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A list of all pages that have property "Bio" with value "John Deweese served as an editor for ''Drops of Nectar'', Andreas Kretschmar's translation of Khenpo Kunpal’s commentary on the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''. He was also an editor for Rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan's ''Parting from the Four Attachments''.". Since there have been only a few results, also nearby values are displayed.

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  • Yoshio Takanashi  + (Yoshio Takanashi is Professor of English aYoshio Takanashi is Professor of English and American Literature and Culture at Nagano Prefectural College, Japan. His articles have appeared in numerous journals, including ''ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance'' and ''The Japanese Journal of American Studies''. He has also published a Japanese translation of Stephen E. Whicher's ''Freedom and Fate: An Inner Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson''. ([https://www.ebooks.com/en-ad/1661507/emerson-and-neo-confucianism/yoshio-takanashi-lawrence-buell/ Source Accessed Nov 23, 2020])ence-buell/ Source Accessed Nov 23, 2020]))
  • Yoshito S. Hakeda  + (Yoshito S. Hakeda was an Associate ProfessYoshito S. Hakeda was an Associate Professor of Japanese in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. He is the translator of ''The Awakening of Faith'', attributed to Aśvaghosha (1967), and one of the collaborators assisting Wm. Theodore de Bary in preparing ''Buddhist Tradition in India, China, and Japan'' (1969).</br></br>According to his obituary in the New York Times, "Professor Hakeda's major volume was a translation and study of the works and thought of Kukai, a ninth-century Japanese Buddhist priest and scholar, published by the Columbia University Press in 1972. He also collaborated on ''Bankei Zen,'' a translation of the works of a 17th-century Zen master." ([https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/01/obituaries/yoshitoshakeda-professor-ofjapaneseatcolumbiadies.html Source Accessed December 4, 2019)]es.html Source Accessed December 4, 2019)])
  • Young-ho Kim  + (Young-ho Kim was an Assistant Professor ofYoung-ho Kim was an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Inha University in Korea. He is the author of ''Tao-Sheng's Commentary on the Lotus Sūtra: A Study and Translation'' (SUNY Press, 1990). This work was originally presented as a doctoral thesis at McMaster University in Ontario in 1985, under the supervision of [[Yün-hua Jan]].[Yün-hua Jan]].)
  • 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.))
  • Zhi Qian  + (Zhi Qian. (J. Shi Ken; K. Chi Kyǒm 支謙) (flZhi Qian. (J. Shi Ken; K. Chi Kyǒm 支謙) (fl. c. 220–252). Prolific earlier translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese. A descendant of an Indo-Scythian émigré from the Kushan. kingdom in the Kashmir-GandhAra region of northwest India, Zhi Qian is said to have been fluent in six languages. Although never ordained as a monk, Zhi Qian studied under the guidance of Zhi Liang (d.u.), a disciple of the renowned Indo-Scythian translator Lokakṣema (fl. c. 178–198 CE). Zhi Qian fled northern China in the political chaos that accompanied the collapse of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), eventually migrating to the Wu Kingdom in the south. There, he settled first in Wuchang and later in the Wu Capital of Jianye, which was where the majority of his translations appear to have been made. Zhi Qian was known to have been artistically talented, and many of his translations were noted for their fluent style that did not strive to adhere to the exact meaning of each word and phrase, but instead sought to convey the insights of the text in an accessible fashion for a Chinese audience. The fifty-three translations that are attributed to Zhi Qian range widely between Āgama and didactic materials and early Mahāyāna scriptural literature, but also include many spurious later attributions. . . . Among the translations that may with confidence be ascribed to Zhi Qian are early renderings of the</br>''Vimalakīrtinirdeśa'', the ''Pusa Benye Jing'', the ''Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra'', the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā'', and a primitive</br>recension of the ''Avataṃsakasūtra''. Zhi Qian is also presumed to be one of the first Buddhist commentators in the East Asian</br>tradition: Dao'an (314–385) States in his scriptural catalogue Zongli zhongjing mulu (now embedded in the Chu sanzang jiji) that Zhi Qian wrote a commentary to the ''Śālistambasūtra'' (C. ''Liaoben shengsi jing'') while preparing its translation. Late in his life, Zhi Qian retired to Mt. Qionglong, where he is said to have passed away at the age of sixty. (Source: "Zhi Qian." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 1056. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)tp://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.))
  • Zhu Fonian  + (Zhu Fonian. (J. Jiku Butsunen; K. Ch'uk PuZhu Fonian. (J. Jiku Butsunen; K. Ch'uk Pullyǒm 竺佛念) (d.u.). A prolific early Chinese translator, who was active between the latter fourth and early fifth centuries. A native of Liangzhou, he collaborated with Buddhayaśas in the translation of the Dīrghāgama, with Dharmanandin in the translation of the Ekottarāgama, and the "Four-Part Vinaya" (Sifen lü), the Dharmaguptaka recension of the vinaya, which eventually becomes the definitive version of the vinaya in the Sinitic tradition. He was also involved in the translation of such texts as the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā'', the ''Udānavarga'', a Sarvāstivāda anthology of aphorisms, and the ''Jñānaprasthāna'', the central treatise of the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma. Some indigenous Chinese scriptures, such as the ''Pusa yingluo benye jing'', are also attributed to him. (Source: "Zhu Fonian." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 1058. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)tp://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.))
  • Zhönu Senge  + (Zhönu Senge is counted as the second of thZhönu Senge is counted as the second of the “Nine Incomparable Lions,” patriarchs of the Drukpa Kagyu tradition. He was born into a prominent Drukpa family – his paternal uncle was Darma Sengge Sanggye Won, the first of the Nine Incomparable Lions and the student of Tsangpa Gyare, who founded the Drukap tradition. He served as the third abbot of Ralung Monastery.ed as the third abbot of Ralung Monastery.)
  • Peter Zieme  + (Zieme Peter (19.04.1942, Berlin), an experZieme Peter (19.04.1942, Berlin), an expert in Turkic studies, Buddhology and Old Uyghur literature. In 1965 [he] graduated from Humboldt University of Berlin; from 1965 to 1969 [he] was a PhD student at the same University. After defending a PhD thesis (Linguistic and literature research of Turkic Manichean texts found in Turfan), he started his career as an academic researcher at the Institute of Oriental Research of the German Democratic Republic in 1969. In 1984 he received the Habilitation degree at the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic for the dissertation Die Stabreim Texte der Uiguren von Turfan und Dunhuang: Studien zur alttürkischen Dichtung.</br></br>From 1993, [he became] a member of The Turfanforschung (Turfan Studies) at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities; Honored professor of Free University of Berlin (1994); member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (1999); honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2000); honorary member of Turkish Language Society (Türk Dil Kurumu, 2012); [and a] member of the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences (2019). </br></br>Professor Zieme’s contribution to Old Uyghur studies could not be overestimated. Being an author of 14 books and more than 200 articles, the chief editor of multiple works dedicated to Central Asian literature and paleography, he continues to conduct research of Old Uyghur Turfan texts. ([http://www.orientalstudies.ru/eng/index.php?option=com_personalities&Itemid=74&person=700 Adapted from Source Mar 15, 2021])&person=700 Adapted from Source Mar 15, 2021]))
  • Norman Fischer  + (Zoketsu Norman Fischer is an American poetZoketsu Norman Fischer is an American poet, writer, and Soto Zen priest, teaching and practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma transmission in 1988. Fischer served as co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1995–2000, after which he founded the Everyday Zen Foundation in 2000, a network of Buddhist practice group and related projects in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Fischer has published more than twenty-five books of poetry and non-fiction, as well as numerous poems, essays and articles in Buddhist magazines and poetry journals. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoketsu_Norman_Fischer Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020])man_Fischer Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]))
  • Vanessa Zuisei Goddard  + (Zuisei is a writer and lay Zen teacher basZuisei is a writer and lay Zen teacher based in Playa del Carmen in the south of Mexico. Zuisei lived and trained full time at Zen Mountain Monastery from 1995 to 2018, and was a monk for fourteen of those years. In 2018 she received ''shiho'' or dharma transmission (empowerment to teach) from Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Roshi, and after a short stint in New York City, moved back to Mexico, where she is originally from, and began teaching virtually.</br></br>She has served as the Teachings Editor at the Buddhist journal ''Tricycle'', and her dharma writing has been featured there as well as in ''Lion's Roar'', ''Buddhadharma'', and ''Parabola''. Her books include ''Still Running: The Art of Meditation in Motion'' and the children's book ''Weather Any Storm''. </br></br>As Ocean Mind Sangha's Guiding Teacher, Zuisei continues to welcome students for group and private teaching. ([https://www.oceanmindsangha.org/zuisei-goddard Source Accessed April 25, 2024])i-goddard Source Accessed April 25, 2024]))
  • C.W. "Sandy" Huntington  + ([C. W. "Sandy"] Huntington was known forem[C. W. "Sandy"] Huntington was known foremost for his work in Mahayana Buddhist thought, in particular the Madhyamaka philosophy of India and Tibet. More recently, he published a novel, Maya (Wisdom Publications 2015), set in India in the 1970s, and wrote an article, “The Triumph of Narcissism: Theravāda Buddhist Meditation in the Marketplace,” critiquing certain psychotherapeutic models of teaching and understanding vipassanā meditation found in the West today.* </br></br>Until his death, Huntington served as a professor of religious studies at Hartwick College, in Oneonta, New York, where he won both the Margaret L. Bunn Award for Excellence in Teaching (2004) and the Teacher/Scholar Award (2019). Before teaching at Hartwick, Huntington worked at the University of Michigan, his alma mater, as well as Denison College and Antioch University’s Buddhist Studies in India program, based in Bodh Gaya.</br></br>As a doctoral student, Huntington was guided at the University of Michigan by Luis Gómez, himself a beloved and prolific scholar of Indian Buddhist thought. During this time, Huntington traveled to India to study Sanskrit and Tibetan with the great masters of the day, returning many times over his career. On one such visit, he translated Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra with Geshé Namgyal Wangchen, later published as The Emptiness of Emptiness (Hawaii University Press 1989), a pioneering text in Buddhist philosophy. Huntington went on to work closely with fellow scholars on topics of hermeneutics and methodology in the study of Buddhist philosophy, asking scholars to look not only at what the texts mean, but what presuppositions and attitudes were influencing their own interpretations and understandings. ([https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/buddhist-scholar-cw-sandy-huntington-dies-aged-71 Source Accessed May 26, 2021])ies-aged-71 Source Accessed May 26, 2021]))
  • 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]))
  • Daogong  + ([The] ''Ratnarāśī'' was translated by [the[The] ''Ratnarāśī'' was translated by [the] monk named Daogong, in Liangzhou, about 700 km. ESE of Dunhuang on the main road, in modem day Gansu province, right at the end of the fourth or at the very beginning of the fifth century. . . . [. . . ] [T]here are no biographies of Daogong, and we know next to nothing about him.[2] It is not clear if the ''Karuṇapuṇḍarika'' attributed to him is attributed correctly, but this seems to be the less likely conclusion. It seems even less likely that the ''Aṣṭasāhasrika Prajñāpāramitā'' translation is to be accepted as his.</br></br>While we may know little about the man, the time and place in which Daogong lived certainly placed him in the middle of one of the most productive, even explosive, periods in Chinese Buddhist history. The monk-translators listed as contemporaries or near contemporaries of Daogong, and residing in the same region, are Fazhong, Sengqietuo, and Dharmakṣema. (Silk, "The Origins and Early History of the Mahāratnakūṭa," 671–72)</br></br></br><h5>Notes</h5></br>2. This was, I have lately noticed, also the conclusion of Bagchi 1927:211. As far as I can tell from the relevant indices, Daogong is not mentioned in the Chinese dynastic histories either.ot mentioned in the Chinese dynastic histories either.)
  • 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))
  • Khenchen Dazer  + (he was from Rahor, a branch of Dzogchen mohe was from Rahor, a branch of Dzogchen monastery founded by the Third Dzogchen Rinpoche in Gyalrong near Dergé. He was a student of Pöpa Tulku. He escaped from Tibet together with his former classmate Rahor Khenpo Tupten and went together with him to Sikkim via Bhutan.</br></br>He taught at Namdroling in South India, where he also compiled a collection of prayers and liturgies used in Nyingma rituals, and eventually returned to Tibet, where he taught at the Shri Singha Shedra at Dzogchen Monastery. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenpo_Daw%C3%A9_%C3%96zer Source Accessed on January 24, 2024])</br></br>'''Read more: '''</br>:Marilyn Silverstone, 'Five Nyingmapa Lamas in Sikkim', Kailash: A Journal of Himalayan Studies, 1973, vol. 1.1</br>:Nyoshul Khenpo, A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems, Padma Publishing, 2005, p. 480</br></br>'''Writings:'''</br>*དོན་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་པ་ལུང་རིགས་དོ་ཤལ་, don rnam 'grel pa lung rigs do shal (Necklace of Scripture and Reasoning: A Commentary on Mipham Rinpoche's Sword of Wisdom for Thoroughly Ascertaining Reality, ཤེས་རབ་རལ་གྲི་དོན་རྣམ་ངེས) (composed in 1982): https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:MW1KG4451</br>*ཆོས་སྤྱོད་བསྡུས་པ་ཕན་བདེའི་དགའ་སྟོན་, chos spyod bsdus pa phan bde'i dga' ston (editor)yod bsdus pa phan bde'i dga' ston (editor))
  • Linda Lojda  + (is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Vienna. Her teaching areas include Asian Art in Viennese Collections and Ritual Art of the Tibetan Bön tradition. She is co-editor of the exhibition catalogue ''Bön: Geister aus Butter: Kunst und Ritual des alten Tibet'', with Deborah Klimburg-Salter, and Charles Ramble.</br>Wien: Museum für Völkerkunde 2013, and also of the first volume of the papers from the 20th conference of the European Association for South Asian Archaeology and Art entitled ''Changing Forms and Cultural Identity: Religious and Secular Iconographies'', edited by Deborah Klimburg-Salter, and Linda Lojda. Turnhout: Brepols 2014. ([https://brill.com/display/book/9789004307438/B9789004307438_001.xml Source Accessed Aug 1, 2023])7438_001.xml Source Accessed Aug 1, 2023]))
  • Édouard Chavannes  + (Émmanuel-Édouard Chavannes (5 October 1865Émmanuel-Édouard Chavannes (5 October 1865 – 29 January 1918) was a French sinologist and expert on Chinese history and religion, and is best known for his translations of major segments of Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian'', the work's first ever translation into a Western language.</br></br>Chavannes was a prolific and influential scholar, and was one of the most accomplished Sinologists of the modern era notwithstanding his relatively early death at age 52 in 1918. A successor of 19th century French sinologists Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat and Stanislas Julien, Chavannes was largely responsible for the development of Sinology and Chinese scholarship into a respected field in the realm of French science. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Chavannes Source Accessed Apr 21, 2022])d_Chavannes Source Accessed Apr 21, 2022]))
  • Étienne Lamotte  + (Étienne Paul Marie Lamotte (21 November 19Étienne Paul Marie Lamotte (21 November 1903 – 5 May 1983) was a Belgian priest and Professor of Greek at the Catholic University of Louvain, but was better known as an Indologist and the greatest authority on Buddhism in the West in his time. He studied under his pioneering compatriot Louis de La Vallée-Poussin and was one of the few scholars familiar with all the main Buddhist languages: Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. His first published work was his PhD thesis: ''Notes sur le Bhagavad-Gita'' (Paris, Geuthner, 1929). In 1953, he was awarded the Francqui Prize in Human Science.</br></br>He is also known for his French translation of the ''Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa'' (Chinese: 大智度論, English: ''Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom''), a text attributed to Nāgārjuna. Lamotte felt that the text was most likely composed by an Indian bhikkhu from the Sarvāstivāda tradition, who later became a convert to Mahāyāna Buddhism. Lamotte's translation was published in five volumes but unfortunately remains incomplete, since his death put an end to his efforts.</br></br>In addition to the ''Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa'', Lamotte also composed several other important translations from Mahāyāna sūtras, including the ''Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra'', and the ''Vimalakīrtisūtra''. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Lamotte Source Accessed Sep 30, 2022])nne_Lamotte Source Accessed Sep 30, 2022]))
  • 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).)
  • Śikṣānanda  + (Śikṣānanda. (C. Shichanantuo; J. JisshananŚikṣānanda. (C. Shichanantuo; J. Jisshananda; K. Silch'anant'a 實叉難陀) (652-710). A monk from Khotan (C. Yutian), who was an important translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese during the Tang dynasty. The Empress Wu Zetian (r. 690-705) invited Śikṣānanda to the Chinese Capital of Luoyang, asking him to bring from Khotan its Sanskrit recension of the ''Avataṃsakasūtra'' (alt. ''Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra''; C. ''Dafangguang Fo huayan jing''), which was longer and more comprehensive than the sixty-roll version then in use in China, which had previously been translated by the Indian monk Buddhabhadra (359-429). Śikṣānanda arrived in Luoyang in 695 and supervised a translation team in rendering this Khotanese recension into Chinese; his team included Bodhiruci (693-727), Yijing (635-713), and Wǒnch'ǔk (613-696). Śikṣānanda and his team finished their translation in 699, after four years of work, in a total of eighty rolls. The translation that Śikṣānanda supervised is typically called within the tradition the "new" (xin) translation, in contrast to Buddhabhadra's "old" translation. (Li Tongxuan's commentary to Śikṣānanda's new rendering of the text is, for example, called the ''Xin Huayan jing lun''; see ''Huayan jing helun''.) Śikṣānanda continued with his translation projects until 705, when he returned to Khotan to care for his aged mother. Some thirteen other translations are attributed to him, including the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'' and several shorter dhāraṇī sūtras, as well as a version of the ''Dasheng qixin lun'' ("Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna"). Emperor Zhongzong (r. 705-710) invited Śikṣānanda to return once again to China in 708, but he died of illness in 710 at the age of fifty-nine without beginning any new translation work. It is reported that after his cremation, his tongue remained untouched by flames—an indication of his remarkable erudition. (Source: "Śikṣānanda." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 820. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)tp://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.))
  • Śrīmitra  + (Śrīmitra—literally meaning ‘lucky friend’ Śrīmitra—literally meaning ‘lucky friend’ was a Śramaṇa of western origin [Kucha] who was the heir apparent of a king of that country. He, however, gave up his kingdom to his younger brother and became a Śramaṇa. He came to China in the Yun-Kia period A.D. 307–12, under the western Tsin dynasty and translated 3 works at Kin-khan (Nanking) under the reign of Yuen-ti, A.D. 317–322 and died at the age of eighty in the Hhien-Khan period, A.D. 335–342. The works are ''Mahāhhishekarāddhidhāraṇi-sūtra'', ''Mahāmayūri-Vidyārāgnī'' and in two Fascimulae (Nanjio: ''Catalogue'', ii, 36, pp. 397–98). (Puri, ''Buddhism in Central Asia'', 115n91; see also Nanjio, ''A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka'', appendix 2, no. 36, 397–98. http://www.kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~wittern/data/nanjio-catalog.pdf.)u.ac.jp/~wittern/data/nanjio-catalog.pdf.))
  • Śākya Lodro  + (Śākya blo gros, Tibetan translator, ca. 10Śākya blo gros, Tibetan translator, ca. 10th-11th Century A.D.</br> </br>*''Byaṅ chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'' (Tibetan translation of ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''), in Tg, vol. la 1b1-40a7 (with Dharmaśrībhadra and Rin chen bzaṅ po). Bca</br>*''Brgya lṅa bcu pa źes bya ba'i bstod pa'' (Tibetan translation of ''Śatapañcāśatka''), Tg bstod tshogs ka 110a3-116a5.</br>*''Brgya lṅa bcu pa źes bya ba'i bstod pa'i ’grel pa'', Tg bstod tshogs ka 116a5-178a1. ([https://www2.hf.uio.no/polyglotta/index.php?page=person&bid=2&vid=&entity=106 Source Accessed Aug 31, 2021])amp;vid=&entity=106 Source Accessed Aug 31, 2021]))
  • John Deweese  + (John Deweese served as an editor for ''Drops of Nectar'', Andreas Kretschmar's translation of Khenpo Kunpal’s commentary on the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''. He was also an editor for Rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan's ''Parting from the Four Attachments''.)
  • Rawlinson, A.  + (Andrew Rawlinson was a war baby (b.1943) aAndrew Rawlinson was a war baby (b.1943) and lived in 17 different places by the time he was six. He got hit early on: Elvis, Jelly Roll Morton, Samuel Johnson, John Keats, Jack Kerouac, Cezanne, Pollock. And Zeus. He added philosophy and Indian traditions to rock’n’roll, jazz and literature. He was a scholar at Cambridge and did a Ph.D on the ''Lotus Sūtra'' at the University of Lancaster. He taught Buddhism for 20 years and put on a course on Altered States of Consciousness at Berkeley and Santa Barbara. He is the author of ''The Book of Enlightened Masters: Western Teachers on Eastern Traditions'' (Open Ciourt, 1997) and ''The Hit: Into the Rock’n’Roll Universe and Beyond'' (99 Press, 2014). ([https://explore.scimednet.org/index.php/events/event/the-hit-derangement-and-revelation/ Source Accessed May 19, 2020])revelation/ Source Accessed May 19, 2020]))
  • Suvarṇadvīpa Dharmakīrti  + (Dharmakirti (Skt. Suvarṇadvīpa DharmakīrtiDharmakirti (Skt. Suvarṇadvīpa Dharmakīrti; Tib. ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་, Chökyi Drakpa, Wyl. chos kyi grags pa) or Dharmapala (Wyl. chos skyong) of Suvarnadvipa (b. 10th century) was the most important of Atisha's teachers. In Tibetan he is known simply as Serlingpa (Tib. གསེར་གླིང་པ་, Wyl. gser gling pa), literally 'the master from Suvarnadvipa'. Atisha is said to have stayed with him for twelve years receiving teachings on Lojong. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dharmakirti_of_Suvarnadvipa Source Accessed Jun 21, 2022])uvarnadvipa Source Accessed Jun 21, 2022]))
  • Brambilla, F.  + (Filippo Brambilla is a PhD candidate at thFilippo Brambilla is a PhD candidate at the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies of the University of Vienna. He is currently writing his dissertation on Tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho (1880–1940), a late Jo nang scholar whose philosophical works are characterized by a distinctive approach that reconciles typically rang stong positions with more orthodox Jo nang views. Filippo’s PhD thesis will include a complete edition and translation of Tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho’s Illuminating Light (''Rab gsal snang''). Recently, Filippo also started working as a researcher in the FWF funded project “Emptiness of Other (gZhan stong) in the Early Jo nang Tradition.” He holds a BA and an MA in Languages and Cultures of Eastern Asia, with specialization in Chinese language and culture, from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Filippo has also spent long periods of study and research in China and Eastern Tibet. (Source: [https://conference.tsadra.org/session/empty-of-true-existence-yet-full-of-qualities-tshogs-gnyis-rgya-mtsho-1880-1940-on-buddha-nature/ Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia])ddha-nature/ Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia]))
  • Ui, H.  + (Hakuju Ui (1882-1963) was a Doctor of LitHakuju Ui (1882-1963) was a Doctor of Literature, Emeritus Professor of the University of Tokyo, Member of the Japanese Bachelor's College, and an Indian Philosophy, Buddhist History, and Buddhist Literature Research Expert.<br>      In 1894, he joined Cao Dongzong and later graduated from Imperial University of Tokyo in 1909. From 1913 to 1917, he went to the UK, Germany, and India to study. In 1919, he was a lecturer at the University of Tokyo. In 1923, he was a professor at Northeastern Imperial University. In 1930, he was a professor at Tokyo Imperial University and received a doctorate in literature. In 1945, he was elected as a member of the Japanese Academy of Sciences and was awarded the honorary professor of the University of Tokyo. In 1953, he received the Cultural Medal. He was fluent in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, and has contributed greatly to the study of Buddhist history. His main works include: ''Buddhist Thought Research'' (Yanbo Bookstore, 1943), ''Pan Buddhism'' (2 volumes, Yanbo Bookstore, 1947-1949), ''Buddhist Classic History'' (Dongcheng Publishing House, 1957), ''Vietnamese and Contradiction Bodhisattva Index'' (Suzuki Academic Foundation, 1961), ''Study on Western Region Buddhist Scriptures - Brief Introduction to Dunhuang Yishu'' (Yanbo Bookstore, 1969), ''Tibetan Buddhist Scriptures'' (Masterpieces Press, 1970) Year), and ''Translation of History Studies'' (Yanbo Bookstore, 1971). ([https://list.wiki/Ui_Hakuju Accessed and Adapted from List.Wiki July 6, 2020])iki July 6, 2020]))
  • 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]))
  • Davenport, J.  + (John Davenport is a water resources develoJohn Davenport is a water resources development specialist with wide experience as an aid consultant in South and East Asia and Tibet, including for the Tibetan government-in-exile. He is currently the team leader of the ADB supported Western Basins Water Resources Management Project in Herat, Afghanistan. He has served as vice president of Deer Park Buddhist Center near Madison, Wisconsin. He lives in Eugene, Oregon. Source: ([https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/john-davenport/ Wisdom Publications])thor/john-davenport/ Wisdom Publications]))
  • Everest, Tsering  + (Lama Tsering Everest was one of the main sLama Tsering Everest was one of the main students of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, who recognized her as an emanation of Tara and a holder of the Red Tara lineage.</br></br>Born in the U.S.A., Lama Tsering has served Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche as his translator for more than 11 years. After completing a three year retreat in 1995, she was ordained as a lama and recognized by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche as a holder of the Red Tara lineage, authorized to give teachings and empowerments. In the same year she was invited to teach in Brazil where she moved to shortly after.</br></br>She teaches and conducts retreats in many cities across Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and Australia as well as returning each year to fulfill the requests of her students in North America.</br></br>Lama Tsering is the resident lama and director of Chagdud Gonpa Odsal Ling in São Paulo and is currently coordinating the construction of Odsal Ling's temple in Cotia, Brasil, along with her husband Lama Padma Norbu. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Lama_Tsering_Everest Rigpa Wiki])hp?title=Lama_Tsering_Everest Rigpa Wiki]))
  • Blum, M.  + (Mark Blum, Professor and Shinjo Ito DistinMark Blum, Professor and Shinjo Ito Distinguished Chair in Japanese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, received his M.A. in Japanese Literature from UCLA and his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies in 1990 from the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes in Pure Land Buddhism throughout East Asia, with a focus on the Japanese medieval period. He also works in the area of Japanese Buddhist reponses to modernism, Buddhist conceptions of death in China and Japan, historical consciousness in Buddhist thought, and the impact of the Nirvana Sutra (Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra) in East Asian Buddhism. He is the author of ''The Origins and Development of Pure Land Buddhism'' (2002), and co-editor of ''Rennyo and the Roots of Modern Japanese Buddhism'' (2005) and ''Cultivating Spirituality'' (2011), and his translation from Chinese of ''The Nirvana Sutra: Volume 1'' (2013). He is currently working on completing ''Think Buddha, Say Buddha: A History of Nenbutsu Thought, Practice, and Culture''. ([http://ealc.berkeley.edu/faculty/blum-mark Source Accessed May 31, 2019])y/blum-mark Source Accessed May 31, 2019]))
  • Ramakrishna, B.M.  + (PROF. M.R. BHAT was a well known Samskrta PROF. M.R. BHAT was a well known Samskrta scholar, teacher, poet and astrologer, who retired in 1974 as the Head of Sanskrit Department of Hindu College, Delhi University. He had served the cause of Samskrta learning and Indian culture for more than half a century. Prof. Bhat edited with translation classical works like the Brhat Samhita of Varahamihira (2 Volumes), Horasarah of Prthuyasas, Prasnajnanam of Bhattotpala. Author of Fundamentals of Astrology. Prof. Bhat had revised the translation of Uttara-kalamrtam, and Phaladipika. He was the founder-editor of the Sanskrit _English Journal Amrtavani and had contributed a large number of articles on oriental learning and culture of various journals and periodicals. In recognition of his erudition and devotion to oriental learning and culture Prof, Bhat was conferred the titles Vidyabhaskara, Vidyasagara and Kavitacatura. Prof. Bhat died in 1990. Source: ([https://www.mlbd.in/products/brhat-samhita-of-varahamihira-vol-1-with-english-translation-exhaustive-notes-and-literary-comments-m-r-bhat-9788120800984-8120800982?_pos=2&_sid=bc2a5917e&_ss=r Motilal Banarsidass])amp;_sid=bc2a5917e&_ss=r Motilal Banarsidass]))
  • Swanson, P.  + (Paul L. Swanson is a Permanent Research FePaul L. Swanson is a Permanent Research Fellow at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, and Professor in the Faculty of Arts & Letters of Nanzan University, in Nagoya, Japan. He is editor of the ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'' and has published on Tiantai/Tendai Buddhism and other aspects of East Asian Buddhism and religion. ([https://www.society-buddhist-christian-studies.org/paul-swanson Source Accessed June 13, 2019])</br></br>[https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/en/files/2012/11/Swanson-CV-ALL-2012.pdf Click here for full CV and Publications list] Click here for full CV and Publications list])
  • Gregory, P.  + (Peter N. Gregory taught at Smith College fPeter N. Gregory taught at Smith College from 1999 until 2014. After receiving his doctorate in East Asian languages and civilizations from Harvard University in 1981, he taught in the Program for the Study of Religion at the University of Illinois for 15 years. He has also served as the president and executive director of the Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values since 1984, and in that capacity he has directed two publication series with the University of Hawaii Press: "Studies in East Asian Buddhism" and "Classics in East Asian Buddhism."</br></br>Gregory's research has focused on medieval Chinese Buddhism, especially the Chan and Huayan traditions during the Tang and Song dynasties, on which he has written or edited seven books, including ''Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism'' (1991). He is currently completing a translation of a ninth-century Chinese Buddhist text on the historical and doctrinal origins of the Chan tradition.</br></br>After coming to Smith, Gregory's research and teaching became increasingly concerned with Buddhism in America, on which he produced a film, ''The Gate of Sweet Nectar: Feeding Hungry Spirits in an American Zen Community'' (2004), and co-edited a book, ''Women Practicing Buddhism: American Experiences'' (Wisdom Publications, 2007). ([https://www.smith.edu/academics/faculty/peter-gregory Source Accessed June 13, 2019])er-gregory Source Accessed June 13, 2019]))
  • Ueda, Y.  + (Ueda Yoshifumi (1904-1993) was Professor aUeda Yoshifumi (1904-1993) was Professor at Chikushi Gakuen, Fukuoka, Japan, and Professor Emeritus at Nagoya University, Nagoya. He edited the Shin Buddhism Translation series at Hongwanji International Center, Kyoto. Prof. Ueda Yoshifumi contributed the essay "Freedom and Necessity in Shinran's Concept of Karma" to ''Living in Amida’s Universal Vow'', edited by Alfred Bloom. He is also the author, along with Dennis Hirota, of ''Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought'' (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1989). ([http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/Ueda-Yoshifum.aspx Source Accessed and Amended July 7, 2020])Source Accessed and Amended July 7, 2020]))
  • Yangsi Rinpoche  + (Yangsi Rinpoche (President) was recognizedYangsi Rinpoche (President) was recognized as the reincarnation of Geshe Ngawang Gendun, a renowned scholar and practitioner from Western Tibet, at the age of six. Rinpoche trained in the traditional monastic system for over 25 years, and practiced as a monk until the age of 35.</br></br>In 1995 he graduated with the highest degree of Geshe Lharampa from Sera Je Monastery in South India. He then completed his studies at Gyume Tantric College, and, in 1998, having the particular wish to benefit Western students of the Buddhadharma, Rinpoche came to the West to teach and travel extensively throughout America and Europe.</br></br>Rinpoche served as a resident teacher at Deer Park Buddhist Center in Madison, Wisconsin for five years, and is currently the Spiritual Director of Ganden Shedrup Ling Buddhist Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Spiritual Director of Dharma Friendship Foundation in Seattle, Washington.</br></br>He founded Maitripa College in 2005 in Portland, Oregon. Rinpoche is the author of Practicing the Path: A Commentary on the Lamrim Chenmo, published in 2003 by Wisdom Publications.</br></br>Rinpoche teaches in English, and is admired wherever he travels for his unique presentation of the Dharma, his interest in and enthusiasm for Western culture, and his evident embodiment of the wisdom and compassion of the Buddhist path. </br></br>When not in the classroom at Maitripa College, during academic year breaks and for special events, Yangsi Rinpoche travels widely, representing Maitripa College at conferences and giving teachings around the world. [https://maitripa.org/yangsi-rinpoche/ Source]ps://maitripa.org/yangsi-rinpoche/ Source])
  • The Fourth Drukchen Pema Karpo  + ("After the death of 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi "After the death of 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi grags pa (the 3rd Drukchen or Gyalwang Drukpa), monks found the rebirth in the house of a minor aristocrat of Kongpo, to the disappointment of both the families of Rwa lung and Bya. This child, the sprul sku Ngag dbang nor bu, was to be the great Padma dkar po. Padma dkar po was one of those rare renaissance men. The breadth of his scholarship and learning invites comparison with the Fifth Dalai Lama. It was Padma dkar po who systematized the teaching of the 'Brug pa sect. It is no wonder that the 'Brug pa Bka' brgyud pa always refer to him as Kun mkhyen, the Omniscient, an epithet reserved for the greatest scholar of a sect. Padma dkar po was a shrewd and occasionally ruthless politician. His autobiography is one of the most important sources for the history of the sixteenth century. Padma dkar po was a monk and insisted on adherence to the vinaya rules for his monastic followers. He also held that in the administration of church affairs the claims of the rebirth and the monastic scholar took priority over those of the scion of a revered lineage. Although he preached often at both Rwa lung and Bkra shis mthong smon, the seats of his two immediate predecessors, he never exercised actual control over these monasteries and their estates. He founded his monastery at Gsang sngags chos gling in Byar po, north of Mon Rta dbang, which became the seat of the subsequent Rgyal dbang 'Brug pa incarnation." (Gene Smith, ''Among Tibetan Texts'', 81) (Gene Smith, ''Among Tibetan Texts'', 81))
  • 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]))
  • Hubert Decleer  + ('''In Memoriam: Hubert Decleer (1940–2021)'''In Memoriam: Hubert Decleer (1940–2021)'''</br>:by Andrew Quintman</br></br>With great sadness, we share news that our incomparable teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend Hubert Decleer passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 25. He was at his home with his wife, the poet Nazneen Zafar, in Kathmandu, Nepal, near the Swayambhū Mahācaitya that had been his constant inspiration for nearly five decades. His health declined rapidly following a diagnosis of advanced-stage lung cancer in May, but he remained lucid and in high spirits and over the past weeks he was surrounded by family members and close friends. Through his final hours, he maintained his love of Himalayan scholarship and black coffee, and his deep and quiet commitment to Buddhist practice.</br></br>Hubert’s contributions to the study of Tibetan and Himalayan traditions are expansive, covering the religious, literary, and cultural histories of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India. For nearly thirty-five years he directed and advised the School for International Training’s program for Tibetan Studies, an undergraduate study-abroad program that has served as a starting point for scholars currently working in fields as diverse as Anthropology, Art History, Education, Conservation, History, Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Public Policy. The countless scholars he inspired are connected by the undercurrent of Hubert's indelible "light touch" and all the subtle and formative lessons he imparted as a mentor and friend.</br></br>Hubert embodied a seemingly inexhaustible curiosity that spanned kaleidoscopic interests ranging from Chinese landscapes to Netherlandish still lifes, medieval Tibetan pilgrimage literature to French cinema, 1940s bebop to classical Hindustani vocal performance. With legendary hospitality, his home, informally dubbed “The Institute,” was an oasis for scholars, former students, artists, and musicians, who came to share a simple dinner of daal bhaat or a coffee on the terrace overlooking Swayambhū. The conversations that took place on that terrace often unearthed a text or image or reference that turned out to be the missing link in the visitor's current research project. When not discussing scholarship, Hubert inspired his friends to appreciate the intelligence and charm of animals—monkeys and crows especially—or to enjoy the marvels of a blossoming potted plum tree. His attentiveness to the world around him generated intense sensitivity and compassion. He was an accomplished painter and a captivating storyteller, ever ready with accounts of the artists’ scene in Europe or his numerous overland journeys to Asia. The stories from long ago flowed freely and very often revealed some important insight about the present moment, however discrete. </br></br>Hubert François Kamiel Decleer was born on August 22, 1940, in Ostend, Belgium. In 1946, he spent three months in Switzerland with a group of sixty children whose parents served in the Résistance. He completed his Latin-Greek Humaniora at the Royal Atheneum in Ostend in 1958, when he was awarded the Jacques Kets National Prize for biology by the Royal Zoo Society of Antwerp. He developed a keen interest in the arts, and during this period he also held his first exhibition of oil paintings and gouaches. In 1959 he finished his B.A. in History and Dutch Literature at the Regent School in Ghent. Between 1960 and 1963 he taught Dutch and History at the Hotel and Technical School in Ostend, punctuated by a period of military service near Köln, Germany in 1961–62. The highlight of his military career was the founding of a musical group (for which he played drums) that entertained officers’ balls with covers of Ray Charles and other hits of the day. </br></br>In 1963 Hubert made the first of his many trips to Asia, hitchhiking for thirteen months from Europe to India and through to Ceylon. Returning to Belgium in 1964, he then worked at the artists’ café La Chèvre Folle in Ostend, where he organized fortnightly exhibitions and occasional cultural events. For the following few years he worked fall and winter for a Belgian travel agency in Manchester and Liverpool, England, while spending summers as a tour guide in Italy, Central Europe, and Turkey. In 1967 he began working as a guide, lecturer, and interpreter for Penn Overland Tours, based in Hereford, England. In these roles he accompanied groups of British, American, Australian, and New Zealand tourists on luxury overland trips from London to Bombay, and later London to Calcutta—excursions that took two and a half months to complete. He made twenty-six overland journeys in the course of fourteen years, during which time he also organized and introduced local musical concerts in Turkey, Pakistan, India, and later Nepal. He likewise accompanied two month-long trips through Iran with specialized international groups as well as a number of overland trips through the USSR and Central Europe. In between his travels, Hubert wrote and presented radio scenarios for Belgian Radio and Television (including work on a prize-winning documentary on Nepal) and for the cultural program Woord. The experiences of hospitality and cultural translation that Hubert accumulated on his many journeys supported his work as a teacher and guide; he was always ready with a hint of how one might better navigate the awkward state of being a stranger in a new place. </br></br>With the birth of his daughter Cascia in 1972, Hubert’s travels paused for several years as he took a position tutoring at the Royal Atheneum in Ostend. He also worked as an art critic with a coastal weekly and lectured with concert tours of Nepalese classical musicians, cārya dancers, and the musicologist and performer Michel Dumont.</br></br>In 1975, during extended layovers between India journeys, Hubert began a two-year period of training in Buddhist Chinese at the University of Louvain with pioneering Indologist and scholar of Buddhist Studies Étienne Lamotte. He recalled being particularly moved by the Buddhist teachings on impermanence he encountered in his initial studies. He also worked as a bronze-caster apprentice and assistant to sculptor—and student of Lamotte—Roland Monteyne. He then resumed his overland journeying full time, leading trips from London to Kathmandu. These included annual three-month layovers in Nepal, where he began studying Tibetan and Sanskrit with local tutors. He was a participant in the first conference of the Seminar of Young Tibetologists held in Zürich in 1977. In 1980 he settled permanently in Kathmandu, where he continued his private studies for seven years. During this period he also taught French at the Alliance Française and briefly served as secretary to the Consul at the French Embassy in Kathmandu. </br></br>It was during the mid 1980s that Hubert began teaching American college students as a lecturer and fieldwork consultant for the Nepal Studies program of the School for International Training (then known as the Experiment in International Living) based in Kathmandu. In 1987 he was tasked with organizing SIT’s inaugural Tibetan Studies program, which ran in the fall of that year. Hubert served as the program’s academic director, a position he would hold for more than a decade. Under his direction, the Tibetan Studies program famously became SIT’s most nomadic college semester abroad, regularly traveling through India, Nepal, Bhutan, as well as western, central, and eastern Tibet. It was also during this period that Hubert produced some of his most memorable writings in the form of academic primers, assignments, and examinations. In 1999 Hubert stepped down as academic director to become the program’s senior faculty advisor, a position he held until his death.</br></br>Hubert taught and lectured across Europe and the United States in positions that included visiting lecturer at Middlebury College and Numata visiting faculty member at the University of Vienna. </br></br>Hubert’s writing covers broad swaths of geographical and historical territory, although he paid particular attention to the Buddhist traditions of Tibet and Nepal. His research focused on the transmission history of the Vajrabhairava tantras, traditional narrative accounts of the Swayambhū Purāṇa, the sacred geography of the Kathmandu Valley (his 2017 lecture on this topic, “Ambrosia for the Ears of Snowlanders,” is recorded here), and the biographies of the eleventh-century Bengali monk Atiśa. His style of presenting lectures was rooted in his work as a musician and lover of music—he prepared meticulously to be sure his talks were rhythmic, precise, and yet had an element of the spontaneous. One of his preferred mediums was the long-form book review, which incorporated new scholarship and original translations with erudite critiques of subjects ranging from Buddhist philosophy to art history and Tibetan music. His final publication, a forthcoming essay on an episode contained in the correspondence of the seventeenth-century Jesuit António de Andrade (translated by Michael Sweet and Leonard Zwilling in 2017), uses close readings of Tibetan historical sources and paintings to complicate and contextualize Andrade’s account of his mission to Tibet. This exemplifies the spirit and method of his review essays, which demonstrate his deep admiration of published scholarship through a meticulous consideration of the work and its sources, often leading to new discoveries. </br></br>In addition to Hubert’s published work, some of his most endearing and enduring writing has appeared informally, in the guise of photocopied packets intended for his students. Each new semester of the SIT Tibetan Studies program would traditionally begin with what is technically called “The Academic Director’s Introduction and Welcome Letter.” These documents would be mailed out to students several weeks prior to the program, and for most other programs they were intended to inform incoming participants of the basic travel itinerary, required readings, and how many pairs of socks to pack. The Tibetan Studies welcome letter began as a humble, one-page handwritten note, impeccably penned in Hubert’s unmistakable hand. </br></br>Hubert’s welcome letters evolved over the years, and they eventually morphed into collections of three or four original essays covering all manner of subjects related to Tibetan Studies, initial hints at how to approach cultural field studies, new research, and experiential education, as well as anecdotes from the previous semester illustrating major triumphs and minor disasters. The welcome letters became increasingly elaborate and in later years regularly reached fifty pages or more in length. The welcome letter for fall 1991, for example, included chapters titled “Scholarly Fever” and “The Field and the Armchair, and not ‘Stage-Struck’ in either.” By spring 1997, the welcome letter included original pieces of scholarship and translation, with a chapter on “The Case of the Royal Testaments” that presented innovative readings of the Maṇi bka’ ’bum. Only one element was missing from the welcome letter, a lacuna corrected in that same text of spring 1997, as noted by its title: Tibetan Studies Tales: An Academic Directors’ Welcome Letter—With Many Footnotes.</br></br>Hubert was adamant that even college students on a study-abroad program could undertake original and creative research, either for assignments in Dharamsala, in Kathmandu or the hilly regions of Nepal, or during independent-study projects themselves, which became the capstone of the semester. Expectations were high, sometimes seemingly impossibly high, but with just the right amount of background information and encouragement, the results were often triumphs. </br></br>Hubert regularly spent the months between semesters, or during the summer, producing another kind of SIT literature: the “assignment text.” These nearly always included extensive original translations of Tibetan materials and often extended background essays as well. They would usually end with a series of questions that would serve as the basis for a team research project. For fall 1994 there was “Cultural Neo-Colonialism in the Himalayas: The Politics of Enforced Religious Conversion”; later there was the assignment on the famous translator Rwa Lotsāwa called “The Melodious Drumsound All-Pervading: The Life and Complete Liberation of Majestic Lord Rwa Lotsāwa, the Yogin-Translator of Rwa, Mighty Lord in Magic Intervention.” There were extended translations of traditional pilgrimage guides for the Kathmandu Valley, including texts by the Fourth Khamtrul and the Sixth Zhamar hierarchs, for assignments where teams of students would race around the valley rim looking for an elusive footprint in stone or a guesthouse long in ruins that marked the turnoff of an old pilgrim’s trail. For many students these assignments were the first foray into field work methods, and Hubert's careful guidance helped them approach collaborations with local experts ethically and with deep respect for diverse forms of knowledge. </br></br>One semester there was a project titled “The Mystery of the IV Brother Images, ’Phags pa mched bzhi” focused on the famous set of statues in Tibet and Nepal and based on new Tibetan materials that had only just come to light. Another examined the “The Tibetan World ‘Translated’ in Western Comics.” Finally, there was a classic of the genre that examined the creative nonconformity of the Bhutanese mad yogin Drugpa Kunleg in light of the American iconoclast composer and musician Frank Zappa: “A Dose of Drugpa Kunleg for the post–1984 Era: Prolegomena to a Review Article of the Real Frank Zappa Book.”</br></br>Frank Zappa was, indeed, another of Hubert’s inspirations and his aforementioned review included the following passage: “If there’s one thing I do admire in FZ, it is precisely these ‘highest standards’ and utmost professional thoroughness that does not allow for any sloppiness (in the name of artistic freedom or spontaneous freedom)…. At the same time, each concert is really different, [and]…appears as a completely spontaneous event.” Hubert’s life as a scholar, teacher, and mentor was a consummate illustration of this highest ideal. </br></br>Hubert is survived by his wife Nazneen Zafar; his daughter Cascia Decleer, son-in-law Diarmuid Conaty, and grandsons Keanu and Kiran Conaty; his sister Annie Decleer and brother-in-law Patrick van Calenbergh; his brother Misjel Decleer and sister-in-law Martine Thomaere; his stepmother Agnès Decleer, and half-brother Luc Decleer. A traditional cremation ceremony at the Bijeśvarī Vajrayoginī temple near Swayambhū is planned for Friday.</br></br>Benjamin Bogin, Andrew Quintman, and Dominique Townsend</br></br>Portions of this biographical sketch draw on the introduction to [[Himalayan Passages]]: Newar and Tibetan Studies in Honor of Hubert Decleer (Wisdom Publications, 2014))
  • Khetsun Sangpo  + ('''Khetsün Zangpo Rinpoche''' ([[Wyl.]] '''Khetsün Zangpo Rinpoche''' ([[Wyl.]] ''mkhas btsun bzang po rin po che'') (1920-2009) was born in Central Tibet in 1920 from a patrilineal descent of [[ngakpa]]s. He studied the [[sutra]]s and [[tantra]]s from 1937 to 1949. After which and until 1955 he mainly practised in closed retreat. In 1959 he fled Tibet for India where he first spent two years on retreat. Then he went to Japan to teach for 10 years at the request of Kyabjé [[Dudjom Rinpoche]]. Back in India he became in charge of the [[Library of Tibetan Works and Archives]] in [[Dharamsala]]. He is the author of many volumes of teachings including the outstanding ''Biographical Dictionary of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism'' in 12 vol.</br>Rinpoche lived at his monastery in Sundarijal in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, which he established at the request of Kyabjé Dudjom Rinpoché. He passed into [[parinirvana]] on 6th December, 2009.</br></br>He attended the historic gathering at [[Prapoutel 1990|Prapoutel]] in 1990. ([http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khetsun_Zangpo_Rinpoche Source Accessed Jun 24, 2015])po_Rinpoche Source Accessed Jun 24, 2015]))
  • Elliot Sperling  + ('''Obituary: Elliot Sperling (1951-2017)'''''Obituary: Elliot Sperling (1951-2017)''' by Tenzin Dorjee. (''HIMALAYA''. Volume 37, Number 1, pp 149-150)</br></br>Professor Elliot Sperling’s death was a colossal tragedy by</br>every measure. He was only 66 years old, and he exuded</br>life, health, and purpose—the antithesis of death. After</br>retiring from a long professorship at Indiana University</br>in 2015, where he was director of the Tibetan Studies</br>program at the department of Central Eurasian Studies,</br>Sperling moved back to his native New York. He bought an</br>apartment in Jackson Heights, where he converted every</br>wall into meticulously arranged bookshelves—only the</br>windows were spared. He was clearly looking forward to</br>a busy retirement, living in what was basically a library</br>pretending to be an apartment.</br>Sperling was the world’s foremost authority on historical</br>Sino-Tibetan relations. For his landmark work “on the political, religious, cultural, and economic relations between</br>Tibet and China from the fourteenth through seventeenth</br>centuries,” he was awarded a MacArthur genius grant at</br>the age of 33.1</br></br>He accumulated a compact but enduring body of work that defined and shaped Tibetan studies</br>over the last three decades. No less important, he was also</br>a phenomenal teacher, storyteller, entertainer, whiskey connoisseur (he delighted in teaching us how to enjoy</br>the peaty Scotch whiskies), and a passionate advocate for</br>Tibetan and Uyghur causes.</br>Through his seminal writings on Tibet’s relations with</br>China during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, he</br>became arguably the first historian to use both Chinese</br>language archives and Tibetan language sources extensively, bringing to light the separation and independence that</br>characterized the relationship between the two nations.</br>Until he came along, most Western academics viewed</br>Tibet through Chinese eyes, largely because they could</br>not access Tibetan sources. Sperling, fluent in Tibetan as</br>well as Chinese, upended the old Sino-centric narrative</br>and transformed the field. Roberto Vitali, who organized a</br>festschrift for Sperling in 2014, writes that Sperling’s work</br>“will stay as milestones” in Tibetan studies.2 His writings</br>have become so central to the field that any scholar who</br>writes a paper about historical Sino-Tibetan relations cannot do so without paying homage to Sperling’s work. He is,</br>so to speak, the Hegel of Sino-Tibetan history.</br></br>One can imagine the joy many of us felt when Professor</br>Sperling chose to make his home in Jackson Heights, the</br>second (if unofficial) capital of the exile Tibetan world—</br>after Dharamsala, India. We saw him at demonstrations at</br>the Chinese consulate, art openings at Tibet House, poetry</br>nights at Little Tibet restaurant, and sometimes at dinner</br>parties in the neighborhood. At every gathering, he held</br>court as the intellectual life of the party. His friends and</br>students bombarded him with questions on topics ranging</br>from art to politics to linguistics, for his erudition was</br>not limited to history alone. Unfailingly generous and</br>eloquent, he supplied the most intriguing, insightful and</br>exhaustive answers to every question. Each conversation</br>with him was a scholarly seminar. Among the circle of</br>Tibetan activists and artists living in New York City,</br>Sperling quickly fell into a sort of second professorship, an</br>underground tenure without the trappings of university.</br>We weren’t about to let him retire so easily.</br>Some of Professor Sperling’s most influential early works</br>include: The 5th Karma-pa and Some Aspects of the Relationship</br>Between Tibet and the Early Ming (1980); The 1413 Ming</br>Embassy to Tsong-ka-pa and the Arrival of Byams-chen chos-rje</br>Shakya ye-shes at the Ming Court (1982); Did the Early Ming</br>Emperors Attempt to Implement a ‘Divide and Rule’ Policy in</br>Tibet? (1983); and The Ho Clan of Ho-chou: A Tibetan Family in</br>Service to the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (1990) among others.</br>One of my personal favorites in his corpus is The 5th Karmapa and Some Aspects of the Relationship Between Tibet and the</br>Early Ming. In this text, Sperling argues that in the early</br>years following the collapse of the Mongol Yuan dynasty in</br>1367, the Ming rulers of China adopted a non-expansionist</br>foreign policy, displaying greater interest in drawing clear</br>boundaries to keep the ‘barbarians’ out of China than</br>in expanding its boundaries to encroach into non-Ming</br>territories. Ming China was initially conceived more as</br>an inward-looking state than an outward-looking empire,</br>partly in critique of the ruthless expansionism of their</br>predecessors, the Mongol Yuan rulers. In fact, Sperling</br>quotes from the very proclamation carried by the first</br>mission that Ming Taitsu, or the Hongwu Emperor, sent to</br>Tibet:</br></br>:Formerly, the hu people [i.e. the Mongols] usurped</br>:authority in China. For over a hundred years caps</br>:and sandals were in reversed positions. Of all</br>:hearts, which did not give rise to anger? In recent</br>:years, the hu rulers lost hold of the government….</br>:Your Tibetan state is located in the western lands.</br>:China is now united, but I am afraid that you have</br>:still not heard about this. Therefore this proclamation [is sent].3</br> </br>Sperling goes on to write that this “first mission is acknowledged by Chinese records to have met with no</br>success,” and that necessitated the dispatching of a second</br>mission.4</br></br>In ''Did the Early Ming Emperors Attempt to Implement a “Divide and Rule” Policy in Tibet?''5</br>Sperling defies decades of conventional wisdom with a bold argument when he writes:</br>:The Chinese court was never, in fact, able to mount</br>:a military expedition beyond the Sino-Tibetan</br>:frontier regions. This fact becomes strikingly</br>:obvious as one glances through both Tibetan and</br>:Chinese sources for the period in question…. Unable</br>:to protect its embassies or even to retaliate against</br>:attacks on them, China was hardly in a position to</br>:manifest the kind of power needed to implement a</br>:policy of “divide and rule” in Tibet.</br></br>For many Tibetans who care about seemingly inconsequential details of the murky Sino-Tibetan relations from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, a historical period that has become a domain of highly charged information battles between Dharamsala and Beijing, Sperling’s writings are like a constellation of bright lamps illuminating the tangled web of Sino-Tibetan history. He excavated critical pieces of Tibet’s deep past from the forbidding archives of antiquity, arranged them in a coherent narrative, and virtually placed in our hands several centuries of our own history.</br></br>Elliot Sperling’s academic stature would have allowed</br>him to be an ivory tower intellectual. Instead, he chose</br>to be a true ally of the Tibetan people and an unwavering</br>champion of Tibetan freedom. While he studied with</br>Taktser Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama’s elder brother, he</br>maintained lifelong friendships with the people he met</br>in Dharamsala: Tashi Tsering (the preeminent Tibetan</br>historian), Jamyang Norbu (the rebel intellectual and</br>award-winning author), Peter Brown (the ‘American</br>Khampa’ and a brother in the Tibetan struggle). Sperling</br>joined many of us in the trenches of activism, always</br>encouraging us to embark on bigger and bolder advocacy</br>campaigns for Tibet. Speaking in his Bronx-accented</br>Tibetan, he told us that if only Tibetans studied our history</br>more seriously, we would be able to believe that Tibet will</br>be free again.</br></br>A sharp and fearless critic of Beijing, Sperling neither</br>minced his words nor censored his writings under fear of</br>being banned from China. Even when he taught in Beijing</br>for a semester, where he developed a close friendship with</br>the Tibetan poet Woeser, he successfully avoided the trap</br>of self-censorship that has neutered so many scholars in </br>our time.6</br></br>While railing against Beijing’s atrocities in Tibet, he managed to be critical of Dharamsala’s excessively conciliatory stance toward Beijing.7</br></br>His provocative critiques of the Tibetan leadership sometimes made us uncomfortable, but that was exactly the impact he was seeking as a teacher who cared deeply about Tibet: to awaken and educate us by pushing us into our discomfort zone. “Having a teacher like Sperling was a bit like having access to a genius, a father, and some sort of bodhi all in one,” says Sara Conrad, a doctoral student at Indiana University who studied with Sperling for many years. “A walking encyclopedia, I felt I could learn a lot just being near him—and he took every opportunity to teach me. I benefited learning from him about Tibet and Tibetan of course, but also about parenthood and morality, music and comedy. In terms of academia he told me I must be able to live with myself after I write, and therefore it is always best to be honest.”</br></br>In recent years, Sperling took up the case of Ilham Tohti,</br>the Uyghur intellectual sentenced to life imprisonment</br>by Beijing. He played a key role in raising Tohti’s profile</br>as a prisoner of conscience, nominating him for human</br>rights awards. He took Tohti’s daughter, Jewher, under</br>his wing and oversaw her wellbeing and education. In</br>Jewher’s own words, Elliot Sperling became “like a second</br>father” to her. His friendship with Ilahm Tohti and Jewher</br>exemplified the compassion and generosity with which he</br>treated everyone. Sure, he made his mark in this world as a</br>scholar, but his monumental intellect was matched by his</br>unbounded kindness, altruism, and humanity.</br></br>“Professor Sperling was the moral compass of Tibetan studies,” said fellow historian Carole McGranahan at Sperling’s March 11 memorial in New York. His untimely death</br>has left an abyss in our hearts and a chasm in the world of Tibetology. Christophe Besuchet, a fellow activist, remarked that it is “as if a whole library had burned down.”</br></br>Even so, it is worth remembering that Sperling has already done far more than his fair share of good in the world, and he deserves a rest (or a break, if you consider it from a Buddhist perspective). In the course of 66 years, he lived multiple lifetimes—as a taxi driver, hippie, scholar, mentor, activist, father—each one more productive and meaningful than the last. He has engraved his spirit so deeply in the lives of so many of us that, in a way, he is still alive. And while one library has burned down, there are thousands of libraries where his words still live and breathe.</br></br>''Endnotes''<br> </br>1. MacArthur Foundation, <https://www.macfound.org/</br>fellows/236/> (accessed 6 March 2017).</br></br>2. Roberto Vitali, “For Elliot from a Friend,” International</br>Association for Tibetan Studies. Also see Trails of the Tibetan</br>Tradition: Papers for Elliot Sperling, edited by Roberto Vitali</br>(Amnye Machen Institute: 2014).</br></br>3. Elliot Sperling, “5th Karmapa and Some Aspects of</br>the Relationship Between Tibet and the Early Ming,” in</br>Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi, eds., Tibetans Studies</br>in Honour of Hugh Richardson, Warminster, 1980 (published</br>in translation as Shiboling, “Wushi Gamaba yiji Xizang</br>he Mingchu de guanxi yaolue,” in Guowai Zangxue yanjiu</br>yiwenji, vol. 2, Lhasa, 1987), pp.279-289.</br></br>4. Ibid.</br></br>5. Elliot Sperling, “Divide and Rule Policy in Tibet,” in</br>Ernst Steinkellner, ed., Contributions on Tibetan Language,</br>History and Culture. Proceedings of the Csoma de Koros</br>Symposium Held at Velm-Vienna, Austria, 13-19 September</br>1981, Vienna, 1983, pp.339-356.</br></br>6. See Tsering Woeser, “A Chronicle of Elliot Sperling,”</br>in Trails of the Tibetan Tradition: Papers for Elliot Sperling,</br>Roberto Vitali eds., (published by Amnye Machen Institute,</br>2014).</br></br>7. He has criticized the Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle Way</br>Approach’ to dealing with China as too conciliatory. See</br>his article Self-Delusion, <http://info-buddhism.com/SelfDelusion_Middle-Way-Approach_Dalai-Lama_Exile_CTA_</br>Sperling.html#f1>.</br></br>'''Tenzin Dorjee''' is a writer, activist, and a researcher at Tibet</br>Action Institute. His monograph The Tibetan Nonviolent</br>Struggle: A Strategic and Historical Analysis was published</br>in 2015 by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.</br>His writings have been published in various forums including</br>Global Post, Courier International, Tibetan Review, Tibet</br>Times, and the CNN blog. He is a regular commentator</br>on Tibet-related issues for Radio Free Asia, Voice of</br>America, and Voice of Tibet. He served as the Executive</br>Director of Students for a Free Tibet from 2009 to 2013.</br>An earlier version of this obituary was published in the</br>Huffington Post <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/remembering-elliot-sperling-personal-reflections-on_b_5899c990e4b0985224db59cb>.t-sperling-personal-reflections-on_b_5899c990e4b0985224db59cb>.)
  • Akester, M.  + ('''SIT BIO: Matthew Akester, Lecturer and '''SIT BIO: Matthew Akester, Lecturer and Faculty Advisor'''<br></br>Matthew is a translator of classical and modern literary Tibetan with 25 years of fieldwork experience as an independent researcher throughout the Tibetan world. His discipline is history, both religious and political history, which corresponds with the program’s double specialization. Matthew's special interests include the history of Lhasa, the life and times of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, historical geography of central Tibet, and history and memoir in occupied Tibet. His published book-length translations include [[The Life of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo]] by Jamgon Kongtrul ([[Shechen Publications]] 2012); [[Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule]] by Tubten Khetsun ([[Columbia University Press]] 2008, Penguin India 2009); and [[The Temples of Lhasa]] (with [[Andre Alexander]], [[Serindia Publications]] 2005). In addition, he has worked as active consultant and contributor for the Tibet Information Network, Human Rights Watch, Tibet Heritage Fund, and [[Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center]]; as translator, editor, and advisor for countless publications on Tibet in English, French, and Tibetan; and as lecturer on contemporary Tibet for student programs including SIT in Nepal and India. ([http://www.sit.edu/studyabroad/faculty_npt.cfm SOURCE])www.sit.edu/studyabroad/faculty_npt.cfm SOURCE]))
  • 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.)
  • Sarvajñamitra  + (''Sarvajñamitra'' was a famous Buddhist mo''Sarvajñamitra'' was a famous Buddhist monk of Kashmir, described by ''Kalhaṇa'' as one 'who set himself as another ''Jina'' (''Buddha'')'. He lived in a monastery, called ''Kayyavihāra'', founded by ''Kayya'', the king of ''Lāta'' owing allegiance to king ''Lalitāditya'' of Kashmir (701–738 A.D.)[31]. Thus, ''Sarvajñamitra'' would appear to have lived in the later half of the 8th century. He was a worshipper of ''Tārā'' and was known for his generousness. ''Tārānātha'' gives the following biographical account of ''Sarvajñamitra'':</br></br>He was an extra-(marital) son of a king of Kashmir (probably the contemporary of king ''Lalitāditya'' or his predecessor). When still a baby he was carried away by a vulture when his mother had left him on the terrace, herself having gone to pluck flowers. The baby was taken to a peek of Mount ''Gandhola'' in Nalanda. There he was received by some ''Pandits'' under whose protection he grew-up and became a monk well-versed in the ''Piṭakas''. He propitiated the goddess ''Tārā'' by whose favour he received enormous wealth which he distributed among the needy. At last when he had nothing left to donate he left towards the South fearing that he would have to send the suppliants back without giving alms to them which would be against his wishes. On his journey to the South he met an old blind ''brāhmaṇa'' led by his son. He was going to Nalanda to implore aid from ''Sarvajñāmitra'', about whose generosity he had heard a lot.</br></br>''Sarvajñāmitra'' told him that he was the same person but had exhausted all his wealth. Hearing this the ''brāhmaṇa'' heaved an afflictive sigh with which ''Sarvajñāmitra'' felt boundless compassion for him and decided to get money for him anyhow. While searching for money he found a king named ''Saraṇa'' who was passionately attached to false views. This king wanted to purchase 108 men for offering them to sacrificial fire. He had already procured 107 men and was in search of one more. ''Sarvajñāmitra'' sold himself for the gold equal to the weight of his body. He gave this gold to the ''brāhmaṇa'' who returned happy.</br></br>''Sarvajñāmitra'' was put in the royal prison. The other prisoners were overpowered by grief seeing that the number was complete and their death was quire [quite?] near. When fire was kindled, they started wailing. Again. the great ''Ācārya'' felt boundless compassion and he earnestly prayed to the goddess ''Tārā''. The goddess flowed a stream of nectar over the fire and people could see rains coming down only on the fire. When the fire was extinguished the place turned to be a lake. Seeing this wonderful event, the king was filled with admiration for the ''Ācārya''. The prisoners were released with rewards.</br></br>The ''Ācārya'' after the lapse of a long time, wished to be at his birth place. So he prayed to the goddess. He was asked to catch hold of the corner of her clothes and shut the eyes. When he re-opened his eyes he found himself in a beautiful land in front of a magnificent palace. He could not recognise this place and asked the goddess why she had not taken him to Nalanda. She told him that this was his real birth place. He stayed in Kahemir [Kashmir?] and founded a big temple of goddess ''Tārā''. ''Tārānātha'' further states that he was a disciple of ''Süryagupta'' or ''Ravigupta''[32]. The same tradition is found with minor variations in the commentary on the ''Sragdharāstotra'' by ''Jinarakṣita''[33].</br></br>''Sragdharāstotra'' is a hymn containing 37 verses which ''Sarvajñamitra'' wrote in praise of goddess ''Tārā''. '' 'Sragdharā' '' is an epithet of ''Tārā'' which means 'wearer of the wreath' or 'the garland bringer' and it is also the name of the metre in which the hymn was written. ''Bstan—'gyur'' contains three translations of the text. The hymn, with its commentary and two Tibetan versions, is edited by S. C. Vidyabhusana in ''Bibliotheca'' series, 1908.</br></br>Besides '' 'Sragdharāstotra' '' other texts attributed to ''Sarvajñamitra'' are all in praise of goddess ''Tārā'', viz.,<br></br>1. ''Devītarākuvākyādhyesana nāma stotra''<br></br>2. ''Āryatārāsādhanā'', and<br></br>3. ''Aṣṭabhayatrānatārosādhanā''[34]. (Kaul, ''Buddhist Savants of Kashmir'', 19–21)ādhanā''[34]. (Kaul, ''Buddhist Savants of Kashmir'', 19–21))
  • Tilakakalaśa  + (''Tilakakalaśa'': ''Tilakakalśa'' or ''Til''Tilakakalaśa'': ''Tilakakalśa'' or ''Tilakalaśa'' is known in Tibetan as ''Thig-le bum-pā''. The name is sometimes rendered as ''Bindukalaśa''. He occupied himself mostly in the Mādhyamika philosophy, and composed four hymns. He collaborated with ''Ñi-ma grags'' and ''Blo-ldan śes-rab''.</br></br>Before going to Tibet, he translated in Kashmir, with ''Ñi-ma grags'' the ''Mādhyamakāvatāra'' of ''Candrakīrti'' and the self-commentary in 3550 [?] ''ślokas''. Together, both re-arranged the translation of the ''Mādhyamakāvatārakārikā'' done by ''Kṛṣṇapāda'' and ''Chul-kḥrims rgyal-pa''. They also translated ''Śrīguḥyasāmājamaṇḍalopāyikāviṃśavidhi'' of ''Nāgabodhi''. The work is attached to the school of the ''Guhyasamāja'' of ''Nāgārjuna''.</br></br>In collaboration with ''Blo-ldan śes-rab'', ''Tilakakalaśa'' reviewed the interpretation of the ''Śikṣāsamuccaya'' of ''Śāntideva'' done by ''Dānaśīla'', ''Jinamitra'' and ''Ye-śes sde'' during the 9th century. Together they also translated two texts dealing with the ''Prajñāpāramitā'' ('Perfection of Wisdom') in 8000 stanzas. The texts include: ''Āryaprajñāpāramitāsaṃgrahakārikā'' of ''Dignāga'', also known as ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāpinḍārtha'', and its commentary in 540 ''ṣlokas'' by ''Triratnadāsa''. He also translated the following fifteen hymns:<br></br></br>1. The ''Vāgiśvarastotra,<br></br>2. The ''Āryamañjuśrīstotra'',<br></br>3. The Āryavāgiśvarastotra'',<br></br>4. The ''Lokeśvarasiṃhanāda nāma stora [stotra?]'',<br></br>5. ''Prajñāpāramitastotra''<br></br>6. ''Acintyastava'', <br></br>7. ''Stutyatītastava'',<br></br>8. ''Niruttarastava'',<br></br>9. ''Āryabhattārakamañjuśrīparmārhastuti'',<br></br>10. ''Āryamañjuśrībhattārakakarunāstotra'',<br></br>11. ''Aṣṭamahāsthanacaityastotra'',<br></br>12. ''Aṣṭamahāsthanacaityastotra'' [Listed 2x in source as nos. 11 and 12]<br></br>13. ''Dvādaśakāranayastotra'',<br></br>14. ''Vandanāstotra'', and<br></br>15. ''Narakoddhāra''.<br></br></br>Of these, the first four are attributed to ''Tilakakalaśa'' himself and the rest to ''Nāgārjuna''. (Kaul, ''Buddhist Savants of Kashmir'', 47–48)e, the first four are attributed to ''Tilakakalaśa'' himself and the rest to ''Nāgārjuna''. (Kaul, ''Buddhist Savants of Kashmir'', 47–48))
  • Bodong Paṇchen Chokle Namgyal  + ((Chokle Namgyal) (1376-1451). The twenty-t(Chokle Namgyal) (1376-1451). The twenty-third abbot of Bo dong E monastery, founded in about 1049 by the Bka' gdams geshe (dge bshes) Mu dra pa chen po, and the founder of the Bo dong tradition. His collected works, said to number thirty-six titles, include his huge encyclopedic work ''De nyid 'dus pa'' ("Compendium of the Principles"); it alone runs to 137 volumes in the incomplete edition published by the Tibet House in Delhi. Phyogs las rnam rgyal (who is sometimes confused with Jo nang pa Phyogs las rnam rgyal who lived some fifty years earlier) was a teacher of Dge 'dun grub (retroactively named the first Dalai Lama) and Mkhas grub Dge legs dpal bzang, both students of Tsong kha pa. Among his disciples was the king of Gung thang, Lha dbang rgyal mtshan (1404–1463), whose daughter Chos kyi sgron me (1422–1455) became a nun after the death of her daughter and then the head of Bsam lding (Samding) monastery, which her father founded for her. The monastery is the only Tibetan monastery whose abbot is traditionally a woman; incarnations are said to be those of the goddess Vajravārāhī (T. Rdo rje phag mo), "Sow-Headed Goddess." (Source: "Bo dong Phyogs las rnam rgyal." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 139. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)tp://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.))
  • Klaus-Dieter Mathes  + ( *[http://www.univie.ac.at/cirdis/index.ph</br>*[http://www.univie.ac.at/cirdis/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78&Itemid=67&lang=en Tibetology at CIRDIS]</br></br>'''Bio:'''</br>:Venerable Yuen Hang Memorial Trust Professor in Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong.</br></br>Klaus-Dieter Mathes is a professor of Buddhist studies at the University of Hong Kong. His current research deals with exclusivism, inclusivism, and tolerance in Mahāyāna Buddhism. He obtained his Ph.D. from Marburg University in 1994 with a study of the Yogācāra text Dharmadharmatāvibhāga (published in 1996 in the series Indica et Tibetica). From 1993 to 2001 he served as the director of the Nepal Research Centre and the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project in Kathmandu. Before joining the University of Hong Kong in August 2023 he was the head of the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna, where with his team he hosted the 2014 conference of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. He has organized and given presentations at many other conferences and symposiums, and has served as the chairman of the board of trustees of the Numata Professional Chair for Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna.</br></br>His major publications include A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga (Wisdom, 2008), A Fine Blend of Mahāmudrā and Madhyamaka: Maitrīpa's Collection of Texts on Non-conceptual Realization (Amanasikāra) (Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2015), and Maitrīpa: India's Yogi of Nondual Bliss (Shambhala, 2021). He is also a regular contributor to the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and is the co-editor of the Vienna Series for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies.</br></br>'''Current Ongoing Research:'''</br>*[http://www.univie.ac.at/mahamudra/index.php?article_id=11 Emptiness of Other (gzhan stong) in Tibetan Mahamudra Traditions of the 15th and 16th Centuries]</br>ibetan Mahamudra Traditions of the 15th and 16th Centuries] )