Lief, J.

Lief, J. on the DRL

Editors • Western Buddhist Teachers

Judith L. Lief

English Phonetics	Judy Lief
Sort Name	Lief, Judy

 

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:	Personal Website

About

Primary Language:	English

Teachers

Trungpa, Chögyam

PhD University

Columbia University

Education

All but dissertation at Columbia University in Sociology and Asian Studies.

Biographical Information

Judy Lief is a Buddhist teacher who trained under the Tibetan meditation master Ven. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She has been a teacher and practitioner for over 35 years, and continues to teach throughout the world. Ms. Lief was a close student of Ven. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who trained and empowered her as a teacher in the Buddhist and Shambhala traditions.

Judy is a writer. Ms. Lief is the editor of numerous books on Buddhist meditation and psychology. She is the author of Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality and numerous articles. Her articles have appeared in The Shambhala Sun, Tricycle, O Magazine, Buddhadharma, and The Naropa Journal of Contemplative Psychotherapy.

She is also an editor. Ms. Lief is the editor of many of Trungpa Rinpoche’s books, including the recently published three-volume set, The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, which gives a penetrating overview of the three-yana journey from beginning to end.

Facing Mortality and Caring for the Dying
Judy has been presenting classes and workshops on a contemplative approach to death and dying, and on the teachings of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, since 1976. She had the privilege of working with Florence Wald, a founding mother of the Hospice movement in the United States and former head of the Yale School of Nursing, on several conferences, workshops, and dialogues examining the role of spirituality in the care of the sick and dying. Ms. Lief was a keynote speaker at the 10th International Palliative Care Conference, held in Montreal in 1994, and more recently lead a workshop at the 2012 conference. In 2000-2001 Ms Lief served as pastoral counselor for the Maitri Day Health Center (an adult day health center for people with AIDS) in Yonkers, NY.

Judy was an active member and chair of the Vermont based organization, the Madison-Deane Initiative, which produced the award winning documentary, Pioneers of Hospice, and has the mission of changing the face of dying through education and advocacy. She served on the board and was a member of the faculty of the Clinical Pastoral Education program at the Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington, Vermont.

Ms. Lief offers workshops and retreats on the contemplative care of the dying for pastoral counselors, hospice workers, care givers, and medical personnel .

Dealing with Cancer
Judy is a founding faculty member of the Courageous Women, Fearless Living Cancer Retreat, held annually at the Shambhala Mountain Center. This retreat empowers women dealing with cancer through meditation and yoga, community, art, movement, and practical information from the integrative medicine perspective.

Pilgrimages
Judy leads pilgrimages to India, Tibet, and Bhutan under the auspices of Authentic Asia.

Peace and Justice
Judy is a founding member of The Contemplative Alliance, an affiliate of the Global Peace Initiative of Women. This organization brings together contemplatives and activists from many traditions who seek to apply contemplative understanding to pressing global issues.

Background
Education. From 1968-1972, Judy did graduate study, completing all but the dissertation at Columbia University in Sociology and Asian Studies. While there, she engaged in research at the Bureau of Applied Social Research and the South Asian Institute. Prior to Columbia she spend as yeas as a Fulbright Scholar in Lucknow, India. She graduated summa cum laude from Luther College in 1967.

Buddhism
Judy became a Buddhist practitioner in 1972, when she met her teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She became a close student and studied with him until his death in 1987. She served under him as as executive editor of Vajradhatu Publications, and from 1980-1985, as the Dean of Naropa University, in Boulder Colorado. She was on the staff of the Maitri Therapeutic Community and also worked closely with Trungpa Rinpoche as the Head of Study and Practice at several of his advanced three-month training programs, called Vajradhatu Seminaries.

Family
Judy currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and their dog Loki. Her two daughters, Jessica and Deborah, son-in-law Frazier, and Judy and Chuck’s three grandchildren, Niamaya, Neruda, and Kaizer live nearby.

(Source Accessed March 20, 2019)

Links

Wiki Pages

• Lief, J. on the DRL
• Lief, J. on the LIB
• Lief, 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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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).

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.

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.