Property:Bio
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Indian pandita ca. 8th century responsible for translating numerous texts into Tibetan, including the ''Dharmasaṃgītisūtra'' and many others. His student was Ye shes sde. +
Mañjuśrīkīrti wrote a commentary on the ''Samādhirājasūtra'' entitled ''Kīrtimālā''.
According to Christoph Cüppers, "This text has been preserved only in its Tibetan translation. The edition is based on the Tanjur block prints of Derge, Cone, Narthang and Peking, among which, as a rule, the readings of Cone agree with those of Derge and the readings of Narthang with those of Peking. . . .
"In the Tanjur four other texts besides the commentary to the [''Samādhirājasūtra''] SR are ascribed to one 'Jam-dpal-grags-pa (Mañjuśrīkīrti), of which three are commentaries to Tantric works and one is a text on grammar (TTP nos.: 3314, 3316, 3357 and 5778). [Whether the author of these works is identical with the author of the ''Kīrtimālā'' is unclear.]
"Mañjuśrīkīrti's philosophical standpoint in the ''Kīrtimālā'' is . . . not a purely ''śūnyavāda'' one; rather, one is also confronted in the explications with ideas of the Yogacāra school." (Cüppers, introductory remarks to appendix A of ''The IXth Chapter of the Samādhirājasūtra'', 110) +
Eighth- to ninth-century Tibetan translator also known by his Tibetan name, Gajam Gocha (dba ’jam dpal go cha). +
Dissertation: [[From Bodhgayā to Lhasa to Beijing: The Life and Times of Śāriputra (c.1335-1426), Last Abbot of Bodhgayā]], by Arthur McKeown. Harvard University. 2010. 570 pp. Primary Advisor: Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp.<br>REVIEW: http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/2362 +
Chim Jampé Yang (Tib. མཆིམས་འཇམ་པའི་དབྱངས་, Wyl. ''mchims 'jam pa'i dbyangs'') (13th century) — author of the most famous Tibetan commentary on Vasubandhu's ''Abhidharmakosha'', ''The Ornament of Abhidharma'', often known simply as the 'Chim Dzö' or 'Chim Chen'. Here large (chen) is referring to the size of his commentary. Some traditions identify the author of this text with Chim Namkha Drak.
His teacher was Chim Lozang Drakpa, who is known as The Omniscient Chim, and who is the author of the 'Chim chung', the smaller commentary. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Chim_Jamp%C3%A9_Yang Rigpa Wiki]) +
Meghan Barwick received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) at Thomas Jefferson University in 2020. She received her BA in Journalism with a minor in Studio Art from Lehigh University in 2015. She also participated in a program sponsored by the School for International Training (SIT) in 2014. While in this program, she lived with a host family in New Delhi, India, for over two months, studying Indian arts, Hindi, and Madhubani painting with an artist in the city. She attended lectures on music, painting, architecture, and the religion and politics of India. In addition she executed a research project on Shantideva, the eighth-century Buddhist scholar, entitled "Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara: An Internal Pilgrimage to Universal Peace and Compassion." ([https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanbarwick/ Adapted from Source Jan 12, 2021]) +
Mei Hsiao received her PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Calgary in 2008. She is an Assistant Professor at China Medical University Center for General Education in Taiwan. She specializes in Mahāyāna Buddhism and Chinese Philosophy. +
Ven. Dr Yung Dong (Mei-feng Lin) earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies from University of the West. Her dissertation is titled "The Origin of Bodhicitta and Its Development in Chinese Buddhism." Her committee included Lewis R. Lancaster, Ananda W. P. Guruge, and Thich An-Hue.
She has served as the director in Buddhist temples throughout Australia, Thailand, and the United States, and has lectured in Auckland University, Melbourne University, and MIT. ([https://www.fgschungtian.org.au/event-details-registration/the-life-portrait-of-venerable-master-hsing-yun Source Accessed Mar 18, 2025]) +
Meir Shahar received his undergraduate degree from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. After studying Chinese in Taipei, he went on to pursue graduate studies in the United States, receiving his PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University in 1992. Meir Shahar is currently Professor of Chinese Studies at the Department of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University.<br><br>
Meir Shahar’s research interests include the interplay of Chinese religion and Chinese literature, Chinese martial-arts history, Chinese esoteric Buddhism, and the impact of Indian mythology on the Chinese pantheon of divinity.<br><br>
Meir Shahar is the author of ''Crazy Ji: Chinese Religion and Popular Literature'' (Harvard University Asia Center, 1998); ''Oedipal God: the Chinese Nezha and his Indian Origins'' (University of Hawaii Press, 2015); and the ''Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts'' (University of Hawaii Press, 2008), which has been translated into several languages including Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, and Polish. He is the co-editor (with Robert Weller) of ''Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China'' (University of Hawaii Press, 1996); the co-editor (with John Kieschnick) of ''India in the Chinese Imagination: Myth, Religion, and Thought'' (The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013); and the co-editor (with Yael Bentor) of ''Chinese and Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism'' (Brill, 2017). He is currently researching the Horse King (also known as the Horse God), who has been the tutelary deity of Chinese horses, donkeys, and mules.<br><br>
Meir Shahar’s Hebrew-Language publications include ''The Chinese Religion'' (הדת הסינית) (1998) and a translation of Wu Cheng’en’s ''Monkey and the Magic Gourd'' (קוף ודלעת הקסמים), with drawings by Noga Zhang Shahar (נגה ג'אנג שחר). ([https://english.tau.ac.il/profile/mshahar Source Accessed June 18, 2020]) +
Mel A. V. Voulgaris (they/them) has a decade of experience working with students. They began their career in 2013 as a high school teacher, before becoming a counsellor in 2022. As a counsellor, Mel has worked at Simon Fraser University between 2022-2023, and currently works with the Richmond School District (SD38) and in private practice. +
Melanie is a psychotherapist, lecturer and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, and has been empowered by Lama Yeshe Rinpoche to teach. She has worked and taught in a variety of fields with individuals and groups for the past 40 years. These include meditation, dream work, death and dying, bereavement, inner child work, relationships, karma and reincarnation, inner peace, discovering your true potential and many others.
Melanie gives weekly Buddhist lectures on Monday mornings and Tuesday evenings on many different dharma topics from how to clear our psychological karmic imprints to the deeper Vajrayana Buddhist teachings.
([https://randburg.kagyu.org.za/dr-melanie-polatinsky Source Accessed August 22, 2025]) +
I am Assistant Professor at the Chinese Department of ELTE University, in Budapest. My research focuses on Chinese Tiantai philosophy, I wrote my doctoral thesis about Zhanran and his buddha-nature theory, and obtained a PhD in 2011. I'm interested in various forms of Chinese Buddhist philosophy, the ways of interpreting and re-interpeting the inherited ideas. +
Melissa Myozen Blacker, Roshi, is a Zen teacher with Boundless Way Zen, a school of Zen Buddhism with practice centers throughout New England and beyond. She is one of the resident teachers at Boundless Way Temple (Mugendo-ji) in Worcester, MA.
Background: Melissa was born in 1954 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents were secular Jews, who taught her from an early age to have a deep appreciation of art, theater, music (especially jazz) and leftist politics. In order to understand a spontaneous spiritual experience she had when she was nine years old, Melissa began a life-long exploration of religion and psychology.
Education, Work and Family: Melissa is a 1976 graduate of Wesleyan University, with a BA magna cum laude in Anthropology and Music. She went on to earn an MA in Counseling Psychology from Vermont College of Norwich University in 1991, specializing in grief counseling. In 1993, after careers as a vocalist, pianist, music teacher and psychotherapist, she joined the staff of the Center for Mindfulness, founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Until 2012 she was a member of the teaching staff, the Associate Director of the Stress Reduction Clinic, and a Director of professional training programs at the Center. She met her husband David Dae An Rynick, Roshi in 1977, and they married in 1982. Their daughter, Rachel Blacker Rynick, was born in 1986.
Zen training and teaching: In 1981 she and David began studying Zen with the independent teacher Richard Clarke, a former student of Philip Kapleau, Roshi. After twenty years of study with Dr. Clarke she became the student of James Myoun Ford, Roshi, a dharma heir of Jiyu Kennett, Roshi and John Tarrant, Roshi. She was ordained a Soto Zen priest (unsui) in 2004 and completed shuso training in 2005. Advancing through the Harada-Yasutani koan curriculum she received Dharma transmission from James Ford in April of 2006, and was elected a guiding teacher of Boundless Way Zen. After hosting a Zen meditation group in their home for 20 years, Melissa and David founded Boundless Way Temple in 2009. Melissa received inka shomei from James Ford in July, 2010.
Melissa is co-editor of ''The Book of Mu'', published by Wisdom Publications in April of 2011, and her writing appears in ''Best Buddhist Writing'', 2012, published by Shambhala Publications and ''The Hidden Lamp'', published by Wisdom in 2013 . . . She is a member of the American Zen Teachers Association and the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
([http://www.melissablacker.com/biography/ Source Accessed Jul 20, 2020])
Melvin McLeod is the editor-in-chief of two of America's leading Buddhist magazines, [https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Category:Buddhadharma:_The_Practitioner%27s_Quarterly Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly] and [https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Category:Lion%27s_Roar Lion's Roar magazine] (formerly Shambhala Sun), and is the editorial director of [https://www.mindful.org/magazine/ Mindful magazine]. McLeod has edited three books of teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh, ''Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place'', and is the series editor for The Best Buddhist Writing series. He lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. ([https://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Melvin-McLeod Adapted from Source Aug 4, 2020]) +
John Reynolds Harkness Professor of Anthropology, [[Case Western Reserve University]]
Co-Director, [[Center for Research on Tibet]]
Dr. Goldstein is a socio-cultural anthropologist specializing in Tibetan society. HIs topical interest include family and marriage (polyandry), cross-cultural and global aging, population studies, cultural ecology and economic development/change. He has conducted research in Tibet (Tibet Autonomous Region of China) on a range of topics including nomadic pastoralism, the impact of economic reforms on rural Tibet, family planning and fertility, the revival of Buddhism, modern Tibetan history, and socio-economic change. His has also conducted research in India (with Tibetan refugees), in northwest Nepal (with a Tibetan border community in Limi), in western Mongolia (with a nomadic pastoral community in Hovd province), in Kathmandu on family planning and intergenerational relations, and in eastern China on modernization and the elderly). Dr. Goldstein's current projects include: an oral history of Tibet, a multi-volume history of modern Tibet, a longitudinal study of the impact of China's reform policies on Tibetan nomads and a study investigating modernization and changing patterns of intergenerational relations in rural farming Tibet. [http://www.case.edu/artsci/anth/goldstein.html Source: Professor's Page at Case Western (Accessed March 17, 2012)]
*Goldstein's research and articles:
:: http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/CollectedArticles.htm
:: http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/index.htm
:: [[File:Interview with Melvyn Goldstein.pdf]] +
Mervyn Sprung, Professor Emeritus at Brock University and a former Hooker Visiting Professor at McMaster University, is the author of four previous books on eastern and comparative philosophy, including ''Lucid Exposition of the Middle Way: A Translation of the Prasannapada'' (Routledge & Kegan Paul). ([https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-magic-of-unknowing-an-east-west-soliloquy-mervyn-sprung/9552511 Source Accessed Nov 20, 2023]) +
See the short biography here: https://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/rme_ba_mkhan_po_thub_bstan +
Michael Vaillancourt Aris (27 March 1946 – 27 March 1999) was a Cuban-born English historian who wrote and lectured on Bhutanese, Tibetan and Himalayan culture and history. He was the husband of Aung San Suu Kyi, who would later become State Counsellor of Myanmar. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Aris Source Accessed Feb 13, 2013])
== Other Information ==
*[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-michael-aris-1083767.html Michael Aris' Obituary at Independent.co.uk]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Aris Wikipedia Article on Michael Aris] +
Michael is currently teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and is also the Cataloguing and Bibliographic Assistant at UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center. Michael’s area of research pertains to textual communities in Tibet during the 11th to 14th centuries, specifically the figures, doctrine(s), and historical issues surrounding the formation of the Kadam (Bka’ gdams) sect. ([https://www.uvatibetcenter.org/about/students/michael-schuman/ Source Accessed Jan 6, 2016]) +
Michael Barnhart is a professor in the History-Philosophy and Political Science Department at Kingsborough Community College in New York. +
