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Franz Anton (von) Schiefner (Russian Антон Антонович Шифнер, Anton Antonovič Šifner) was a Baltic German linguist and ethnologist. He is considered one of the founders of Uralistics, Tibetology, Mongolian Studies and Caucasian Studies.
Anton Schiefner was born into a Baltic German merchant family in Reval. The family had immigrated to Estonia from Bohemia . After graduating from the Knights and Cathedral School in Reval (Tallinn), he studied law at the University of St. Petersburg from 1836 to 1840 and Oriental Studies at the University of Berlin from 1840 to 1842.
From 1843 Schiefner was a teacher of Latin and ancient Greek at a grammar school in Saint Petersburg, from 1863 librarian and later library director at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. From 1852 he represented the subject of Tibetology at the Academy, of which he was an associate member from 1854 until his death. From 1860 to 1873 he simultaneously held a professorship in Latin and Greek at the Roman Catholic Seminary. In the years 1863, 1865 and 1878 he stayed in England for research purposes. In 1866 he was appointed Real Councilor of State. Schiefner was a corresponding member of the Finnish Literary Society.
With numerous publications, Schiefner has made a significant contribution to research into Tibetan and Mongolian. Milestones were his editing of the New Testament in Mongolian and the translation of Buddha texts from Tibetan. In addition, Schiefner was one of the best experts on Finno-Ugric languages of his time. He is famous for his translation of the Finnish national epic ''Kalevala'' under the title ''Kalevala, the national epic of the Finns'', the first translation into the German language (1852). Between 1853 and 1862 he published the work of the young man in twelve volumes Matthias Alexander Castrén, who laid the foundation for academic study of the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic languages of Russia. In addition, Schiefner devoted himself to the languages of the Caucasus and topics of Indology. ([https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Schiefner Source Accessed Aug 25, 2023])
Antonetta L. Bruno's research explores linguistic anthropology, religions and popular culture. Among her publications there are studies on shamanic language, language strategies, the switching levels of the speech and the emotional transformation in religious contexts within Korean culture, food, film, and popular culture. ([https://www.ucm.es/siim/antonetta-bruno Source Accessed Aug 11, 2023]) +
See biography at Orgyen Khamdroling's website [http://www.orgyenkhamdroling.org/biography] +
'''Apang Terchen Orgyen Trinlé Lingpa (1895-1945)'''
Choktrul Lozang Tendzin of Trehor studied with the lord Kunga Palden and the Chö
master Dharma Seng-gé, and Apang Terchen in turn studied with Lozang Tendzin.
Apang Terchen, also known as Orgyen Trinlé Lingpa, was renowned as the rebirth of
Rigdzin Gödem. He was reputed to have been conceived in the following way: Traktung
Dudjom Lingpa focused his enlightened intent while resting in the basic space
of timeless awareness, whereupon Apang Terchen's mother experienced an intense
surge of delight. This caused all ordinary concepts based on confusion to be arrested
in her mind for a short time, and it was then that Apang Terchen was conceived in her
womb.2 From that moment on, his mother constantly had dreams that were amazing
omens. For example, she found herself among groups of dakinis enjoying the splendor
of ganachakras, or being bathed by many dakas and dakinis, or dwelling in pavilions
of light, illuminating the entire world with her radiance.
The child was born one morning at dawn, in the area of Serta in eastern Tibet, his
mother having experienced no discomfort. Her dwelling was filled with [2.188a] and
surrounded by light, as though the sun were shining brightly. There were also pavilions
of light, and a fragrance pervaded the entire area, although no one could tell
where it came from. Everyone saw numerous amazing signs on the child's body, such
as a tuft of vulture feathers adorning the crown of his head.3 The mother's brother,
Sönam Dorjé, asked, "What will become of this boy who has no father? How shameful
it would be if people saw these feathers!"4 But although he cut the feather tuft
off the child's head several times, it grew back on its own, just as before. This upset
Sönam Dorjé even more, and he berated his sister angrily, saying on numerous occasions,
"How could your child have no father? You must tell me who he is!" His
sister retorted, "With the truth of karma as my witness, I swear I have never lain with
a flesh-and-blood man of this world. This pregnancy might be a result of my own
karma." She became so extremely depressed that her fellow villagers couldn't bear it
and used various means to bring a halt to her brother's inappropriate behavior.
From an early age, this great master, Apang Terchen, felt an innate and unshakable
faith in Guru Rinpoché and had a clear and natural knowledge [2.188b] of the ''vajra guru''
mantra and the Seven-Line Supplication. He learned how to read and write
simply upon being shown the letters and exhibited incredible signs of his spiritual potential
awakening. For example, his intelligence, which had been developed through
training in former lifetimes, was such that no one could compete with him. As he
grew up, he turned his attention toward seeking the quintessential meaning of life.
He studied at the feet of many teachers and mentors, including the Nyingtik master
Gyatsok Lama Damlo and Terchen Sogyal, studying many of the mainstream traditions
of the sutras and tantras, especially those of the kama and terma.
The most extraordinary lord of his spiritual family was Trehor Drakar Tulku,5
with whom he studied for a long time, receiving the complete range of empowerments,
oral transmissions, and pith instructions of the secret Nyingtik cycles of utter lucidity.
He went to solitary ravines throughout the region, making caves and overhangs
on cliffs his dwelling places, taking birds and wild animals as his companions, and
relying on the most ragged clothing and meager diet. He planted the victory banner
of spiritual practice, meditating for a long period of time. He was graced by visions of
an enormous array of his personal meditation deities, [2.189a] including Tara, Avalokiteshvara,
Mañjushri, Sarasvati, and Amitayus. He was not content to leave the
true nature of phenomena an object of intellectual speculation, and his realization
progressed in leaps and bounds.
Apang Terchen bound the eight classes of gods and demons — including such spirits
as Nyenchen Tanglha, Ma Pomra, and Sergyi Drong-ri Mukpo6 — to his service.
He communicated directly with Tsiu Marpo, the white form of Mahakala, Ganapati,
and other protective deities, like one person conversing with another, and enjoined
them to carry out his enlightened activities. So great was his might that he also bound
these protective deities to his service, causing lightning to strike and so forth, so that
those who had become his enemies were checked by very direct means, before years,
months, or even days had passed.
Notably, he beheld the great master of Orgyen in a vision and was blessed as the
regent of Guru Padmakara's three secret aspects. On the basis of a prophecy he received
at that time, Apang Terchen journeyed to amazing holy sites, such as Draklha
Gönpo in Gyalrong, Khandro Bumdzong in the lowlands of eastern Tibet, and Dorjé
Treldzong in Drakar, where he revealed countless terma caches consisting of teachings,
objects of wealth, and sacred substances. He revealed some of them in secret,
others in the presence of large crowds. In these ways, he revealed a huge trove of profound
termas. [2.189b] Those revealed publicly were brought forth in the presence of
many fortunate people and in conjunction with truly incredible omens, which freed
all present from the bonds of doubt and inspired unshakable faith in them. Apang
Terchen's fame as an undisputed siddha and tertön resounded throughout the land, as
though powerful enough to cause the earth to quake. His terma teachings are found
in the numerous volumes of his collected works and include ''The Hidden Treasure of Enlightened Mind: The Thirteen Red Deities'',
practices focusing on the Three Roots, cycles concerning guardian deities and the
principle of enlightened activity, and his large instruction manual on Dzogchen teachings.
Apang Terchen's students, from Dartsedo in the east, to Repkong in Amdo to the
north, to the three regions of Golok and other areas, included mentors who nurtured
the teachings and beings, masters such as those known as the "four great illuminators
of the teachings," the "four vajra ridgepoles,11 the "four named Gyatso," the "great
masters, the paired sun and moon," and Jangchub Dorjé (the custodian of Apang
Terchen's termas).7 He also taught important political figures who exerted great
influence over the people of their areas, including the "four great chieftains of the
region of Dza in the north," [2.190a] that is, Getsé Tsering Dorjé of Dza in the northern
reaches of eastern Tibet, Gönlha of Akyong in Golok, Mewa Namlo of the Mé
region of Golok, and the chieftain of Serta in Washul. Apang Terchen's students also
included countless monks, nuns, villagers, and lay tantric practitioners. He transmitted
his own termas and the great Nyingtik cycles of the Dzogchen teachings, and so
numerous were those he guided that he truly embodied the enlightened activity of
one who held sway over the three realms. In these times of spiritual degeneration, he
alleviated problems caused by disease, famine, border wars, and civil unrest. In such
ways, Apang Terchen rendered great service to the land of Tibet. His kindness to the
Tibetan people as a whole was truly extraordinary, for he worked to ensure a glorious
state of peace and well-being.
During a pilgrimage to Jowo Yizhin Norbu, the statue of the lord Shakyamuni in
Lhasa, Apang Terchen paid respect to many tens of thousands of ordained members
of the sangha, sponsoring ganachakras, making offerings, and offering meals, tea,
and donations at such monastic centers as Sera, Drepung, and Ganden. He sponsored
the gilding of statues in these centers and in such ways strove to reinforce his positive
qualities. Everyone could see that no matter how many avenues he found to extend
generosity, his resources of gold, silver, and other valuables [2.190b] continued to
increase, as though he had access to a treasure mine.
Among his heart children and intimate students were his sons, Gyurmé Dorjé,
Wangchen Nyima, and Dotrul Rinpoché; his daughter, Tare Lhamo; and the custodian
of his termas, Jangchub Dorjé. Until recently, Tare Lhamo lived in eastern Tibet,
maintaining the teachings.8
Thus did Apang Terchen benefit beings with his incredible compassion and activities.
As his life was nearing an end, he remarked, "For the sake of the teachings and
of beings, I must enter the bloodline of the glorious Sakya school." This fearless lion's
roar proved to be his last testament, spoken with an unobscured awareness of past,
present, and future. He then manifested incredible miracles and departed for the
great palace of Pema Ö.
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.
Vaman Shivram Apte was an Indian lexicographer and a professor of Sanskrit at Pune's Fergusson College.
He is best known for his compilation of a dictionary, The Student's English-Sanskrit Dictionary. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaman_Shivram_Apte Wikipedia]) +
Ari Goldfield is a Buddhist teacher. He had the unique experience of being continuously in the training and service of his own teacher, Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, for eleven years. From 1998-2009, Ari served as Khenpo Rinpoche’s translator and secretary, accompanying Rinpoche on seven round-the-world teaching tours. Ari received extensive instruction from Rinpoche in Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and teaching methods, and meditated under Rinpoche’s guidance in numerous retreats. In 2006, Khenpo Rinpoche sent Ari on his own tour to teach philosophy, meditation, and yogic exercise in Europe, North America, and Asia. In 2007, Ari moved with Rinpoche to Seattle, where he served and helped care for him until Rinpoche moved back to Nepal in 2009. Ari now teaches in Rinpoche’s Karma Kagyu lineage, with the blessings of the head of the lineage, H.H. the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, and of Khenpo Rinpoche.
Ari is also a published translator and author of books, articles, and numerous songs of realization and texts on Buddhist philosophy and meditation. These include Khenpo Rinpoche’s books ''Stars of Wisdom'', ''The Sun of Wisdom'', and Rinpoche’s ''Song of the Eight Flashing Lances'' teaching, which appeared in ''The Best Buddhist Writing'' 2007. He is a contributing author of ''Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind: Writings on the Connections Between Yoga and Buddhism''.
Ari studied Buddhist texts in Tibetan and Sanskrit at Buddhist monasteries in Nepal and India, and at the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in India. In addition to translating for Khenpo Rinpoche, he has also served as translator for H.H. Karmapa, Tenga Rinpoche, and many other Tibetan teachers. From 2007–11, Ari served as president of the Marpa Foundation, a nonprofit organization initiated by Khenpo Rinpoche that supports Buddhist translation, nunneries in Bhutan and Nepal, and other Buddhist activities. Ari holds a BA from Harvard College and a JD from Harvard Law School, both with honors. ([https://insightla.org/teacher/ari-goldfield-2/ Source Accessed July 22, 2020])
Arne Schelling studied Western and Chinese medicine in Germany and China and now works as a physician in Berlin. From 1995 to 2001 he worked to develop the Kagyu Centers Theksum Tashi Chöling in Hamburg and Kamalashila-Institute in Langenfeld, Germany. He frequently translates (from English to German) for masters of all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, in Germany and Switzerland. In 2001 Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche appointed Arne as president of Siddhartha’s Intent Europe, and he later became a country representative for Khyentse Foundation in Germany. Since 2002 he has directed the film project "Heart Advice," which aims to preserve the essence of the teachings of Tibetan masters. He also gives instruction at several Buddhist centers in Germany. +
Born in Poland, Arnold Kunst studied first at the University of Lwów. He later studied in Vienna, with Erich Frauwallner, as well as in Warsaw, with Stanislaw Schayer; and it was under this gifted Warsaw historian of Indian philosophy and religion that he took his doctorate. His thesis, published under the title of ''Probleme der buddhistischen Logik in der Darstellung des Tattvasaṅgraha'' (Polska Akademia Umiejȩtności, Prace komisji orientalistycznej Nr. 33, Kraków 1939), was devoted to an edition and translation of the ''Anumāna''-chapter in Śāntarakṣita's great treatise on the main topics of Indian philosophy. Together with his teacher Stanistaw Schayer, Arnold Kunst was thus responsible for inaugurating in Europe the careful study on both a philological and philosophical basis of Śāntarakṣita's ''Tattvasaṃgraha''.
Having moved to England just before the war, Arnold Kunst published in collaboration with E. H. Johnston the Sanskrit text of Nāgārjuna's ''Vigrahavyāvartanī'' (''Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques'' 9 [1948-1951], pp. 99-152; reprinted, with an English translation in Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, ''The dialectical method of Nāgārjuna'', Delhi 1978). His continuing interest in problems of Indian logic is reflected in later articles, such as the one on the vexed question of the excluded middle in Buddhism (Rocznik Orientalistyczny 21 [1957], pp. 141-7). His work on the ''Tattvasaṃgraha'' and Kamalaśīla's ''Pañjikā'' on it also brought him to lndo-Tibetan studies. In this field he published not only an edition of the Tibetan translation, contained in the Tibetan bsTan 'gyur, of Kamalaśīla's ''Pañjikā'' on the ''Anumāna''-chapter of the ''Tattvasaṃgraha'' but also a detailed study on the editions of the bsTan 'gyur, one of our main sources for the history of classical Indian philosophy (''Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques'' 8 [1947], pp. 106-216).
In 1947 Arnold Kunst took leave of absence from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), where he had been appointed a lecturer, to take up a post as an international civil servant at the United Nations secretariat in New York. There he remained until 1963, dealing with non-selfgoverning territories in the Trusteeship Department. This new activity brought him again, if in a different way, into close contact with Asia, where he travelled extensively; and in carrying out this work he was no doubt
inspired and helped by his training as an Indologist and historian of Indian and Buddhist thought.
On resuming a lectureship at the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1964, Arnold Kunst turned his attention to early and classical Indian thought in general. From this period comes for example his study on the interpretation of the ''Svetāśvataropaniṣad'' (''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' 31 [1968], pp. 309-314) which has recently been reprinted in India in a volume of essays dedicated to Ludwik Sternbach, his old friend and colleague both in Indological studies and at the United Nations (''Ludwik Sternbach felicitation volume'', Akhila Bharatiya Sanskrit Parishad, Lucknow 1979, pp. 565-572).
Arnold Kunst gave expression to his humanistic and pragmatic concerns in Indian studies in his article 'Man - the creator' published in this journal (''JIP'' 4 [1976], pp. 51-68). Pointing out there that classical Indian thought was largely non-theistic (rather than atheistic), and that in it man rather than God very often figures as creator, he has observed that 'the soteriological spark lies in man, the obstacles and hindrances in creation, and the kinetisation of the spark generated by the realization of the dichotomy [between creation and ''puruṣa'', etc.] is enhanced by such variety of methods as each separate system has adopted .... The versatile Yoga system as known from the Yogasūtras has but reversed the processes of the Sāṃkhya ontology and by their adaptation to the exclusively psychological aspects has devised a way to manipulate the intrinsic and extrinsic phenomena.., to de-create creation and to con-struct the absolute by de-struction of the phenomenal' (p. 57). 'To those to whom God is the maker and creator, a man-made creation, acquitting God of his creatures' good and bad experiences and actions, may be heresy and offence .... It was gnosticism that was the rule and orthodoxy rather than exception and heresy in post-Vedic thinking in India, while it was exception and heresy rather than rule and orthodoxy in Christian
religions' (p. 62). 'The egoeentrism of man was, no doubt, responsible for the emphasis on his soteriological aspirations, and on the setting of his moral and ethical code. The question was, how far this code included or excluded man's participation in society and how much stress it laid on solipsistic
criteria as yardsticks of man's advancement as a member of a nation .... In ancient India, the transitional period from Vedic ritualism to soteriological speculations was generally marked by total or partial rejection of God's interference in man's quest for spiritual attainment .... It sounds all so very pragmatic; but the pragmatism is of a type difficult to translate into social values. Modern India has tried to undo the social damage brought about by •.. overspiritualization. It was tried to reintroduce God as the creator in order to unburden man of his cosmic responsibility and turn his attention to India as a society .... The attempt, though formidable, is by no means uniform .... Non-theism has largely shifted to either agnosticism or to theism' (pp. 62-63).
In his two-fold activity as a scholar - in Warsaw, Vienna, Oxford, London, and Cambridge - and as an international civil servant - in New York and Asia - Arnold Kunst sought to resolve one of the dualities to which he has called attention, that between social values involving participation and the (perhaps 'overspiritualized') world of the mind. (D. Seyfort Ruegg, "IN MEMORIAM ARNOLD KUNST (1903-1981)," ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'' 11 (1983) 3-5).
Artemus B. Engle began studying the Tibetan language in Howell, New Jersey in early 1971 at Labsum Shedrup Ling, the precursor of the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center. In 1972 he became a student of Sera Mey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin Rinpoche, a relationship that spanned more than thirty years. In 1975 he enrolled in the Buddhist Studies program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and received a PhD in 1983. Since the mid-1980s he taught Tibetan language and Buddhist doctrine at the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Center in Howell, New Jersey. In 2005 he became a Tsadra Foundation Translation Fellow and has worked primarily on the ''Pañcaskandhaprakarana'' and the ''Bodhisattvabhūmi''. +
Arthur David Waley (born Arthur David Schloss, 19 August 1889 – 27 June 1966) was an English orientalist and sinologist who achieved both popular and scholarly acclaim for his translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry. Among his honours were the CBE in 1952, the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1953, and he was invested as a Companion of Honour in 1956.
Although highly learned, Waley avoided academic posts and most often wrote for a general audience. He chose not to be a specialist but to translate a wide and personal range of classical literature. Starting in the 1910s and continuing steadily almost until his death in 1966, these translations started with poetry, such as ''A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems'' (1918) and ''Japanese Poetry: The Uta'' (1919), then an equally wide range of novels, such as ''The Tale of Genji'' (1925–26), an 11th-century Japanese work, and ''Monkey'', from 16th-century China. Waley also presented and translated Chinese philosophy, wrote biographies of literary figures, and maintained a lifelong interest in both Asian and Western paintings.
A recent evaluation called Waley "the great transmitter of the high literary cultures of China and Japan to the English-reading general public; the ambassador from East to West in the first half of the 20th century", and went on to say that he was "self-taught, but reached remarkable levels of fluency, even erudition, in both languages. It was a unique achievement, possible (as he himself later noted) only in that time, and unlikely to be repeated. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Waley Source Accessed Apr 22, 2020]) +
Adjunct Professor chez ESSEC Business School. Geshe Khunawa, recognized by the 14th Dalai Lama; Discovered by Geshe Pema Gyaltsen.
Elijah Sacvan Ary was born in Vancouver, Canada. In 1979, at age seven, he was recognized as the reincarnation, or tulku, of a Tibetan scholar and spent his teenage years as a monk at Sera Monastery in South India. He went on to study at the University of Quebec in Montreal and the National Institute for Eastern Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) in Paris, and he earned his PhD in the Study of Religion from Harvard University. His writings have appeared in the books Little Buddhas: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Texts and Traditions, Oxford Bibliographies Online: Buddhism, Contemporary Visions in Tibetan Studies, and Blue Jean Buddha: Voices of Young Buddhists. He lives in Paris with his wife and teaches Buddhism and Tibetan religious history at several institutions. [http://www.wisdompubs.org/author/elijah-s-ary Source Accessed Jun 12, 2015] +
Mahamahopadhyaya Yogacharya Dr Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee . . . was born in 1933 in West Bengal. . . . He received initiation in Kriyayoga in April 1961. He reached the pinnacle of Kriyayoga within a short span.
His three Gurus were stalwarts in this discipline. His first Guru was Sri Annada Charan Shastri (Bhattacharya) disciple of Panchanan Bhattacharya, an elevated disciple of Yogiraj Sri Shama Churn Lahiree. After Sastriji’s demise, Dr Chatterjee obtained initiation from Sundarlal Lalaji of Varanasi, disciple of Harinarayan Paladhi, who was the disciple of Yogiraj and later from Sri Satyacharan Lahiri, grandson of Yogiraj.
Today Mahamahopadhyaya Yogacharya Dr Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee is acknowledged as a World Kriyayoga Master. Being an ardent devotee of Sanatana Dharma Polestar, Yogiraj Shama Churn Lahiree and to propagate His ideals and tenets before the masses so that they derive the right path, the right enlightenment, he has penned many books in Bengali, illustrating the science of Kriyayoga. Most of his books have been published in Indian languages like Hindi, Oriya, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Malayalam. ‘Purana Purusha Yogiraj Sri Shama Churn Lahiree’ has been published in French also. His other book ‘Who is this Shama Churn?’ is published in English. He has authored quite a number of articles delineating the science hence rationality of Kriyayoga.
He has authored several books, poems, detailing the life, ideals, precepts, sadhana realisations of Yogiraj and expounded the innate significance of Prana, dharma and God concept. His writings have unfolded a new chapter on Indology.
He has founded Spiritual Centres for Kriyayoga revived by Yogiraj Shamachurn – at Kakdwip & Bankura (in West Bengal), Degaon (Near Pune, in Maharashtra), Hyderabad with the objective that mankind can derive the Kriyayoga revived by Yogiraj.
He has organized philanthropic activities through this Mission. To further Yogiraj-consciousness he has travelled throughout India and many places in Orient and Occident. People irrespective of caste, creed, colour, nation, language, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, untouchables, renouncers, are all coming under his aegis and are finding in him their haven and panacea for all evils. He has large following throughout India and abroad like USA, England, France, Spain, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Bangladesh etc.
Mahamahopadhyaya Yogacharya Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee was invited as sole representative from India to participate and mediate in the Parliament of World Religions held at Val St. Hugon, France in 1997 convened by Dalai Lama and sponsored by UNO, UNESCO, UNCHR. At this Parliament of World Religions, he upheld the tenets of Sanatana yogadharma to the world with a clarion voice. His brilliant exegesis on the subject of love, peace and solidarity – ‘ONE GOD, ONE RELIGION, ONE WORLD, ONE MAN’ at The Parliament of World Religions received tumultuous applause. French newspapers commented on him to be ‘wise worthy dignified sage’ ‘a seer’ a visionary’ etc.
Moreover, he has been conferred the prestigious Honoris Causa (MAHAMAHOPADHYAYA) by Tirupati Sanskrit University, Tirupati at their 16th Annual Convocation for His inimitable contribution to Indology for six decades. In addition in December 2012, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1st World Parliament of Spirituality held in Hyderabad. ([https://kriyayogablogs.wordpress.com/drakc/ Source Accessed Mar 9, 2021])
Ashwani Peetush is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. His research areas encompass ethics, political philosophy, and Indian philosophy; particular themes of interest include human rights, pluralism,
and the metaphysics of the self and consciousness in Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism. His recent publications include ''Human Rights: India and the West'' (edited with Jay Drydyk, OUP, 2015); "Justice, Diversity, and Dialogue: Rawlsian Multiculturalism"
in ''Multiculturalism and Religious Identity'', ed. S. Sikka and L. Beaman (McGill-Queens Press, 2014); and "The Ethics of Radical Equality" in ''The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Ethics'', ed. S. Ranganathan (Bloomsbury, 2017). (Source: [[Ethics without Self, Dharma without Atman]]) +
Auguste Barth (born in Strasbourg 22 May 1834; died in Paris 15 April 1916) was a French orientalist. He is best known by his work in connection with the religions of India. His volume, ''Les religions de l'Inde'' (Paris, 1879), was translated into English (London, 1882). Mention may also be made of his ''Inscriptions sanscrites du Cambodge'' (Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia; Paris, 1885) and of numerous monographs and reviews in ''Journal Asiatique'', in ''Mélusine'', and in the ''Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique''. His annual reports on researches into the history of Indian religions, in ''Revue de l'Histoire des Religions'' (1880) are especially valuable. He was a member of the French Institute. Barth became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1896. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Barth Source Accessed Aug 15, 2023]) +
Aurelian Scrima was the founder and general manager of Herald Publishing House until 2016. +
Aśoka. (P. Asoka; T. Mya ngan med; C. Ayu wang; J. Aiku ō; K. Ayuk wang 阿育王) (c. 300-232 BCE; r. c. 268-232 BCE). Indian Mauryan emperor and celebrated patron of Buddhism; also known as Dharmāśoka. Son of Bindusāra and grandson of Candragupta, Aśoka was the third king of the Mauryan dynasty. Aśoka left numerous inscriptions recording his edicts and proclamations to the subjects of his realm. In these inscriptions, Aśoka is referred to as Devānām Priyaḥ, "beloved of the gods." These inscriptions comprise one of the earliest bodies of writing as yet deciphered from the Indian subcontinent. His edicts have been found inscribed on boulders, on stone pillars, and in caves and are widely distributed from northern Pakistan in the west, across the Gangetic plain to Bengal in the east, to near Chennai in South India. The inscriptions are ethical and religious in content, with some describing how Aśoka turned to the dharma after subjugating the territory of Kaliṅga (in the Coastal region of modern Andhra Pradesh) in a bloody war. In his own words, Aśoka states that the bloodshed of that campaign caused him remorse and taught him that rule by dharma, or righteousness, is superior to rule by mere force of arms. While the Buddha, dharma, and saṃgha are extolled and Buddhist texts are mentioned in the edicts, the dharma that Aśoka promulgated was neither sectarian nor even specifically Buddhist, but a general code of administrative, public, and private ethics suitable for a multireligious and multiethnic polity. It is clear that Aśoka saw this code of ethics as a diplomatic tool as well, in that he
dispatched embassies to neighboring states in an effort to establish dharma as the basis for international relations. The edicts were not translated until the nineteenth century, however, and
therefore played little role in the Buddhist view of Aśoka, which derives instead from a variety of legends told about the emperor. The legend of Aśoka is recounted in the Sanskrit Divyāvadāna, in the Pāli chronicles of Sri Lanka, Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, and in the Pāli commentaries, particularly the
Samantapāsādikā. Particularly in Pāli materials, Aśoka is portrayed as a staunch sectarian and exclusive patron of the Pāli tradition. The inscriptional evidence, as noted above, does not support that claim. In the Mahāvaṃsa, for example, Aśoka is said to have been converted to Theravāda Buddhism by the
novice Nigrodha, after which he purifies the Buddhist saṃgha by purging it of non-Theravāda heretics. He then sponsors the convention of the third Buddhist council (samgītī) under the presidency of Moggaliputtatissa, an entirely Theravāda affair. Recalling perhaps the historical Aśoka's diplomatic missions, the legend recounts how, after the council, Moggaliputtatissa dispatched Theravāda missions,
comprised of monks, to nine adjacent lands for the purpose of propagating the religion, including Aśoka's son (Mahinda) and daughter (Saṅghamittā) to Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, where the legend appears to have originated, and in the Theravāda countries of Southeast Asia, the Pāli account of King Aśoka was adopted as one of the main paradigms of Buddhist kingship and models of ideal governance and proper saṃgha-state relations. A different set of legends, which do not recount the conversion
of Sri Lanka, appears in Sanskrit sources, most notably, the Aśokāvadāna. (Source: "Aśoka." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 70–71. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Indian paṇḍita known to have been an expert in Abhidharma and to have assisted in the Tibetan translation of the ''Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra''. ([https://read.84000.co/translation/toh287.html Source Accessed Aug 31, 2021]) +
B
Dynamic lecturer, progressive scholar, and one of the most prolific writers and translators of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, B. Alan Wallace, Ph.D., continually seeks innovative ways to integrate Buddhist contemplative practices with Western science to advance the study of the mind.
Dr. Wallace, a scholar and practitioner of Buddhism since 1970, has taught Buddhist theory and meditation worldwide since 1976. Having devoted fourteen years to training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama, he went on to earn an undergraduate degree in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College and a doctorate in religious studies at Stanford. ([http://www.alanwallace.org Source Accessed Nov 17, 2020]) +
'Baatra' Erdene-Ochir is a Ph.D. student in Buddhist Studies. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from UCSB and a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School. He is interested in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophical polemics and the history of Buddhist scholastic traditions as well as monastic institutions in Tibet and Mongolia. ([https://www.religion.ucsb.edu/people/student/erdenebaatar-baatra-hehimhis-erdene-ochir/ Source Accessed June 9, 2021]) +
Dr. Baijnath Puri, the Professor Emeritus, was one of the leading Indian historians, a widely traveled man and was often invited to deliver lectures at many universities in Europe. He was for more than five years Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology at the Lucknow University.
His two works ''India in the Time of Patanjali'' and ''The History of the Gurjara Pratiharas'' earned him the two research degrees of M. Litt. and D. Phil. from the Oxford University. He has more than 25 published works to his credit. (Source: [https://www.mlbd.in/products/buddhism-in-central-asia-b-n-puri-9788120803725-8120803728 Motilal Banarsidass]) +