Zwilling, L.

Zwilling, L. on the DRL

Authors of English Works • Editors • Translators • Independent Researchers

English Phonetics	Leonard Zwilling

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

PhD University

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Education

Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1976 M.A. in Hindu Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1972 B.A. in Indian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1970

Biographical Information

Leonard Zwilling was born in New York City in 1945. He studied Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan language with Geshe Wangyal at Labsum Shedrub Ling in Freewood Acres, New Jersey (1967-1969) and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Indian Studies in 1970, going on to receive a masters degree in Hindu Studies (1972), and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies (1976), also at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His doctoral dissertation, on the theory of apoha in Buddhist logic, was done under the direction of Prof. Geshe Lhundub Sopa. He did pre-doctoral research in Sri Lanka (1973-74) and in Nepal (1975-76), under Ford Foundation and Fulbright-Hayes scholarships respectively.

From 1977-83 Dr. Zwilling taught Asian Religions, Sanskrit and Tibetan at the University of Wisconsin (Madison and Milwaukee), Gustavus Adolphus College, Western Illinois University, and Beloit College. He received a masters in library science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985, and from 1986-2009 was General Editor (and Bibliographer until 2004) at the Dictionary of American Regional English in the Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is presently Senior Scientist Emeritus.

Dr. Zwilling has published research in a number of fields, including pioneering work on the history of sexuality in ancient India. Since 2005 his research has centered on Ippolito Desideri and the Catholic missions to Tibet, and he is currently working with Michael Sweet on a new and complete English translation of Desideri’s Notizie Istoriche del Tibet. (Source Accessed May 12, 2020)

Publications

• Translator of chapters on Chinese Buddhism and non-Buddhist religions and Mongolian Buddhism in Thuken

Losang Chökyi Nyima, The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems: A Tibetan Study of Asian Religious Thought, Geshé Lhundub Sopa (trans.), Roger R. Jackson (ed.) (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009), 351-380.

• With Michael Sweet, editor and co-translator of Ippolito Desideri, S.J., Mission to Tibet: The Extraordinary Eighteenth-Century Account of Father Ippolito Desideri, S.J., (Wisdom Publications, Boston).

"To Go Where Fr. Andrade Had Been. Another View of the Desideri Mission," Fifteenth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. Emory University, Atlanta GA, June, 2008.

• With Robert Thurman et al., co-translator of The Universal Vehicle Discourse Literature by

Maitreyanantha/Asanga (New York: AIBS, 2004).

• "Divining Loyalties: Tuken on Chinese Divination in Tibetan Tradition," 32d Conference On South Asia,

Madison WI, Oct. 2003.

• With Geshe Sopa and Michael Sweet, Peacock in the Poison Grove, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001.

• With Michael Sweet. "The Evolution of Third Sex Constructs in Ancient India: A Study in Ambiguity," Invented

Identities: The Interplay of Gender, Religion and Politics in India, Ed. Julia Leslie. New Delhi, New York: Oxford UP, 2000: 99–132.

• "Avoidance and Exclusion: Same-Sex Sexuality in Indian Buddhism." Queer Dharma. Ed. Winston Leyland,

San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press, 1998.

• With Michael Sweet. “‘Like a City Ablaze’: The Third Sex and the Creation of Sexuality in Jain Religious

Literature," Journal of the History of Sexuality 6 (1996): 359–84.

• "Vadava—Male Mare or Just Plain Horse?", 24th Conference on South Asia, Madison WI, Oct. 1995.

• A TAD Lexicon. Etymology and Linguistic Principles, 3 (1993).

• With Michael Sweet, "The First Medicalization: The Taxonomy and Etiology of Queerness in Classical Indian

Medicine," Journal of the History of Sexuality 3 (1993): 590–607.

• "Mongolian Xylographs in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries," Mongolia Society Bulletin 9

(1986): 5–11.

• Tibetan Blockprints in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Libraries, Occasional Papers of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries, No. 5, 1985.

• "Saskya Pandita’s Version of Pramanavarttikam III.3: A Case Study on the Influence of Exegesis Upon

Translation in Tibet," Studies in Indian Philosophy, Ed. Dalsukh Malvania and Nagin Shah, Ahmadabad: L. D. Institute of Indology, 1981: 304–14.

• "The Visesastava of Udbhattasiddhasvamin," Studies in Pali and Buddhism, Ed. A. K. Narain, Delhi: B. R.

Publishing, 1979: 402–14.

• "The Story of Vyasa and Kasisundari," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 1.1 (1978):

65–70.

• "Some Aspects of Dharmakirti’s Ontology Reconsidered," Kailash: A Journal of Himalayan Studies 3.3 (1975):

303–13.

Links

Wiki Pages

• Zwilling, L. on the DRL
• Zwilling, L. on the LIB
• Zwilling, L. on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Position:
Notes:
All beings have Buddha-nature
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If "Qualified", explain:
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Which Wheel Turning
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
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Notes:
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:
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Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:
Notes:
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position:
Notes:
Causal nature of the vajrapāda
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Full Name

Leonard Zwilling

Other Information

Leonard Zwilling was born in New York City in 1945. He studied Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan language zwith Geshe Wangyal at Labsum Shedrub Ling in FreewoodAcres, New Jersey (1967-1969) and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Indian Studies in 1970, going on to receive a masters degree in Hindu Studies (1972), and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies (1976), also at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His doctoral dissertation, on the theory of apoha in Buddhist logic, was done under the direction of Prof. Geshe Lhundub Sopa. He did pre-doctoral research in Sri Lanka (1973-74) and in Nepal (1975-76), under Ford Foundation and Fulbright-Hayes scholarships respectively.

From 1977-83 Dr. Zwilling taught Asian Religions, Sanskrit and Tibetan at the University of Wisconsin (Madison and Milwaukee), Gustavus Adolphus College, Western Illinois University, and Beloit College. He received a masters in library science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985, and from 1986- 2009 was General Editor (and Bibliographer until 2004) at the Dictionary of American Regional English in the Department of English, University of Wisconsin- Madison, where he is presently Senior Scientist Emeritus.

Dr. Zwilling has published research in a number of fields (see below), including pioneering work on the history of sexuality in ancient India. Since 2005 his research has centered on Ippolito Desideri and the Catholic missions to Tibet, and he is currently working with Michael Sweet on a new and complete English translation of Desideri’s Notizie Istoriche del Tibet. source

The American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS) created by Robert Thurman at Columbia University in New York. http://aibs.columbia.edu/

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.