visiting Professor at Lund University participated in many world Sanskrit conferences, Oriental Conferences, Produced more than 25 Phd.s wrote more than 300 research papers and about 100 books in Sanskrit, English and Malayalam. Source: ([https://kkraja.wordpress.com/ Biography of Dr. K Kunjunni Raja]) and Malayalam. Source: ([https://kkraja.wordpress.com/ Biography of Dr. K Kunjunni Raja]))
  • Watt, J.  + (Jeff Watt (Wikipedia), one of the leading Jeff Watt (Wikipedia), one of the leading scholars of Himalayan art, acquired his prodigious knowledge of Buddhist, Bon and Hindu iconography from a longtime study of Buddhism and Tantra. As a teenager, he studied with Dezhung Rinpoche (Seattle, Wash.) and Sakya Trizin (Dehradun, India), dropping out of school at seventeen to take monastic vows from the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa. For the next eleven years, Watt trained intensively in India, Canada and the U.S., with teachers such as Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, and Sakya Jetsun Chimey. In 1985 he gave back his monastic ordinations but continued to study and to translate sacred Tibetan and Sanskrit texts, along with completing numerous traditional retreats over years of periodic isolated practice, much of it in the rugged mountains of British Columbia, Canada.</br><br><br></br>He is the Director and Chief Curator of Himalayan Art Resources (HAR), a website and 'virtual museum' featuring upwards of 100,000 images with detailed descriptions, making it the most comprehensive resource for Himalayan 'style' art and iconography in the world. He has worked on HAR since April 1998 at which time there were 625 images in total (Tibetan paintings only). Source: ([https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=1769 Himalayan Art Resources])rg/search/set.cfm?setID=1769 Himalayan Art Resources]))
  • Piatigorsky, A.  + (To present Alexander Piatigorsky in the coTo present Alexander Piatigorsky in the conventional format of biography would be not only an extremely difficult but also an entirely futile enterprise. Piatigorsky himself wrote about people without a “biography”, that is those who do not set themselves any goals and thus could not be said to march victoriously (or ingloriously) from one milestone of their life to another; those who do not bear on their weary shoulders the burden of their achievements or newly exposed and fossilised truths to be recorded in the annals of history. Such people Piatigorsky characterised as “freely passing” since at no point could they be pinned down or drawn over to a particular standpoint or world view to be exploited as its advocates. Piatigorsky himself can be reckoned among these “freely passing” individuals. So he lived his life and so he travelled, always light-handed, with two mantra books (which he knew off by heart anyway) and a packet of cigarettes in his pocket. His lightness was often taken for light-mindedness, and his fluidity of thought for scientific frivolity. ([https://alexanderpiatigorsky.com Alexander Piatigorsky])derpiatigorsky.com Alexander Piatigorsky]))
  • Apang Terton Choying Dorje  + ('''Apang Terchen Orgyen Trinlé Lingpa (189'''Apang Terchen Orgyen Trinlé Lingpa (1895-1945)'''</br></br>Choktrul Lozang Tendzin of Trehor studied with the lord Kunga Palden and the Chö</br>master Dharma Seng-gé, and Apang Terchen in turn studied with Lozang Tendzin.</br>Apang Terchen, also known as Orgyen Trinlé Lingpa, was renowned as the rebirth of</br>Rigdzin Gödem. He was reputed to have been conceived in the following way: Traktung</br>Dudjom Lingpa focused his enlightened intent while resting in the basic space</br>of timeless awareness, whereupon Apang Terchen's mother experienced an intense</br>surge of delight. This caused all ordinary concepts based on confusion to be arrested</br>in her mind for a short time, and it was then that Apang Terchen was conceived in her</br>womb.2 From that moment on, his mother constantly had dreams that were amazing</br>omens. For example, she found herself among groups of dakinis enjoying the splendor</br>of ganachakras, or being bathed by many dakas and dakinis, or dwelling in pavilions</br>of light, illuminating the entire world with her radiance.</br></br>The child was born one morning at dawn, in the area of Serta in eastern Tibet, his</br>mother having experienced no discomfort. Her dwelling was filled with [2.188a] and</br>surrounded by light, as though the sun were shining brightly. There were also pavilions</br>of light, and a fragrance pervaded the entire area, although no one could tell</br>where it came from. Everyone saw numerous amazing signs on the child's body, such</br>as a tuft of vulture feathers adorning the crown of his head.3 The mother's brother,</br>Sönam Dorjé, asked, "What will become of this boy who has no father? How shameful</br>it would be if people saw these feathers!"4 But although he cut the feather tuft</br>off the child's head several times, it grew back on its own, just as before. This upset</br>Sönam Dorjé even more, and he berated his sister angrily, saying on numerous occasions,</br>"How could your child have no father? You must tell me who he is!" His</br>sister retorted, "With the truth of karma as my witness, I swear I have never lain with</br>a flesh-and-blood man of this world. This pregnancy might be a result of my own</br>karma." She became so extremely depressed that her fellow villagers couldn't bear it</br>and used various means to bring a halt to her brother's inappropriate behavior.</br></br>From an early age, this great master, Apang Terchen, felt an innate and unshakable</br>faith in Guru Rinpoché and had a clear and natural knowledge [2.188b] of the ''vajra guru'' </br>mantra and the Seven-Line Supplication. He learned how to read and write</br>simply upon being shown the letters and exhibited incredible signs of his spiritual potential</br>awakening. For example, his intelligence, which had been developed through</br>training in former lifetimes, was such that no one could compete with him. As he</br>grew up, he turned his attention toward seeking the quintessential meaning of life.</br>He studied at the feet of many teachers and mentors, including the Nyingtik master</br>Gyatsok Lama Damlo and Terchen Sogyal, studying many of the mainstream traditions</br>of the sutras and tantras, especially those of the kama and terma.</br></br>The most extraordinary lord of his spiritual family was Trehor Drakar Tulku,5</br>with whom he studied for a long time, receiving the complete range of empowerments,</br>oral transmissions, and pith instructions of the secret Nyingtik cycles of utter lucidity.</br>He went to solitary ravines throughout the region, making caves and overhangs</br>on cliffs his dwelling places, taking birds and wild animals as his companions, and</br>relying on the most ragged clothing and meager diet. He planted the victory banner</br>of spiritual practice, meditating for a long period of time. He was graced by visions of</br>an enormous array of his personal meditation deities, [2.189a] including Tara, Avalokiteshvara,</br>Mañjushri, Sarasvati, and Amitayus. He was not content to leave the</br>true nature of phenomena an object of intellectual speculation, and his realization</br>progressed in leaps and bounds.</br></br>Apang Terchen bound the eight classes of gods and demons — including such spirits</br>as Nyenchen Tanglha, Ma Pomra, and Sergyi Drong-ri Mukpo6 — to his service.</br>He communicated directly with Tsiu Marpo, the white form of Mahakala, Ganapati,</br>and other protective deities, like one person conversing with another, and enjoined</br>them to carry out his enlightened activities. So great was his might that he also bound</br>these protective deities to his service, causing lightning to strike and so forth, so that</br>those who had become his enemies were checked by very direct means, before years,</br>months, or even days had passed.</br></br>Notably, he beheld the great master of Orgyen in a vision and was blessed as the</br>regent of Guru Padmakara's three secret aspects. On the basis of a prophecy he received</br>at that time, Apang Terchen journeyed to amazing holy sites, such as Draklha</br>Gönpo in Gyalrong, Khandro Bumdzong in the lowlands of eastern Tibet, and Dorjé</br>Treldzong in Drakar, where he revealed countless terma caches consisting of teachings,</br>objects of wealth, and sacred substances. He revealed some of them in secret,</br>others in the presence of large crowds. In these ways, he revealed a huge trove of profound</br>termas. [2.189b] Those revealed publicly were brought forth in the presence of</br>many fortunate people and in conjunction with truly incredible omens, which freed</br>all present from the bonds of doubt and inspired unshakable faith in them. Apang</br>Terchen's fame as an undisputed siddha and tertön resounded throughout the land, as</br>though powerful enough to cause the earth to quake. His terma teachings are found</br>in the numerous volumes of his collected works and include ''The Hidden Treasure of Enlightened Mind: The Thirteen Red Deities'', </br>practices focusing on the Three Roots, cycles concerning guardian deities and the </br>principle of enlightened activity, and his large instruction manual on Dzogchen teachings.</br></br>Apang Terchen's students, from Dartsedo in the east, to Repkong in Amdo to the</br>north, to the three regions of Golok and other areas, included mentors who nurtured</br>the teachings and beings, masters such as those known as the "four great illuminators</br>of the teachings," the "four vajra ridgepoles,11 the "four named Gyatso," the "great</br>masters, the paired sun and moon," and Jangchub Dorjé (the custodian of Apang</br>Terchen's termas).7 He also taught important political figures who exerted great</br>influence over the people of their areas, including the "four great chieftains of the</br>region of Dza in the north," [2.190a] that is, Getsé Tsering Dorjé of Dza in the northern</br>reaches of eastern Tibet, Gönlha of Akyong in Golok, Mewa Namlo of the Mé</br>region of Golok, and the chieftain of Serta in Washul. Apang Terchen's students also</br>included countless monks, nuns, villagers, and lay tantric practitioners. He transmitted</br>his own termas and the great Nyingtik cycles of the Dzogchen teachings, and so</br>numerous were those he guided that he truly embodied the enlightened activity of</br>one who held sway over the three realms. In these times of spiritual degeneration, he</br>alleviated problems caused by disease, famine, border wars, and civil unrest. In such</br>ways, Apang Terchen rendered great service to the land of Tibet. His kindness to the</br>Tibetan people as a whole was truly extraordinary, for he worked to ensure a glorious</br>state of peace and well-being.</br></br>During a pilgrimage to Jowo Yizhin Norbu, the statue of the lord Shakyamuni in</br>Lhasa, Apang Terchen paid respect to many tens of thousands of ordained members</br>of the sangha, sponsoring ganachakras, making offerings, and offering meals, tea,</br>and donations at such monastic centers as Sera, Drepung, and Ganden. He sponsored</br>the gilding of statues in these centers and in such ways strove to reinforce his positive</br>qualities. Everyone could see that no matter how many avenues he found to extend</br>generosity, his resources of gold, silver, and other valuables [2.190b] continued to</br>increase, as though he had access to a treasure mine.</br></br>Among his heart children and intimate students were his sons, Gyurmé Dorjé,</br>Wangchen Nyima, and Dotrul Rinpoché; his daughter, Tare Lhamo; and the custodian</br>of his termas, Jangchub Dorjé. Until recently, Tare Lhamo lived in eastern Tibet,</br>maintaining the teachings.8</br></br>Thus did Apang Terchen benefit beings with his incredible compassion and activities.</br>As his life was nearing an end, he remarked, "For the sake of the teachings and</br>of beings, I must enter the bloodline of the glorious Sakya school." This fearless lion's</br>roar proved to be his last testament, spoken with an unobscured awareness of past,</br>present, and future. He then manifested incredible miracles and departed for the</br>great palace of Pema Ö.</br></br></br>Source: Richard Barron translation of Nyoshul Khenpo, A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage, Padma Publications, 2005, pages 488-491., Padma Publications, 2005, pages 488-491.)
  • Richard D. McBride, II  + ('''Biography:''' Richard was raised in Los'''Biography:'''</br>Richard was raised in Los Angeles, California, and served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Korea Pusan Mission from 1988 to 1990. He double majored in Asian Studies and Korean at BYU, graduating in 1993, and later earned a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures (with emphasis on Korean and Chinese Buddhism and early Korean History) at UCLA in 2001. He was a Fulbright Senior Researcher at Dongguk University in Korea from 2007 to 2008, He taught in the History Department at BYU-Hawaii from 2008 to 2018. His wife of 17 years, Younghee Yeon McBride, passed away from pancreatic cancer in February 2018. They are the parents of two sons, David and Sean. Prof. McBride began teaching at BYU in the fall 2018 semester.</br></br>'''Research Interests:'''</br>Prof. McBride has broad research interests. He is interested in and has published broadly on Korean Buddhist literature, particularly Buddhist spells and incantations (dharani and mantra). He is also interested Buddhist narrative literature, such as is found in the Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, ca. 1285); traditional historiography, such as the Samguk sagi (compiled in 1146); as well as strange tales and ghost stories, which have long been popular genres for East Asians. Prof. McBride is also a scholar of the history and society of the early Korean state of Silla (ca. 300-935), particularly the hwarang (flower boys) organization. ([https://hum.byu.edu/directory/richard-mcbride-ii Source Accessed Aug 2, 2023])d-mcbride-ii Source Accessed Aug 2, 2023]))
  • Dewar, T.  + ('''Short Biography:'''<br> Mitra Tyl'''Short Biography:'''<br></br>Mitra Tyler Dewar met [[Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche]] in 1997, just one year after beginning his journey of practicing the dharma. Through an auspicious coincidence, he learned the Tibetan alphabet that summer and soon after formed the conviction to serve the dharma through translating Tibetan into English. He became a formal student of Rinpoche's in 1998 and began translating for Rinpoche's organizations, Nalandabodhi and Nitartha Institute, in 2000. In 2001 he became the regular translator for Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen Negi at Nalandabodhi Seattle. From that point onward, Tyler has traveled extensively with The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche on Rinpoche's teaching tours, translating for the Tibetan segments of Rinpoche's teachings and occasionally presenting aspects of Rinpoche's teachings himself. In 2003 Nalandabodhi welcomed Acharya Tashi Wangchuk as a resident teacher; Tyler served as Acharya's oral interpreter and also worked closely with Acharya on the translation of several texts from the philosophical and intuitive traditions of Indian and Tibetan Buddhadharma. Tyler has served as a secretary in the Office of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche for the past seven years, and has thus felt enriched by the opportunity to support Rinpoche's teaching activity from many perspectives.</br></br>In terms of his formative dharma training, Tyler completed two dathuns (month-long intensive meditation retreats) in the late 90s and resided for one year, 1997-1998, at Gampo Abbey Monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada, practicing intensively, participating in several study curricula, and attending lengthy seminars by Ani Pema Chödrön on Mind Training. He has attended Nitartha Institute's summer program since 1999 and has been a faculty member since 2000, translating for such courses as Collected Topics, Abhidharma, Mind Only, and Madhyamaka. He attended his first Nalandabodhi Sangha Retreat in 2001 and has been in attendance ever since.</br></br>Two books of Tyler's translations have been published by [[Snow Lion Publications]]: [[Trainings in Compassion]]: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara (2004) and [[The Karmapa's Middle Way]]: Feast for the Fortunate (2008), a translation of a major philosophical work by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje.hical work by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje.)
  • Judith Amtzis  + (A long term student of the Dharma, Judith A long term student of the Dharma, Judith met both Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in 1976, and has lived in Asia since then, primarily in Kathmandu, Nepal. On the request of Holiness Penor Rinpoche, she collaborated with Khenpo Sonam Tsewang of Namdroling Monastery in Mysore to translate the Liberation Story of Namcho Migyur Dorje, the terton who discovered the treasures that make up the core of the Palyul tradition. This biography is entitled ''The All-Pervading Melodious Sound of Thunder'', and was written by the first Karma Chagme Rinpoche. ([http://levekunst.com/team_member/judith-amtzis/ Adapted from Source July 20, 2022])mtzis/ Adapted from Source July 20, 2022]))
  • Chogye Trichen Rinpoche  + (A modern Tibetan biography is available onA modern Tibetan biography is available on [https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=W1KG17214 BDRC W1KG17214 ]: bco brgyad khri chen rin po che'i mdzad rnam mdor bsdus. Edited by Yon tan bzang po (P5949). Kathmandu, Nepal: Sachen International, 2008. </br></br>His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, Ngawang Khyenrab Thupten Lekshe Gyatso, is the most senior Sakya Lama and the head of the Tsar sub-school of Sakya tradition. His Eminence is a renowned tantric master, a dedicated practitioner, an outstanding scholar, an eloquent poet, and embodies the wisdom, spirit and activities of the holy Dharma. His Eminence is a master of masters as most Tibetan Buddhist lineage holders are his disciples. Amongst these disciples are His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and His Holiness the 41st Sakya Trizin, Ngawang Kunga, and His Eminence is regarded as the definitive authority on Kalacakra Tantra. In addition to His Eminence's stature among Tibetan lamas, the late King Birendra of Nepal awarded His Eminence "Gorkha Dakshin Babu", a tribute which has never been awarded to a Buddhist monk in Nepal before.</br></br>Born in 1919 in the Tsang province of Central Tibet into the Zhalu Kushang family of the Che clan, a lineage descended from the clear light gods, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous Chogye Rinpoche of Nalendra Monastery by the 13th Dalai Lama, Thupten Gyatso. Many auspicious and marveleous signs accompanied His Eminence's birth. His Eminence is the 26th patriarch of Phenpo Nalendra Monastery, North of Lhasa. Founded by Rongton Sheja Kunrig (1367-1449), Nalendra is one of the most important Sakya monasteries in Tibet. Wondrously, each generation of the Kushang family has produced no less than four sons, most of who have served as throne holders of many important monasteries including Nalendra, Zhalu and Ngor.</br></br>The name "Kushang" meaning 'royal maternal uncle' derived from the fact that many daughters from the family were married to numerous Sakya throne holders, one of whom, Drogon Chagna, was supreme ruler of Tibet, who succeeded Chogyal Phakpa.</br></br>The name "Chogye" means 'Eighteen' and comes from the time of Khyenrab Choje, the 8th abbot of Nalendra who also belonged to the aristocratic Kushang family. Khyenrab Choje, a great teacher possessing the direct lineage of Kalacakra received from Vajrayogini, was invited to be the abbot of Nalendra by Sakya Trizin Dagchen Lodro Gyaltsen (1444-1495). Khyenrab Choje visited the Emperor of China who was greatly impressed by the tantric scholar from Tibet and bestowed on him 'eighteen' precious gifts. From Khyenrab Choje the lineage of Chogye Rinpoches began.</br></br>At the age of twelve His Eminence was officially enthroned at the Phenpo Nalendra Monastery. In these early years he studied intensively all the basic liturgies and rituals of Nalendra Monastery. His two main root Gurus were the 4th Zimwog Tulku, Ngawang Tenzin Thrinley Norbu Palzangpo, the other main incarnate lama of Nalendra Monastery, and Dampa Rinpoche Shenphen Nyingpo of Ngor Ewam. From these two great teachers His Eminence recieved all the major and minor teachings of Sakya such as the two Lamdre Traditions, the Greater and Lesser Mahakalas, the Four Tantras, the Thirteen Golden Dharmas, Kalacakra, etc. His Eminence completed extensive studies in all major fields of study taught in Lord Buddha's teachings. His Eminence becomes a master in both Sutrayana and Mantrayana teachings. His Eminence is also a great scholar of literature, poetry, history and Buddhist metaphysics and a highly accomplished poet. ([https://www.yuloling.com/khacho-yulo-ling/spiritual-leaders/his-eminence-chogye-trichen-rinpoche.html Source Accessed June 16, 2020])poche.html Source Accessed June 16, 2020]))
  • Khenchen Appey Rinpoche  + (A more detailed biography is available herA more detailed biography is available here: https://www.khenpoappey.org/en/khenpo-appey-rinpoche</br></br>and here: http://internationalbuddhistacademy.org/biography-of-our-founder-khenchen-appey-rinpoche/</br></br><big>'''An Introduction to Khenpo Appey Foundation'''</big><br></br>Khenpo Appey Foundation (KAF) was established in 2010 to honor the most Venerable Khenchen Appey Rinpoche (1927-2010), an eminent, recognized, and humble Tibetan Buddhist scholar and practitioner who dedicated his life exclusively to the propagation of the Buddhadharma. The foundation was established by Mdm Doreen Goh, a devoted follower and sponsor of Khenchen Appey Rinpoche. Inspired by Khenchen Appey Rinpoche’s vision, KAF is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of Buddhist study and practice. KAF’s primary aim is to extend the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion as widely as possible, in order to benefit all beings.</br></br><big>'''Short Biography'''</big><br></br>Khenpo Appey was born in Kusé in the kingdom of Dergé in 1927. He studied at Serjong Monastery and later at the Kham-jé shedra at Dzongsar Monastery.</br></br>At the age of nine he became a monk at Serjong Monastery, where a year later he received his first teachings from Gapa Khenpo Jamgyal, also known as Khenpo Jamyang Gyaltsen.</br></br>For nine years, from the age of 14 to 23, at Serjong Shedra, Khenpo Appey studied ‘the thirteen classical texts’ based on Khenpo Shenga’s famous annotation commentaries. During his last two years at the shedra he studied with Khenpo Dragyab Lodrö who later became the fifth khenpo at Dzongsar Shedra and wrote a commentary on the ninth chapter of the Bodhicharyavatara. After his nine years of intensive study at Serjong Shedra, Khenpo Appey went to the shedra at Dzongsar Monastery, where he was able to continue his studies under Khenpo Dragyab Lodrö for another year. He also studied with Dezhung Ajam Rinpoche.</br></br>He went to see Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö in Sikkim in 1957. He then returned to Tibet and spent time at Ngor Monastery, but left in 1959 when Tibet was lost. He went to see Jamyang Khyentse who was ill in Sikkim. After Jamyang Khyentse passed away, in accordance with his final wishes, he began to teach Sogyal Rinpoche, giving him instruction on the Bodhicharyavatara in the Palace Monastery in the presence of Jamyang Khyentse's kudung.</br></br>Later, while Sogyal Rinpoche was attending school in Kalimpong, Khenpo Appey spent one or two years in retreat in a small village in Sikkim. He was later requested to tutor Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. For this purpose, he founded the Sakya College in Barlow Ganj, Mussoorie, on 19th December 1972, the anniversary of Sakya Pandita. In the first year, there were only seven students. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche studied there for five years. From 1972 to 1985, Khenpo Appey worked full time to look after the college and was responsible for teachings the classes, supervising the administration and raising funds.</br></br>In 2001 he established the International Buddhist Academy in Boudhanath, Nepal. He passed away in Nepal on Tuesday 28th December, 2010.</br></br>Source: [http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenpo_Appey Rigpawiki]10. Source: [http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenpo_Appey Rigpawiki])
  • Pāramiti  + (According to the account in the Chinese caAccording to the account in the Chinese cataloguer Zhisheng's ''Xu gujin yijing tuji'', the ''Śūraṃgamasūtra'' was brought to China by a śramaṇa named Pāramiti. Because the ''Śūraṃgamasūtra'' had been proclaimed a national treasure, the Indian king had forbidden anyone to take the sūtra out of the country. In order to transmit this scripture to China, Pāramiti wrote the sūtra out in minute letters on extremely fine silk, then he cut open his arm and hid the small scroll inside his flesh. With the sūtra safely hidden away, Pāramiti set out for China and eventually arrived in Guangdong province. There, he happened to meet the exiled Prime Minister Fangrong, who invited him to reside at the monastery of Zhizhisi, where he translated the sūtra in 705 CE. Apart from Pāramiti's putative connection to the ''Śūraṃgamasūtra'', however, nothing more is known about him and he has no biography in the ''Gaoseng zhuan'' ("Biographies of Eminent Monks"). (Source: "*Śūraṃgamasūtra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 873–74. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)tp://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.))
  • Adzom Gyalse Rikzin Gyurme Dorje  + (Adzom Gyalse Gyurme Dorje (Tib. ཨ་འཛོམ་རྒྱAdzom Gyalse Gyurme Dorje (Tib. ཨ་འཛོམ་རྒྱལ་སྲས་འགྱུར་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wyl. a 'dzom rgyal sras 'gyur med rdo rje) aka Agyur Rinpoche (Wyl. a 'gyur rin po che) (1895-1969) — the third son and student of Adzom Drukpa. He was recognized by Jamgön Kongtrul as an emanation of Orgyen Terdak Lingpa.</br></br>Adzom Gyalse Gyurme Dorje was the third son and student of Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje. His mother was Tashi Lhamo (Tib. bkra shis lha mo), the daughter of a popular merchant named Budo (Tib. bum dos), who became Adzom Drukpa’s spiritual wife at the recommendation of Jamgön Kongtrul. While regarded as the incarnation of several eminent master, Adzom Gyalse was recognised as the incarnation of Minling Terchen Gyurme Dorje. Adzom Drukpa oversaw the spiritual education of Adzom Gyalse and transmitted to him especially his own terma treasures and the teachings of the Great Perfection such as the Longchen Nyingtik and the Chetsün Nyingtik. These in turn became also the main focus of Adzom Gyalse’s study and practice. Thus Adzom Gyalse rose to become of the main holders of the lineage and transmission of the Great Perfection teachings.</br></br>Adzom Gyalse took over the legacy of his father and became responsible for, the by his father in 1886 established, Adzom Gar (Tib. A ’dzom gar).[2] Unlike his father, Adzom Gyalse took monastic ordination and remained a monk throughout his entire life. He further developed and expanded Adzom Gar and became its main teacher and holder. While Adzom Gyalse had the potential to become a great tertön he decided to focused instead on the preservation and continuation of existing practices and teachings.</br></br>In 1958, Adzom Gyalse was arrested and put in prison where he gave teachings to his fellow inmates. He passed away in 1969 with many miraculous signs, and left a letter predicting the date and place of his future rebirth and the names of his future parents. In accordance with this letter, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche recognised a child born in Bhutan in 1980 as the reincarnation of Adzom Gyalse Gyurme Dorje. This child became a monk at Shechen Monastery and received numerous teachings and initiations from Khyentse Rinpoche. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Adzom_Gyalse_Gyurme_Dorje Source Accessed Sep 30, 2022])yurme_Dorje Source Accessed Sep 30, 2022]))
  • Alexander Berzin  + (Alexander Berzin (born 1944) grew up in NeAlexander Berzin (born 1944) grew up in New Jersey, USA. He began his study of Buddhism in 1962 at Rutgers and then Princeton Universities, and received his PhD in 1972 from Harvard University jointly between the Departments of Sanskrit and Indian Studies and Far Eastern Languages (Chinese). Inspired by the process through which Buddhism was transmitted from one Asian civilization to another and how it was translated and adopted, his focus has been, ever since, on bridging traditional Buddhist and modern Western cultures.</br></br>Dr. Berzin was resident in India for 29 years, first as a Fulbright Scholar and then with the Translation Bureau, which he helped to found, at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives in Dharamsala. While in India, he furthered his studies with masters from all four Tibetan Buddhist traditions; however, his main teachers have been His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, and Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. Practicing under their supervision, he completed the major meditation retreats of the Gelug tradition.</br></br>For nine years, he was the principal interpreter for Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, accompanying him on his foreign tours and training under him to be a Buddhist teacher in his own right. He has served as occasional interpreter for H.H. the Dalai Lama and has organized several international projects for him. These have included Tibetan medical aid for victims of the Chernobyl radiation disaster; preparation of basic Buddhist texts in colloquial Mongolian to help with the revival of Buddhism in Mongolia; and initiation of a Buddhist-Muslim dialogue in universities in the Islamic world.</br></br>Since 1980, Dr. Berzin has traveled the world, lecturing on Buddhism in universities and Buddhist centers in over 70 countries. He was one of the first to teach Buddhism in most of the communist world, throughout Latin America and large parts of Africa. Throughout his travels, he has consistently tried to demystify Buddhism and show the practical application of its teachings in daily life.</br></br>A prolific author and translator, Dr. Berzin has published 17 books, including Relating to a Spiritual Teacher, Taking the Kalachakra Initiation, Developing Balanced Sensitivity, and with H.H. the Dalai Lama, The Gelug-Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra.</br></br>At the end of 1998, Dr. Berzin returned to the West with about 30,000 pages of unpublished manuscripts of books, articles, and translations he had prepared, transcriptions of teachings of the great masters that he had translated, and notes from all the teachings he had received from these masters. Convinced of the benefit of this material for others and determined that it not be lost, he named it the “Berzin Archives” and settled in Berlin, Germany. There, with the encouragement of H. H. the Dalai Lama, he set out to make this vast material freely available to the world on the Internet, in as many languages as possible.</br></br>Thus, the Berzin Archives website went online in December 2001. It has expanded to include Dr. Berzin’s ongoing lectures and is now available in 21 languages. For many of them, especially the six Islamic world languages, it is the pioneering work in the field. The present version of the [https://studybuddhism.com/ website] is the next step in Dr. Berzin’s lifelong commitment to building a bridge between the traditional Buddhist and modern worlds. By guiding the teachings across the bridge and showing their relevance to modern life, his vision has been that they would help to bring emotional balance to the world.</br>([https://studybuddhism.com/en/dr-alexander-berzin Source Accessed Dec 4, 2019])</br></br>Click here for a list of Alexander Berzin's [https://studybuddhism.com/en/dr-alexander-berzin/published-works-of-dr-berzin publications]zin/published-works-of-dr-berzin publications])
  • Allison Choying Zangmo  + (Allison Choying Zangmo is Anyen Rinpoche'sAllison Choying Zangmo is Anyen Rinpoche's personal translator and a longtime student of both Rinpoche and his root lama, Kyabje Tsara Dharmakirti. She has either translated or collaborated with Rinpoche on all of his books. She lives in Denver, Colorado.</br></br>She has received empowerments, transmissions and upadesha instructions in the Longchen Nyingthig tradition from Khenchen Tsara Dharmakirti Rinpoche, as well as others of his main students, such as Khenpo Tashi from Do Kham Shedrup Ling. She also received an unusually direct lineage of Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje’s chod from the realized chodpa Lama Damphel.</br></br>After moving to the US with Anyen Rinpoche, she received many other empowerments, transmissions and upadesha instructions in the Secret Mantryana tradition from eminent masters such as Taklong Tsetrul Rinpoche, Padma Dunbo, Yangtang Rinpoche, Khenpo Namdrol, Denpai Wangchuk, and Tulku Rolpai Dorje.</br></br>Allison Choying Zangmo works diligently for both Orgyen Khamdroling and the Phowa Foundation, as well as composing books and translations of traditional texts & sadhanas with Anyen Rinpoche, and spending a portion of each year in retreat. Although she never had any wish to teach Dharma in the west, based on encouragement by Anyen Rinpoche, Tulku Rolpai Dorje and Khenpo Tashi, she began teaching the dharma under Anyen Rinpoche's guidance in 2017. ([https://orgyenkhamdroling.org/rinpoche/allison Source: Orgyen Khamdroling])/rinpoche/allison Source: Orgyen Khamdroling]))
  • Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa  + (Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa is an associate pAmy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Occidental College. She is the author of ''The Social Life of Tibetan Biography: Textuality, Community, and Authority in the Lineage of Tokden Shakya Shri'' (Lexington, 2014), which explores the trans-Himalayan lineage of Tokden Sakya Sri that spanned communities in eastern Tibet, western China, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, Ladakh, and beyond. Her current research focuses on Buddhism, book culture, language, and community formation across the Himalayas. (Source: ''A Gathering of Brilliant Moons'', 329): ''A Gathering of Brilliant Moons'', 329))
  • Andrew Quintman  + (Andrew Quintman is a scholar of Buddhist tAndrew Quintman is a scholar of Buddhist traditions in Tibet and the Himalayan world focusing on Buddhist literature and history, sacred geography and pilgrimage, and visual cultures of the wider Himalaya. His work addresses the intersections of Buddhist literary production, circulation, and reception; the reciprocal influences of textual and visual narratives; and the formation of religious subjectivities and institutional identities. He is also engaged in developing new digital tools for the study and teaching of religion. His book, The Yogin and the Madman: Reading the Biographical Corpus of Tibet’s Great Saint Milarepa (Columbia University Press 2014), won the American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, the 2015 Heyman Prize for outstanding scholarship from Yale University, and received honorable mention for the 2016 E. Gene Smith Book Prize at the Association of Asian Studies. In 2010 his new English translation of the Life of Milarepa was published by Penguin Classics. He is currently working on two new projects, one exploring Buddhist religious and literary culture in the borderlands of Tibet and Nepal, and the other examining the Life of the Buddha through visual and literary materials associated with the seventeenth-century Jonang Monastery in western Tibet. ([https://www.wesleyan.edu/academics/faculty/aquintman/profile.html Source: Wesleyan Website])</br></br>Quintman currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the [https://www.tbrc.org/#!footer/about/newhome Buddhist Digital Resource Center] (BDRC). He is former Co-Chair of the [http://campuspress.yale.edu/thrg/ Tibetan and Himalayan Religions Group of the American Academy of Religion] and co-leads an ongoing collaborative workshop on [http://tibetanlit.org/ Religion and the Literary in Tibet].</br></br>You can see an amazing example of Quintman's [http://lotb.iath.virginia.edu/ contributions to digital scholarship on the Life of the Buddha project website].n the Life of the Buddha project website].)
  • Gelongma Karma Migme Chodron  + (Ani Migme as she was known to anyone who mAni Migme as she was known to anyone who met her during her long tenure at Gampo Abbey for many she embodied what it was to be a western Buddhist monastic. Her commitment to monasticism was unwavering and her influence on life at Gampo Abbey was all pervasive. In 2008 a short biography and interview with Ani Migme The Fortunate Life of Ani Migme was included in the Abbey’s newsletter The Lionsroar. https://gampoabbey.org/files/2016/10/Ani-Migme-a-Fortunate-Life.pdf.</br></br>In addition to her unwavering commitment to the monastic tradition Migme Chödrön worked tirelessly to make the dharma available to others through her work as a transcriber, editor and translator of Buddhist teachings. Gampo Abbey has had the privilege to host many prominent Buddhist teachers over the years most of whom would give teachings to the community. Ani Migme transcribed and edited all of these teachings which amounted to dozens of talks, most in the early years were done with a manual typewriter. Many of these talks became the basis for some of the earliest published teachings of their kind available to western students including Acharya Pema Chödrön’s first book. In later years working in conjunction with Lodro Sangpo under the mandate of the Chökyi Gyatso Translation Committee, Ani Migme translated many scholarly Buddhist texts from French into English. For more details on her translation work visit [https://www.kccl.ca/committees-projects-2/ the Karma Changchub Ling website].</br></br>Gelongma Migme Chödrön has produced translations of the following texts:</br></br>Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra. Translated by Étienne Lamotte.<br></br>Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi. Translated by Louis de La Vallée Poussin.<br></br>Mahāyānasaṃgraha. Translated by Étienne Lamotte.<br></br>Les Sectes Bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule. By André Bareau.<br></br>La Saveur de l’Immortel (Amṛtarasa). Translated by Van den Broeck.<br></br>Vie et chants de ‘Brug-pa Kun-legs le yogin (The Life and Songs of Drugpa Kunlegs). Translated by R.A. Stein. (Note that Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was said to be an incarnation of Drugpa Kunlegs, who was known as the Madman of Bhutan.)n incarnation of Drugpa Kunlegs, who was known as the Madman of Bhutan.))
  • Drolma, C.  + (Anne Holland (Pema Chonyi Drolma), TibetanAnne Holland (Pema Chonyi Drolma), Tibetan Buddhist priest, translator, meditation guide and teacher.</br></br>Chönyi Drolma completed six years of retreat under the direction of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche and Lama Tharchin Rinpoché in 2012 at Pema Osel Ling. She translated the autobiography of Traktung Dudjom Lingpa into English, published as [[A Clear Mirror]], as well as the secret biography of [[Yeshe Tsogyal]] as [[The Life and Visions of Yeshe Tsogyal]]. She currently lives in Montreal where she continues to translate and take her lamas’ instructions to heart.</br></br>[http://www.jnanasukha.org/news-blog/translation-secret-biography Source Accessed 16 March, 2016]-biography Source Accessed 16 March, 2016])
  • Sarah Jacoby  + (Assistant Professor of Religion DepartmentAssistant Professor of Religion</br>Department of Religious Studies</br>Office: Crowe Hall, 1860 Campus Drive, 4-149</br>Evanston, IL 60208</br></br>Office Hours: Wednesday 1:20 p.m. - 3:20 p.m. (Winter 2015)</br>Sarah Jacoby studies South Asian Religions with a specialization in Tibetan Buddhism. She received her B.A. from Yale University, majoring in women's studies, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Virginia's Department of Religious Studies. She joined Northwestern University in 2009 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University. Her research interests include Indo-Tibetan Buddhist doctrine and ritual in practice, studies in gender and sexuality, Tibetan literature, autobiography studies, Buddhist revelation, Buddhism in contemporary Tibet, and Eastern Tibetan area studies. She is the co-chair of the Tibetan and Himalayan Religions Group at the American Academy of Religion.</br></br>Professor Jacoby received an American Council of Learned Sciences (ACLS) Fellowship for the 2012-2013 academic year. Her research has also been funded by The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, the Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Writing Fellowship, the Fulbright Hays Dissertation Research Fellowship, and multiple Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS).</br></br>She has recently published a monograph titled Love and Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro (Columbia University Press, 2014). This is the first study in any language of the autobiographical and biographical writings of one of the most prolific female authors in Tibetan history, Sera Khandro Künzang Dekyong Chönyi Wangmo (also called Dewé Dorjé, 1892--1940). She was extraordinary not only for achieving religious mastery as a Tibetan Buddhist visionary and guru to many lamas, monastics, and laity in the Golok region of eastern Tibet, but also for her candor. This book listens to Sera Khandro's conversations with land deities, dakinis, bodhisattvas, lamas, and fellow religious community members whose voices interweave with her own to narrate what is a story of both love between Sera Khandro and her guru, Drimé Özer, and spiritual liberation.</br></br>Her other books include a co-edited volume with Antonio Terrone entitled Buddhism Beyond the Monastery: Tantric Practices and their Performers in Tibet and the Himalayas (Brill, 2009) and a book she co-authored with Donald Mitchell titled Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience (Oxford University Press, 2014).</br></br>In 2014 Professor Jacoby was awarded a Searle Center for Advanced Learning and Teaching Innovation in Teaching Grant. In 2012 she was voted by Northwestern students onto the ASG Faculty Honor Roll and awarded a teaching excellence award from the Department of Religious Studies. Courses she teaches include Introduction to Buddhism, Buddhism and Gender, Buddhist Auto/biography, Tibetan Religion and Culture, Theory and Methods in the Study of Religion, South Asian Goddess Traditions, and Religion, Sexuality, and Celibacy.itions, and Religion, Sexuality, and Celibacy.)
  • Wangyal, B.  + (BERI JIGME WANGYAL received his Geshe degree in Buddhist philosophy from Drepung Monastery in India in 2004. He is the author of several books on various subjects ranging from poetry to biography and history.)
  • Bardor Tulku  + (Bardor Tulku Rinpoche was born in 1949 in Bardor Tulku Rinpoche was born in 1949 in Kham, East Tibet. At a very early age, he was recognized by His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa as the third incarnation of Terchen Barway Dorje.</br></br>When Rinpoche was a small child, with his family and his Dharma tutor he maintained a nomadic life style. Rinpoche was six when he left East Tibet in the company of his grandparents on a journey that took him first to Lhasa, then Tsurphu, and finally to Drikung where Rinpoche was to remain for a couple of years at the home of his grandparents.</br></br>After Rinpoche’s grandparents passed away, his parents and siblings joined him in Drikung. When the political and social conditions in Tibet worsened as a result of the Chinese Communist occupation, Rinpoche and his family—initially a party of thirteen—set out toward India over the Himalayas along with many other Tibetans who were also fleeing the fighting.</br></br>They traveled through Kongpo to Pema Ku. In Pema Ku, at the border of Tibet and India, as a result of the arduous journey, all Rinpoche’s family members died. When Rinpoche’s father—the last member of his family—died, Rinpoche left Pema Ku and continued on toward Assam with other refugees.</br></br>At the township known as Bomdila, where the borders of Tibet, Bhutan, and India meet, a bombing raid dispersed the group. Rinpoche and a young friend fled the attack and traveled westward, along the border of Bhutan and India, to Siliguri and eventually to Darjeeling. When they arrived in Darjeeling, His Holiness the 16th Karmapa was notified that Rinpoche had safely made his way out of Tibet. Filled with joy at the good news, His Holiness arranged for Rinpoche to be brought to Sikkim, and for Rinpoche’s friend to be taken care of.</br></br>Bardor Tulku Rinpoche was enthroned as a tulku at Rumtek Monastery when he was in his teens. It was also at Rumtek Monastery, under the tutelage of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, that Rinpoche’s formal training took place.</br></br>After completing many years of study and practice, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche accompanied the 16th Karmapa on his world tours in 1974 and 1976. In 1977, His Holiness asked Rinpoche to remain in Woodstock, New York, at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD). During his first two years at KTD, Rinpoche worked side-by-side with the staff to renovate and winterize the house and prepare for the last visit of His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa to the West. During that last visit, in 1980, His Holiness directed that his monastery and seat in North America be established at KTD, and he performed the formal investiture. After the groundbreaking ceremony in May of 1982, Bardor Rinpoche directed the construction activities and labored each day to build the monastery. When the construction of the shrine building was essentially completed in early 1990s, he assumed responsibilities as a teacher at KTD and its affiliate Karma Thegsum Chöling centers (KTCs).</br></br>In 2000, with a blessing from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa and His Eminence the 12th Tai Situ Rinpoche, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche established Raktrul Foundation in order to help rebuild the Raktrul Monastery in Tibet and provide educational facilities for monks and the lay community. In 2003, Rinpoche established Kunzang Palchen Ling (KPL), a Tibetan Buddhist Center in Red Hook, New York. Based on nonsectarian principles, KPL offers Dharma teachings from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and serves as a base for preserving and bringing to the West the terma teachings of Terchen Barway Dorje.</br></br>After working tirelessly for thirty-one years with the Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, the abbot of KTD, to firmly establish KTD and its affiliates in the United States, in October 2008, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche resigned from all his responsibilities at KTD. In August 2009, the KTD Board of Trustees issued an appreciation letter acknowledging Bardor Tulku Rinpoche’s role in the establishment KTD and its affiliates in North America.</br></br>Since he left KTD, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche has been directing the activities of Kunzang Palchen Ling, guiding Palchen Study Groups nationwide, overseeing translation projects of terma texts of Terchen Barway Dorje and the construction of the new facility at Kunzang Palchen Ling that is an implementation of his vision for KPL. Rinpoche also serves as an adviser for Dharma TV, an online Buddhist television project. [http://www.kunzang.org/biography/ Source Kunzang.org, Accessed January 27, 2022.]e Kunzang.org, Accessed January 27, 2022.])
  • Ben Connelly  + (Ben Connelly is a Soto Zen teacher and dhaBen Connelly is a Soto Zen teacher and dharma heir in the Katagiri lineage based at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. He also provides secular mindfulness training in a variety of contexts including police training, half-way houses, and correctional facilities, and is a professional musician. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Source: Amazon Author Page)</br></br>Learn more at the [https://www.mnzencenter.org/teachers.html Minnesota Zen Meditation Center website].</br></br>Watch a video of Ben talking about his book ''Vasubandhu’s Three Natures'': </br>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBK5k17eYDwttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBK5k17eYDw)
  • Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok  + (Birth and Recognition: Tulku Orgyen PhunBirth and Recognition: </br></br>Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok was born in Pemakö, in northeastern India, as the son of Lama Rigdzin Phuntsok. He was recognized at a young age by Dudjom Rinpoche as the reincarnation of Togden Kunzang Longrol, his father’s root guru. Togden Kunzang Longrol was a great Dzogchen yogi from the Powo region who had been a main disciple of Dudjom Rinpoche, and who had been influential in spreading the dharma and the Dudjom Tersar lineage both in Tibet and in upper and lower Pemakö.</br></br>Training: </br></br>Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok spent his early years in retreat in Pemakö, at his own monastery, under the blessings of his first root teacher, the great master Tulku Dawa Rinpoche. Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok underwent vigorous training in multiple fields of study, including various ritual sadhana performances from different terma lineages, with an emphasis on the Dudjom Tersar lineage, all under the care of his previous incarnation’s disciples, including his father Lama Rigzin Phuntsok.</br></br>At the age of 15, Tulku Orgyen commenced advanced studies in southern India at Namdroling Monastery, the largest Nyingma monastery in India, established by Penor Rinpoche. There, Tulku Orgyen completed a nine-year-long program of study, obtaining the degree of Khenpo. While appointed to a teaching position for the duration of his final three years at the monastery, he taught various Buddhist philosophies to monks. Over the course of his nine years of study, he also received empowerments and transmissions from many masters of the Nyingma lineage such as Bhakha Tulku Rinpoche, Lama Rigdzin Phuntsok, Penor Rinpoche, and Tulku Dawa Rinpoche.</br>Upon completion of his studies at Namdroling monastery, Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok returned to his retreat land in Pemakö, where he engaged in solitary retreat and completed the requisite practices to become a qualified Vajra master in this lineage.</br></br>Activity:</br></br>Since late 1999, Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok has assisted his uncle and teacher, Bhakha Tulku Rinpoche, by giving teachings, leading practices and retreats, and undertaking various other Dharma activities at Vairotsana Foundation Centers in California and New Mexico and in various cities in North America and Asia. In order to gain a western education and perspective, Tulku Orgyen studied and guest lectured at the University of California, Santa Barbara.</br></br>Currently, Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok splits his time between North America and Asia, spending winters in Pemakö where he oversees reconstruction of the temple. he oversees reconstruction of the temple.)
  • Karl Brunnhölzl  + (Born in Germany, Karl Brunnhölzl, M.D. wasBorn in Germany, Karl Brunnhölzl, M.D. was trained as a physician in Germany. He studied Tibetology, Buddhology, and Sanskrit at [[Hamburg University]]. He received training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by [[Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamsto Rinpoche]].</br><br></br>[[The Foliage of Superior Insight|Ashé Journal Article]]</br><br></br>[http://www.nalandabodhi.org/teachers/western-teachers/karl-brunnholzl.aspx Nalandabodhi teacher page]</br><br></br>'''Brief Biography:'''</br></br>Karl was originally trained, and worked, as a physician. He took Buddhist refuge vows in 1984 and, in 1990, completed a five-year training in higher Buddhist philosophy at Kamalashila Institute, Germany, receiving the traditional Kagyü title of "dharma tutor" (Tib. skyor dpon). Since 1988, he received his Buddhist and Tibetan language training mainly at Marpa Institute For Translators in Kathmandu, Nepal (director: Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche) and also studied Tibetology, Buddhology, and Sanskrit at Hamburg University, Germany. Since 1989, Karl served as a translator, interpreter, and Buddhist teacher mainly in Europe, India, and Nepal. Since 1999, he has acted as one of the main translators and teachers at Nitartha Institute (director: Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche) in the USA, Canada, and Germany. In addition, he regularly taught at Gampo Abbey's Vidyadhara Institute from 2000-2007. He is the author of several books on Buddhism, such as The Center of the Sunlit Sky, Straight from the Heart, In Praise of Dharmadhātu, and Luminous Heart (all Snow Lion Publications).</br></br>Karl met Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche in 1986 during Rinpoche's first teaching tour through Europe, receiving extensive teachings as well as pratimoksha vows from him during the following years in both Europe and Nepal, and later also in Canada and the USA. He served as Rinpoche's personal translator during his teachings tours in Europe (particularly at Nitartha Institute in Germany) from 1999-2005. In 2005, he was appointed as one of five Western Nalandabodhi teachers and given the title "mitra."</br>In 2006, he moved to Seattle and works as a full-time Tibetan translator for Tsadra Foundation. Since his arrival in Seattle, Karl was instrumental in creating the new introductory NB Buddhism 100 Series, leads NB Study Path classes, presents weekend courses and open house talks at Nalanda West, offers selected teachings to the Vajrasattva and Mahamudra practice communities, and provides personal guidance as a PI. He also teaches weekend seminars and Nitartha Institute courses in NB centers in the US, Canada, and Mexico as well as other locations.</br></br>Within the Mitra Council, Karl is the current Dean until 2010 and is mainly supervising and revising the NB Study Path (which includes revising the Hinayana and Mahayana study path and creating a Vajrayana study path). While enthusiastic about all facets of the dharma, his main interests are the teachings on Mahamudra, Yogacara and Buddha Nature, and to make the essential teachings by the Karmapas and other major Kagyu lineage figures available to contemporary Western audiences. [http://www.nalandabodhi.org/teachers/western-teachers/karl-brunnholzl.aspx Source]i.org/teachers/western-teachers/karl-brunnholzl.aspx Source])
  • Bryan J. Cuevas  + (Bryan J. Cuevas (Ph.D., University of VirgBryan J. Cuevas (Ph.D., University of Virginia) joined the Department of Religion faculty of Florida State University in Fall 2000. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Asian religious traditions, specializing in Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhism, Tibetan history, language, and culture. His principal research interests focus on Tibetan history and biography, Buddhist magic and sorcery, and the politics of ritual power in premodern Tibetan societies. He is currently working on the history of the Buddhist Vajrabhairava and Yamāntaka/Yamāri traditions in Tibet, with special focus on the Raluk (Rwa lugs) transmissions and their lineages from the twelfth through early eighteenth centuries. This is a component of a broader long-term study of Tibetan sorcery and the politics of Buddhist ritual magic in Tibet up through the nineteenth century.</br></br>Dr. Cuevas has been a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, and has held visiting appointments at UC Berkeley, Princeton University, and Emory University. His research has been supported by fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), as well as grants from public and private endowments.</br></br>Dr. Cuevas is currently accepting graduate students (M.A. and Ph.D.) interested in pursuing research topics in Tibetan and Buddhist studies for the upcoming 2022-23 academic year.</br>([https://religion.fsu.edu/person/bryan-j-cuevas Source Accessed Feb 23, 2022.])n-j-cuevas Source Accessed Feb 23, 2022.]))
  • Ngawang Kunga Wangchuk  + (Celebrated contemporary Sakya scholar who Celebrated contemporary Sakya scholar who held the office of abbot of Dzongsar Monastery. A brief biography can be found in his obituary published [https://khyentsefoundation.org/project/part-x-khenpo-kunga-wangchuk/ here], and a short video tribute can be watched [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDLFFlEDIyY here].www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDLFFlEDIyY here].)