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Piya Tan, who works on the Sutta Discovery Project . . . was a former Theravada monk for 20 years. Today he is a full time lay Dharma teacher specializing in early Buddhism. He was consultant and regular lecturer to the Buddhist Studies Team (BUDS) that successfully introduced Buddhist Studies in Singapore Secondary Schools in the 1980s. After that, he was invited as a visiting scholar to the University of California at Berkeley, USA. He has written many ground-breaking and educational books on Buddhism (such as ''Total Buddhist Work'') and social surveys (such as ''Buddhist Currents and Charisma in Buddhism'').
As a full-time Dharma teacher, he runs Buddhist, Sutta and Pali classes like the basic Pali course series, the Sutta Study Group (NUSBS), Dharma courses (the Singapore Buddhist Federation), Sutta Discovery classes (Buddhist Fellowship and elsewhere), and Sutta-based (including meditation) courses (Brahm Education Centre), besides his own full-time Pali translation and research project, the Pali House, and doing a comparative study of the Pali Nikayas and the Chinese Agamas. As a Theravada monk, he learned insight meditation from Mahasi Sayadaw himself in the 1980s. As a lay teacher, he learned forest meditation from the Ajahn Brahmavamso. He has run numerous meditation courses and retreats for students and adults (including non-Buddhists) since 1980s. In 1992, he taught meditation at the University of California at Berkeley, USA, and also to BP, JPMorgan, the Defence Science Organization, GMO, HP and SIA. He is doing all this for the love of Dharma and of Ratna and their two children. ([http://www.themindingcentre.org/dharmafarer/piyatan Source Accessed Nov 10 2020]) +
Potprecha Cholvijarn, also known as Achan Jak, holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Bristol, in the UK. He is the author of '''Nibbana as Self or not-Self: Some Contemporary Thai Discussions''', ‘Meditation Manual of King Taksin of Thonburi’ and ‘Ayutthaya period meditation manual from Wat Pradusongtham’. He is currently a special lecturer at the Thai Studies Centre, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. (Personal Communication, March 28, 2022.) +
[Prabhubhai Bhikhabhai Patel] belonged to a peasant family of Kunabi caste and was born at Sarpor-Pardi of the district of Surat in 1906. He had one sister and five brothers, he himself being the fourth. His father was Sri Bhikhabhai and mother Srimati Benabai. His education began at the village school of Satem and
thence he was sent with his nephew Sri Govindaji Bhulabhai Patel, now a Homeopathic Physician at
Navasari, to the Central Boarding School of Supa. It was a village middle school.
After his reading up to Matriculation came the call of Mahatma Gandhi for triple boycott of schools and colleges, Government Law Courts and foreign cloths. This was in 1919. Having given up school he joined a National School at Surat and from that time till his death he used to put on ''khaddar'' [homespun cotton cloth of India].
After two years in 1921 he went to the Gujarat Vidyapith, the National University founded by Mahatma Gandhi, and plunged deep in Congress ideology. There he came under the influence of such leaders and thinkers as Principal A. T. Gidwani, Acharya J. B. Kripalani, Kaka Kalelkar and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and
Prof. Dharmananda Kausambi. The last-named teacher impressed upon him the glory of the ancient lore of
India.
Prabhubhai then come to Visva-bharati, Santiniketan with some other students from that part of the country. Indeed, it was owing to his personal influence that at that time a good number of Gujarati students came to Santiniketan and joined the different departments of Visva-bharati. In due time Prabhubhai was admitted to the Yidya-bhavana, the Research Department of the institution of which I was then the Principal. I had there the good fortune of teaching students coming not only from the different parts of the country, but also from such distant lands as Japan and Germany.
As a student Prabhubhai endeared himself to all his teachers and inmates of the Asrama including our revered Gurudeva, Rabindranath. He was very intelligent and promising. In the Vidya-bhavana he was one of those students who studied under my personal guidance and I felt fortunate and proud to have him as a pupil. His subject of study here was Buddhism with special reference to its Tibetan and Chinese sources.
Here in Yisva-bharati he lived for more than seven years and made it almost his permanent home. Once again come the call from Mahatma Gandhi, and Prabhubhai left his studies for the time being in order to serve his motherland and courted arrest and was imprisoned. This proved too much for him, for after two years of jail life he came out a total wreck in health. His robust constitution broke down and he developed hemiplagia from a little strain in his spine. Best of India's doctors, physicians, surgeons and specialists in nature-cure could do no better than giving some temporary relief. He removed to the house of his nephew Dr. G. B. Patel, already referred to, at Navasari. He was now a complete invalid, crippled and confined to his wheel-chair and bed, but his mind was clear till the end which came on the 30th December, 1942. He was taken to his village home where he breathed his last after an agony of red sores and now lies buried in his family land. He remained unmarried after the divorce from his wife with whom he was married at a very tender age according to the social custom prevailing there at the time. (Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya, foreword to ''Cittavisuddhiprakarana of Aryadeva'', vi–vii)
Prabhākaramitra. (C. Boluopojialuomiduoluo; J. Harahakaramitsutara; K. Parap’agaramiltara 波羅頗迦羅蜜多羅) (564-633). A monk from Nālandā monastery who traveled to China in 626, where he translated a number of important texts, including the ''Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra'' of Maitreyanātha and the ''Prajñāpradīpa'' of Bhāvaviveka. (Source: "Prabhākaramitra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 653. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Prabodh Chandra Bagchi (18 November 1898 – 19 January 1956) was one of the most notable Sino-Indologists of the 20th century. He was the third Upacharya (Vice-Chancellor) of Visva-Bharati University. He published a large number of books in English, French, and Bengali. His best known work that is still acclaimed as a classical work even today is ''India and China'', which was first published in 1944. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prabodh_Chandra_Bagchi Source Accessed Jun 4, 2019]) +
Pragati Sahni is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delhi. Her research interests include environmental philosophy, ethics, and early Buddhist philosophy. She is the author of ''Environmental Ethics in Buddhism: A Virtues Approach''
(Routledge, 2011) and is coeditor (with Vibha Chaturvedi) of ''Understanding Ethics'' (Motilal Banarsidass, 2015). (Source: [https://research.tsadra.org/index.php/Ethics_without_Self,_Dharma_without_Atman Ethics without Self, Dharma without Atman]) +
Prajña. [alt. Prajñā] (C. Bore; J. Hannya; K. Panya 般若). The proper name of a northwest Indian monk who arrived in the Chinese capital of Chang'an during the middle of the ninth Century. Prajña is best known for his forty-roll translation of the ''Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra'', the lengthy final chapter of the ''Avataṃsakasūtra''; his rendering, which was finished in 798, is thus considered the third and final (though shortest) translation of the ''Avataṃsakasūtra'' made in China. Five other translations are also attributed to Prajña and collaborators. While in China, Prajña was also associated with the Japanese monk Kūkai (774–835), the founder of the Shingonshū of Japanese esoteric Buddhism. (Source: "Prajña." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 655-66. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Prajñākaragupta. (T. Shes rab 'byung gnas sbas pa) (c. 750–810?). Author of a long (16,200-verse) commentary, the ''Pramāṇavārttikabhāṣya'' (alt. title ''Pramāṇavārttikālaṃkārabhāṣya'') on Dharmakīrti's ''Pramāṇavārttika''. The work was translated into Tibetan by Skal ldan rgyal po and Blo ldan shes rab and was later revised by Kumāraśrī and 'Phags pa shes rab as ''Tshad ma rnam 'grel gyi rgyan''. There are subcommentaries to the work by Jamāri and Jayanta, both of which are extant in Tibetan translation. (Source: "Prajñākaragupta." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 656. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Renowned Madhyamaka master belonging to Candrakīrti's lineage, he wrote several commentaries of Candragomin and Haribhadra's works, but those texts seem no more available.
Depending on the sources, he was either the gatekeeper of the Western Gate of Nalanda when Naropa was living there (chos 'byung mkhas pa'i dga' ston, vol. 2, p. 323 / 1175), or the gatekeeper of the Western Gate of Vikramashila when Naropa was in charge of the Northern Gate (deb ther sngon po; vol. 1, p. 295). ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P7313 Source Accessed Jan 22, 2020]) His ''Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā'' is considered to be the most important Indian commentary on the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' by Śāntideva. +
Prajñāmukti was an Indian commentator (ca. 11th century) who was a contemporary of Atiśa. He wrote the ''Commentary on Special Instructions on the Middle Way'' (''Madhyamakopadeśavṛtti''). +
Pratāpacandra Ghoṣa, also known as Pratapchandra Ghosh, was a Bengali poet and writer from the 19th century. He is best known for his contributions to Bengali literature, particularly in the field of poetry. Ghosh was active during the Bengal Renaissance, a period of significant cultural and intellectual transformation in Bengal.<br>
Pratāpacandra Ghoṣa published a heroic Sanskrit edition (1902–13) of the first section (''khaṇḍa'') of the [''Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā''] ''Hundred Thousand'' that runs to 1,676 pages. ([https://read.84000.co/translation/toh10.html?id=&part=introduction Adapted from Source Oct 7, 2022]) +
Since 1994, Craig Preston has been a teacher for many, teaching classical Tibetan to English speakers in the United States first at Namgyal Institute of Buddhist Studies and Nagarjuna Language Institute in Ithaca, New York, and more recently at Maitripa College in Portland, Oregon, where Craig has taught the Classical Tibetan Summer Intensive for the last few years.
In addition to teaching Tibetan, Craig also works as a translator of Tibetan texts. With Rebecca French at SUNY Buffalo, Craig translated Tibetan legal code. Currently, Craig is working on a project led by his former professor at University of Virginia, Jeffrey Hopkins, to translate the monastic textbooks written by Jamyang Cheba. ([http://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2012/october/an-interview-with-craig-preston/ Source]) +
Péter-Dániel Szántó started his studies at ELTE Budapest (Diploma in Tibetan Studies and Indology). He wrote his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Alexis Sanderson in Oxford (defended in 2012). Since then he has been a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College Oxford, a Nachwuchsinitiative stipendiant at Hamburg University, and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at All Souls College Oxford. His primary area of expertise is the literature and history of Indian Esoteric Buddhism. A list of his publications with PDF access to most can be found [https://openphilology.eu/publications-peter-daniel-szanto here]. ([https://openphilology.eu/team Source Accessed June 3, 2022.]) +
According to the account in the Chinese cataloguer Zhisheng's ''Xu gujin yijing tuji'', the ''Śūraṃgamasūtra'' was brought to China by a śramaṇa named Pāramiti. Because the ''Śūraṃgamasūtra'' had been proclaimed a national treasure, the Indian king had forbidden anyone to take the sūtra out of the country. In order to transmit this scripture to China, Pāramiti wrote the sūtra out in minute letters on extremely fine silk, then he cut open his arm and hid the small scroll inside his flesh. With the sūtra safely hidden away, Pāramiti set out for China and eventually arrived in Guangdong province. There, he happened to meet the exiled Prime Minister Fangrong, who invited him to reside at the monastery of Zhizhisi, where he translated the sūtra in 705 CE. Apart from Pāramiti's putative connection to the ''Śūraṃgamasūtra'', however, nothing more is known about him and he has no biography in the ''Gaoseng zhuan'' ("Biographies of Eminent Monks"). (Source: "*Śūraṃgamasūtra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 873–74. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
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Qalvy Grainzvolt, LMHC, is an ordained Shinnyo-en priest, a uniformed police chaplain, a licensed mental health clinician, and a Buddhist chaplain and member of mindfulness faculty for New York University. ([https://www.lionsroar.com/author/qalvy-grainzvolt/ Source Accessed April 25, 2024]) +
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Michael Radich received his doctorate from the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University (2007), for a dissertation treating the history of Buddhist ideas about the various embodiments of buddhahood. His first monograph (Tokyo, 2011), treats the history of Buddhist stories about the sins and redemption of the famed patricide King Ajātaśatru, as that story changed across two thousand years of Buddhist history in India, China and Japan. His second monograph (Hamburg, 2015) treats the origins of Tathāgatagarbha thought in the (Mahāyāna) Mahāparinivāņa-mahāsūtra. He has held visiting positions at Kyōto University (2009) and the University of Hamburg (Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies, 2013-2014; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellow, 2015). From 2005-2017, he taught at Victoria University of Wellington in his native New Zealand, where he was latterly Associate Professor and Programme Director of Religious Studies. As of January 2018, he is Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" at the University of Heidelberg. ([http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/people/academic-staff/details/persdetail/radich.html Source Accessed July 20, 2018]) +
Radu Claudiu Canahai was born on January 21, 1971 in Salonta, Bihor County. He graduated from the Faculty of Geography at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, class of 1997, with a bachelor's thesis on traditional occupations in Tei Beiusului. As an amateur, he is concerned with the theoretical and practical aspects of Eastern mystical traditions, Hellenistic astrology and its cultural metamorphoses, the history of the American West, the history of culture and civilization. He worked as a journalist for a local weekly. ([https://www.edituraherald.ro/autori/radu-claudiu-canahai Adapted from Source Dec 10, 2021]) +
Rafal Felbur is Assistant to the Chair of Buddhist Studies at the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies. He received his MA at Leiden University in The Netherlands and his PhD at Stanford University (2018). The title of his dissertation is "Anxiety of Emptiness: Self and Scripture in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism, With a Focus on Sengrui." Prior to joining the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies, Rafal was a Postdoctoral Researcher in "The Composition of Buddhist Scriptures: Open Philology" project led by Professor Jonathan Silk at the Leiden Institute for Area Studies. ([https://buddhiststudies.stanford.edu/people/rafal-felbur Adapted from Source June 14, 2023]) +
Rafal K. Stepien is a scholar of religion, philosophy, and literature. His research is inter-disciplinary, cross-regional, and poly-glottic, ranging among Buddhist and Islamic texts composed in Sanskrit, Chinese, Arabic, and Persian. He is a primarily a specialist of Indian and Chinese Buddhist philosophy and literature, but cultivates a complementary interest in Arabic- and Persian-language Islamic philosophical and literary texts.
At Nanyang Technological University, Rafal is Assistant Professor in Comparative Religion within the Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies Programme (SRP) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). Previously, he was the inaugural Cihui Foundation Faculty Fellow in Chinese Buddhism at Columbia University, the inaugural Berggruen Research Fellow in Indian Philosophy at the University of Oxford, a Humboldt Research Fellow in Buddhist Studies at the Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies at Heidelberg University, and Assistant Professor of Asian Religions at Hampshire College.
Rafal holds a BA with double major in English and Philosophy from the University of Western Australia; a BA and MA in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford, an MPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cambridge, and an MA, MPhil, and PhD in East Asian Languages and Cultures (Religion) from Columbia University. He has also undertaken supplementary studies and research as an Exchange Scholar in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University, as a Visiting Scholar in the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme at the University of Cambridge, as a Visiting Researcher in the Centre of Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong, and at Bologna, Damascus, Tehran, Esfehan, Peking, and Fo Guang Universities, among others. ([https://www.rsis.edu.sg/profile/rafal-stepien/ Source Accessed May 19, 2021]) +
Raghu Vira (30 December 1902 – 14 May 1963) was an Indian linguist, scholar, prominent politician, and member of the Constituent Assembly. He was one of the editors of the critical edition of the Mahabharata which was compiled at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune. More specifically he was the editor of the fourth Book of the critical edition of the Mahabharata i.e. the Virataparvan. He was a Hindu nationalist and served as Jana Sangh's President. His son is the scholar Lokesh Chandra. +
