Blumenthal, J.

Blumenthal, J. on the DRL

Professors • Translators • Authors of English Works

James Alan Blumenthal

Alternate names

• Jim

Dates

Birth:	1967
Death:	2014/10/08

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Contact information

Website:	https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/users/james-blumenthal

About

Secondary Affiliation

Oregon State University; Maitripa College

Religious Affiliation

Gekuk; Tibetan Buddhism

Education

• Ph.D. Asian Religions, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1999) Interpreting Mahayana Syncretism: A Comparative Study of Santarakista's 'The Ornament for the Middle Way' in Indian and Tibetan Contexts, 362 pages, 9934900. PDF of James Blumenthal's Dissertation: Interpreting Mahayana Syncretism
• M.A. in South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1995)
• B.A. Philosophy (Honors), University of San Diego (1989)
  

Biographical Information

Born in Los Angeles, Jim grew up in Southern California. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of San Diego and continued to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he finished his MA and PhD under the direction of the Tibetan Buddhist scholar/practitioner Geshe Lhundub Sopa. His graduate studies focused on the work of the Indian teacher Śāntarakṣita.

Both in his career as Associate Professor in the School of History, Philosophy and Religion at Oregon State University and as Professor of Buddhist Studies at Maitripa College, Jim displayed the rare combination of deep commitment to teaching and rigorous engagement as a research scholar. Even more unusually, Jim was able to produce scholarly texts that were valued equally by the academy and by Buddhist communities. He published analytical and translation works on Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism based upon this research, including The Ornament of The Middle Way: A Study of the Madhyamaka Thought of Śāntarakṣita (2004) and Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning (2004). With Geshe Sopa, he completed a translation of the 4th Chapter of the Lamrim Chenmo, and was pursuing the publication of a translation of Śāntarakṣita’s Madhyamakālaṃkāravṛtti.

Jim was a strong advocate for institutions of higher education that strive to integrate the knowledge base of Buddhist philosophy with meditative practice and service to the community. In 2004, Jim invited Yangsi Rinpoche to Portland, Oregon to speak to interested persons. In 2005, Jim began working alongside Yangsi Rinpoche, Namdrol Adams, and Angie Garcia on the founding of Maitripa Institute, soon to become Maitripa College, which seeks to embody those ideals. . . .

His main teachers were His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Lhundub Sopa Rinpoche, Jangtse Choje Rinpoche, Choden Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Yangsi Rinpoche, and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. (Source adapted from an obituary written by Namdrol Miranda Adams, Damcho Diana Finnegan, and Jim's wife, Tiffany)

Links

Wiki Pages

• Blumenthal, J. on the DRL
• Blumenthal, J. on the LIB
• Blumenthal, J. on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
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All beings have Buddha-nature
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If "Qualified", explain:
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Which Wheel Turning
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
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Promotes how many vehicles?
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Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
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What is Buddha-nature?
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Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
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Causal nature of the vajrapāda
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Other Information

• Interview with Jim at Snowlion
• Oregon State Webpage
• Maitripa Faculty Page

Obituary

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/lifeatosu/2014/osu-buddhist-scholar-james-blumenthal-dies-at-47/

liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/users/james-blumenthal

OLD BIO: James Blumenthal is an associate professor of Buddhist philosophy at Oregon State University and founding faculty member in Buddhist Studies at Maitripa College. He is the author of The Ornament of the Middle Way: A Study of the Madhyamaka Thought of Santaraksita (2004), editor of Incompatible Visions: South Asian Religions in History and Culture (2006), co-author and editor with Geshe Lhundup Sopa of Steps on the Path: A Commentary on the "Shamatha" Chapter of Tsongkhapa's Lamrim Chenmo in addition to more than 40 articles in academic journals, books, and popular periodicals on various aspects of Buddhist thought and practice. In 2004 he had the honor of translating Nagarjuna's "Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning" for His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the occasion of his public teachings on the text in Pasadena, California. Source (Accessed June 12, 2012)

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.