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Dharmarakṣa. (C. Zhu Fahu; J. Jiku Hōgo; K. Ch’uk Pǒpho 竺法護) (c. 233-310). One of the most prolific translators in early Chinese Buddhism, who played an important role in transmitting the Indian scriptural tradition to China. Presumed to be of Yuezhi heritage, Dharmarakṣa was born in the Chinese outpost of Dunhuang and grew up speaking multiple languages. He became a monk at the age of eight and in his thirties traveled extensively throughout the oasis kingdoms of Central Asia, collecting manuscripts of Mahāyāna scriptures in a multitude of Indic and Middle Indic languages, which he eventually brought back with him to China. Because of his multilingual ability, Dharmarakṣa was able to supervise a large team in rendering these texts into Chinese; the team included scholars of Indian and Central Asian origin, as well as such Chinese laymen as the father-and-son team Nie Chengyuan and Nie Daozhen. Some 150 translations in over three hundred rolls are attributed to Dharmarakṣa, including the first translation of the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra'', the ''Vimalakīrtinirdeśa'', the ''Lalitavistara'', the ''Bhadrakalpikasūtra'', and some of the prajñāpāramitā literature. Although many of Dharmarakṣa's pioneering renderings were later superseded by the fourth-century retranslations of Kumārajīva, Dharmarakṣa is generally considered the most important translator of the early Chinese Buddhist saṃgha. (Source: "Dharmarakṣa." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 251. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Dharmarakṣita is a c. 9th century Indian Buddhist credited with composing an important Mahayana text called the ''Wheel of Sharp Weapons'' (Tib. ''blo-sbyong mtshon-cha 'khor-lo''). He was the teacher of Atiśa, who was instrumental in establishing a second wave of Buddhism in Tibet.
''Wheel of Sharp Weapons'' is an abbreviated title for ''The Wheel of Sharp Weapons Effectively Striking the Heart of the Foe''. This text is often referenced as a detailed source for how the laws of karma play out in our lives; it reveals many specific effects and their causes. A poetic presentation, the "wheel of sharp weapons" can be visualized as something we throw out or propel, which then comes back to cut us... something like a boomerang. In the same way, Dharmarakṣita explains, the non-virtuous causes we create through our self-interested behavior come back to 'cut us' in future lives as the ripening of the negative karma such actions create. This, he explains, is the source of all our pain and suffering. He admonishes that it is our own selfishness or self-cherishing that leads us to harm others, which in turn creates the negative karma or potential for future suffering. Our suffering is not a punishment, merely a self-created karmic result. In most verses, Dharmarakṣita also offers a suggested alternative virtuous or positive action to substitute for our previous non-virtuous behavior, actions that will create positive karma and future pleasant conditions and happiness.
Despite the fact that ''Wheel of Sharp Weapons'' has come to be considered a Mahayana text, Dharmarakṣita is said to have subscribed to the Vaibhāṣika view. His authorship of the text is considered questionable by scholars for various reasons. [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmarak%E1%B9%A3ita_(9th_century) Source Accessed May 18, 2021]) +
A fifth-century monk from Central Asia. In 405 he went to Ch'ang-an in China. He completed the Chinese translation of The Ten Divisions of Monastic Rules with Kumārajīva. Kumārajīva and Punyatāra earlier had begun to translate this work from Sanskrit into Chinese, but due to Punyatāra's death the translation had been suspended. Upon the request of the priest Hui-yüan and the ruler Yao Hsing of the Later Ch'in dynasty, Dharmaruchi, who was well versed in rules of monastic discipline, completed the translation with Kumārajīva. Later aspiring to disseminate the rules of monastic discipline to areas where they were still unknown, he embarked on a journey. His life after that is not known. ([https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/D/59 Source Accessed Aug 27, 2021]) +
Translator, ca. 10th-11th Century A.D. Translated the ''Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'' (''Bodhicaryāvatāra'') along with Rin chen bzang po and Śākya blo gros. +
Dharmottara. (T . Chos mchog) (fl. eighth century). Indian author of a number of works on pramāṇa, the most important of which are his detailed commentary on Dharmakīrti's ''Pramāṇaviniścaya'' and a shorter commentary on his ''Nyāyabindu''. A Contemporary or Student of Prajñākaragupta, Dharmottara
was influential in the transmission of pramāņa (T . tshad ma) studies in Tibet. Rngog Blo ldan shes rab's translation of Dharmakīrti's ''Pramāṇaviniścaya'' and ''Nyāyabindu'' into Tibetan together with Dharmottara's commentaries and his own explanations laid the foundations for the study of pramāṇa in
Gsang phu ne'u thog monastery. This importance continued unchallenged until Sa skya Paņḍita's detailed explanation of Dharmakīrti's ideas based on all his seven major works, particularly his ''Pramāṇavārttika'', opened up a competing tradition of explanation. (Source: "Dharmottara." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 254. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Dharmāgatayaśas (曇摩伽陀耶舍, 5th–6th centuries) means Dharma come to renown (法生稱). He was a Buddhist monk from central India, who could write Chinese. In 481, the third year of the Jianyuan (建元) years of the Xiao Qi Dynasty (蕭齊, 479–501, second of the four successive Southern Dynasties), at the Chaoting Temple (朝亭寺) in Guangzhou (廣州), Guangdong Province, he translated, from Sanskrit into Chinese, the ''Sūtra of Immeasurable Meaning'' (T09n0276). Nothing more is known about him. ([http://www.sutrasmantras.info/translators.html#kumarajiva Source Accessed Aug 19, 2021]) +
Dhongthog Rinpoche Tenpé Gyaltsen (Wyl. gdong thog bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan) aka T.G. Dhongthog Rinpoche (1933-2015) was one of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist scholars of recent times, noted especially for his work as a historian, lexicographer and prolific author. From 1979 Rinpoche was based in Seattle, USA. He published a number of books in Tibetan and English, especially through the Sapan Institute, of which he was the founding-director.
After being recognized as the fifth reincarnation of Jampal Rigpai Raldri by the Sakya Dagchen Ngawang Kunga Rinchen, Rinpoche studied Tibetan literature and Buddhist philosophy at Dzongsar Shedra. Before leaving Tibet in 1957, Rinpoche was the head teacher of Dhongthog Rigdrol Phuntsog Ling Monastery, Kardze, Tibet. Rinpoche served the Tibetan Government-in-Exile for 13 years before moving to the United States in 1979. In those 13 years, Rinpoche worked at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala and at Tibet House in New Delhi.
He wrote several books, including The History of Sakyapa School of Tibetan Buddhism, The Cleansing Water-drops, The Earth Shaking Thunder of True Word, The History of Tibet, and New Light English-Tibetan Dictionary. In addition, he worked as a translator and editor on the Tibetan version of Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and translated David Jackson's biography of Dezhung Rinpoche into Tibetan.
Ven. Dhongthog Rinpoche passed away on the morning of 13th January, 2015 in Seattle, Washington.
([http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dhongthog_Rinpoche Source Accessed, April 10, 2015]) +
Along with her husband, Joshua W. C. Cutler, Diana Cutler serves as co-director of the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center (TBLC) in Washington, N.J. +
I have specialized on Tibet and the Himalayas as well as East Asia as my primary research areas and have wide-ranging interests including the history of knowledge and exploration, material and visual cultures, history of mapping and cartography and cultural interactions. Trained in Sinology, Central Asian Studies (Tibetology) and Economics I hold a Ph.D. in Central Asian Studies from Humboldt University of Berlin (2008). In 2018 I completed my habilitation (HDR) on the British Library’s Wise Collection at the EPHE (École pratique des hautes études) in Paris, published under the title “An Atlas of the Himalayas by a 19th Century Tibetan Lama. A Journey of Discovery” (Brill 2020). Between 2018 and 2021 I studied the collection of East Asian maps at the Museum am Rothenbaum (MARKK) in Hamburg in the context of the BMBF-research project “Coloured maps”. Currently I am Principal Investigator of the project "Maps as Knowledge Resources and Mapmaking as Process: The Case of the Mapping of Tibet" at the Cluster of Excellence “Understanding Written Artefacts” at the Universität Hamburg. ([https://uni-hamburg.academia.edu/DianaLange Source Accessed Feb. 14, 2022.]) +
Diana Y. Paul was born in Akron, Ohio and is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in both psychology and philosophy and of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Ph.D in Buddhist Studies.
. . . Her short stories have appeared in a number of literary journals and she is currently working on a second novel, ''A Perfect Match''. Currently, she lives in Carmel, CA with her husband and loves to create mixed media art, focusing on printmaking in her studio.
As a Stanford professor, she has authored three books on Buddhism, one of which has been translated into Japanese and German (''Women in Buddhism'', University of California Press). ([https://dianaypaul.com/about/ Source Accessed Jan 14, 2020])
Her other Buddhist works include ''Philosophy of Mind in Sixth-Century China: Paramartha’s Evolution of Consciousness'' and ''The Buddhist Feminine Ideal: Queen Srimala and the Tathagatagarbha''. +
Diego Hangartner has dedicated over thirty years to external scientific research and internal meditative exploration of the mind and consciousness. He started as a pharmacologist specializing in psychopharmacology and addiction, always interested in what constitutes a healthy mind and how to cultivate it. He spent many years at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in India, studying, translating and publishing several Tibetan works, and organizing several large events with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Europe.
Diego was COO of Mind and Life Institute in the US and co-founder and director of Mind and Life Institute in Europe until 2015. Mind and Life is an organization that brings together scientists and contemplatives to discuss, research and fund research into how to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing mankind. Today, he continues his research and teaching with the Max Planck Institute, ETH (The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and Zurich University.
To share his teaching more broadly, Diego founded the “Institute of Mental Balance and Universal Ethics” (IMBUE), an interdisciplinary initiative, to develop and provide tools and programs that foster mental balance. He created and teaches “The Wheel of Mental Balance”, a methodology to cultivate a healthy and resilient mind. ([https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/teacher/diego-hangartner/ Source Accessed Jan 8, 2021]) +
Dieter Schlingloff (born April 24, 1928 in Kassel ) is a German Indologist. After graduating from high school in Eschwege in 1944/1946, he studied in Göttingen from 1947 to 1952. From 1953 to 1961 he was a research assistant at the Institute for Oriental Research at the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. From 1962 to 1968 he was a private lecturer in Göttingen. From 1968 to 1971 he was a full professor in Kiel. From 1972 to 1996 he was a university professor in Munich. He has been an honorary professor in Leipzig since 2005.
His areas of expertise are Buddhist Sanskrit literature, ancient Indian art and cultural history. He is researching mural paintings in Ajanta. ([https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Schlingloff Source Accessed Jan 30, 2024]) +
Schuh graduated in 1972 from Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn and submitted his habilitation in 1976. He has been a Professor of Tibetan Studies since 1978. He was given the title professor emeritus in 2007. In addition to his academic career Schuh is an entrepreneur. Since 1983, he and his son Temba have led a company as a property developer, property and asset managers, since the early 1990s established in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. He also started the weekly magazine New Hallesches daily paper on 1 March 1996, which he disbanded after a few weeks. In 1994 he was an independent member of the Council of the Halle in Saxony-Anhalt.
For research purposes he stayed several times in Tibet and bordering areas. In addition he has published many academic papers and books on subjects related to Tibet. In various publications, he has worked with other Tibetologists including Luciano Petech, Christopher Beckwith, and Peter Schwieger. He also edited several books.
In 1983 he developed the book ''Tibet: Dream and Reality'' with a DVD documentary of the snow land of Tibet, the Tibet of his journey along with members of the German ZDF television channel. On his 65th Birthday, the anniversary publication ''Tibetstudien: Festschrift für Dieter Schuh zum 65. Geburtstag'' was edited by Petra Maurer and others, with contributions from various tibetologists. He lives in Switzerland. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Schuh Source Accessed Apr 23, 2021]) +
Dignāga. [alt. Diṅnāga] (T. Phyogs glang; C. Chenna; J. Jinna; K. Chinna) (c. 480-c. 540). Indian monk regarded as the formalizer of Buddhist logic (nyāya; hetuvidyā). Dignāga was an influential innovator in Buddhist inferential reasoning or logical syllogisms (prayoga; sādhana), an important feature of Indian philosophy more broadly, which occupies a crucial place in later Indian and Tibetan philosophical analysis. The Indian Nyāya (Logic) school advocated that there were five necessary stages in syllogistic reasoning: (1) probandum or proposition (pratijñā), "The mountain is on fire"; (2) reason (hetu), "because there is smoke," (3) analogy (udāharana), "Whatever is smoky is on fire, like a stove, but unlike a lake"; (4) application (upanāya), "Since this mountain is smoky, it is on fire"; (5) conclusion (nigamana), "The mountain is on fire." Using the same example, Dignāga by contrast reduced the syllogism down to only three essential steps: (1) probandum or proposition (pakṣa), "the mountain is on fire"; (2) reason (hetu), "because there is smoke"; (3) exemplification (dṛṣṭānta), "whatever is smoky is on fire, like a stove," and "whatever is not on fire is not smoky, like a lake," or, more simply, "like a stove, unlike a lake." Dignāga is also the first scholiast to incorporate into Buddhism the Vaiśeṣika position that there are only two valid
means of knowledge (pramāṇa): direct perception (pratyakṣa, which also includes for Buddhists the subcategory of Yogipratyakṣa) and inference (anumāna). Dignāga’s major works include his Pramāņasamuccaya ("Compendium on Valid Means of Knowledge"), Ālambanaparīkṣā ("Investigation of the Object"), and Nyāyamukha ("Primer on Logic"), which is available only in Chinese translation. (Source: "Dignāga." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 259. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Dilgo Khyentse Tashi Peljor was one of the most prominent Nyingma lamas of the twentieth century, widely known also in the West. The mind reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, his seat was Shechen Monastery, which he reestablished in Boudhanath, Nepal, in 1980. After fleeing the Communist takeover of Tibet, Dilgo Khyentse settled in Bhutan. A prolific author and treasure-revealer, his compositions are collected in twenty-five volumes. Although he received novice vows at age ten, he never fully ordained, living the life of a householder with wife and children. ([http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Dilgo-Khyentse-Tashi-Peljor/P625 Source: Treasury of Lives]) +
Dr. Dion Peoples is scholar of Buddhist Studies and translator of Pali Buddhist Texts. He is affiliated with the College of Religious Studies at Mahidol University in Bangkok Thailand. +
Vorenkamp, a member of the Lawrence religious studies department since 1997, specializes in Asian religions, especially Buddhism. His teaching was recognized with the Lawrence Freshman Studies Teaching Award in 2000 and his scholarly research has been published in the Encyclopedia of Monasticism, the Journal of Asian Studies and the Journal of Chinese Philosophy, among others. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ([https://blogs.lawrence.edu/news/tag/dirck-vorenkamp Source Accessed April 15, 2020]) +
A Newar Pandit, Divyavajra was born in the family of a very well known Vajrāchārya family of Nila Vajra and Bal Kumari in Māhābaudha, Kathmandu, Nepal on ''Jestha 24th Astami'', 1976 Vikram Sambat (1919AD).
He tied up his married life with Miss Keshari, the daughter of Meer Subba Heera Man Vajrachrāya at the age of nine. They had four sons and five daughters.
Pandit Divyavajra's life consists of two phases: the first half dedicated to the traditional, herbal and naturalopathic (Ayurvedic) medicine and the second half to the preservation of Nepalese Buddhist philosophy and literature. Towards the end of first half period of his life (around the year 2013 VS/ 1956AD) he suffered from diabetes and tuberculosis. That forced him to stay away from his traditional profession of naturopathic treatment which he had started by establishing the Piyusvarshi Aushadhālaya (Medical Center) in Māhābaudha Tole, Kathmandu, Nepal in the year 2001 VS(1944AD). This change in his life had inspired him to study the Buddha's philosophy and to take a teaching job. In addition, he also taught the Pāli language to several Newar Buddhist monks.
Until the year 2010 (1953), he was very active in teaching naturalopathy by visiting villages such as Thaiba, Baregāũ etc in the valley, and opened the health related Ayurvedic traditional schools. Besides this, in 2017 VS(1960), he also coordinated the opening of the first National Museum in Kathmandu and in the same year, organized a health and vocational exhibition.
From the very beginning of his adulthood, his eyesight was very weak, however he was bold and possessed a sharp memory. He never gave up studying Buddhist texts. By the year 2036 (1979) he had recited the whole text of ''Avidharma'', and collected, translated and explained the Sanskrit Buddhist texts such as ''Bodhi Charyāvatār'', ''Langkāvatār'', and so on to the public. He became an advisory member to several Buddhist organizations and became the president of the Dharmodaya Sabha, the National Buddhist Association in Kathmandu, Nepal.([http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jns/pdf/JNS_03.pdf Source Accessed Mar 15, 2021])
Divākara (地婆訶羅, 613–87), or Rizhao (日照) in Chinese, was born in central India in the Brahmin Caste.
He became a Monk when he was just a child, and he spent many years at the Mahābodhi Temple and the Nālandā Monastery. He was an accomplished Tripiṭaka master, excelled in the five studies and especially in Mantra practices.
Already in his sixties, Divākara went to Chang-an (長安), China, in 676, the first year of the Yifeng (儀鳳) years of the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
Emperor Gaozong (唐高宗) treated him as respectfully as he had treated the illustrious Tripiṭaka master Xuanzang.
In 680, the first year of the Yonglong (永隆) years, the emperor commanded ten learned Monks to assist Divākara in translating sūtras from Sanskrit into Chinese.
In six years Divākara translated eighteen sūtras, including the ''Sūtra of the Buddha-Crown Superb Victory Dhāraṇī'' (T19n0970), the ''Sūtra of the Great Cundī Dhāraṇī'' (T20n1077), and the ''Mahāyāna Sūtra of Consciousness Revealed'' (T12n0347).
Longing to see his mother again, he petitioned for permission to go home.
Unfortunately, although permission was granted, he fell ill and died in the twelfth month of 687, the third year of the Chuigong (垂拱) years, at the age of seventy-five.
Empress Wu (武后則天) had him buried properly at the Xiangshan Monastery (香山寺) in Luoyang (洛陽).
([http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=Div%C4%81kara Source Accessed Aug 18, 2020]) +
Dobis Tsering Gyal works in the Tibet Archives, Lhasa. He received a PhD in Tibetan Cultural Anthropology from Central University for Nationalities, Beijing. His research interests include Tibetan historical archives, the political system of the dGa' ldan pho brang (1642-1959) and Tibetan modern literature. +
