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É
Émile Charles Marie Senart (26 March 1847 – 21 February 1928) was a French Indologist.[1]
Besides numerous epigraphic works, we owe him several translations in French of Buddhist and Hindu texts, including several Upaniṣad.
He was Paul Pelliot's professor at the Collège de France.
He was elected a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1882, president of the Société asiatique from 1908 to 1928 and founder of the "Association française des amis de l'Orient" in 1920. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Senart Source Accessed Aug 25, 2023]) +
Étienne 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.
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.
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]) +
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Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu (born Osbert John S. Moore; 25 June 1905 – 8 March 1960) was a British Theravada Buddhist monk and translator of Pali literature.
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.
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.
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.
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''.
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])
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Ösel Tendzin (Thomas F. Rich) was Vajra Regent and dharma heir of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. As such, he was the first American accepted as a lineage holder of the Kagyu tradition of vajrayana Buddhism. Osel Tendzin was co-founder of Shambhala Training and author of Buddha in the Palm of Your Hand. Following Trungpa Rinpoche’s death in 1987, he was President of Vajradhatu and the Nalanda Foundation until his own death in 1990. ([https://www.lionsroar.com/author/osel-tendzin/ Source Accessed Oct 2, 2024]) +
Ā
Khenpo Sherab Gyaltsen Negi graduated from Nalanda Institute at Rumtek Monastery in 1991 and was awarded the title of Khenpo in recognition of his scholarship. He taught at the Nalanda Institute one and a half years and joined and joined Kagyu Thekchen Ling in Lava, Kalimpong in 1992 to serve the various projects and activities of His Eminence Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche. He also completed the traditional three-year Shangpa Kagyu retreat at Mirik Monastery under the guidance of Very Venerable Bokar Rinpoche and Khenpo Lodro Donyod Rinpoche. Today, he is mainly involved with work for Rigpe Dorje Publications. [http://www.jamgonkongtrul.org/section.php?s1=3&s2=4 Jamgön Kongtrül Labrang] +
Ācārya Gyaltsen Namdol is a Tibetan scholar and translator who has made significant contributions to the field of Buddhist studies. He has worked extensively on translating and critically editing important Buddhist texts from Sanskrit and Tibetan. Some of his notable works include:
*Translating and critically editing the Dharmasaṃgraḥ by Ācārya Nāgārjuna in 1988.
*Restoring, translating, and critically editing Bhāvanākrama I, II, III by Ācārya Kamalaśīla in 1985 and 1997.
*Translating and critically editing various works by Ācārya Nāgārjuna, including Pratītyasamutpādahṛdaya, Āryadharmadhātugarbhavivaraṇa, and Catuḥstavaḥ.
*Critically editing Piṇḍīkrama & Pañcakrama of Ācārya Nāgārjuna.
*Translating Tsongkhapa's Mahāvipaśyanā into Hindi in 2012.
Gyaltsen Namdol has been associated with the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (now Central University of Tibetan Studies) in India, where he worked in the Restoration Department. His work has been recognized with awards from the U.P. Sanskrit Sansthan (Academy). (Generated by Perplexity Jan 10, 2025) +
Nyima Tsering (1963–February 2011) graduated from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, Varanasi, where he attained the degree of Acharya (Master of Philosophy) degree in 1993.
He conducted research on Buddhist Philosophy, worked as a translator of Buddhist teachings for international student groups, and lectured at universities and other institutions in the US and India. He also participated in seminars, gave workshops and lectures organized by Tibetan government and non government organizations. In addition, he published translations and his own commentaries on major Buddhist teachings, and authored scholarly articles, romantic and patriotic poems in English and Hindi.
Nyima Tsering died on 10 February 2011, in Dharamsala (India). ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acharya_Nyima_Tsering Source Accessed Jan 29, 2025]) +
Āryadeva (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 ]
[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).
Āryaśūra was a fourth-century C.E. Sanskrit poet. His famous work, the ''Jātakamālā'' (''Garland of Jātakas''), contains thirty-four stories about the noble deeds of the Buddha in previous incarnations, exemplifying in particular the Pāramitā (perfection) of generosity, morality, and patience. Written in prose interspersed with verse, it is one of the Buddhist masterpieces of classical Sanskrit literature. ([https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/aryasura Source Accessed Mar 23, 2021]) +
Ś
Śavaripa was a hunter. In order to convince him to abandon his wrong livelihood, the bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteśvara took the form of a hunter himself and killed one hundred deer (which he magically created) with a single arrow. When Śavaripa asked to learn this skill, the bodhisattva told him that he must first give up eating meat. Avalokiteśvara eventually taught Śavaripa how to meditate on love and compassion, granting Śavaripa and his wife a vision of hell, where they saw themselves burning for the sin of killing animals. When Śavaripa asked how they could be saved from this fate, the bodhisattva taught him about the law of karma and that through protecting rather than taking life, he could achieve liberation. Śavaripa meditated for
twelve years and entered the bodhisattva path, awaiting the advent of Maitreya. (Source: Lopez Jr., Donald S. ''Seeing the Sacred in Samsara: An Illustrated Guide to the Eighty-Four Mahāsiddhas''. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2019: p. 53.) +
Śaṃkarasvāmin. (T. Bde byed bdag po; C. Shangjieluozhu; J. Shökarashu; K. Sanggallaju 商羯羅主) (c. sixth Century CE). Sanskrit proper name of an Indian philosopher and logician, who was a student of the Indian logician Dignāga. Śaṃkarasvāmin is credited with the authorship of the ''Nyāyapraveśa'', or "Primer on Logic," which became an important work in many Asian schools. Some have argued, based on the Tibetan tradition, that the ''Nyāyapraveśa'' was actually written by Śaṃkarasvāmin's teacher Dignāga, and that the recension translated into Chinese is a version that Śaṃkarasvāmin later edited. The ''Nyāyapraveśa'' provides an introduction to the logical system of Dignāga, covering such subjects as valid and invalid methods of proof, methods of refutation, perception, erroneous perception, inference, and erroneous inference. Although Śaṃkarasvāmin's work was not as extensive, detailed, or original Dignāga's, it proved to be popular within the tradition, as attested by its extensive commentarial literature, including exegeses by non-Buddhists. Large parts of the work survive in the original Sanskrit. (Source: "Śaṃkarasvāmin." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 755. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
A highly influential Vedāntic thinker and exegete. Now credited with the founding of the Advaita Vedānta tradition, he has been promoted by many, particularly in the modern era, as the greatest Hindu philosopher. Nothing is known of his life beyond the hagiographies; these portray him as a brahmin from the small village of Kālati in Kerala who became a saṃnyāsin at the age of seven. According to the tradition, his guru was called Govindapāda and his paramaguru (his teacher's teacher) was Gauḍapāda. (Gauḍapāda was the reputed author of the earliest identifiable Advaita text, the Gauḍapādīya Kārikā, the basis of a commentary attributed to Śaṅkara.) The boy Śaṅkara moved to Vārāṇasī, where he acquired his own pupils, including Padmapāda and Sureśvara. Moving again, to Badrinātha, he composed the earliest surviving commentary on the Brahmasūtras, supposedly while still only twelve years old. Thereafter, he led the life of a peripatetic debater and teacher, before dying at the age of 32 in the Himālayas. During his period of wandering he is supposed to have founded an India-wide network of Advaitin monasteries, each with its associated order of saṃnyāsins, later identified as the Daśanāmis. There is some evidence, however, that these maṭhas may have been established much later in the history of Advaita, and it should be noted that while the Daśanāmis have a markedly Śaiva affiliation, it is likely that Śaṅkara himself was born into a smārta Vaiṣṇava family. Nevertheless, by around the 10th century ce, through the advocacy of his pupils, and various subcommentators, and the critical response of rival schools, Śaṅkara had become established as the major proponent of Advaita, and a large number of works, both philosophical and devotional began to be attributed to him. Most scholars now agree that only a small proportion of these texts should be unreservedly accepted as the work of the 8th-century Śaṅkara. Apart from one independent text, the Upadeśasāhasrī (‘Thousand Teachings’), these are all commentaries (bhāṣyas), namely: the Brahmasūtrabhāṣya (also known as the Śārīrakabhāṣya), bhāṣyas on the Bṛhadāraṅyaka and Taittirīya Upaniṣads, and (probably) the Bhagavadgītā, as well as the commentary on the Gauḍapādīya Kārikā (itself a commentary on the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad). Some scholars also regard commentaries on the other major Upaniṣads (with the possible exception of the Śvetāśvatara) as genuine. ([https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100440958 Source Accessed Mar 4, 2022])
Śikṣānanda. (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.)
Śraddhākaravarman was a Kashmiri paṇḍita who was a student of Ratnakaraśānti (late 10th century – early 11th century) and teacher of Rinchen Zangpo. According to Jean Naudou, Śraddhākaravarman, with Padmākaravarman, was "one of the most productive Indian translators of his generation." Furthermore, describing his collaborations with Rinchen Zangpo, he writes, "The Kaśmīri origin of one of the two most fruitful collaborators of the ''Lo-chen'' [i.e. Rinchen Zangpo] is specified on several occasions: Śraddhākaravarman, introduced to the system of Buddhajñāna by Śāntipāda, taught it to Rin-chen bzaṅ-po at the same time as Padmākaravarman. He had also received from Vāgīśvara instructions about the propitiation of Tārā according to the method of Ravigupta, and he transmitted it to Tathāgatarakṣita. He is the author of a certain number of very short texts, of which the longest is ''Yogānattaratantrārthāvatārasaṃgraha'' (''Rg''. LXXII, 9) (24 p.)." (Jean Naudou, ''Buddhists of Kaśmīr'' [Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 1980], 191–92). The most important of Śraddhākaravarman's translations, according to Naudou, were carried out in cooperation with Rinchen Zangpo. +
Śrīdhara Rāṇā, also known as Ācārya Dharmavajra, was a Nepali scholar who contributed to the study of Buddhist texts. He wrote an introduction to a Nepali translation of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''. The translation included grammatical analysis and explanations based on Prajñākaramati's commentary. This work helped make the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' more accessible to Nepali readers and contributed to the preservation and understanding of Buddhist philosophy in Nepal. +
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.) +
Shri Singha was the chief disciple and successor of Manjushrimitra in the lineage of the Dzogchen teachings. He was born in the Chinese city of Shokyam in Khotan and studied at first with the Chinese masters Hatibhala and Bhelakirti. In his Ocean of Wondrous Sayings, Guru Tashi Tobgyal adds that Shri Singha received a prophesy from Avalokiteshvara while traveling to Serling, telling him to go to the Sosaling charnel ground in order to be sure of the ultimate attainment. After many years Shri Singha met Manjushrimitra in the charnel ground of Sosaling, and remained with him for twenty-five years. Having transmitted all the oral instructions, the great master Manjushrimitra dissolved his bodily form into a mass of light. When Shri Singha cried out in despair and uttered songs of deep yearning, Manjushrimitra appeared again and bestowed him a tiny casket of precious substance. The casket contained his master's final words, a vital instruction named Gomnyam Drugpa, the Six Experiences of Meditation. Having received this transmission, Shri Singha reached ultimate confidence. In Bodhgaya he found the manuscripts of the tantras previously hidden by Manjushrimitra which he took to China where he classified the Instruction Section into four parts: the outer, inner, secret, and the innermost unexcelled sections. Among Shri Singha's disciples were four outstanding masters: Jnanasutra, Vimalamitra, Padmasambhava and the Tibetan translator Vairotsana. (Source: [https://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Shri_Singha RY wiki]) +
Śrīsiṃhaprabha, or "Revered Lion" (Skt. Śrī Siṃha), was an eighth-century Buddhist scholar and translator. He collaborated with the master translator Vairocana and is primarily known for his contributions to the Tibetan Buddhist canon. +
Śākya blo gros, Tibetan translator, ca. 10th-11th Century A.D.
*''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
*''Brgya lṅa bcu pa źes bya ba'i bstod pa'' (Tibetan translation of ''Śatapañcāśatka''), Tg bstod tshogs ka 110a3-116a5.
*''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]) +
Śākyamitra (or ShAkya bshes gnyen) was an Indian paṇḍita who flourished between 750 and 850 CE. He is the author of several works in the Tengyur, including the ''Bhadracaryāpraṇidhānarājaṭīkā'', a commentary on the ''Bhadracaryāpraṇidhānarāja''. +
