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James Cahill [was] an art historian and curator who played an influential role in expanding the study and teaching of Chinese painting in the West before and after the opening up of U.S.-China relations in the early 1970s . . .
A longtime professor at UC Berkeley, Cahill was a dominant scholar in his field for 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was one of a small number of Western scholars permitted access to the imperial paintings that had been evacuated to Taiwan before the Chinese mainland fell under Communist rule. He was allowed to photograph many of the works for ''Chinese Painting'', his classic 1960 text that for decades was required reading in Chinese art history classes. ([https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-james-cahill-20140222-story.html#axzz2uLyt7i66 Adapted from Source July 14, 2023]) +
Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin, stands as a beacon of pioneering spirit, being the first American woman and the first of African Japanese descent to attain full ordination as a Nichiren priest. She holds the esteemed position of bishop for the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Order of North America, the first woman and westerner to do so. Her guidance emanates from Houston, where she leads as the principal teacher of Myoken-ji Temple. She is among the few westerners, specifically one of three, to undertake and complete the rigorous Aragyo [ascetic practice] at Saijo Inari in Okayama, Japan.
Passionate about bringing Buddhism beyond temple walls, Myokei Shonin actively supports three prison sanghas within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system. Her interfaith endeavors have seen her as a Fellow with Interfaith America, championing dialogue between Buddhists and Muslims in incarceration. Her roles extend to being a board member of Lion’s Roar Magazine and Dharma Relief 2: Healing Racial Trauma.
She's actively engaged in programs such as Healing Warrior Hearts, Texas for Heroes, The Gathering, and the International Western Dharma Teachers Gathering. Beyond these, her contributions span across various socio-religious platforms, underlining her commitment to spreading compassionate teachings. As a writer, her voice echoes through publications in Lion’s Roar and Tricycle magazines, and she has made notable contributions to The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women. ([https://www.sfzc.org/teachers/myokei-caine-barrett Source Accessed April 25, 2024]) +
Elizabeth has been engaged in contemplative training and Tibetan Buddhist studies for more than 35 years. A Tsadra Fellow since 2002, she has engaged in both written translation and oral interpretation including working closely with Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso, as well as completing two three-year retreats at Kagyu Thubten Chöling, New York. Elizabeth specializes in translating texts related to mahāmudrā and esoteric tantric commentaries. Her most recent publication is Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s ''Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā'' (''Phyag chen zla ba’i ‘od zer'') and the Ninth Karmapa’s ''Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance'' (''Ma rig mun sel''). Elizabeth is also the director of advanced study scholarships at Tsadra Foundation and is the executive director of [http://www.ktgrinpoche.org/marpa-network/marpa-foundation Marpa Foundation].
'''Current Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow:'''
*''The Treasury of Precious Instructions: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of the Tibetan Buddhism, Vol. 7 & 8'' – Marpa Kagyu Tradition, various authors collected by Jamgön Kongtrul.
'''Completed Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow:'''
*''The Treasury of Knowledge: Book VI, Part 3; Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy'', Jamgön Kongtrul
*''The Profound Inner Principles'', Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, with commentary by Jamgön Kongtrul
*''Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā'', Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, with ''Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance'' by Wangchuk Dorje, the Ninth Karmapa
'''Previously Published Translations:'''<br>
*''Mahamudra: Ocean of Definitive Meaning'', the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje [http://www.tsadra.org/translators/elizabeth-callahan/ Source: Tsadra.org] +
Is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the Founder of the Contemplative Sciences Center (uvacontemplation.org), of which he is currently the Coordinating Director of Yoga Programs. He is a longtime practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga for over twenty years, seventeen of which were under the direct guidance of Shri K. Pattabhi Jois. In 2003 he was honored to become one the few Certified teachers of Ashtanga Yoga worldwide. He lives with his wife and three children in Charlottesville, VA. ([https://menla.org/teachers/john-campbell/ Source Accessed July 6, 2023]) +
June Campbell began studying Buddhism in the 1960s and was among the first western students to study Tibetan Buddhism in India with exiled lamas from Tibet. In 1977 she travelled throughout Europe and North America as a Tibetan translator during the time that Tibetan Buddhist centres were being established in the West. As a university lecturer she later combined her interest in gender and religion by teaching both Religious Studies and Women's Studies. ([https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/author/june-campbell/ Source Accessed Nov 20, 2023]) +
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]) +
Candragomin. (T. Btsun pa zla ba). Fifth-century CE Indian lay poet and grammarian, who made substantial contributions
to Sanskrit grammar, founding what was known as the Cāndra school. A junior contemporary of the great Kālidāsa, Candragomin was one of the most accomplished poets in the history of Indian Buddhism. His play ''Lokānanda'', which tells the story of the bodhisattva king Maṇicūḍa, is the oldest extant Buddhist play and was widely performed in the centuries after
its composition. He was a devotee of Tārā and composed several works in her praise. Tibetan works describe him as a proponent of Vijñānavãda who engaged in debate with Candrakīrti, but there is little philosophical content in his works that can be confidently ascribed to him. Among those works are the "Letter to a Disciple" (''Śiṣyalekha''), the "Confessional Praise" (''Deśanāstava''), and perhaps the "Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Precepts" (''Bodhisattvasaṃvaraviṃśaka''). (Source: "Candragomin." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 165. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Candrākaragupta, often referred to in Tibetan as the Scholar with a Golden Umbrella (paN+Di ta gser gdugs can) was an Indian Buddhist scholar known for his sādhana practice of Mañjuśrī in the form of prajñācakra (''shes rab 'khor lo). +
John Canti is a Buddhist practitioner, translator, physician and the current Editorial Director of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. John first had contact with Buddhist teachers while studying medicine at Cambridge University in England, and started to practice under their guidance. In 1972, he met Dudjom Rinpoche, who became one of his three principal teachers. The others were Kangyur Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, both of whom he met soon afterwards.
In 1980 John undertook 2 consecutive three-year retreats retreats in the Dordogne, France, practicing under the guidance of Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Pema Wangyal Rinpoche, and Nyoshul Khenpo. Inspired by their teachers and with the aim of making some of the major works of Tibetan Buddhism available to Western readers, John and some of his fellow retreatants formed the Padmakara Translation Group, of which he is now president. He also had the honor of serving Dudjom Rinpoche as physician during his final years, and subsequently coordinated the medical care of other lamas and practitioners in India, Nepal, and Europe, as well as that of three-year retreatants in the Dordogne.
Still based in the Dordogne, he has continued his translation work with Padmakara, and for many years was also a Tsadra Foundation Fellow. In 2009, John was appointed Editorial Chair of the 84000 project by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. ([https://84000.co/public-talk-sunday-dec-15th-berlin/ Source Accessed Jan 15, 2020]) +
Dr. Cathy Cantwell in an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation.
Dr Cathy Cantwell first came to Kent for her undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology in 1975-78 and, after travelling in India the following year, she returned to Kent for her doctoral research. Her PhD (1989) was a study of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Northern India, especially focusing on the annual cycle of ritual practice. Since the 1990s, she has principally worked on Tibetan textual research projects together with her husband, Robert Mayer, including a project at CSAC Kent with Professor Michael Fischer on an eighteenth century Tibetan manuscript collection.
While keeping her Kent association, Cathy has participated in research projects in Tibetan studies at the University of Bochum as a Mercator Fellow (2018-2019) and as a visiting Research Fellow (2015-2016), working on the theme of Religion and the Senses. She has been involved in the design of and work on a series of AHRC funded research projects at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford (2002-2015), as well as one at the University of Cardiff (2006-2009). Major publications have included: ''A Noble Noose of Methods, the Lotus Garland Synopsis: A Mahāyoga Tantra and its Commentary'' (2012); ''Early Tibetan Documents on Phur pa from Dunhuang'' (2008); and ''The Kīlaya Nirvāṇa Tantra and the Vajra Wrath Tantra: two texts from the Ancient Tantra Collection'' (2007), written jointly with Robert Mayer, and published by The Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna.
Dr Cantwell retains her passionate interest in Tibetan rituals and tantric practice of all historical periods. As well as delving into archaeologically recovered tantric manuscripts dating from the tenth century, a book is in process on authorship, originality and innovation in Tibetan revelations (the output of a project at Oxford, 2010-2015), looking at textual developments over many generations, with a focus on the productions of Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987).
Recent publications include an article on contemporary Tibetan 'Medicinal Accomplishment' rituals. Her major work on a twentieth-century Tibetan Buddhist master is also in press. A further forthcoming book on a twentieth century revelation of longevity rituals, co-authored with Geoffrey Samuel with contributions from Robert Mayer and P. Ogyan Tanzin, is entitled, ''The Seed of Immortal Life: Contexts and Meanings of a Tibetan Longevity Practice''. ([https://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology-conservation/people/2909/cantwell-cathy Source Accessed Mar 18, 2021])
Kali Nyima Cape is a scholar specializing in Tibetan Buddhism, Great Perfection (''rdzogs chen'') literature, women and gender studies. Her research has been funded by the Tsadra Foundation, Ford Foundation and Fulbright-Hays Fellowship. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at University of Virginia, where she has also served as an instructor teaching Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhism and Gender and Tibetan language. As a Native American and multicultural person, her teaching and research prioritizes diversity issues. Her current research focuses on women, and sexuality ''The Seminal Heart of the Ḍākinī'' (''mkha’ ‘gro snying thig''), scriptures of pivotal importance to the classical period of Great Perfection literature. (Source: Author, February 7, 2022) +
CAPPELLER, Carl Johann Wilhelm. Alexkehmen, Ostpreussen 22.3.1840 — Jena 17.7.1925. German Indologist. Professor in Jena. Son of an estate owner from East Prussia, Wilhelm C., and Amalie Knochenhauer, educated at Glumbinnen Gymnasium. In 1860-64 studies of classical philology, soon also of Sanskrit (under Bopp and Weber), IE and Lithuanian at Berlin. Ph.D. 1868 Leipzig. In 1872 habilitation at Jena. With the Bopp Scholarship visited Paris, London and Oxford studying manuscripts. Back in Jenaworked as schoolteacher and, nominated 1875 ao. Professor at university, also continued at school until 1905 to supplement his meagre salary.Never promoted to ordinarius.Hofrat 1908. Married 1889 Anna Lengning, three sons.
In Jena Cappeller represented the philological side of Indology beside the linguist Delbrück. He was one of the best specialists of Indian drama and knew Sanskrit remarkably well. As a philologist he followed eclectic method without giving much attention to recensions. Thus e.g. his Śakuntalā is an eclectic text based on the Devanāgarī recension. His dictionary was prepared to offer the gist of Böhtligk’s large works to students and it has been very much used. Translated Western poetry in Sanskrit. He was popular as a teacher, but as he never got ordinary position all finished their doctorate under others. ([https://whowaswho-indology.info/1176/cappeller-carl-johann-wilhelm/ Source Accessed Jan 15, 2024]) +
From 1993 to 2003 Elías-Manuel Capriles-Arias filled the Chair of Eastern Studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Education, University of The Andes, Mérida, Venezuela (originally ascribed to the Dean’s Office and then to the Department of Philosophy). Thereafter he has been ascribed to the Center of Studies on Africa and Asia, School of History, same Faculty and University, where he teaches Philosophy and elective subjects on the problems of globalization, Buddhism, Asian Religions and Eastern Arts.
Besides teaching at the University, Capriles is an instructor of Buddhism and Dzogchen certified by the Tibetan Master of these disciplines, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu; in this field, he has taught in Venezuela, Peru, Spain, Costa Rica and Chile. ([https://eliascapriles.com/ Source Accessed Apr 17, 2023]) +
Jason A. Carbine's primary area of scholarly expertise is Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia, with a research specialization in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and also with an emerging comparative focus on Southwest China. He has conducted field research in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, with an emphasis on ritual and practice, and has also traveled (sometimes leading study abroad programs and trips) in various parts of Asia, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar and China. Overall, his teaching and research in the study of Theravāda Buddhism, other forms of Buddhism, and other Asian religions combines historical and ethnographic methodologies, and draws from an interdisciplinary body of research pertaining to the history of religions, textual studies, anthropology, comparative religious ethics, and most recently, environmental studies and ethics. He teaches a range of courses dealing with Asian religions from India to Japan, method and theory in the study of religion, South and Southeast Asian religion and society, globalization, and the environment. ([https://www.whittier.edu/academics/religious/Carbine#:~:text=Jason%20A.,comparative%20focus%20on%20Southwest%20China. Source Accessed Nov 20 2023]) +
Reverend Konin Cardenas, also known as Ven. Dhammadipa, started the practice of Zen in 1987 and was ordained as a nun in 2007. She has trained at Hosshinji in Japan, at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and at the Zen Center in San Francisco. She received Dharma Transmission in the Shunryu Suzuki lineage. Ven. Dhammadipa serves as the Principal Teacher of Ekan Zen Studies Center, a virtual sangha. She currently resides in Aloka Vihara Monastery of the Forest, a Theravada training center for nuns.
Konin Cardenas, también conocida como Ven. Dhammadipa, comenzó la práctica del Zen en 1987 y fue ordenada en 2007. Entrenó en el Templo Hosshinji en Japón, en el monasterio Zen de Tassajara y en el Centro Zen de San Francisco. Recibió la transmisión del Dharma en el linaje Shunryu Suzuki. Sirve como Maestra Principal de Ekan Centro de Estudios Zen, una Sangha virtual, y actualmente reside en Aloka Vihara Monasterio del Bosque, un centro de entrenamiento Theravada para monjas Budistas. ([https://www.sfzc.org/teachers/ven-dhammadipa-konin-cardenas Source Accessed April 25, 2024]) +
John B. Carman in Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Religion Emeritus at Harvard Divinity School. +
Amber Carpenter is Associate Professor at Yale-NUS College, and supervises doctoral students at the University of York. Dr. Carpenter specializes in Ancient Greek philosophy and Indian Buddhist philosophy. She is particularly concerned with the place of reason in a well-lived life— what might reason be that it could be ethically relevant, or even required? Addressing this question opens up lines of inquiry in metaphysics, epistemology and philosophical psychology.
Dr. Carpenter’s work considers the intersections of these areas of inquiry. In both Greece and India, metaphysics and epistemology mattered. Debates over them were parts of wider disputes about the nature and domain of the moral. Dr. Carpenter’s work in Ancient Greek philosophy focuses on Plato’s metaphysical ethics and related epistemological issues— including the intelligence of plants. Her book, Indian Buddhist Philosophy, appeared in 2014, and her study of the pudgalavādins can be found in The Moon Points Back (2015). In her current work, she creates a conversation between these two philosophical traditions, under the rubric ‘Metaphysics and Epistemology as Ethics’, as for instance in ‘Ethics of Substance’.
She recently held a fellowship with the Beacon Project, exploring “Ethical Ambitions and Their Formation of Character”.
Dr. Carpenter is currently Rector of Elm College, Yale-NUS. From 2015 to 2017, she was Head of Philosophy at Yale-NUS, where she initiated the Ancient Worlds Research Group. She was a co-founder of the Yorkshire Ancient Philosophy Network; and collaborates with Rachael Wiseman on the Integrity Project.
[https://integrityproject.org/amber-carpenter/ Read more at the Integrity Project] +
Patrick Carré holds a Masters and Ph.D. in Chinese (honorable mention), Paris VII. He completed a three-year retreat with Pema Wangyal Rinpoché from 1981–1983. He is a poet and author, the former director of the “Trésors du bouddhisme” collection at Éditions Fayard, and a member of Padmakara Translation Group. He has been a Tsadra Foundation Fellow since 2002.
'''Current Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow:'''
*''Le Trésor de précieuses qualitiés, Book II'', by Jigme Lingpa, commentary Kangyour Rinpoche
'''Completed Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow:'''
*''Une Lampe sur la chemin de la libération'', Dudjom Rinpoche
*''Soûtra de l’Entrée dans la dimension absolue, Gandavyuha sûtra''
*''Traité de la Continuité suprême du Grand Véhicule - Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, avec le commentaire de Jamgön Kongtrul Lodreu Thayé L'Incontestable Rugissement du lion''. Plazac: Éditions Padmakara, 2019
.
'''Previously Published Translations as a member of l’Association Padmakara, grantee of Tsadra Foundation:'''
*''Petites instructions essentielles'', Dudjom Rinpoche
*''Perles d’ambroisie'', (3 vols.), Kunzang Palden (with Christian Bruyat)
*''Bodhicaryavatara, La Marche vers l’Éveil'', Shantideva (with Christian Bruyat)
*''Les Stances fondamentales de la Voie médiane, Mûlamadhyamakakârikâ'', Nagarjuna
*''Le Trésor de précieuses qualités'', Jigmé Lingpa, commentary by Longchen Yéshé Dorjé Kangyour Rinpoche (with Gwénola le Serrec)
*''Le Lotus blanc, Explication détaillée de la Prière en Sept Vers de Gourou Rinpoche'', Mipham Namgyal (trans. Patrick Carré)
*''Les Cent conseils de Padampa Sangyé'', Dilgo Khyentse (trans. from English)
*''Mahasiddhas, La vie de 84 sages de l’Inde'', Abhayadatta (with Christian Bruyat)
*''Les Larmes du bodhisattva, Enseignements bouddhistes sur la consommation de chair animale'', Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol (from the English translation by Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher, trans. with Kim-Anh Lim and Vincent Horeau)
*''Au coeur de la compassion'', Gyalsé Thogmé Zangpo, commentary by Dilgo Khyentse (with Kim-Anh Lim
*Soûtra des Dix Terres: Dashabhûmika. Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 2004. ([http://www.tsadra.org/translators/patrick-carre/ Source Accessed Jan 29, 2020])
Dr. Robert Carter, was recognized for his dedication to teaching and students with a Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1987. He is now a Professor Emeritus at Trent.
In his role as Professor in the Philosophy Department at Trent, Dr. Carter developed East Asian philosophy courses and served as the first Master of Otonabee College. He also directed the interdisciplinary M.A. program. In 2003 he was awarded the Japan Foundation, a prestigious research grant awarded to only 10 scholars from across North America. He has written or co-authored at least 10 books and more than 70 articles and reviews, and has spent time in Japan studying the Japanese Great Arts and ethics. ([https://www.trentu.ca/teaching/robert-carter Source Accessed Apr 18, 2023]) +
Sylvie Carteron is a translator of scholarly works into French. She has translated a number of books on the subjects of Buddhism and psychology and Tibetan Buddhism in particular. Her translations include ''Esprit Zen, Esprit Neuf'' by Shunryu Suzuki, ''Le Bouddhisme Tantrique du Tibet'', by John Blofeld, ''Transformation et guérison: Le Sutra des Quatre Établissements de l'attention'' by Thich Nhat Hanh, ''La médecine tibétaine bouddhique et sa psychiatrie'' by Terry Clifford, and ''Le Bouddha du Dolpo'' by Cyrus Stearns. +
An early supporter of Buddhism in America and the proponent of the "religion of science": a faith that claimed to be purified of all superstition and irrationality and that, in harmony with science, would bring about solutions to the world's problems. Carus was born in Ilsenberg in Harz, Germany. He immigrated to America in 1884, settling in LaSalle, Illinois, where he assumed the editorship of the Open Court Publishing Company. He attended the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 and became friends with several of the Buddhist delegates, including Dharmapāla and Shaku Sōen, who were among the first to promote his writing.Later, Shaku Sōen's student, Daisetz Teitaro Susuki, woudld spend eleven years working with and for Carus in LaSalle. In 1894, Carus published ''The Gospel of Buddha according to Old Records'', an anthology of passages from Buddhist texts drawn from contemporary translations in English, French, and German, making particular use of translations from the Pāli by Thomas W. Rhys Davids, as well as translations of the life of the Buddha from Chinese and Tibetan sources. Second only to Edwin Arnold's ''Light of Asia'' in intellectual influence at the time, ''The Gospel'' was arranged like the Bible, with numbered chapters and verses and a table at the end that listed parallel passages from the New Testament. ''The Gospel'' was intended to highlight the many agreements between Buddhism and Christianity, thereby bringing out "that nobler Christianity which aspires to the cosmic religion of universal truth." Carus was free in his manipulation of his sources, writing in the preface that he had rearranged, retranslated, and added emendations and elaborations in order to make them more accessible to a Western audience; for this reason, the translated sources are not always easy to trace back to the original literature. He also makes it clear in the preface that his ultimate goal is to lead his readers to the Religion of Science. He believed that both Buddhism and Christianity, when understood correctly, would point the way to the Religion of Science. Although remembered today for his ''Gospel'', Carus wrote some seventy books and more than a thousand articles. His books include studies of Goethe, Schiller, Kant, and Chinese thought. (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 2014, 168)
A diligent, student and cultivator, Dharma Master Heng Ch'ien has been one of the foremost students to sit at the feet of the Venerable Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua. He studied the Dharma Blossom Sutra for over five years, and has been explaining it for more than four. His understanding of the Sutra is deep and comprehensive, and his lectures have made the Sutra's principles clear and easy to understand. ([http://www.dharmasite.net/vbs28/28_7.htm Adapted from Source Oct 1, 2022]) +
The Korean scholar Sangyeob Cha, who was born in 1969, is Humanities Korea Professor at Geumgang Center for Buddhist Studies at Geumgang University (金剛大學校， 甘フネ邙哥丑 Geumgang Daehakgyo) in South Korea and is the Head of the center’s research team for tathãgatagarbha studies. He received the MA degree in 1999 from Dongguk University (東國大學校，吾号邙計丑 Dongguk Daehakgyo) in Seoul, followed by the PhD degree in 2007 from the same institution with a dissertation on ''śamatha'' meditation practice, comparing the explanations given in Tsong kha pa's ''Lam rim chen mo'' with related explanations from Indian Yogācāra texts, particularly the YBh. This made him one of the first Tibetologists to be educated in South Korea. He joined the Geumgang Center for Buddhist Studies in 2007 as a researcher and was promoted to Professor in 2011.
His research has mainly been concerned with meditation doctrines of the Yogācāra tradition in India and Tibet as represented in texts and Buddhist art, as well as the doctrine of buddha-nature (''tathāgatagarbha'') especially as found in the commentarial writings on the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' by the Tibetan scholar Rngog Bio ldan shes rab (1059-1109).
(Source: The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners, page 239, footnote 428) +
An eminent scholar, also known as 'Jam dpal, cha 'gab tshang. He has as also written on Tibetan language and literature. +
Chah Subhaddo (Thai: ชา สุภัทโท, known in English as Ajahn Chah, occasionally with honorific titles Luang Por and Phra) also known by his honorific name "Phra Bodhiñāṇathera" (Thai: พระโพธิญาณเถร, Chao Khun Bodhinyana Thera; 17 June 1918 – 16 January 1992) was a Thai Buddhist monk. He was an influential teacher of the Buddhadhamma and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition.
Respected and loved in his own country as a man of great wisdom, he was also instrumental in establishing Theravada Buddhism in the West. Beginning in 1979 with the founding of Cittaviveka (commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery) in the United Kingdom, the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah has spread throughout Europe, the United States and the British Commonwealth. The dhamma talks of Ajahn Chah have been recorded, transcribed and translated into several languages.
More than one million people, including the Thai royal family, attended Ajahn Chah's funeral in January 1993[5] held a year after his death due to the "hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend".[3] He left behind a legacy of dhamma talks, students, and monasteries. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajahn_Chah Source Accessed Nov 20, 2023]) +
Niranjan Prasad Chakravarti OBE (1 July 1893 – 19 October 1956) was an Indian archaeologist who served as Chief epigraphist to the Government of India in 1934 to 1940 and as Director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1948 to 1950.
Chakravarti was born on 1 July 1893 at Krishnanagar in the Nadia district of Bengal Presidency, India. After graduation, he served as lecturer of Sanskrit and Pali at the University of Calcutta. After working at Sorbonne in Paris and Berlin universities on a scholarship in 1921, Chakravarti went to the United Kingdom and obtained a doctorate from the University of Cambridge in 1926.
Chakravarti returned to India in 1929 and joined as Assistant Superintendent for Epigraphy at Ootacamund. In 1934, he was promoted to the post of Chief Epigraphist for the Government of India. In 1940, he was promoted to Deputy Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India becoming Joint Director-General in 1945. In 1948, Chakravarti succeeded Mortimer Wheeler as the Director General of the ASI serving in his position till 1950.
Following his retirement, Chakravarti was appointed advisor to the Department of Archaeology, Government of India and served till 1952. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._P._Chakravarti Source Accessed Apr 18, 2022]) +
Chiwah Chan completed his PhD in Buddhist Studies in 1993 with a dissertation on "The Formation of Orthodoxy in Sung Dynasty Buddhism: Chih-li and the T'ien-t'ai School." He has published widely on the Chinese Tiantai tradition. He has served as Librarian for the Chinese Collection at Yale University and as Adjunct Lecturer in Yale's Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. Prior to that, he spent four years as a cataloger with the international cooperative Chinese Rare Books Project, based in the East Asian Library at Princeton University. He is now the Chinese Librarian at the University of Pennsylvania, where he selects scholarly resources to support the University's Chinese Studies program, organizes and supervises the technical processing of these materials, and provides specialized China-related reference and instructional services for faculty and students. ([https://www.international.ucla.edu/buddhist/person/1008 Source Accessed Sept 10, 2020]) +
Prof. Lokesh Chandra (born 11 April 1927) is a prominent scholar of the Vedic period, Buddhism and the Indian arts. He was the president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations during 2014–2017. He has also served as a member of the Indian Rajya Sabha, Vice-President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research. In 2006 he was conferred with Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government.<br>
He is the son of the famous Sanskrit scholar, linguist and politician Raghu Vira. After obtaining a master's degree at the University of the Punjab in Lahore in 1947, he edited the Gavamayana portion of the Vedic work Jaiminiya Brahmana with the help of newly discovered manuscripts. Chandra went to the Netherlands to study Old Javanese with the Indologist Jan Gonda at Utrecht University, where he obtained a Ph.D. with the dissertation ''Jaiminiya Brahmana of the Samaveda II.1-80'' in March 1950. Among them are classics like his ''Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary'', ''Materials for a History of Tibetan Literature'', ''Buddhist Iconography of Tibet'', and his ''Dictionary of Buddhist Art'' in about 20 volumes. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokesh_Chandra Source Accessed Apr 2, 2021]) +
Garma Chen-Chi Chang was Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the Pennsylvania State University and a renowned Buddhist scholar. His books include ''The Buddhist Teaching of Totality'' and ''The Practice of Zen'', as well as his English translation of the Tibetan classic, ''The 100,000 Songs of Milarepa''. ([https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-00341-3.html Source Accessed May 20, 2021]) +
The Venerable Chanmyay Sayadaw U Janakābhivaṃsa, (Burmese: ချမ်းမြေ့ဆရာတော် ဦးဇနကာဘိဝံသ, pronounced [tɕʰáɰ̃mjḛ sʰəjàdɔ̀ ú za̰nəkàbḭwʊ̀ɰ̃θa̰]; born 24 July 1928) is a Theravada Buddhist monk from Myanmar.
'''Early life and studies'''
He was born in Pyinma village, Taungdwingyi Township, British Burma, on Tuesday, 24 July 1928. His parents were U Phyu Min and Daw Shwe Yee. He started to study the Buddhist scriptures at the age of fifteen as a novice monk. He received the higher upasampada ordination in 1947 and continued advanced studies of Buddhist scriptures. He practised Vipassana meditation under the instruction of the most Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw from 1953 to 1954. He was then invited by the State Buddha Sasana Organization to be an editor of the Buddhist scriptures in Pali for reciting Buddhist scriptures at the Sixth Buddhist Council in Myanmar.
Starting from 1957, the Venerable Sayadaw spent six years in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he continued his studies of English, Sanskrit, Hindi and Sinhalese languages. He returned to Myanmar in June 1963. At the invitation of the state Buddha Sasana Organisation, he took up residence at Kaba-Aye where he edited the publications of Pali Texts.
'''Teaching career'''
In 1967, he was appointed by the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw as a meditation teacher at Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha, Yangon. In 1977 Sayadaw Ashin Janakabhivamsa took up residence at Chanmyay Yeiktha Meditation Center which was donated to him by some devotees and became the abbot of the center. He has been since then well known as Chanmyay Sayadaw.
In 1979-1980, Chanmyay Sayadaw accompanied the Mahasi Sayadaw's Dhamma Mission to Europe and the USA. He has undertaken many Dhamma missions to countries in Asia, Europe, and the United States. As recently as July 2015, at the age of 87, he travelled to the UK, Ireland, and Canada giving Dhamma Talks. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanmyay_Sayadaw Source Accessed March 17, 2022]) +
Founding Director – Jung Center’s Mind Body Spirit Institute<br>
Adjunct Faculty – Integrative Medicine Program Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation & Integrative Medicine MD Anderson Cancer Center<br>
Adjunct Faculty – McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics McGovern Medical School, UT Health<br>
Instructor – Rice University Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, aster of Liberal Studies program<br>
Instructor – University of Maryland, Baltimore, Masters in Integrative Medicine
Dr. Chaoul is the Huffington Foundation Endowed Director of the Mind Body Spirit Institute at the Jung Center of Houston, bringing a new approach for helping healthcare professionals flourish by reducing stress and burnout, and improving health, resilience and nourish the human spirit.
He holds a PhD in Tibetan religions from Rice University, and has studied in the Tibetan tradition since 1989, and for almost 30 years with Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, completing the 7-year training at Ligmincha Institute in 2000, and also training in Triten Norbutse monastery in Nepal and Menri monastery in India.
Alejandro is a Senior Teacher of The 3 Doors, an international organization founded by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche with the goal of transforming lives through meditation, and since 1995, he has been teaching meditation classes and Tibetan Yoga (Tsa Lung & Trul Khor) workshops nationally and internationally under the auspices of Ligmincha International.
In 1999 he began teaching these techniques at the Integrative Medicine Program of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, where he holds an adjunct faculty position and for the last twenty years has conducted research on the effect of these practices in people with cancer and their caregivers. He is also an adjunct faculty member at The University of Texas’ McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, where he teaches medical students in the areas of spirituality, complementary and integrative medicine, and end-of-life care. In addition he is an Instructor at Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies Master of Liberal Studies program and an at The University of Maryland, Baltimore, Masters in Integrative Medicine.
In addition, he is an advisor to The Rothko Chapel and past board member of The Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance at Rice University, and founding member of Compassionate Houston. His research and publications focus on mind-body practices in integrative care, examining how these practices can reduce chronic stress, anxiety and sleep disorders and improve quality of life. He is the author of ''Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition'' (SnowLion, 2009), ''Tibetan Yoga for Health and Wellbeing'' (Hay House, 2018), and ''Tibetan Yoga: Magical Movements of Body, Breath & Mind'' (Wisdom Publications, 2021). He has published in the area of religion and medicine, medical anthropology and the interface of spirituality and healing. Dr. Chaoul has been recognized as a Fellow at the Mind & Life Institute. ([https://alechaoul.com/home/about-ale/ Source Accessed Nov 27, 2023])
David Wellington Chappell (1940–2004) was a professor of Buddhist studies whose specialties were Chinese Buddhist traditions (esp. Tiantai) and interreligious dialogue. After receiving a B.A. from Mount Allison University and a B.D. from McGill University, he completed a Ph.D. in the history of religions at Yale University. His subsequent teaching career included three decades as a professor of religion at the University of Hawaii, where he founded the journal Buddhist-Christian Studies in 1981, edited it through 1985, then helped found the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies in 1987. His publications include Buddhist and Taoist Practice in Medieval Chinese Society, T'ien-t'ai Buddhism: An Outline of the Fourfold Teachings, Buddhist Peace Work: Creating Cultures of Peace, and Unity in Diversity: Hawaii's Buddhist Communities.
After retiring from the University of Hawaii, he taught comparative studies at Soka University of America and was actively engaged in Buddhist-Muslim dialogue in Asia, Europe, and North America. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_W._Chappell Source Accessed June 14, 2023]) +
Christian Charrier holds a Masters degree in English and a diploma in psycholinguistics. He was a translator for Geshe Tengye in France, and he completed a three-year retreat under Lama Gendun Rinpoche in le Bost, France. He has been a translation consultant for Tsadra Foundation from 2002–2003 and has been a Tsadra Foundation Fellow since 2004.
'''Current Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow:'''<br>
*''Le Voyage et son but'', Jamgön Kongtrul
*''La pratique des tantras bouddhistes'', Jamgön Kongtrul
'''Completed Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow:'''<br>
*''Marpa, maître de Milarépa, sa vie, ses chants'', Tsang Nyeun Hérouka
*''Vie de Jamgœun Kongtrul, écrite par lui-même'', Jamgön Kongtrul
*''L’Ondée de sagesse, Chants de la lignée Kagyu'', Karmapa Mikyeu Dorje, Tènpai Nyinjé
*''Rayons de lune, Les étapes de la méditation du Mahamudra'', Dakpo Tashi Namgyal
*''Au Coeur du ciel Vol I and II'', Pawo Rinpoche, the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje (from the English translation by Karl Brunnhölzl – ''The Centre of the Sunlit Sky'')
*''Lumière de diamant'', de Dakpo Tashi Namgyal
*''Mémoires: La Vie et l’œuvre de Jamgön Kongtrul'', by Jamgön Kongtrul, new edition
*''Traité de la Continuité suprême du Grand Véhicule - Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, avec le commentaire de Jamgön Kongtrul Lodreu Thayé L'Incontestable Rugissement du lion''. Plazac: Éditions Padmakara, 2019.
*''Les Systèmes Philosophiques Bouddhistes'', Éditions Padmakara, 2020.
'''Previously Published Translations:'''<br>
*''Kalachakra'', Dalai Lama
*''La Roue aux lames acérées'', Dharmarakshita, commentary by Geshé Tengyé
*''La Voie progressive vers l’éveil'', Jé Tsong Khapa ([http://tsadra-wp.tsadra.org/translators/christian-charrier/ Source: Tsadra.org]) +
Mahamahopadhyaya Yogacharya Dr Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee . . . was born in 1933 in West Bengal. . . . He received initiation in Kriyayoga in April 1961. He reached the pinnacle of Kriyayoga within a short span.
His three Gurus were stalwarts in this discipline. His first Guru was Sri Annada Charan Shastri (Bhattacharya) disciple of Panchanan Bhattacharya, an elevated disciple of Yogiraj Sri Shama Churn Lahiree. After Sastriji’s demise, Dr Chatterjee obtained initiation from Sundarlal Lalaji of Varanasi, disciple of Harinarayan Paladhi, who was the disciple of Yogiraj and later from Sri Satyacharan Lahiri, grandson of Yogiraj.
Today Mahamahopadhyaya Yogacharya Dr Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee is acknowledged as a World Kriyayoga Master. Being an ardent devotee of Sanatana Dharma Polestar, Yogiraj Shama Churn Lahiree and to propagate His ideals and tenets before the masses so that they derive the right path, the right enlightenment, he has penned many books in Bengali, illustrating the science of Kriyayoga. Most of his books have been published in Indian languages like Hindi, Oriya, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Malayalam. ‘Purana Purusha Yogiraj Sri Shama Churn Lahiree’ has been published in French also. His other book ‘Who is this Shama Churn?’ is published in English. He has authored quite a number of articles delineating the science hence rationality of Kriyayoga.
He has authored several books, poems, detailing the life, ideals, precepts, sadhana realisations of Yogiraj and expounded the innate significance of Prana, dharma and God concept. His writings have unfolded a new chapter on Indology.
He has founded Spiritual Centres for Kriyayoga revived by Yogiraj Shamachurn – at Kakdwip & Bankura (in West Bengal), Degaon (Near Pune, in Maharashtra), Hyderabad with the objective that mankind can derive the Kriyayoga revived by Yogiraj.
He has organized philanthropic activities through this Mission. To further Yogiraj-consciousness he has travelled throughout India and many places in Orient and Occident. People irrespective of caste, creed, colour, nation, language, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, untouchables, renouncers, are all coming under his aegis and are finding in him their haven and panacea for all evils. He has large following throughout India and abroad like USA, England, France, Spain, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Bangladesh etc.
Mahamahopadhyaya Yogacharya Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee was invited as sole representative from India to participate and mediate in the Parliament of World Religions held at Val St. Hugon, France in 1997 convened by Dalai Lama and sponsored by UNO, UNESCO, UNCHR. At this Parliament of World Religions, he upheld the tenets of Sanatana yogadharma to the world with a clarion voice. His brilliant exegesis on the subject of love, peace and solidarity – ‘ONE GOD, ONE RELIGION, ONE WORLD, ONE MAN’ at The Parliament of World Religions received tumultuous applause. French newspapers commented on him to be ‘wise worthy dignified sage’ ‘a seer’ a visionary’ etc.
Moreover, he has been conferred the prestigious Honoris Causa (MAHAMAHOPADHYAYA) by Tirupati Sanskrit University, Tirupati at their 16th Annual Convocation for His inimitable contribution to Indology for six decades. In addition in December 2012, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1st World Parliament of Spirituality held in Hyderabad. ([https://kriyayogablogs.wordpress.com/drakc/ Source Accessed Mar 9, 2021])
Heramba Chatterjee Śāstri is Professor and Head of the Department of Pāli, Sanskrit College, Calcutta. +
Dr. Mrs. Alaka Chattopadhyaya obtained her doctorate degrèe of the Calcutta University with her highly acclaimed work based on Tibetan sources published with the title ''Atisa and Tibet''. By
profession she was until recently the principal of the Vidyasagar College of Women, Calcutta. Her other published works include the translation (in Bengali) of the ''Caturasitisiddha-pravrtti''—life of
the 84 Siddhacaryas available hithertobefore only in its Tibetan version, besides many other Tibetan studies. She has extensively toured abroad, delivering lectures in [the] USSR, China, Oxford, Cambridge, Budapast and other places. (Source: inside jacket, ''Tāranātha's History of Buddhism in India'') +
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (the editor) is M.A., D.Ltt. of the Calcutta University, Honorary D.Sc. of the Moscow Academy of Sciences, Member of the German Academy of Sciences. Besides working as Visiting Professor at various universities, he is the author of a considerable number of works on Indian Philosophy and Science inclusive of many that are published abroad in Russian, Chinese,
Japanese, German and other languages. Currently, he is elected National Fellow of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, though he is also working in an honorary capacity as a Guest Scientist of National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies (a constituent
establishment of CSIR). (Source: inside jacket, ''Tāranātha's History of Buddhism in India'', 1990) +
Angraj Chaudhary was appointed Professor of Pāli at the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara University in the Indian State of Bihar in 1980. Besides teaching English and Pāli, the professor carried out research and editing work, and guided MA, PhD, and D. Litt students in their research. Soon after retirement from Bihar Education Service in 1992 the professor joined Vipassana Research Institute at Dhamma Giri, established by our late Vipassana Teacher S.N. Goenka.
Based at Dhamma Giri, the professor has worked on editing Pāli books and translating some of the Pāli atthakathas, or commentaries, (written 1500 year ago but not translated into any other language) into Hindi for the first time. The Professor has also transliterated some of the Pāli atthakathas into Devanagari script and he was one of the editors who edited the Pāli Tipiṭaka with its atthakathas, tikas (sub-commentaries), and anutikas in Devanagari script in 140 volumes for the first time-a Himalayan task never undertaken anywhere in the whole world.
From the various books he published, mostly on different aspects of Buddhist philosophy and Pāli literature, the Pariyatti Edition ''Aspects of Buddha-Dhamma'' is his latest. ([https://store.pariyatti.org/chaudhary-angraj?_gl=1*1d2aaft*_gcl_au*MTM4NDI0NDg2MC4xNzAwMDkzNDE3 Source Accessed Nov 15, 2023]) +
Émmanuel-Édouard Chavannes (5 October 1865 – 29 January 1918) was a French sinologist and expert on Chinese history and religion, and is best known for his translations of major segments of Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian'', the work's first ever translation into a Western language.
Chavannes was a prolific and influential scholar, and was one of the most accomplished Sinologists of the modern era notwithstanding his relatively early death at age 52 in 1918. A successor of 19th century French sinologists Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat and Stanislas Julien, Chavannes was largely responsible for the development of Sinology and Chinese scholarship into a respected field in the realm of French science. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Chavannes Source Accessed Apr 21, 2022]) +
Shinge-shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat (born 1943) is the current abbot of the Zen Studies Society, based at the International Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji monastery, outside Livingston Manor, NY, and at the New York Zendo Shobo-Ji on the upper east side of Manhattan. She is also the abbot of the Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji. Chayat is an advocate for the use of meditation in medical settings, with Hoen-ji running the program ''Well/Being Contemplative Practices for Healing'' for healthcare professionals. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Chayat Source Accessed Nov 15, 2019]) +
Anne Chayet donated her personal library to Tsadra Foundation when she passed in 2015. See the collection here: [[Category:Anne Chayet Donation 2017|Donations from Anne Chayet]]. Thank you Anne!
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Chayet
We are deeply saddened to inform you of the passing away of our colleague and friend Anne Chayet, struck down by a heart attack during the night of the 4th to the 5th of May 2015. Her disappearance, totally unexpected, shatters all those who had the chance to work closely with her.
Renowned historian of Tibet, especially its art and society, wielding both Tibetan and Chinese sources, Anne Chayet largely contributed to the broad reach of Tibetology.
Longtime Director of the Research Team on the history and society of the Tibetan cultural areas at the CNRS, Director of the Institute of Tibetan Studies of the College de France until recently, a member of the National Committee of the CNRS, Anne Chayet has played a leading role in the development of Asian Studies. Associate Director of the UMR 8155 created in 2006, she devoted herself tirelessly to ensure the success of the scientific projects of our team.
To one degree or another, many researchers have benefited from her judicious guidance, from her involvement in the life of our laboratory, and from the help she brought to all with great generosity, without sparing time and asking nothing in return. In her commitment to research, Anne was a woman of ideas and passion, while remaining very modest. May her example remain alive in our memories.
Her funerals were held yesterday morning (Tuesday 13th, May 2015) in the strictest privacy according to her wish. Homage will soon be paid to her in several scientific journals.
Nicolas Fiévé and Alain Thote
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Paris
Centre de recherche sur les Civilisations de l’Asie Orientale (CRCAO)
([http://tibetanstudies.forumprod.com/anne-chayet-1943-2015-t219.html Source] Accessed February 26, 2018)
*'''Recent Publication:''' [[Edition, éditions: l’écrit au Tibet, évolution et devenir]]. Collectanea Himalayica 3. [[Indus Verlag]], 2010. http://www.indus-verlag.de/books-edition.html - PDF: https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18011/1/Chayet_et_al_2010.pdf
Tulku Urgyen Chemchog (1915?-2003?) was one of the closest disciples of Khenpo Ngawang Palzang and a disciple of Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje. He was able to teach quite a few disciples in secret while spending twenty years in Chinese labor camps in Tibet. After being freed, he lived and taught in Konjo province. After his passing away, his body shrank to the size of an arm's length, a phenomenon considered to be similar, though not identical, to the achievement of
the rainbow body. (Source: Enlightened Vagabond). See also his biography on [http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Gojo_Orgyen_Chemchok Rigpa Wiki]. +
Dr. Frederick Shih-Chung Chen holds a DPhil degree in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford and two MA degrees, in Oriental and African Religions and in the History and Culture of Medicine, respectively, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. In 2004-2005, he was a research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Tokyo, sponsored by the Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai fellowship. After completing his DPhil degree, he was awarded Post-doctoral fellowships by the National Science Council of Taiwan R.O.C. and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation of European Region during 2010-2012, to conduct his research project, The Early Formation of the Buddhist Otherworld Bureaucracy in Early Medieval China, at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. He has published articles on related topics, which will eventually be collected in a planned book. Before arriving at IKGF, he was a researcher on the project, Buddhist Stone Inscriptions in China, at the Heidelberg Academy of Science and Humanities and a research associate at the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Oxford.<br> Dr. Chen specializes in East Asian Buddhism and Chinese religions. He is also interested in the history of Chinese medicine and the history of knowledge transmission. His current research focuses on transcultural exchange between Buddhism and Chinese religions in the border areas of China during the early medieval and medieval periods. ([http://www.ikgf.uni-erlangen.de/people/index.shtml/frederick-chen.shtml Source Accessed May 26, 2020]) +
Huaiyu Chen is an associate professor of religious studies at the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, with a joint appointment at the School of International Letters and Cultures. He has also held several visiting positions in North America, Europe, and Asia, such as a membership of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 2011-2012, a Spalding Visiting Fellowship at Clare Hall of Cambridge University in 2014-2015, a visiting professorship at Beijing Normal University in June-July 2015, a visiting scholarship at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin in June-July, 2018, and a visiting scholarship at Institute for Religions and Ethics of Tsinghua University in August, 2018. ([https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/1268668 Source Accessed Mar 21, 2022]) +
Shuman Chen’s primary research is Chinese Tiantai Buddhist philosophy. Her secondary research interests include Chan/Zen Buddhism, Buddhist art, and Daoist philosophy. With a hermeneutic approach, her dissertation explores the idea of the Buddha-nature of insentient beings in the Chinese and Japanese Buddhist traditions, with a focus on the philosophy of Jingxi Zhanran in the Tang dynasty. Her dissertation also covers East Asian art with a discussion on how plants are portrayed as sages and why pagodas and relics might be considered sentient. From an environmental perspective, she also examines how to appreciate the insentient world’s Buddha-nature, hoping to increase our awareness of the mutual relationship between human beings and nature. ([https://sites.northwestern.edu/asgc/graduate-students/ Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
Shu-hui Jennifer Chen completed her doctorate in Buddhist studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998. According to her dissertation, her major advisor was Professor Gudrun Biihnemann. She also worked closely with Professor Minoru Kiyota, who introduced her to the topic of tathāgatagarbha. In addition, she also worked with Professor Tsai-fa Cheng, Professor Geshe Sopa, and Professor Muhammad Memon. +
See bio at Sorigkhang Portland's website [http://www.sorigkhangportland.org/dr-nida-chenagtsang/]. +
Cheng Yen or Shih Cheng Yen (Chinese: 證嚴法師, 釋證嚴; pinyin: Zhèngyán Fǎshī; born Chin-Yun Wong; 14 May 1937) is a Taiwanese Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni), teacher, and philanthropist. She is the founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, ordinarily referred to as Tzu Chi, a Buddhist humanitarian organization based in Taiwan. In the West, she is sometimes referred to as the "Mother Teresa of Asia".
Cheng Yen was born in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation. She developed an interest in Buddhism as a young adult, ordaining as a Buddhist nun in 1963 under the well known proponent of humanistic Buddhism, master Yin Shun. After an encounter with a poor woman who had a miscarriage, and a conversation with Roman Catholic nuns who talked about the various charity work of the Catholic Church, Cheng Yen founded the Tzu Chi Foundation in 1966 as a Buddhist humanitarian organization. The organization began as a group of thirty housewives who saved money for needy families. Tzu Chi gradually grew in popularity and expanded its services over time to include medical, environmental, and disaster relief work, eventually becoming one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world, and the largest Buddhist organization in Taiwan.
Cheng Yen is considered to be one of the most influential figures in the development of modern Taiwanese Buddhism. In Taiwan, she is popularly referred to and is the last surviving of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Taiwanese Buddhism, along with her contemporaries Sheng-yen of Dharma Drum Mountain, Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan and Wei Chueh of Chung Tai Shan. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Yen Source Accessed Aug 8, 2023]) +
François Chenique is a French essayist and author of studies on esotericism. He was a professor of computer science at Sciences-Po Paris and participated in the creation of one of the first computer management services within the Society of Pont-à-Mousson. He is a specialist in classical and modern logic and has written several books on this subject.
Chenique also held a doctorate in Religious Sciences from the University of Strasbourg. He devoted himself mainly to the study of Christian esotericism in the traditionalist tradition initiated by René Guénon. ([https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Chenique Source Accessed Oct 18, 2019]) +
Mario Poceski received both his MA (1995, Chinese Language and Culture) and PhD (2000, Buddhist Studies) at UCLA. His main research areas include Chinese Buddhist history, literature, and philosophy, with a focus on the Tang period (618–907). He also has research and teaching interests in medieval Chinese history, Chan/Zen Buddhism, Korean and Japanese Buddhism, monastic culture and institutions, religious pluralism, and globalization of Buddhism. He has published extensively, including four books: ''Introducing Chinese Religions'' (2009), ''Ordinary Mind as the Way: The Hongzhou School and the Growth of Chan Buddhism'' (2007), ''Manifestation of the Tathāgata: Buddhahood According to the Avatamsaka Sūtra'' (1993), and ''Sun-Face Buddha: The Teachings of Ma-tsu and the Hung-chou School of Ch'an'' (1993, 2000) (the latter two of which are published under the name, Cheng Chien Bhikshu). Dr. Poceski is currently Associate Professor in the Religion Department of University of Florida. ([https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/MarioPoceski.html Source Accessed Nov 23, 2020]) +
Professor Lama Chimpa was the head of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Visvabharati University, Santiniketan. He is the translator of works including ''Atīśa and Tibet: Life and Works of Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna in Relation to the History and Religion of Tibet with Tibetan Sources'' (Motilal Banarsidass, 1996), and ''Tāranātha's History of Buddhism in India'' (Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1970, reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass 1990). +
Madan Gopal Chitkara (Hindi: मदन गोपाल चितकारा), born on September 22, 1932 in the Bannu district of what is now Pakistan, is an Indian lawyer and writer. After the partition of India, he moved with his family to Shimla. He has served as the Advocate General of Himachal Pradesh and Vice-President of the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Court since 1993. ([https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madan_Gopal_Chitkara Source Accessed Apr 8, 2021]) +
Eun-su Cho (趙恩秀) is a professor of Buddhist Philosophy at Seoul National University in Korea. She received her Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of California and was an assistant professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan before she joined SNU in 2004. Her research interests include Indian Abhidharma Buddhism, Korean Buddhist thought, and women in Buddhism. She has written articles and book chapters, including "Wŏnch’ŭk’s Place in the East Asian Buddhist Tradition," "From Buddha’s Speech to Buddha’s Essence: Philosophical Discussions of Buddha-vacana in India and China," "Re-thinking Late 19thCentury Chosŏn Buddhist Society," and "The Uses and Abuses of Wŏnhyo and the ‘T’ong Pulgyo’ Narrative." Recently her article titled “Repentance as a Bodhisattva Practice—Wŏnhyo on Guilt and Moral Responsibility” was published in ''Philosophy East & West'' (2013). She co-translated the Jikji simgyeong into English, and edited a volume ''Korean Buddhist Nuns and Laywomen – Hidden Histories and Enduring Vitality'' (SUNY Press, 2011). She was the founding director of the International Center for Korean Studies at SNU in 2007-2008, had served as the chair of the Editorial Subcommittee of the MOWCAP (Asia/Pacific Regional Committee for the Memory of the World Program) of UNESCO in 2007-2009, and was the elected president of the Korean Society for Buddhist Studies (Bulgyohak yŏn’guhoe) from 2012-2014. ([https://snu-kr.academia.edu/EunsuCho Source Accessed Nov 27, 2019]) +
Venerable Geshe Tenzin Chodrak (Dadul Namgyal) is a prominent scholar in Tibetan Buddhism. He has a doctorate (Geshe Lharampa) in Buddhism and Philosophy from the Drepung Monastic University earned in 1992. He also holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from Panjab University in Chandigarh, India.
Author of several articles on Buddhism, Geshe-la was also a professor of Philosophy at Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarnath, Varanasi, India for seven years. In addition, he has been the Spiritual Director of LSLK Tibetan Buddhist Center, Knoxville, USA.
Due to his facility in both Tibetan and English, he has served as interpreter and speaker for numerous conferences exploring the interface of Buddhism with modern science, Western philosophy and psychology, and other religious traditions on both a national and international level. His language ability has also enabled him to serve as an English language translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama throughout the world.
As a published author and translator, Geshe-la’s credits include a Tibetan translation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s ''Power of Compassion'', a language manual, ''Learn English through Tibetan'', and a critical work on Tsongkhapa’s ''Speech of Gold''. He also serves as a Board Member for Tibet House, New York.
From 2010 until recently, he had served as Senior Resident Teacher at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta. Around the same time, he began full-time position as Senior Translator/Interpreter with the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-based Ethics at Emory University, Atlanta. There he was working in producing a six-year bilingual (English and Tibetan) science curriculum and preparing additional research & pedagogy materials in Modern Science for use in Tibetan monasteries and nunneries.
Geshe-la visited several times, inspiring us with his passion for Madhyamaka philosophy and his sheer joy in sharing Buddha’s teachings. See photos of Geshe-la teaching at Sravasti Abbey in 2016.
The Sravasti Abbey community is delighted that Geshe-la is now a resident teacher at the Abbey. He brings his abundant knowledge, compassion, and humility and acts as an excellent role model for new monastics at the Abbey. Since joining our community, he has decided to go by his ordination name, Venerable Tenzin Chodrak. (Source: [https://sravastiabbey.org/advisory-member/geshe-dadul-namgyal/ sravastiabbey.org])
Ani Migme as she was known to anyone who met her during her long tenure at Gampo Abbey for many she embodied what it was to be a western Buddhist monastic. Her commitment to monasticism was unwavering and her influence on life at Gampo Abbey was all pervasive. In 2008 a short biography and interview with Ani Migme The Fortunate Life of Ani Migme was included in the Abbey’s newsletter The Lionsroar. https://gampoabbey.org/files/2016/10/Ani-Migme-a-Fortunate-Life.pdf.
In addition to her unwavering commitment to the monastic tradition Migme Chödrön worked tirelessly to make the dharma available to others through her work as a transcriber, editor and translator of Buddhist teachings. Gampo Abbey has had the privilege to host many prominent Buddhist teachers over the years most of whom would give teachings to the community. Ani Migme transcribed and edited all of these teachings which amounted to dozens of talks, most in the early years were done with a manual typewriter. Many of these talks became the basis for some of the earliest published teachings of their kind available to western students including Acharya Pema Chödrön’s first book. In later years working in conjunction with Lodro Sangpo under the mandate of the Chökyi Gyatso Translation Committee, Ani Migme translated many scholarly Buddhist texts from French into English. For more details on her translation work visit [https://www.kccl.ca/committees-projects-2/ the Karma Changchub Ling website].
Gelongma Migme Chödrön has produced translations of the following texts:
Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra. Translated by Étienne Lamotte.<br>
Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi. Translated by Louis de La Vallée Poussin.<br>
Mahāyānasaṃgraha. Translated by Étienne Lamotte.<br>
Les Sectes Bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule. By André Bareau.<br>
La Saveur de l’Immortel (Amṛtarasa). Translated by Van den Broeck.<br>
Vie et chants de ‘Brug-pa Kun-legs le yogin (The Life and Songs of Drugpa Kunlegs). Translated by R.A. Stein. (Note that Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was said to be an incarnation of Drugpa Kunlegs, who was known as the Madman of Bhutan.)
Khandro Thrinlay Chodon was born in Lahoul, which is known in the dharma texts as the 'Land of the Dakinis'. She was born into a family of great Tibetan yogis who were renowned for their extensive and pure practice. She has therefore been trained since childhood in the practices of Vajrayana Buddhism, and grew up in an environment where spirituality was an integral part of everyday life.
Due to a generous sponsorship from an Australian man named Laurie Seaman, and also to the visionary encouragement of her parents, Khandro-la was able to attend a catholic boarding school in Kullu. The school was only two hours from her family home so she could keep regular contact with her family and ancient culture. At the school she learnt English and received the beginnings of her excellent western academic education. Khandro-la went on to earn her B.A. in Psychology from Punjab University in Chandigarh, India, in 1986 and then in 1998, she graduated with an M.A. in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, USA
([http://www.khachodling.org/biography.html Source]) +
Reverend Dr. Chodrung-ma Kunga Chodron (also known as Lois Peak), teaches courses meditation at Vassar College. She served for five years as an Assistant Research Professor at The George Washington University, where she taught courses in Buddhism, Buddhist Philosophy, and Tibetan Buddhism in the Department of Religion. Professor Kunga Chodron has been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including several recent grants for translation of Buddhist sutras from the Khyentse Foundation, as well as fellowships and grants from the Association of Asian Studies, Spencer Foundation, and Social Science Research Council. She has authored several books and many articles on Buddhism and education in Asia.<br><br>Kunga Chodron speaks and reads the Tibetan language, and together with Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen has co-translated eight book-length works on Buddhist philosophy and ritual as well as over a hundred shorter works. She is a core member of the working committee of the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project, which is undertaking the translation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, known as the Tripitaka, into English.<br><br>Kunga Chodron received a doctorate in Comparative Human Development and a master’s degree in Human Development from Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Harvard, she also served for two years as an editor of the Harvard Educational Review. She worked for the U.S. government for over 15 years, serving in senior research and policy positions in the U.S. Department of Education.<br><br>Kunga Chodron has been a Buddhist nun for over twenty years. She has received many teachings from eminent Sakya lineage holders, including His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, His Eminence Luding Khen Chen Rinpoche, and the Very Venerable Dezhung Rinpoche. Her primary teacher is Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen.<br><br>In 2001, Kunga Chodron assisted in the founding of and has since continuously served as Secretary/Treasurer of Tsechen Kunchab Ling Temple, which is the Seat of His Holiness Sakya Trizin in the United States. In 1986, she also assisted in the founding and has since served as President of Sakya Phuntsok Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies and Meditation in Silver Spring Maryland.<br><br>His Holiness Sakya Trizin appointed Kunga Chodron as a member of the Committee of Western Bhiksunis in 2009. In 2011, he bestowed upon her the title of Chodrung-ma (Senior Nun). ([https://www.bhiksuniordination.org/about_cmt_KC.html Source Accessed Apr 2, 2021])
A native of the U.S., Ven. Chodron, whose Chinese Dharma name is De Lin, is particularly qualified to teach Western monastics. She trained in Asia for many years, receiving novice ordination from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in 1977 and full ordination in Taiwan in 1986. Her teachers include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Lama Thubten Yeshe and many others.
In addition to founding Sravasti Abbey, Ven. Chodron is a well-known author and teacher. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, including four volumes (so far) in The Library of Wisdom and Compassion, co-authored with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has studied for nearly forty years. Find info on the first four volumes in the series here: Volume 1, ''Approaching the Buddhist Path''; Volume 2, ''The Foundation of Buddhist Practice''; Volume 3, ''Samsara, Nirvana, & Buddha Nature'', and Volume 4, ''Following in the Buddha’s Footsteps''.
Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She was resident teacher at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore and Dharma Friendship Foundation in Seattle. Ven. Chodron is also actively involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. ([https://sravastiabbey.org/community-member/thubten-chodron/ Source Accessed Nov 1, 2021]) +
TSERING CHOEKYI completed postgraduate studies in International Relations at the
National Chengchi University, Taipei, where her research focused on the role of
International NGOs and HR in China. She currently works as an intern at Global
Peace Initiative of Women in New York. +
Khenpo David Karma Choephel studied Buddhist philosophy at the Vajra Vidya Institute in Namo Buddha, Nepal, and Sarnath, India. He currently serves as Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche’s main English-language translator, and also translates for the Gyalwang Karmapa and the Kagyu Monlam.
His published translations include ''Ngondro for Our Current Day'' by the Gyalwang Karmapa, ''Heart of the Dharma'' by Khenchen Trangu Rinpoche, ''Jewels from the Treasury, Vasubandhu’s Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma'', with commentary by the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje, all published by KTD Publications; and ''Vivid Awareness: The Mind Instructions of Khenpo Gangshar'' by Thrangu Rinpoche, published by Shambhala Publications. His most recent translation, ''The Torch of True Meaning: Instructions and the Practice Text for the Mahamudra Preliminaries'' by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye and the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje, was taught by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, ''A Collection of Commentaries on The Four-Session Guru Yoga'', Compiled by the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, both published by KTD Publications. ([http://www.ktdpublications.com/david-karma-choephel/ Source Accessed Feb 12, 2020]) +
Venerable Tenzin Chogkyi is a Buddhist nun who first became interested in meditation and Buddhism in the early 1970s, and became a student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist teachers in early 1991. Venerable Tenzin took novice ordination in 2004 with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and completed several long meditation retreats over a six year period. Venerable Tenzin teaches Buddhist philosophy and meditation within the FPMT network, and also teaches Cultivating Emotional Balance (a secular program developed by Alan Wallace and Paul Ekman). She is passionate about social justice and interfaith work in addition to her Buddhist practice, and has been teaching in prisons for the last 13 years. ([https://www.compassioninstitute.com/teachers/tenzin-chogkyi/ Source Accessed Oct 29, 2021]) +
A modern Tibetan biography is available on [https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=W1KG17214 BDRC W1KG17214 ]: bco brgyad khri chen rin po che'i mdzad rnam mdor bsdus. Edited by Yon tan bzang po (P5949). Kathmandu, Nepal: Sachen International, 2008.
His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, Ngawang Khyenrab Thupten Lekshe Gyatso, is the most senior Sakya Lama and the head of the Tsar sub-school of Sakya tradition. His Eminence is a renowned tantric master, a dedicated practitioner, an outstanding scholar, an eloquent poet, and embodies the wisdom, spirit and activities of the holy Dharma. His Eminence is a master of masters as most Tibetan Buddhist lineage holders are his disciples. Amongst these disciples are His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and His Holiness the 41st Sakya Trizin, Ngawang Kunga, and His Eminence is regarded as the definitive authority on Kalacakra Tantra. In addition to His Eminence's stature among Tibetan lamas, the late King Birendra of Nepal awarded His Eminence "Gorkha Dakshin Babu", a tribute which has never been awarded to a Buddhist monk in Nepal before.
Born in 1919 in the Tsang province of Central Tibet into the Zhalu Kushang family of the Che clan, a lineage descended from the clear light gods, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous Chogye Rinpoche of Nalendra Monastery by the 13th Dalai Lama, Thupten Gyatso. Many auspicious and marveleous signs accompanied His Eminence's birth. His Eminence is the 26th patriarch of Phenpo Nalendra Monastery, North of Lhasa. Founded by Rongton Sheja Kunrig (1367-1449), Nalendra is one of the most important Sakya monasteries in Tibet. Wondrously, each generation of the Kushang family has produced no less than four sons, most of who have served as throne holders of many important monasteries including Nalendra, Zhalu and Ngor.
The name "Kushang" meaning 'royal maternal uncle' derived from the fact that many daughters from the family were married to numerous Sakya throne holders, one of whom, Drogon Chagna, was supreme ruler of Tibet, who succeeded Chogyal Phakpa.
The name "Chogye" means 'Eighteen' and comes from the time of Khyenrab Choje, the 8th abbot of Nalendra who also belonged to the aristocratic Kushang family. Khyenrab Choje, a great teacher possessing the direct lineage of Kalacakra received from Vajrayogini, was invited to be the abbot of Nalendra by Sakya Trizin Dagchen Lodro Gyaltsen (1444-1495). Khyenrab Choje visited the Emperor of China who was greatly impressed by the tantric scholar from Tibet and bestowed on him 'eighteen' precious gifts. From Khyenrab Choje the lineage of Chogye Rinpoches began.
At the age of twelve His Eminence was officially enthroned at the Phenpo Nalendra Monastery. In these early years he studied intensively all the basic liturgies and rituals of Nalendra Monastery. His two main root Gurus were the 4th Zimwog Tulku, Ngawang Tenzin Thrinley Norbu Palzangpo, the other main incarnate lama of Nalendra Monastery, and Dampa Rinpoche Shenphen Nyingpo of Ngor Ewam. From these two great teachers His Eminence recieved all the major and minor teachings of Sakya such as the two Lamdre Traditions, the Greater and Lesser Mahakalas, the Four Tantras, the Thirteen Golden Dharmas, Kalacakra, etc. His Eminence completed extensive studies in all major fields of study taught in Lord Buddha's teachings. His Eminence becomes a master in both Sutrayana and Mantrayana teachings. His Eminence is also a great scholar of literature, poetry, history and Buddhist metaphysics and a highly accomplished poet. ([https://www.yuloling.com/khacho-yulo-ling/spiritual-leaders/his-eminence-chogye-trichen-rinpoche.html Source Accessed June 16, 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.) +
Lama Chönam, Chöying Namgyal, was born in the Golog area of eastern Tibet in 1964. His root teacher, Khenpo Münsel, was a direct disciple of Khenpo Ngagchung and was himself one of the great authentic Dzogchen masters of the twentieth century. Lama Chönam escaped Tibet in 1992 and later came to the United States, where he resides today. Over the past sixteen years Lama Chönam has been teaching Tibetan language and the Buddhadharma. He is one of the founders of the Light of Berotsana Translation Group. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/lives-and-liberation-princess-mandarava/ Wisdom Publications]) +
Ven. Thubten Chonyi began attending classes with Venerable Thubten Chodron at Dharma Friendship Foundation in Seattle in 1996 and has practiced steadily under Venerable’s guidance ever since.
She was a founder of Friends of Sravasti Abbey, which formed in 2003 to support Ven. Chodron’s dream to start a monastery. She moved to the Abbey in 2007 and took śrāmaṇerikā and śikṣamāṇā precepts in May 2008. See photos of her ordination.
Along with Ven. Jigme, Ven. Chonyi received bhikshuni (full) ordination at Fo Guang Shan temple in Taiwan in 2011. See the photos.
At the Abbey, Ven. Chonyi is involved with publicity and inviting generosity. She also shares Buddha’s teachings at the Abbey, online, and, occasionally, at Buddhist centers in the US and abroad. She has co-taught meditation and Buddhist ideas at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane for 13 years, and especially enjoys interfaith exchange and bringing Buddhist values into social justice issues.
Ven. Chonyi’s formal education was in theatre at Wesleyan College in Macon, GA. She worked for many years as a performer, publicist, fundraiser, and producer in the performing arts. As a Reiki teacher and practitioner for 19 years, she co-founded two Reiki centers and the Reiki AIDS Project, and led classes and workshops in Europe and North America. She was communications director for the international The Reiki Alliance and served eight years as Managing Editor for ''Reiki Magazine International''. ([https://sravastiabbey.org/community-member/thubten-chonyi/ Source Accessed May 16, 2023]) +
Yoke Meei Choong 宗玉媺 currently teaches as an Associate Professor in the Department of Buddhist Studies at Fo Guang University, Taiwan. Her research combines Buddhist philological study with the historical study of Buddhist thought. Her interest lies mainly in the derivation, adaptation and development of Mahāyāna concepts or thought from the ideas of mainstream Buddhism. Her chief publications include "''Nirvāṇa'' and ''Tathatā'' in Yogācāra Texts: The Bodhisattva’s Adaptation of the ''Śrāvaka''-Path", "To Realize or Not to Realize the Supreme Truth: A Change of the Conception of Realization”, “On the Interpretation of ''na śūnyatayā śūnya''", and a book, ''Zum Problem der Leerheit'' (śūnyatā) ''in der Prajñāpāramitā''. (Source: ''A Distant Mirror'', about the authors, 529) +
Wrote an interlinear commentary on the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' titled ''Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i rnam par bshad pa dam pa'i zhal lung rmongs pa'i mun sel''. His commentary on chapter 9 has a separate title called ''Shes rab le'u'i brjed byang dam pa'i zhal lung rmongs pa'i mun sel''. +
Chos kyi 'od zer (Nom-un gerel, Choiji Odser, or Čosgi Odsir) was a Uighur scholar of the Sakya order who translated the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' into Mongolian in 1305 (other sources say 1312, see Baumann, 2008) and wrote a commentary on the text, of which only a fragment remains. According to Liland's MA thesis (2009), he flourished between 1305–1321. According to Alexander Berzin, "The first Buddhist text translated from Tibetan into Mongolian was Shantideva's ''Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior'' (''Byang-chub sems-dpa’i spyod-pa-la ‘jug-pa'', Skt. ''Bodhisattvacaryavatara''). It was prepared by the Uighur translator Chokyi Ozer (Chos-kyi ‘od-zer), during the reign of the Mongol Yuan Emperor Khaisan Külüg (Chin. Wuzong, Wu-tsung, 1308–1311). ([https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/transmission-of-buddhism/traditional-guidelines-for-translating-buddhist-texts See Berzin]). Vesna Wallace also notes that he was this first to translate the ''Four Medical Tantras'' from Tibetan to Mongolian. His student was Shes rab seng ge. +
It is as of yet unclear who this figure is and there are several possibilities on BDRC, such as rdzong sngon blo gros chos kyi go cha ([http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/P7921 P7921]). His termas have also been published [http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW1KG6249 here] with authorship attributed to rdzong sngon pad+ma thugs mchog rdo rje ([http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/P7959 P7959]) +
Translator of the ''Vimalakīrtinirdeśasūtra'' and the ''Ratnameghasūtra''. +
Chöje Lingpa, also known as Rokje Lingpa as well as several other names, was initially recognized as the rebirth of a Kagyu master by the Seventh Shamarpa and installed at Rechung Phuk, an institution named after Milarepa's disciple Rechungpa and the site where Tsangnyön Heruka wrote his famous biography of Milarepa. Though Chöje Lingpa he would become an important teacher to several important Kagyu hierarchs including the Karmapa and Shamarpa, he we also involved with several Nyingma masters, including the tertön Taksham Nuden Dorje who granted him prophecies and made him the steward of his treasures. He would become a prolific tertön in his own right and came to be considered the penultimate emanation of Gyalse Lhaje, prior to his rebirth as Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. +
Tarapada Chowdhury (1906-59) M.A., B.L., Ph.D (London) was Head of Department Sanskrit, Patna College, Patna University. He also taught Linguistics, German, French and Bengali at the University. Among his major works is ''Unādisūtrani'' (1940), ''Avyayaviveka'' (1946), and the critical editions of ''Śaiśiriya-Śiksā'' (1935). ([https://www.amazon.in/Interpretation-Doubtful-Words-Atharvaveda-Essays/dp/9388540921 Source accessed June 7, 2020]) +
Junjie Chu 褚俊傑 is an Indologist and Tibetologist, and teaches IndoTibetan Buddhist philosophy, Sanskrit and classic Tibetan in the Department of Indology and Central Asian Studies at the University of Leipzig, Germany. His current research centers on the Yogācāra system, especially its epistemological theories. He is the author of "On Dignāga’s Theory of the Object of Cognition as Presented in PS(V) 1" (''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'') and "A Study of Sataimira in Dignāga’s Definition of Pseudo-Perception (PS 1.7cd-8ab)" (''Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens/Vienna Journal of South Asian Studies''). ([https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/4-publikationen/hamburg-buddhist-studies/hamburgup-hbs03-authors-linradich-mirror.pdf Source Accessed June 29, 2020]) +
The Chung Tai Translation Committee comprises of Dharma Masters and lay disciples and convenes regularly. To view or download other sutra translations by CTTC, visit “Dharma Gems” on http://sunnyvale.ctzen.org. See also the publisher, the [https://research.tsadra.org/index.php/Chung_Tai_Shan_Buddhist_Foundation Chung Tai Shan Buddhist Foundation]. +
Felin Chung is a graduate of Rangjung Yeshe Institute's Translator Training Program (TTP). She is a member of the Dharmachakra Translation Committee. +
Ven. George Churinoff (Gelong Thubten Tsultrim) has taught and studied in FPMT centers around the world. Since attending his first November Course in Kopan in 1974 and ordaining in 1975, he has studied extensively. A physics graduate from MIT, Venerable George earned a Masters degree in Buddhist studies from Delhi University, India. He took ordination in 1975 and studied the Geshe Studies Program at Manjushri Institute, England, where he also served as Spiritual Program Coordinator.
Venerable George was instrumental in founding the Masters Program at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy, where he also served as Program Coordinator. After studying and teaching there for eight years he spent several years at Tushita Centre in Delhi, followed by three years as Lama Osel Rinpoche's English curriculum tutor at Sera Je Monastery in South India. Venerable George has done many retreats in the sutra and tantra traditions and taught extensively in FPMT centers all over the world. He taught the Basic Program as resident teacher at Dorje Chang Institute, New Zealand and at Land of Medicine Buddha, USA. Venerable George now resides in Asheville, NC. ([https://landofmedicinebuddha.org/events/basic-program-tenets-module-with-ven-george-churinoff-2021-03-19/ Source Accessed Aug 19, 2021]) +
Ann Chávez is a long-time student of Geshe Lhundub Sopa. She helped translate ''The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems'' by Nyima Chökyi Thuken, an extensive survey of Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical system found in Asia. ([https://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2013/january/like-a-waking-dream/ann-chavez/ Source Accessed June 19, 2020]) +
André Chédel, born in Neuchâtel in 1915 and died in Le Locle in 1984, was a self-taught Swiss philosopher and researcher, writer, orientalist and journalist.
The only child of a family from Le Locle, he had a great interest in Eastern languages and civilizations from a very young age. He first studied as an autodidact and then in Paris at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, at the School of Oriental Languages and at the Sorbonne between 1936 and 1939.
Fascinated by the East and interested in philosophical, spiritual and religious ideas, in 1944 he composed an anthology of Eastern religious and sacred texts, then several essays, in particular ''Judaism and Christianity: the bases of an agreement between Jews and Christians, towards a spiritualist religion'' (1951), ''For a secular humanism'' (1963), ''On the threshold of Solomon's temple: reflections on Freemasonry'' (1977) and finally ''The absolute, this research: analysis of monotheistic religions'' (1980). His literary activity is rich, varied and accessible. Among other things, he also wrote a novel, ''The Rise to Carmel'' (1958), a collection of short stories ''Contes et portraits'' (1958), a set of short texts ''Vagabondages: evocations and reflections'' (1974), as well as various travel stories.
At the same time, he translated numerous texts into French, in particular works in Russian (''La Russie face à l'Occident'' by Dostoyevsky in 1945, ''Les Nouvelles'' by Anton Chekhov in 1959), in ancient Greek (''Les Perses d' Eschyle'' in 1946), in Arabic (''Choice of Tales from the Arabian Nights'' in 1949), in Sanskrit (''Bhagavad-Gîtâ'' in 1971 ). In addition, he wrote several prefaces.
In addition to his abundant publications, André Chédel was also a freelance journalist and collaborated with numerous daily newspapers and reviews: the Journal de Genève, the Gazette de Lausanne, L'Essor (of which he was the head from 1950 to 1952), L'Impartial, La Revue de Suisse, La Vie protestante, and others.
André Chédel was a Freemason, a member of the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina.
He finally received several prizes and distinctions, he is notably Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa from the University of Neuchâtel in 1962. From the French Academy, he received the Louis-Paul-Miller Prize in 1972 for his book ''Vers l'Universalité''. ([https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Ch%C3%A9del Source Accessed Apr 7, 2022])
Khenmo Trinlay Chödron is a senior student of Khenchen Rinpoche. She teaches at the Tibetan Meditation Center in Fredrick, Maryland, as well as at affiliated centers in the United States and Sweden. ([https://www.shambhala.com/authors/a-f/khenmo-trinlay-chodron.html Source Accessed Sept 4 2020]) +
Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön is a scholar, teacher, and translator in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. She divides her time between the Rigpe Dorje Institute at Pullahari Monastery, Kathmandu, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Before studying Buddhism, she completed graduate degrees in biology and law and worked as a litigator in Miami and Silicon Valley. With her husband, Lama Karma Zopa Jigme, she cofounded Prajna Fire and the Prajna Sparks podcast. She also co-hosts the Opening Dharma Access: Listening to BIPOC teachers podcast. ([https://www.lionsroar.com/author/lama-karma-yeshe-chodron/ Source Accessed April 25, 2024]) +
Pema Chödrön is an American Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Chödrön has written several dozen books and audiobooks, and is principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, Canada. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pema_Ch%C3%B6dr%C3%B6n Source Accessed Jan 7, 2021)] +
[https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P541 TBRC] +
Chǒngjung Musang. (C. Jingzhong Wuxiang; J. Jōshu Musō (680-756, alt. 684-762). Korean-Chinese Chan master of the Tang dynasty; because he was of Korean heritage, he is usually called Musang in the literature, following the Korean pronunciation of his dharma name, or Master Kim (K. Kim hwasang; C. Jin heshang), using his Korean surname. Musang is said to have been the third son of a Silla king and was
ordained in Korea at the monastery of Kunnamsa. In 728, he arrived in the Chinese capital of Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) and had an audience with the Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756), who appointed him to the monastery of Chandingsi. Musang subsequently traveled to Chu (in present day Sichuan province) and became a disciple of the monk Chuji (alt. 648-734, 650-732, 669-736), who gave him dharma
transmission at the monastery of Dechunsi in Zizhou (present day Sichuan province). He later resided at the monastery of Jingzhongsi in Chengdu (present-day Sichuan province; later known as Wanfosi), which gave him his toponym Chǒngjung (C. Jingzhong). Musang became famous for his ascetic practices and meditative prowess. Musang also began conferring a unique set of precepts known as the three propositions (sanju): “no recollection” (wuji), which was equated with morality (śīla); “no thought” (wunian) with concentration (samādhi); and “no forgetting” (mowang) with wisdom (prajñā). He also taught a practice known as yinsheng nianfo, a method of reciting the name of the Buddha by extending the length of the intonation. Musang’s prosperous lineage in Sichuan came to be known as the Jingzhong zong line of Chan. Musang seems to have taught or influenced several renowned Chan monks, including Heze Shenhui (668-760), Baotang Wuzhu (714-774), and Mazu Daoyi (707-786); he also played an important role in transmitting Chan to Tibet in the 750s and 760s. (Source: "Chǒngjung Musang." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 187. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Dr. Barry Clark is the only Westerner to have undergone the complete theoretical and clinical training of a Tibetan doctor. For almost 20 years, he has studied, practiced and taught the ancient science of Tibetan medicine. His primary teacher was Dr. Yeshe Donden, the personal physician to H.H. the Dalai Lama for eighteen years. Dr. Clark now lives and practices in New Zealand, and frequently teaches and gives workshops in Europe, North America and SE Asia. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/the-quintessence-tantras-of-tibetan-medicine/ Shambhala Publications]) +
Robert W. Clark is the Coordinator of the Stanford Tibetan Language Program. He teaches Tibetan language and literature at Stanford University, and serves as a curator and consultant for Asian Art collections in the US and India. He is the program director of Tardo Ling, in San Francisco, a center for translation of Tibetan literature. Dr. Clark worked as a translator in the Private Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and has served as interpreter for Tibetan lamas and educators for over 25 years. He is an author of numerous books and articles on Tibetan, Nepalese, and Indian Buddhist art, history and culture including ''Treasures of the Nying T’ik''; ''The Universal Vehicle Discourse Literature (Mahayanasutralamkara)''; ''Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World''; ''The Art of Gandhara and Tibet''; ''The Tethong Portraits of the Eighty Four Mahasiddhas''; ''The Treasures of Buddhist Tibet''; ''Art of the Qianlong Emperor''; and ''The Practice of Mahamudra''. He has translated over 70 Tibetan texts, and over 1000 Tibetan official and commercial documents from the Nepalese Government archive. Dr. Clark was a curator and catalogue author for exhibitions of Tibetan and Buddhist art at the Tibetan Museum (Dharamsala), Asian Art Museum (San Francisco), Dallas Art Museum, and Bowers Museum of Culture. He is currently working on a biographical account concerning Buddhist culture in Tibet and India in the 20th century. ([https://dlcl.stanford.edu/people/robert-w-clark Source Accessed April 30, 2020]) +
Graham E. Clarke (United Kingdom) (d. 1998) was coordinator of anthropology and development at Queens House in Oxford. A social anthropologist, he specialized in developmental issues, conducting field research in Nepal and Tibet. Hew was a member of the Panam Project Identification Mission of the European Community of Tibet. (Source: ''Imagining Tibet'', List of Contributors, 453) +
Barbra Clayton is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Allison University, a liberal arts institution located in the heart of maritime Canada. She is the author of ''Moral Theory in Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya'', the article on Buddhist Ethics in the ''Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy'', and several articles on Mahāyāna morality. Her recent work focuses on the ethics of environmentalism in the Shambhala Buddhist community, as well as on Buddhist monasticism at Gampo Abbey in Canada. She is the co-editor with Dan Cozort of the ''Journal of Buddhist Ethics'', though is currently taking an extended sabbatical from this role . . . ([https://www.cardus.ca/contributors/bclayton/ Source Accessed Jan 19, 2021]) +
Thomas Cleary passed away on June 20, 2021. https://www.shambhala.com/remembering-thomas-cleary
:Of his passing, renowned Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman wrote on Facebook:
::“There is no doubt in my mind that Thomas Cleary is the greatest translator of Buddhist texts from Chinese or Japanese into English of our generation, and that he will be so known by grateful Buddhist practitioners and scholars in future centuries. Single-handedly he has gone a long way toward building the beginnings of a Buddhist canon in English.”
Cleary became interested in Buddhism when he was a teenager; his researches into Buddhist thought began with a desire to learn during this time of his life. When he began translating, he chose either untranslated works or—as in the case of Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War''—books whose extant translations were "too limited".
Cleary earned a Ph.D in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and a JD from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Since completing his doctoral studies, Cleary has had little involvement with the academic world. In a rare interview, Cleary stated: "There is too much oppression in a university setting . . . I want to stay independent and reach those who want to learn directly through my books."
Cleary's brother Jonathon also completed his doctoral work in EALC at Harvard. The two brothers worked together to translate the koan collection ''The Blue Cliff Record''; Shambhala published the translation in 1977.
Thomas Cleary's most widely disseminated translation has been of Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'' (''Sunzi Bingfa'').
He also translated the monumental ''Avatamsaka Sutra'' (also called ''Huayan Jing'', or the ''Flower Ornament Scripture'').
Another major translation was of the commentaries of the 18th century Taoist sage Liu Yiming, who explains the metaphoric coding of the main Taoist texts dealing with the transformation of consciousness, and the fusion of the human mind with the mind of Tao.
In 2000, Cleary's various translations of Taoist texts were collected into four volumes by Shambhala Publications as ''The Taoist Classics''. Following the success of these publications, a five-volume collection of Buddhist translations was collected as ''Classics of Buddhism and Zen''. Another translation from the Muslim wisdom tradition is ''Living and Dying with Grace''. In 1993 Cleary published a translation of Miyamoto Musashi's ''Book of Five Rings''. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cleary Source Accessed Sept 18, 2020])
Francis Woodman Cleaves (born in Boston in 1911 and died in New Hampshire on December 31, 1995) was a Sinologist, linguist, and historian who taught at Harvard University, and was the founder of Sino-Mongolian studies in America. He is well known for his translation of ''The Secret History of the Mongols''.
Cleaves received his undergraduate degree in Classics from Dartmouth College, and then enrolled in the graduate program in Comparative Philology at Harvard, but transferred to the study of Far Eastern Languages under Serge Elisséeff in the mid-1930s, prior to the formal establishment of the department.
In 1935, on a fellowship from the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Cleaves went first to Paris, where he studied Mongolian and other Central Asian languages with the Sinologist Paul Pelliot for three years, then to Beijing where he studied with the Mongolist Antoine Mostaert S.J. Always an avid book collector, he also roamed the stalls and shops in Liulichang, the street for books and antiques. There he accumulated an extensive collection not only in Chinese and Mongolian, his own interests, but also in Manchu, which he did not plan to use himself. The books in Manchu were particularly rare and form the core of Harvard's Manchu collection.
Cleaves returned to Harvard in 1941 and taught Chinese in the Department of Far Eastern Languages as well as worked on the Harvard-Yenching Institute Chinese-English dictionary project. In the following year he received his Ph.D. with a dissertation entitled “A Sino-Mongolian Inscription on 1362,” and offered Harvard’s first course on the Mongolian language. Cleaves enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the Pacific. After the war ended, he helped to relocate Japanese citizens who had lived in China back to Japan and sorted through the books they left behind to find those suitable for shipping to the Harvard-Yenching Library.
In 1946, Cleaves returned to Harvard and proceeded to teach Chinese and Mongolian, without interruption, for the next thirty-five years. He is unique for being the only professor in the history of the department never to take a sabbatical. He trained his students in the traditional European sinology of his mentors. Among his best-known disciples were Joseph Fletcher, the distinguished Mongolist and historian, and Elizabeth Endicott-West, author of basic studies on the Yuan dynasty and History of Mongolia.
Cleaves had an especially close relation with William Hung, a preeminent scholar who had become his friend and mentor when they met in China in the 1930s. A mutual friend recalled that Cleaves was "an old-fashioned gentleman perhaps more at home with his cows, horses, and fellow farmers in New Hampshire than with the academic intrigues of Cambridge," while Hung was a "pragmatic Confucianist." The two would meet every weekday at three to sip tea and perhaps read from the Chinese classics or dynastic histories. Cleaves introduced Hung to the Mongol histories, and Hung published several articles in this field. Hung's article on the ''Secret History of the Mongols'', however, drew conclusions which Cleaves did not feel were correct. Out of respect for his friend, Cleaves did not publish his own translation until 1985, after Hung's death.
Cleaves was renowned for his meticulously annotated translations of Chinese and Old Mongolian texts, and consistently emphasized literal philological accuracy over aesthetic beauty. He published over seventy books and articles, many of which were on bilingual Sino-Mongolian stele inscriptions from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. His largest project was a complete annotated translation of the ''Secret History of the Mongols'', of which only the first volume was ever published. In order to give readers the flavor of the original, Cleaves restricted the vocabulary to words used in Elizabethan English, a decision which made the text hard for some readers to comprehend. In 1984, Paul Kahn published a translation based on Cleaves but using contemporary English.
A deeply committed teacher, Cleaves reluctantly retired in 1980, and continued his scholarship on Mongolian history. Much of his work, including notes on the remaining sections of the ''Secret History'' and manuscripts for dozens of additional articles, remained unpublished at the time of his death in 1995. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Woodman_Cleaves Source Accessed Mar 12, 2021])
Ian James Coghlan (Jampa Ignyen) trained as a monk at Jé College, Sera Monastic University, completing his studies in 1995, and holds a Ph.D. in Asian Studies from La Trobe University. He has translated and edited a number of works from Tibetan including ''Principles of Buddhist Tantra'' (with Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoché and Voula Zarpani); ''Hundreds of Deities of Tusita, An Offering Cloud of Nectar'', and ''Stairway to the State of Union'' (with Choden Rinpoché and Voula Zarpani). Currently he is a translator for the Institute of Tibetan Classics and an adjunct research fellow at SOPHIS, Monash University. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/ornament-abhidharma/ Wisdom Publications]) +
Alan Cole is the author of a number of books in the field of Religious/Buddhist Studies, including ''Mothers and Sons in Chinese Buddhism'' (Stanford University Press 1998), ''Text as Father: Paternal Seductions in Early Mahayana Buddhist Literature'' (University of California Press 2005), ''Fathering Your Father: The Zen of Fabrication in Tang Buddhism'' (University of California Press 2009), ''Fetishizing Tradition: Desire and Reinvention in Buddhist and Christian Narratives'' (SUNY Press, 2015), and, most recently, ''Patriarchs on Paper: A Critical History of Medieval Chan Literature'' (University of California Press, 2016). He was Professor of Religious Studies at Lewis & Clark College from 2006–2012 and Visiting Professor of Philosophy at National University of Singapore from 2013–2014. ([https://independent.academia.edu/ColeAlan/CurriculumVitae Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
Graham Coleman is writer and director of the acclaimed feature documentary ''Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy''. He studied Tibetan language and literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and between 1976 and 1989 received teachings on Tibetan Buddhist theory and practice, privately, from H. H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, H. H. Trijang Rinpoche, H. H. Dudjom Rinpoche, H. H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and H. E. the Sixth Tharig Rinpoche. He has been chief executive of the Orient Foundation for Arts and Culture since 1983, and since 1988 has co-managed the creation of Tibetan-knowledge.org, one of the world’s largest online multimedia archives of classical Tibetan knowledge. From 2014 to the present he has co-managed the formation of Gompa – Tibetan Monastery Services in cooperation with senior Tibetan lamas and the major monasteries and nunneries of India and Nepal. He is editor of ''A Handbook of Tibetan Culture'' (Rider, 1993), the first complete translation of the ''Tibetan Book of the Dead'' (Penguin Classics, 2005), and ''Meditations on Living, Dying, and Loss'' (Penguin, 2008). (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/wisdom-podcast/graham-coleman/ Wisdom Experience]) +
Dr. James William Coleman was born in Los Angeles and raised in the San Fernando Valley. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cal State Northridge (then called San Fernando Valley State College) and his master's and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His areas of specialization were criminology and the sociology of religion. . . .
His dissertation was an attempt to explain the process by which heroin addicts were able to give up drugs and change their lives, but his interest in criminology soon shifted to white collar crime. He first published ''The Criminal Elite: The Sociology of White Collar Crime'' in 1985, and it eventually went to six editions. His textbook, ''Social Problems'', which he originally co-authored with his dissertation advisor, Donald R. Cressey, and later with Harold R. Kerbo, Professor Emeritus, first came out in 1980 and had a total of 10 editions.
Later in his career, Coleman's interest turned back to the sociology of religion, and more specifically, to the amazing growth of Buddhism in the west. He published ''The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition'' in 1991, and continues to be involved with Buddhist theory and practice. He edited the talks of Reb Anderson Roshi into a booked entitled ''The Third Turning of the Wheel: The Wisdom of the Samdhnirmocana Sutra'', which was published in 2012. His latest book, ''The Buddha’s Dream of Liberation: Freedom, Emptiness and Awakened Nature'' came out in June 2017. ([https://socialsciences.calpoly.edu/newsletter-2017/coleman-retires Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
Professor of History and East Asian Studies, teaches Japanese intellectual and cultural history. His interests include the history of Buddhism in Japanese society, Medieval society and economy, and Japan's relations with China and the West. Professor Collcutt completed an English translation of Kume Kunitake's record of the Iwakura Embassy's visit to the United States in 1872. He is working on a companion volume to be entitled ''The Iwakura Embassy in the United States: An Inner History''. He is translating "Dialogues in Dreams" by the fourteenth century Zen master Muso Kokushi and editing a collection of papers on Medieval and Early Modern social history. His regular undergraduate classes include "History of East Asian to 1800" taught with Professor Peterson, "The World of the Tale of Heike: an Introduction to Medieval Japanese Society", and "Ideas and Images in Japanese Culture." ([https://eas.princeton.edu/people/martin-collcutt Source Accessed June 14, 2023]) +
Benjamin is a Belgian national who holds BA and MA degrees in Buddhist Studies with Himalayan Language from Kathmandu University. He has been teaching classical Tibetan at RYI since 2008 and has both managed and taught on several Summer Intensive programs. His research interests include Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, Indian and Tibetan teachings on Buddha nature, and Vajrayana practices. ([https://www.ryi.org/faculty/benjamin-collet-cassart Source Accessed June 2, 2021]) +
Steven Collins (1951-2018) was Chester D. Tripp Professor in the Humanities in the University of Chicago’s Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and in the Divinity School’s History of Religions program. A world-renowned scholar of the Pali Buddhist traditions of south and southeast Asia, he contributed greatly to the University of Chicago’s unusual strength in Buddhist studies. ([https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/memory-steven-collins Source Accessed Jan 17, 2020]) +
Sandrine Colombo is a French journalist working at France Ô and France 3, where she presents from Monday to Friday, at 11:50 am, the Overseas edition. Of West Indian and Italian descent, she lives in Paris, but stays several weeks a year in Martinique and Guadeloupe. She also presents the Sunday morning show Sagesses bouddhistes on France 2, alternating with Aurélie Godefroy. ([https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandrine_Colombo Source Accessed Nov 10, 2020)] +
Paul Condon is an associate professor of psychology at Southern Oregon University. He has also served as a visiting lecturer for the Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, and is a fellow of the Mind & Life Institute. His research examines the relational basis for empathy, compassion, wellbeing, and prosocial action, and the influence of compassion and mindfulness training on those capacities. His writing and teaching also explore the use of diverse scientific theories in dialogue with contemplative traditions to inform meditation practices of compassion, mindfulness, and wisdom. Paul teaches meditation practices adapted from the Tibetan Nyingma and Kagyu traditions for multi-faith and secular application. ([https://paulcondon.org/ Source Accessed April 25, 2024]) +
Ryan Conlon is a doctoral student of Classical Indology at Hamburg University, where he studies Sanskrit and Tibetan tantric literature. From 2006 to 2019 he studied in Nepal at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute and in the Sangye Yeshe Shedra of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery. He has contributed translations to the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, Samye Translations, and the scholarly collective known as the Yakherds. +
Ben Connelly is a Soto Zen teacher and dharma heir in the Katagiri lineage based at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. He also provides secular mindfulness training in a variety of contexts including police training, half-way houses, and correctional facilities, and is a professional musician. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Source: Amazon Author Page)
Learn more at the [https://www.mnzencenter.org/teachers.html Minnesota Zen Meditation Center website].
Watch a video of Ben talking about his book ''Vasubandhu’s Three Natures'':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBK5k17eYDw +
Edward Conze (1904-1979) was born in London and educated in Germany. He gained his Ph.D from Cologne University in 1928, and then studied Indian and European comparative philosophy at the Universities of Bonn and Hamburg. From 1933 until 1960 he lectured in psychology, philosophy and comparative religion at London and Oxford Universities. Between 1963 and 1973 he held a number of academic appointments in England, Germany and the USA, and was also a Visiting Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Lancaster, as well as Vice-President of the Buddhist Society. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Edward_Conze Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
Elizabeth Cook is a faculty member at Dharma College in Berkeley, CA and an editor for Dharma Publishing. +
Francis Dojun Cook was born and raised in a very small town in upstate New York in 1930. He was lucky to be an ordinary kid with ordinary parents. By means of true grit and luck, he managed to acquire several academic degrees and learn something about Buddhism. More luck in the form of a Fulbright Fellowship enabled him to study in Kyoto, Japan, for a year and a half, where he would have learned more had he not spent so much time admiring temple gardens. He now teaches Buddhism at the University of California, Riverside, and is director of translations at the Institute for Transcultural Studies in Los Angeles. He remains ordinary, but to his credit it can be said that he raised four good kids, has a great love for animals, and cooks pretty well. A sign that at last he is becoming more intelligent is that he became a student of Maezumi Roshi several years ago, the best thing he ever did. He is also the author of ''Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra'', and of various articles on Buddhism in scholarly journals. ([https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/francis-dojun-cook/ Source Accessed Mar 18, 2021]) +
David E. Cooper is a British author and philosopher. He was brought up in Surrey and educated at Highgate School and then Oxford University, where he was given his first job in 1967, as a Lecturer in Philosophy. He went on to teach at the universities of Miami, London and Surrey before being appointed, in 1986, as Professor of Philosophy at Durham University – where he remained until retiring in 2008. During his academic career, David was a Visiting Professor at universities in the United States, Canada, Malta, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Cooper is the former Chair (or President) of the Aristotelian Society, the Mind Association, the Friedrich Nietzsche Society, and the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain. He is Secretary and a Trustee of the charity Project Sri Lanka, and he spends time each year visiting and supervising educational and humanitarian projects.
Cooper has published across a broad range of philosophical subjects, including philosophy of language, philosophy of education, ethics, aesthetics, environmental philosophy, animal ethics, philosophy of technology, philosophy of religion, history of both Western philosophy and Asian philosophy, and modern European philosophy, especially Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. In recent years, Cooper has written widely on environmental and Buddhist aesthetics, music and nature, the relationship of beauty and virtue, cultures of food, the significance of gardens, Daoism, our relationship to animals, and the notion of mystery.
Cooper is the author of a number of books, including ''World Philosophies: An Historical Introduction''; ''Meaning''; ''Existentialism: A Reconstruction''; ''The Measure of Things: Humanism, Humility and Mystery''; ''A Philosophy of Gardens''; ''Convergence with Nature: A Daoist Perspective''; ''Senses of Mystery: Engaging with Nature and the Meaning of Life''; and ''Animals and Misanthropy''. He has also edited a number of collections, including ''Blackwell Companion to Aesthetics''; ''Philosophy: The Classic Readings''; ''Epistemology: The Classic Readings''; ''Ethics: The Classic Readings''; and ''Aesthetics: The Classic Readings'' – the latter four notable for their inclusion of material from the Indian and Chinese traditions. He is joint editor of ''Key Thinkers on the Environment''. Cooper is a regular reviewer of books for magazines, including ''The Times Literary Supplement'' and ''The Los Angeles Review of Books''. He is also the author of three novels, all set in Sri Lanka: ''Street Dog: A Sri Lankan Story'', its sequel, ''Old Stripe'', and ''A Shot on the Beach''. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Cooper Source Accessed Mar 12, 2021])
Palmyr Uldéric Alexis Cordier (1871–1914) was a French physician and Indologist and an early specialist of the Āyurveda. Born in a modest family, he was educated in Besançon. He studied medicine in Toulon and Bordeaux, at Marine medical school. He became friends with Liétard and began the study of Sanskrit. Cordier obtained a good command of Sanskrit and, in order to read medical works lost in the original, learned also Tibetan. ([https://whowaswho-indology.info/1361/cordier-palmyr-ulderic-alexis/?print=print Adapted from Source Dec 19, 2023]) +
Philippe Cornu (b. 1957) began studying Tibetan at the age of 18 and became a Buddhist in 1978. He was one of the first Rigpa students in France and has studied and practised Tibetan Buddhism with Dudjom Rinpoche, Sogyal Rinpoche, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, and other teachers of the Nyingma tradition.
Philippe is an author and translator from Tibetan into French of several books on the Nyingma school and Dzogchen. He has also devoted a large part of his career to teaching and transmitting Buddhist philosophy in French speaking universities such as the French National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), and at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), as well as in different Buddhist centres. He joined Rigpa's new Vision Board in 2019. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Philippe_Cornu Source Accessed June 10, 2021]) +
I am an associate professor of philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at the College of Charleston. I work in the fields of philosophy of mind, Phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Indian and Buddhist philosophy in dialogue with Western philosophy and cognitive science. I have recently published a book, Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy (OUP, 2012) that develops a view of Buddhist epistemology, in the tradition of Dignaga and Dharmakirti, as continuous with the phenomenological methods and insights of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, as well as with naturalistic approaches to epistenology and philosophy of mind. In 2012 I co-directed (with Jay Garfield and Evan Thompson) an NEH Summer Institute exploring the convergence of analytic, phenomenological, and Buddhist perspectives in the investigation of consciousness. I am currently completing a book manuscript on the intersections between perceptual and affective consciousness, tentatively entitled Sense, Self-Awareness, and Subjectivity.
Before joining the Philosophy Department at the College of Charleston, I taught in the Centre for Asian Societies and Histories at the Australian National University. I received my Ph.D. from the Australian National University in 2005; I also hold a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy from the University of Bucharest. While at ANU, I also worked on a proof of concept model for parsing Sanskrit based on the Interlingua System (the project was funded by an ARC grant). I have and continue to travel extensively for my research. I spent four and a half years in India in the mid 1990s pursuing studies in Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy. While in India, I was affiliated with several research institutes, including the Asiatic Society in Calcutta (1995-1996), the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and De Nobili College in Pune (1993), and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi (1995-1997). I was a visiting scholar at Queens' College, Cambridge University in 2000, and at the Institut de Civilisation Indienne, Paris in 2001.
I grew up on the banks of the Danube in Galati, Romania. I now live in Charleston, and am married to my colleague, philosopher and author Sheridan Hough.
Robina Courtin (born 20 December 1944, in Melbourne, Australia) is a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa tradition and lineage of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 1996 she founded the Liberation Prison Project, which she ran until 2009.
Courtin was raised Catholic, and in her youth was interested in becoming a Carmelite nun. In her young adulthood, she trained as a classical singer while living in London during the late 1960s. She became a feminist activist and worked on behalf of prisoners' rights in the early 1970s. In 1972 she moved back to Melbourne. Courtin began studying martial arts in 1974, living in New York City and, again, back in Melbourne. In 1976, she took a Buddhist course taught by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa in Queensland.
In 1978 Courtin ordained at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala. She was Editorial Director of Wisdom Publications until 1987 and Editor of Mandala until 2000. She left Mandala to teach and to develop the Liberation Prison Project.
Robina Courtin's work has been featured in two documentary films, Christine Lundberg's On the Road Home (1998) and Amiel Courtin–Wilson's Chasing Buddha (2000), and in Vicki Mackenzie's book ''Why Buddhism?'' (2003). Her nephew's film, Chasing Buddha, documents Courtin's life and her work with death row inmates in the Kentucky State Penitentiary. In 2000, the film was nominated for best direction in a documentary by the Australian Film Institute.
In 2001, Courtin created Chasing Buddha Pilgrimage, which lead pilgrimages to Buddhist holy sites in India, Nepal, and Tibet to raise money for the Liberation Prison Project, an association engaged for the Tibetan cause. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robina_Courtin Source Accessed Nov 18, 2020]) +
Linda Covill received her PhD from the University of Oxford and is the author of ''Handsome Nanda'', a translation and a study of Asvaghosa's Saundarananda. +
Edward Byles Cowell, FBA (23 January 1826 – 9 February 1903) was a noted translator of Persian poetry and the first professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge University.
Cowell was born in Ipswich, the son of Charles Cowell and Marianne Byles. Elizabeth "Beth" Cowell, the painter, was his sister.
He became interested in Oriental languages at the age of fifteen, when he found a copy of Sir William Jones's works (including his ''Persian Grammar'') in the public library. Self-taught, he began translating and publishing Hafez within the year.
On the death of his father in 1842 he took over the family business. He married in 1845, and in 1850 entered Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied and catalogued Persian manuscripts for the Bodleian Library. From 1856 to 1867 he lived in Calcutta as professor of English history at Presidency College. He was also as principal of Sanskrit College from 1858 to 1864. In this year he discovered a manuscript of Omar Khayyám's quatrains in the Asiatic Society's library and sent a copy to London for his friend and student, Edward Fitzgerald, who then produced the famous English translations (the ''Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam'', 1859). He also published, unsigned, an introduction to Khayyám with translations of thirty quatrains in the ''Calcutta Review'' (1858).
Having studied Hindustani, Bengali, and Sanskrit with Indian scholars, he returned to England to take up an appointment as the first professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge. He was professor from 1867 until his death in 1903. He was made an honorary member of the German Oriental Society (DMG) in 1895, was awarded the Royal Asiatic Society's first gold medal in 1898, and in 1902 became a founding member of the British Academy. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Byles_Cowell Source Accessed Mar 22, 2021]) +
The Cowherds are scholars of Buddhist studies from the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. They are united by a commitment to rigorous philosophical analysis as an approach to understanding Buddhist metaphysics and epistemology, and to the union of philology and philosophy in the service of greater understanding of the Buddhist tradition and its insights.
They are: Amber Carpenter, Charles Goodman, Stephen Jenkins, Georges Dreyfus, Bronwyn Finnigan, Jay L. Garfield, Guy Martin Newland, Graham Priest, Mark Siderits, Koji Tanaka, Sonam Thakchoe, Tom Tillemans, and Jan Westerhoff. +
Peter Coyote is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cross Creek, Jagged Edge, Bitter Moon, Kika, Patch Adams, Erin Brockovich, A Walk to Remember, and Femme Fatale. +
Dan Cozort grew up in North Dakota, where he ran cross-country and track and was a successful debater and extemporaneous speaker. At Brown University he majored in religious studies, specializing in Christian theology and ethics. At the graduate school of the University of Virginia, he specialized in Buddhism, learned Tibetan and Sanskrit, and began his collaboration with Tibetan lamas. He did a year of fieldwork in India, traveling broadly and staying in Tibetan monasteries. His teaching career began with a two-year appointment at Bates College in Maine. Coming to Dickinson in 1988, he proposed that the College join the South India Term Abroad consortium, which he directed in Madurai, south India, in 1992-93. In 1991 he organized the Festival of Tibet at Dickinson, which included an art exhibit he curated and was the initial occasion in which Tibetan monks constructed a Buddhist sand painting in the Trout Gallery. The monks returned in 1995 to construct another; he collaborated with Prof. Lonna Malmsheimer on a film to document it. In 2000 he began to teach in the Norwich Humanities Programme in England and in 2003-2005 he was its resident director. Prof. Cozort’s teaching is principally in the area of comparative religion, where he offers courses on Buddhism and Hinduism. However, he has also taught about Native American religions, about love and sex in relation to religion, about happiness, and has taught a variety of courses in the theory of religious studies. Currently, in addition to introductory courses, he frequently offers “Contemplative Practices in Asia,” “Buddhism and the Environment,” and “Spiritual Dimensions of Healing,” a course on the relation of religion and medicine. He is the author of six books: Highest Yoga tantra, Buddhist Philosophy, Unique Tenets of the Middle Way Consequence School, Sand Mandala of Vajrabhairava, Sadhana of Mahakala, and Enlightenment Through Imagination. He also edited the Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Ethics.He has also written numerous book chapters and articles and a film script. From 2006 to 2019, he was the Editor of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. ([https://www.dickinson.edu/site/custom_scripts/dc_faculty_profile_index.php?fac=cozort Source Accessed Apr 14, 2021])
Edward John Craig (born 26 March 1942) is an English academic philosopher, editor of the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', and former Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He is also a former cricketer at first-class level: a right-handed batsman for Cambridge University and Lancashire. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Craig_(philosopher) Source Accessed June 5, 2023]) +
L. Cranmer-Byng was an author and sinologist. +
Jamie is a graduate student in Tibetan Studies at the Institute of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna, where he is currently completing his MA thesis on the life of Gö Lotsawa Shönu Pal. Jamie provides administrative support for the Translation Teams and is our source text researcher and catalogue curator.
Jamie’s research focuses mainly on the philosophical literature of Tibetan Buddhism, in particular the different Tibetan Madhyamaka interpretations, Tibetan biography writing, the Kadam teachings on mind training (blo sbyong), and experiential songs (mgur). He has also contributed to several translation projects, such as Study Buddhism (Berzin Archives) and 84000.
Jamie currently lives in Vienna, where he has found the ideal environment to spend his free time pursuing his interest in classical music and playing the double bass. ([https://www.khyentsevision.org/team/jamie-creek/ Source Accessed Sep 7, 2021]) +
Jamie Cresswell was President of the European Buddhist Union from 2011 to 2017 and was elected Vice-President in 2017.
Jamie is a member of SGI-UK and the Network of Buddhist Organisations UK, which he represents at the EBU. He is director of the Centre for Applied Buddhism, a member of the European Council of Religious Leaders and a trustee of Religions for Peace, UK.
He has practised Buddhism for nearly 30 years and his Buddhist background includes a degree in Buddhist studies, as well as practice and study in many traditions and schools.
In his spare time Jamie sings with a male voice choir, attempts to compose music and walks in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside. ([http://europeanbuddhism.org/about/ebucouncil/ Source Accessed may 19, 2021]) +
John Hurrell Crook (27 November 1930 – 15 July 2011) was a British ethologist who filled a pivotal role in British primatology.
As Reader in Ethology (animal behaviour) in the Psychology Department of University of Bristol, he led a research group studying social and reproductive behaviour in birds and primates throughout the 1970s–80s, turning to the socio-psychological anthropology of Himalayan peoples in the 1990s. In his later years he was the Teacher of the Western Chan Fellowship. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Crook_(ethologist) Source Accessed Nov 29, 2023]) +
Kate Crosby joined King’s as Professor of Buddhist Studies in April 2013. She came to King’s from SOAS where she was Director of the Centre of Buddhist Studies and Seiyu Kiriyama Reader in Buddhist Studies. Before that she held posts in Buddhism, Pali and Sanskrit at the universities of Edinburgh, Lancaster and Cardiff, as well as teaching in Oxford at a number of colleges and the Oriental Institute. She has held visiting professorships at the Universities of McGill, Montreal, Dongguk, Seoul and the Buddhist Institute, Phnom Penh. She studied Sanskrit, Pali and other Buddhist languages, Indian religions and Buddhism at Oxford (MA and D.Phil., St. Hugh’s and St. Peter’s). She also studied at the universities of Hamburg and Kelaniya (Sri Lanka), as a Commonwealth Scholar, and with traditional teachers in Pune, Varanasi and Kathmandu.
In addition to textual work using mainly classical languages, as well as some in mixed Pali-Sinhala, she has conducted fieldwork in most Theravada countries. She is co-editor of the international peer-review journal ''Contemporary Buddhism'' and a member of the Theravada Civilizations Project. ([https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/kate-crosby Source Accessed Jan 7, 2021]) +
Mike Chodo Cross was born in Birmingham in 1959, and graduated from Sheffield University. With Gudo Nishijima, he is the co-translator into English of Master Dogen’s ''Shobogenzo'' in four volumes. He now divides his time between England and France. Together with his wife Chie, who is also an Alexander Technique teacher and Zen practitioner, he runs the Middle Way Re-education Centre in Aylesbury, England. At a small country retreat on the edge of La Foret Des Andaines in northern France, he indulges selfishly in sitting-Zen, amid sounds of a valley stream and abundant singing of birds. ([http://www.zen-occidental.net/enseignements/cross1.html Source Accessed July 13, 2023]) +
Sándor Csoma de Kőrös (Hungarian: [ˈʃaːndor ˈkøːrøʃi ˈt͡ʃomɒ]; born Sándor Csoma; 27 March 1784/8 – 11 April 1842) was a Hungarian philologist and Orientalist, author of the first Tibetan–English dictionary and grammar book. He was called Phyi-glin-gi-grwa-pa in Tibetan, meaning "the foreign pupil", and was declared a bosatsu or bodhisattva by the Japanese in 1933.[2] He was born in Kőrös, Grand Principality of Transylvania (today part of Covasna, Romania). His birth date is often given as 4 April, although this is actually his baptism day and the year of his birth is debated by some authors who put it at 1787 or 1788 rather than 1784. The Magyar ethnic group, the Székelys, to which he belonged believed that they were derived from a branch of Attila's Huns who had settled in Transylvania in the fifth century. Hoping to study the claim and to find the place of origin of the Székelys and the Magyars by studying language kinship, he set off to Asia in 1820 and spent his lifetime studying the Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy. Csoma de Kőrös is considered as the founder of Tibetology. He was said to have been able to read in seventeen languages. He died in Darjeeling while attempting to make a trip to Lhasa in 1842 and a memorial was erected in his honour by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1ndor_K%C5%91r%C3%B6si_Csoma Source Accessed May 5, 2022]) +
Bryan J. Cuevas (Ph.D., University of Virginia) joined the Department of Religion faculty of Florida State University in Fall 2000. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Asian religious traditions, specializing in Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhism, Tibetan history, language, and culture. His principal research interests focus on Tibetan history and biography, Buddhist magic and sorcery, and the politics of ritual power in premodern Tibetan societies. He is currently working on the history of the Buddhist Vajrabhairava and Yamāntaka/Yamāri traditions in Tibet, with special focus on the Raluk (Rwa lugs) transmissions and their lineages from the twelfth through early eighteenth centuries. This is a component of a broader long-term study of Tibetan sorcery and the politics of Buddhist ritual magic in Tibet up through the nineteenth century.
Dr. Cuevas has been a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, and has held visiting appointments at UC Berkeley, Princeton University, and Emory University. His research has been supported by fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), as well as grants from public and private endowments.
Dr. Cuevas is currently accepting graduate students (M.A. and Ph.D.) interested in pursuing research topics in Tibetan and Buddhist studies for the upcoming 2022-23 academic year.
([https://religion.fsu.edu/person/bryan-j-cuevas Source Accessed Feb 23, 2022.]) +
David Cummiskey teaches courses on biomedical ethics, philosophy of law, and seminars on moral theory, contemporary liberalism, and Buddhist philosophy. His research and publications focus on Kantian and consequentialist approaches to moral philosophy, political philosophy, and intercultural ethics and bioethics. His most recent articles discuss the relationship between Buddhist and Kantian ethics, and Buddhist environmental ethics and political philosophy. He is currently working on a series of articles that develop the relationships among Buddhist perfectionism, emergent conceptions of agency, compatibilist conceptions of free will, Kantian accounts of self-constitution, and Humean constructivism. ([https://www.bates.edu/faculty-expertise/profile/david-r-cummiskey/ Source Accessed May 18, 2021]) +
Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly created position of archaeological surveyor to the government of India; and he founded and organised what later became the Archaeological Survey of India.
He wrote numerous books and monographs and made extensive collections of artefacts. Some of his collections were lost, but most of the gold and silver coins and a fine group of Buddhist sculptures and jewelery were bought by the British Museum in 1894. He was also the father of mathematician Allan Cunningham. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Cunningham Source Accessed Aug 16, 2023]) +
Erik Curren has worked for a decade in the solar power industry while writing about energy, climate change and U.S. history. His previous books include "The Solar Patriot: A Citizen's Guide to Helping America Win Clean Energy Independence." His work aims to draw inspiration and lessons for success today from stories of people in the past who fought with courage and conscience to solve the biggest problems facing America and the world. ([https://www.audible.com/author/Erik-D-Curren/B0719W2748 Source Accessed Nov 30, 2023]) +
Brian Cutillo (1945–2006) was an American scholar and translator. He was also an accomplished neuro-cognitive scientist, musician, anthropologist and textile weaver. Cutillo was a student of Geshe Wangyal and other Tibetan teachers. He also collaborated with Lama Kunga Rinpoche on the translation of additional songs and stories of Milarepa published in the volume ''Miraculous Journey''. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/brian-cutillo/ Wisdom Experience]) +
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. +
As Editor-in-Chief of the Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee, Cutler spent 12 years overseeing a team of a dozen scholars in editing and translating ''The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment'', the early 15th-century work by Tsong-kha-pa. Along with his wife, Diana, Cutler serves as co-director of the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center (TBLC) in Washington, N.J. +
Olaf Czaja studied Tibetan, Indian and Mongolian studies as well as history of art at the universities of Leipzig, Bonn and Kathmandu. He submitted his PhD thesis about the Phag mo ru pa ruling house in medieval Tibet at Leipzig University in 2007. His research interests are Tibetan history, art, and medicine. He is currently research fellow in the project Katalogisierung der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland (KOHD, Union Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany) at Göttingen Academy of Sciences. ([https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/en/region/centralasia/03-05-tibet-himalaya-lecture-series-mantras-and-rituals-in-tibetan-medicine Source Accessed Feb 24, 2023]) +
Rev. Jōshō Adrian Cîrlea (Adrian Gheorghe Cîrlea) is the representative of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Community from Romania, and founder of Amidaj International temple. He is also the author of ''Buddhism of Compassion'', 2007, ''The Path of Acceptance – Commentary on Tannisho'', 2011, ''Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Teachings'', 2012, ''The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land'', 2015, ''The Four Profound Thoughts Which Turn the Mind Towards Amida Dharma'', 2018, ''The Meaning of Faith and Nembutsu in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism'', 2018, ''Commentary on the Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life'', 2020, ''Amida Dharma'', 2020. +
Christoph Cüppers studied Indology and Tibetology at the University of Hamburg following seven years at the University of Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie. From 1983 to 1988, he served as Deputy Director and Director at the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project. Since 1995, he is Director of the Lumbini International Research Institute. In his research, he focuses on the history of 17th century Tibet, Tibetan law and the state administration, as well as on cultural exchanges between Tibetan and Nepal. (Source: ''Handbook of Tibetan Iconometry'') +
D
Daehaeng Kun Sunim (대행, 大行; 1927–2012) was a Korean Buddhist nun and Seon (禪) master. She taught monks as well as nuns, and helped to increase the participation of young people and men in Korean Buddhism. She made laypeople a particular focus of her efforts, and broke out of traditional models of spiritual practice, teaching so that anyone could practice, regardless of monastic status or gender. She was also a major force for the advancement of Bhikkunis (nuns), heavily supporting traditional nuns’ colleges as well as the modern Bhikkuni Council of Korea. The temple she founded, Hanmaum Seon Center, grew to have 15 branches in Korea, with another 10 branches in other countries. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daehaeng Source Accessed Nov 24, 2020]) +
Cortland J. Dahl received a Ph.D. in Mind, Brain and Contemplative Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and also completed an MA degree in Buddhist Studies and Tibetan language at Naropa University. He has worked as an instructor at Kathmandu University's Center for Buddhist Studies, located in Kathmandu, as well as an interpreter for various lamas, including Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. He currently serves as president of Tergar International and as a senior instructor in the Tergar Meditation Community. He lives with his wife and son in Madison, Wisconsin. +
Mitsuya Dake is a Professor at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan. His research themes include Shinran thought, engaged Buddhism, and interfaith dialogue. He has taught courses in Japanese religion and thought and the comparative study of Buddhist culture. He is a member of several academic associations, including The Academy of Japanese Religions, The Association of Indology and Buddhology, and The International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies. ([https://www.ryukoku.ac.jp/english2/prog/graduate/world/professors/dake.html Source Accessed October 17, 2019]) +
Born in 1974, he joined the main Sakya Monastery in North India as a young boy and learned prayers and rituals. He also received empowerments, teachings, and training in the sūtra and tantric teachings in the Sakya tradition. In 1991, he joined Sakya College in Dehradun and pursued higher education in Buddhist Studies, after which he taught in the same college for some years. In 2002, according to the wishes of H.H. Sakya Trichen Rinpoche, he was appointed as the Sakya lecturer in the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. He has served there as a lecturer for over 22 years and was conferred the Khenpo title by H.H. Sakya Trichen and his sons. He has regularly participated in conferences and seminars and has written articles on the wheel of Dharma, Sakya meditation practice, store consciousness, the luminous nature of the mind, the two truths, the view and Middle Way theory in the Sakya tradition, lower and higher abhidharma, bodhicitta, the twelve links of dependent origination, the four tenet systems, etc. +
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. He is the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet. At the age of two, the child, then named Lhamo Dhondup, was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.
The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are realized beings inspired by a wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, who have vowed to be reborn in the world to help humanity. ([https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/biography-and-daily-life/brief-biography Read more here . . .]) +
Gendün Drub was a close disciple of Tsongkhapa, after first ordaining and training in the great Kadam monastery of Nartang. Gendün Drub was instrumental in spreading the new Geluk tradition in Tsang; he founded the great monastery Tashilhunpo in 1447 and was its first abbot, until 1484. He was posthumously identified as the First Dalai Lama, a previous incarnation of the third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso, who first held the title. Gendün Drub was identified as an emanation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion believed to be embodied in the Dalai Lama incarnation line. +
The life of the Seventh Dalai Lama Kelzang Gyatso spanned a troubled period in Tibetan history, during which the Land of Snows was transformed from the battleground of competing Mongol factions into a protectorate of the Manchu Qing dynasty. Trained as a monk-scholar, the turmoil that surrounded his youth and early adulthood had effectively excluded him from an active political role until the events of 1747-1750 propelled him to head the Tibetan government at the age of forty-three. It may be said that the institution of the Dalai Lama, given its characteristic religio-political foundations under the leadership of the Great Fifth, assumed its mature form under the Seventh, whose relations with the Manchus set the pattern for Sino-Tibetan affairs throughout the remainder of the Qing dynasty. ([https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Seventh-Dalai-Lama-Kelzang-Gyatso/3107 Source Accessed Feb 3, 2022]) +
The tenure of the Eighth Dalai Lama, Jampel Gyatso, was a tumultuous era in the Himalayan region, filled with battles and intrigues. This period saw the emergence of the first contacts between Tibet and the British, and the Manchurian representatives of the Qing Empire also managed to enhance its position in Tibet when it was called upon to eject the invading Gurkhas. The Eighth Dalai Lama was an active leader in the midst of all of this, despite being disinclined to rule. ([https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Eighth-Dalai-Lama-Jampel-Gyatso/2339 Source Accessed Sep 27, 2022]) +
Catherine Dalton is an oral interpreter and a translator for the Dharmachakra Translation Committee. She has published a number of translations with Dharmachakra, including several for 84000. Catherine studied and taught at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal for a number of years, and is the co-director of the Dharmachakra Center for Translation and Translation Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Gomde, CA. She holds an MA in Buddhist Studies from Kathmandu University, and is currently a doctoral student in Buddhist Studies at UC Berkeley. (Source: [https://conference.tsadra.org/past-event/the-2014-tt-conference/ 2014 Translation & Transmission Conference Program]) +
Jacob Dalton, Professor and Khyentse Foundation Distinguished Professor of Tibetan Buddhism, received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Michigan in 2002. After working for three years (2002-05) as a researcher with the International Dunhuang Project at the British Library, he taught at Yale University (2005-2008) before moving to Berkeley. He works on Nyingma religious history, tantric ritual, early Tibetan paleography, and the Dunhuang manuscripts. He is the author of The Taming of the Demons: Violence and Liberation in Tibetan Buddhism (Yale University Press, 2011) and Through the Eyes of the Compendium of Intentions: The History of a Tibetan Ritual Tradition (Columbia University Press, under review), and co-author of Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library (Brill, 2006). He is currently working on a study of tantric ritual in the Dunhuang manuscripts.
([https://ealc.berkeley.edu/people/dalton-jacob Source: UC Berkeley]) +
A master born in Khal Kha (Mongolia). His teachers included Blo bzang dge legs bstan 'dzin, Tshe dbang skyabs mchog, Bsod nams rgya mtsho, and Chos kyi rdo rje. His students included Skal bzang ye shes, Blo bzang bstan 'dzin dpal 'byor, Blo bzang yon tan, and Bsod nams rgya mtsho. +
Eva Van Dam is a Dutch artist and illustrator whose work has appeared in numerous books and magazines. She has traveled extensively in Tibet and lived in Nepal for six years, studying Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhist iconography. ([https://www.shambhala.com/milarepa.html Source: Shambhala Publications]) +
Born in Gasa in northern Bhutan, he became a monk at the age of 10 in a local Drukpa Kagyu monastery and learned prayers and rituals in the Drukpa Kagyu tradition. At 15, he joined Lekshey Jungney College in Punakha, and studied language, grammar, poetics, Middle Way, Perfection Studies, etc. under Dralop Lekshey Gyatso and others. In 2010, he entered Tago Buddhist University and finished years of higher Buddhist studies and went to India for further study. He spent five years in Sera Je Khenyen Monastery undertaking rigorous study and returned to Bhutan to continue his study for five more years at Tago Buddhist University. In 2021, he finished his studies and he currently serves as a lecturer at Tago Dorden Buddhist University. +
Lhundup Damchö was born and raised in New York. After high school, she spent a year back-packing alone in Europe before starting her university studies at Sarah Lawrence, where she earned a BA in humanities. She then spent a year studying and living abroad in Paris and Poland, and then joined the New School for Social Research, for MA studies in Continental and Greek philosophy. In 1989, she left to begin a career as a journalist, continuing for seven years in her hometown of New York and later as bureau chief in Hong Kong. Later, during a year’s sabbatical writing as a freelance journalist, she engaged in a 10-day retreat at Kopan Monastery in Nepal’s Kathmandu valley. It was there that she first heard teachings on Buddhism, from Swedish nun Ani Karin.
Within two years, Damchö had left her career, completed several retreats and taken ordination vows in 1999. She was in Dharamsala preparing for another retreat when she first met His Holiness the Karmapa, weeks after his escape from Tibet. Following her retreat, she returned to Madison, Wisconsin, where she continued her seven years of Buddhist philosophy study with Geshe Lhundup Sopa, her abbot. At the same time, Lama Zopa Rinpoche also had a profound influence, and his teachings on renunciation and the cultivation of compassion greatly inspired her practice. In 2003, she was sent to Puerto Rico to offer Dharma talks at the Dharma center founded by Geshe Sopa and directed by Yangsi Rinpoche. Upon arrival in Puerto Rico, Damchö learned that Rinpoche had informed the students there that she would be teaching in Spanish – although her rudimentary knowledge of the language at the time came from having a Cuban sister-in-law, many Latino friends and a lifelong love of languages. Nevertheless, on that slim toehold Damchö began her long engagement with the Dharma in Spanish.
During this same period, she lived with other nuns at Deer Park and engaged in graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying Sanskrit, Tibetan and interdisciplinary studies of Asian culture and history. Her MA thesis explored reading strategies of Mahayana sutras, particularly the Sanghata Sutra, of which she later produced an English translation and a website devoted to the sutra.
In 2006, she returned to India after a six-year absence. After spending over a year reading Sanskrit texts in Pune, Varanasi and Vishakhapatnam with Prabhakara Shastry, (you can read her blog on this period here) she moved to Dharamsala where Dapel and Nangpel had just received their monastic vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After two years in Dharamsala, the seeds of a nuns’ community began to sprout, and when the nuns shared their aspiration with His Holiness the Karmapa, he quickly granted his blessing for them to proceed. In the same year, Damchö received her PhD, with a thesis on gender and ethics in Sanskrit and Tibetan narratives about Buddha’s direct female disciples, entitled “For the Sake of Women, Too: Ethics And Gender in the Narratives of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya.” Damchö has a project pending to publish an English translation of those stories of these nuns’ lives.
Since completing her dissertation in 2009, Damchö has lived in India participating in the life of the nuns’ community, serving His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, on various projects, and engaging in various Spanish-language Dharma initiatives.
In 2010, under the guidance of the 17th Karmapa, she wrote Karmapa: 900 Years, a historical survey of the Karma Kagyu lineage that has since been translated into twelve languages. She co-translated and edited The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out, a book of teachings by His Holiness the Karmapa based on several weeks of dialogue between the Karmapa and a group of students from the University of Redlands. She has since organized several other extended interactions between young people and His Holiness. In 2015, she co-translated and edited Nurturing Compassion, teachings by the Karmapa during his first trip to Europe. Under the Gyalwang Karmapa’s guidance, she produced a visual biography to commemorate his predecessor, Dharma King: The Life of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa in Images, which will be launched in 2016 as part of a commemorative event in Bodhgaya. (Dapel served alongside Damchö to photo-edit this book.) Her translation of his script of a play on the life of Milarepa is also forthcoming from KTD Publications.
Damchö gives weekly Dharma talks in Spanish, which can be viewed at www.facebuda.org. She travels regularly to Dharma centers across Latin America, and leads an annual retreat in Mexico. With Silvia Sevilla, she co-founded Editorial Albricias, a Spanish-language publisher of books on Buddhism. With Leslie Serna, she co-founded a Buddhist study institute that offers online courses in Buddhist philosophy and practice in Spanish, free of charge. This study program was given the name Instituto Budadharma by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa in 2012, and currently admits over 500 students each semester.
Although the bulk of her time is now divided between India and Latin America, Damchö continues to participate in academic circles, presenting at conferences and engaging in collaborative research projects. She has served as a board member of Maitripa College, a Buddhist college in Portland, Oregon, since its founding in 2005.
Source[http://www.dharmadatta.org/en/lhundup-damcho/]
Venerable Geshe Dorji Damdul is presently Director - Tibet House, New Delhi. He has undertaken several projects for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, serving as the primary translator for many of his works. Born in 1968, Geshe Dorji Damdul earned his Geshe Lharampa Degree in 2002 from Drepung Loseling Monastic University.
He has a most fantastic analytical mind, and his skillful technique ensures that most practitioners understand the wisdom rooted behind their practice. Geshe La regularly gives teachings at Tibet House and Deer Park Institute. ([https://vidyaloke.in/home/resource-library/our_gurus_and_masters.php Source Accessed Oct 27, 2021]) +
Ryan began working with 84000 in 2013 as a translator with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Dharmachakra Translation Committee, for whom he translated the Mahāmāyā Tantra and The Dhāraṇī: Entering into Non-conceptuality. He joined the 84000 editorial team in 2017, specializing in esoteric literature. Beyond his translation and editorial work, Ryan has taught courses in Classical Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Translation Studies at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Kathmandu and Rangjung Yeshe Gomde in northern California. He earned his doctorate in Sanskrit and South Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 2021. ([https://84000.co/about/team Source Accessed June 16, 2021]) +
[The] ''Ratnarāśī'' was translated by [the] monk named Daogong, in Liangzhou, about 700 km. ESE of Dunhuang on the main road, in modem day Gansu province, right at the end of the fourth or at the very beginning of the fifth century. . . . [. . . ] [T]here are no biographies of Daogong, and we know next to nothing about him.[2] It is not clear if the ''Karuṇapuṇḍarika'' attributed to him is attributed correctly, but this seems to be the less likely conclusion. It seems even less likely that the ''Aṣṭasāhasrika Prajñāpāramitā'' translation is to be accepted as his.
While we may know little about the man, the time and place in which Daogong lived certainly placed him in the middle of one of the most productive, even explosive, periods in Chinese Buddhist history. The monk-translators listed as contemporaries or near contemporaries of Daogong, and residing in the same region, are Fazhong, Sengqietuo, and Dharmakṣema. (Silk, "The Origins and Early History of the Mahāratnakūṭa," 671–72)
<h5>Notes</h5>
2. This was, I have lately noticed, also the conclusion of Bagchi 1927:211. As far as I can tell from the relevant indices, Daogong is not mentioned in the Chinese dynastic histories either. +
Daolang 道朗 wrote comments and exegeses of Dharmakśema's larger ''Nirvāṇa Sūtra''. He wrote a preface to the ''Nirvāṇa Sūtra'' titled ''Da niepan jing xu'' 大涅槃經序 (preserved in T. 2145, 59b5–60a9). This preface was translated and studied by Whalen Lai. +
Daosheng (Chinese: 道生; pinyin: Dàoshēng; Wade–Giles: Tao Sheng), or Zhu Daosheng (Chinese: 竺道生; Wade–Giles: Chu Tao-sheng), was an eminent Six Dynasties era Chinese Buddhist scholar. He is known for advocating the concepts of sudden enlightenment and the universality of the Buddha nature.
Born in Pengcheng, Daosheng left home to become a monk at eleven. He studied in Jiankang under Zhu Fatai, and later at Lushan (Mount Lu) monastery with Huiyuan, and from 405 or 406 under Kumārajīva in Chang'an, where he stayed for some two years perfecting his education. He became one of the foremost scholars of his time, counted among the "fifteen great disciples" of Kumārajīva.
Sengzhao reports that Daosheng assisted Kumārajīva in his translation of the ''Lotus Sutra'', Daosheng wrote commentaries on the ''Lotus Sutra'', the ''Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra'' and the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'' (the last of which has been lost). In 408, he returned to Lushan, and in 409 back to Jiankang, where he remained for some twenty years, staying at the Qingyuan Monastery (青园寺) from 419.
Daosheng controversially ascribed Buddha-nature to the icchantikas, based on his reading on a short version of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'', which in that short form appears to deny the Buddha-nature to icchantikas; the long version of the ''Nirvāṇa Sūtra'', however (not yet known to Daosheng), explicitly includes the icchantikas in the universality of the Buddha-nature. Daosheng's bold doctrine of including icchantikas within the purview of the Buddha-nature, even before that explicit teaching had actually been found in the long ''Nirvāṇa Sūtra'', led to the expulsion of Daosheng from the Buddhist community in 428 or 429, and he retreated to Lushan in 430.
With the availability of the long ''Nirvāṇa Sūtra'' after 430, through the translation of Dharmakshema, Daosheng was vindicated and praised for his insight. He remained in Lushan, composing his commentary on the ''Lotus Sūtra'' in 432, until his death in 434.
Daosheng's exegesis of the ''Nirvāṇa Sūtra'' had an enormous influence on interpretations of the Buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism that prepared the ground for the Chán school emerging in the 6th century.<br>([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daosheng Source Accessed Sept. 2 2020])
''Dates from The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton University Press, 2014)''
Eva K. Dargyay (born October 1 , 1937 in Munich ) is a German Tibetologist. After earning her doctorate phil. in Munich in 1974, habilitation there in 1976 (structure and change in the Tibetan village) and work as a private lecturer from 1981 to 1990 she was a professor of religious studies with a focus on Buddhism and Tibet at the University of Calgary. From 1991 to 2003 she was a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She has been living in Germany again since 2006. She was married to the Tibetologist Lobsang Dargyay (1935-1994). +
The late Geshe Lobsang Dargyay was trained at Drepung Monastery in Tibet. He got his doctorate in Buddhist and Tibetan Studies from the Ludwig Maximilians Universität and held teaching and research positions in Vienna, Hamburg, and Calgary. Geshe-la was the first Tibetan to receive a doctorate from a Western university. He passed away in 1994. ([https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/geshe-lobsang-dargyay/ Source Accessed Sept 23, 2020])
For a more complete biography, see [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xzc6AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT11&lpg=PT11&dq=Freedom+From+Extremes/In+Memoriam:+Geshe+Lobsang+Dargyay+(1935-94)by+Eva+Neumaier&source=bl&ots=a2vMqwcDeb&sig=ACfU3U1uAhLezrS11HGmbnKtWcEX30VAsQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4m_PKy4jnAhUJGc0KHXxeDagQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Freedom%20From%20Extremes%2FIn%20Memoriam%3A%20Geshe%20Lobsang%20Dargyay%20(1935-94)by%20Eva%20Neumaier&f=false "In Memoriam: Geshe Lobsang Dargyay (1935–94)"] by Eva Neumaier, in ''Freedom from Extremes: Gorampa's "Distinguishing the Views" and the Polemics of Emptiness'' (Wisdom Publications, 2007), xi–xiv. +
Born in Chittagong, eastern Bengal to a Bengali Hindu Vaidya-Brahmin family, Sarat Chandra Das attended Presidency College, as a student of the University of Calcutta. In 1874 he was appointed headmaster of the Bhutia Boarding School at Darjeeling. In 1878, a Tibetan teacher, Lama Ugyen Gyatso arranged a passport for Sarat Chandra to go the monastery at Tashilhunpo. In June 1879, Das and Ugyen-gyatso left Darjeeling for the first of two journeys to Tibet. They remained in Tibet for six months, returning to Darjeeling with a large collection of Tibetan and Sanskrit texts which would become the basis for his later scholarship. Sarat Chandra spent 1880 in Darjeeling poring over the information he had obtained. In November 1881, Sarat Chandra and Ugyen-gyatso returned to Tibet, where they explored the Yarlung Valley, returning to India in January 1883. Along with Satish Chandra Vidyabhusan, he prepared Tibetan-English dictionary.<br>
For a time, he worked as a spy for the British, accompanying Colman Macaulay on his 1884 expedition to Tibet to gather information on the Tibetans, Russians and Chinese. After he left Tibet, the reasons for his visit were discovered and many of the Tibetans who had befriended him suffered severe reprisals.<br>
For the latter part of his life, Das settled in Darjeeling. He named his house "Lhasa Villa" and played host to many notable guests including Sir Charles Alfred Bell and Ekai Kawaguchi. Johnson stated that, in 1885 and 1887 Das met with Henry Steel Olcott, co-founder and first President of the Theosophical Society. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarat_Chandra_Das Source Accessed Jan 20, 2021]) +
Surya Das (born Jeffrey Miller in 1950) is an American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He is a poet, chant master, spiritual activist, author of many popular works on Buddhism, meditation teacher, and spokesperson for Buddhism in the West. He has long been involved in charitable relief projects in the Third World and in interfaith dialogue. Surya Das is a Dharma heir of Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche, a Nyingma master of the non-sectarian Rime movement, with whom he founded the Dzogchen Center and Dzogchen retreats in 1991. His name, which means "Servant of the Sun" in a combination of Sanskrit (''sūrya'') and Hindi (''das'', from the Sanskrit ''dāsa''), was given to him in 1972 by the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Das Source Accessed Feb 7, 2020]) +
John Davenport is a water resources development specialist with wide experience as an aid consultant in South and East Asia and Tibet, including for the Tibetan government-in-exile. He is currently the team leader of the ADB supported Western Basins Water Resources Management Project in Herat, Afghanistan. He has served as vice president of Deer Park Buddhist Center near Madison, Wisconsin. He lives in Eugene, Oregon. Source: ([https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/john-davenport/ Wisdom Publications]) +
Dr. Ronald Davidson has taught at Fairfield University since 1990, after having
previously taught at Santa Clara University and at the Institute of Buddhist Studies
(Graduate Theological Union) in California. He has twice been Director of Asian Studies. He was trained in Sanskrit and Chinese Buddhist studies at the University of California Berkeley under Drs. Padmanabh Jaini, Lewis Lancaster, and Michel Strickmann, but also studied and lived with Tibetans for 18 years before and during his graduate career, working for 11 years with Ngor Thartse Khenpo (Hiroshi Sonami). ([http://works.bepress.com/ronald_davidson/ Source]) +
Bret W. Davis is Professor and Thomas J. Higgins, S.J. Chair in Philosophy at Loyola University Maryland, where he teaches courses on Western, Asian, and cross-cultural philosophy. His research focuses on Japanese philosophy (esp. the Kyoto School and Zen Buddhism), on Continental philosophy (esp. Heidegger, phenomenology, and hermeneutics), and on issues in cross-cultural philosophy and comparative philosophy of religion.
Along with earning a Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University, he has studied and taught for more than a year in Germany and for more than a dozen years in Japan. In Japan, he studied Buddhist thought at Otani University, completed the coursework for a second Ph.D. in Japanese philosophy at Kyoto University, taught philosophy and related courses in Japanese at various universities, and practiced Zen Buddhism at Shōkokuji, one of the main Rinzai Zen training monasteries in Kyoto.
In addition to authoring more than 75 articles in English and Japanese, as well as translating many articles from Japanese and German, he is author of Heidegger and the Will: On the Way to Gelassenheit (Northwestern University Press, 2007); translator of Martin Heidegger’s Country Path Conversations (Indiana University Press, 2010, paperback edition 2016); editor of The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2020) and of Martin Heidegger: Key Concepts (Acumen, 2010, Routledge, 2014); coeditor with Fujita Masakatsu of Sekai no naka no Nihon no tetsugaku (Japanese Philosophy in the World) (Shōwadō, 2005); and coeditor with Brian Schroeder and Jason Wirth of Japanese and Continental Philosophy: Conversations with the Kyoto School (Indiana University Press, 2011) and of Engaging Dōgen’s Zen: The Philosophy of Practice as Awakening (Wisdom Publishing, 2017).
His current projects include a book manuscript on Zen Buddhism and another on the Kyoto School and interpersonal as well as intercultural dialogue. He was the Director of the 2017 Collegium Phaenomenologicum, is Associate Officer of The Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle, serves on the board of directors of the Nishida Philosophy Association (Nishida tetsugakkai) as well as on the editorial boards of several journals and book series, and is coeditor of Indiana University Press’s series in World Philosophies. ([https://loyola.academia.edu/BretDavis Source Accessed Nov 25, 2019])
Gordon Davis’s research includes both historical work on ethical, political and metaphysical themes in the works of Hume, Kant and their contemporaries, and investigations into the applicability of methods of argument developed by these philosophers – as well as neo-Humean and neo-Kantian variations – to contemporary debates in ethics and metaethics. One of Gordon’s current projects explores the prospects for a theoretical synthesis of key elements within the three main traditions of contemporary ethical theory (consequentialism, Kantian deontology and virtue ethics). He also has a strong interest in applied ethics – especially issues surrounding biotechnology and obligations to future generations. ([https://carleton.ca/philosophy/people/davis-gordon/ Source Accessed Apr 16, 2021]) +
Jake Davis is currently a Postdoctoral Associate with the Virtues of Attention project at New York University. He has taught at Brown University and at the City of College of New York. He earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from CUNY Graduate Center, with an Interdisciplinary Concentration in Cognitive Science, as well as a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Hawai`i. His research at the intersection of Buddhist philosophy, moral philosophy, and cognitive science draws on his textual, meditative, and monastic training in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition of Burma (Myanmar), including work as an interpreter and teacher at meditation retreats. ([https://nyu.academia.edu/JakeHDavis Adapted from Source May 13, 2021]) +
Khenpo Dawa Tsering was born in 1987 in Tichurong Drigung Gonpa in the Dolpo region of Nepal. At 11, he started learning Tibetan and in 2000 he met H.H. Senge Tenzin and joined Drigung Monastery in India. He received his novice ordination from H.H. Drigung Kyapgon Thinley Lhundrup and undertook monastic education. In 2005, he joined Kagyu Buddhist University and finished his education in common sciences and Buddhist Studies in general and Kagyu systems, including the Single Intent, Five Verse Mahāmudra, etc., in particular under Khenchen Koncho Gyaltsen, Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen, and H.H. Nubri Rinpoche. Since grade seven, he also taught language and grammar, and in 2014 he finished his education and taught at Samtenling Nunnery for eight years. In 2019, he was conferred the Khenpo title. He currently serves as the disciplinarian at Drigung Jangchubling Monastery. +
Born in 1998 in Mang village in the Mukhum region of Nepal, he joined Jonang Ngedon Takten Shedrup Chokhorling in Parping after meeting Tashi Gyaltsen Rinpoche in 2006. He learned reading, writing, grammar, rituals, and how to play musical instruments. In 2010, he started learning logic and epistemology under Khenpo Ngawang Rinchen Gyatso and Geshe Drime Ozer and received novice ordination from Khentrul Chokyi Nangwa and full monastic ordination from Chogtrul Jamyang Jinpa. In 2016, he received further education in Buddhist literature, including the five great treatises, from Khenpo Ngawang Gedun Gyatso, and he completed his higher Buddhist education in 2022 and received the Lopen title in first rank. He currently serves as an assistant lecturer at Jonang Monastery in Parping. +
Geshe Dawa was born in Mexico City. He was a Buddhist monk for 15 years receiving full monastic vows (Gelong vows) from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Geshe Dawa learned Tibetan language in the College for Higher Tibetan Studies SARAH in Dharamsala India and later traveled to South India to join Drepung Loseling Monastic University where after more than a decade of advanced studies, he graduated as the first Hispanic Geshe ever. During H.H. Dalai Lama´s visit to Mexico in 2013, Geshe Dawa collaborated as his assistant translator. ([https://compassion.emory.edu/cbct-compassion-training/certified-teachers/international.html Source Accessed Apr 14, 2022]) +
TSERIl\C DAWA is a postgraduate student at the College of Tibetan Studies,
Nationalities University of China, Beijing. His research focuses on Buddhist rituals
and the Bo dong school of Tibetan Buddhism. +
Lala Har Dayal Singh Mathur (Punjabi: ਲਾਲਾ ਹਰਦਿਆਲ; 14 October 1884 – 4 March 1939) was an Indian nationalist revolutionary and freedom fighter. He was a polymath who turned down a career in the Indian Civil Service. His simple living and intellectual acumen inspired many expatriate Indians living in Canada and the U.S. to fight against British Imperialism during the First World War.
Har Dayal Mathur was born in a Hindu Mathur Kayastha family on 14 October 1884 at Delhi. He was the sixth of seven children of Bholi Rani and Gauri Dayal Mathur. His father was a district court reader. Lala is not so much a surname as a sub-caste designation, within the Kayastha community, but it is generally termed as an honorific title for writers such as the word Pandit which is used for knowledgeable persons in other Hindu communities. At an early age, he was influenced by Arya Samaj. He was associated with Shyam Krishnavarma, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Bhikaji Cama. He also drew inspiration from Giuseppe Mazzini, Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin. He was, according to Emily Brown as quoted by Juergensmeyer, "in sequence an atheist, a revolutionary, a Buddhist, and a pacifist".
He studied at the Cambridge Mission School and received his bachelor's degree in Sanskrit from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, India and his master's degree also in Sanskrit from Punjab University. In 1905, he received two scholarships of Oxford University for his higher studies in Sanskrit: Boden Scholarship, 1907 and Casberd Exhibitioner, an award from St John's College, where he was studying. In a letter to ''The Indian Sociologist'', published in 1907, he started to explore anarchist ideas, arguing that "our object is not to reform government, but to reform it away, leaving, if necessary only nominal traces of its existence." The letter led to him being put under surveillance by the police. Later that year, saying "To Hell with the ICS", he gave up the prestigious Oxford scholarships and returned to India in 1908 to live a life of austerity. But in India too, he started writing harsh articles in the leading newspapers, When the British Government decided to impose a ban upon his writing Lala Lajpat Rai advised him to leave and go abroad. It was during this period that he came into the friendship of the anarchist Guy Aldred, who was put on trial for printing ''The Indian Sociologist''.
Among his many literary works include ''The Bodhisattva Doctrines in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature.'' Lala Lajpat Rai, who was a mentor of Har Dayal, had suggested him to write an authentic book based on the principles of Gautam Buddha. In 1927 when Har Dayal was not given permission by the British Government to return to India, he decided to remain in London. He wrote this book and presented it to the University as a thesis. The book was approved for Ph.D. and a Doctorate was awarded to him in 1932. It was published from London in the year 1932. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers of India re-published this book in 1970 as ''The Bodhisattva Doctrines in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature''.
This 392-page work of Lala Hardayal consists of 7 chapters which deal with the Bodhisattva doctrine as expounded in the principal Buddhist Sanskrit Literature.
*In Chapter I the nature of the Bodhisattva doctrine is described, with particular emphasis upon the distinct characteristics of arhat, Bodhisattva, and Sravaka.
*Chapter II recounts the different factors which contributed to the rise and growth of the Bodhisattva doctrine including the influences of Persian religio-cult, Greek art, and Christian ethics.
*In Chapter III the production of the thought of Enlightenment for the welfare and liberation of all creatures is expounded.
*Chapters IV describes thirty-seven practices and principles conducive to the attainment of Enlightenment.
*In Chapter V ten perfections that lead to welfare, rebirth, serenity, spiritual cultivation, and supreme knowledge are explained.
*Chapter VI defines different stages of spiritual progress in the aspirant's long journey to the goal of final emancipation.
*The last Chapter VII relates the events of the Gautama Buddha's past lives as Bodhisattva.
This book contains comprehensive notes and references besides a general index appended at the end. This book has been written in a particularly lucid style which exhibits scholarly acumen and the mastery of Lala Hardayal in literary art. It proved influential with Edward Conze, a German Marxist refugee from Nazi Germany who made Har Dayal 's acquaintance in London in the 1930's. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Har_Dayal Adapted from Source Mar 26, 2021])
A disciple of Latö Könchok Khar, he became the abbot of Nering. +
William Theodore de Bary (Chinese: 狄培理; pinyin: Dí Péilǐ; August 9, 1919 – July 14, 2017) was an American Sinologist and scholar of East Asian philosophy who was a professor and administrator at Columbia University for nearly 70 years.
De Bary graduated from Columbia College in 1941, where he was a student in the first year of Columbia's famed Literature Humanities course. He then briefly took up graduate studies at Harvard University before leaving to serve in American military intelligence in the Pacific Theatre of World War Two. Upon his return, he resumed his studies at Columbia, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1953.
In order to create text books for the non-Western version of the Columbia humanities course, he drew together teams of scholars to translate original source material, ''Sources of Chinese Tradition'' (1960), ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'', and ''Sources of Indian Tradition''. His extensive publications made the case for the universality of Asian values and a tradition of democratic values in Confucianism. He is recognized as training the graduate students and mentoring the scholars who created the field of Neo-Confucian studies. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wm._Theodore_de_Bary Source Accessed July 18, 2023]) +
J. W. de Jong was born in Leiden. He attended primary school and gymnasium in Leiden, and went on to study at the University of Leiden from 1939–1945, where he began his lifelong study of the "canonical languages" of Buddhism: he took Chinese as his major, while minoring in Japanese and Sanskrit. With the closing of the university in 1940 following the German invasion of the Netherlands, de Jong was forced to continue his studies on his own. With the war's end in 1945, the university reopened and de Jong passed his candidaatsexamen. In 1946, he traveled to the United States as a visiting professor at Harvard University, where he continued his study of Sanskrit texts.
From 1947-1950, he lived in Paris, studying at both the Sorbonne and the Collège de France, where he began studying Tibetan. While still in Paris, he met his future wife Gisèle Bacquès, whom he married in 1949. That same year, he was awarded his PhD from the University of Leiden; his doctoral thesis was a critical translation of Candrakīrti's ''Prasannapadā''. He also began studying Mongolian.
He returned to the Netherlands in 1950 to act as senior research assistant (1950–1954) and continuing academic employee (1954–1956) at the Univ. of Leiden, working at the university's Sinologisch Instituut; in 1956, he became the first Chair of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies when the position was created at the Insituut Kern (the Indological institute at the Univ. of Leiden). In 1957, de Jong founded the Indo-Iranian Journal with Univ. of Leiden colleague F. B. J. Kuijper in 1957 in order to facilitate the publishing of scholarly articles in Indology. In 1965, he moved to Australia to become professor of Indology at the Australian National University in Canberra, a position he held until his retirement in 1986.
De Jong became a corresponding member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978.
De Jong is well known for his amazing linguistic ability having had a command of Dutch, French, English, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Danish, Mongolian, Sanskrit, Pāli, and Tibetan, as well as the rather acerbic quality of his reviews. His scholarly publications number more than 800; 700 of these are reviews. He made major contributions to the field of Tibetan studies, including a study of an account of the life of Milarepa by Tsangnyong Heruka Rüpägyäncän (Gtsang-smyon he-ru-ka rus-pa'i-rgyan-can) (1490), and the editing and translation of all Dunhuang fragments apropos of the Rāmāyaṇa story in Tibetan. Furthermore, his work on Madhyamaka philosophy in the 1940s is some of the earliest to treat that topic in detail.
De Jong died in Canberra. In April 2000, some 12,000 items from his personal library (which itself contained over 20,000 volumes) was purchased from his family in Canberra by the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Willem_de_Jong Source Accessed Mar 17, 2020])
Igor de Rachewiltz was an Italian historian and philologist specializing in Mongol studies. [He] was born in Rome, the son of Bruno Guido and Antonina Perosio. The de Rachewiltz family was of noble roots. His grandmother was a Tatar from Kazan in central Russia who claimed lineage from the Golden Horde. In 1947, he read Michael Prawdin's book ''Tschingis-Chan und seine Erben'' (Genghis Khan and his Heritage) and became interested in learning the Mongolian language. He graduated with a law degree from a university in Rome and pursued Oriental studies in Naples. In the early 1950s, de Rachewiltz went to Australia on scholarship. He earned his PhD in Chinese history from Australian National University, Canberra in 1961. His dissertation was on Genghis Khan's secretary, 13th-century Chinese scholar Yelü Chucai.
Starting in 1965 he became a fellow at the Department of Far Eastern History, Australian National University (1965–67). He made a research trip to Europe (1966–67). He published a translation of ''The Secret History of the Mongols'' in eleven volumes of ''Papers on Far Eastern History'' (1971–1985). He became a senior Fellow of the Division of Pacific and Asian History at the Australian National University (1967–94), a research-only fellowship. He completed projects by prominent Mongolists Antoine Mostaert and Henri Serruys after their deaths. He was a visiting professor at the University of Rome three times (1996, 1999, 2001). In 2004 he published his translation of the ''Secret History'' with Brill; it was selected by Choice as Outstanding Academic Title (2005) and is now in its second edition. In 2007 he donated his personal library of around 6000 volumes to the Scheut Memorial Library at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Late in his life de Rachewiltz was an emeritus Fellow in the Pacific and Asian History Division of the Australian National University. His research interests included the political and cultural history of China and Mongolia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, East-West political and cultural contacts, and Sino-Mongolian philology generally. In 2015, de Rachewiltz published an open access version of his previous translation, ''The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century'', that is a full translation but omits the extensive footnotes of his previous translations. Igor de Rachewiltz died on July 30, 2016. He was 87. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_de_Rachewiltz Source Accessed Feb 22, 2021])
Padmasiri de Silva graduated from the University of Ceylon with a Honours Degree in Philosophy, and also obtained the M.A. & Ph.D in Comparative Philosophy (University of Hawaii). He was the Professor & Head of Philosophy & Psychology Department, University of Peradeniya (1980-89). Subsequently he was appointed Senior Teaching Fellow at NUS Singapore. He has also held visiting positions in the University of Pittsburgh and the ISLE program in USA and the University of Waikato in New Zealand. He also functioned as the coordinator of the IRC Program on "Environment, Ethics and Education" in Singapore, organising four international conferences and was nominated for the Green Leaf Award. Based on this experience he published ''Environmental Philosophy & Ethics in Buddhism'' (Macmillan, 1998). In 2006 he was awarded the Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Counselling and practiced as a professional counsellor at the Springvale community center, working with migrants. He developed his own method of counselling: "Mindfulness-Based, Emotion-Focused Therapy". Currently he is working on Pain Education as a Facet of Humanitarian Care. (Source: [https://www.shogam.com/project/padmasiri-de-silva/ Shogum Publications]) +
William E. Deal holds a joint appointment in Cognitive Science and Religious Studies at Case Western Reserve University. He is Severance Professor of the History of Religion in the Department of Religious Studies and Professor of Cognitive Science and Chair of the Department of Cognitive Science. He has served as Associate Director for Digital Humanities at the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences, is past Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and served for several years as Director of CWRU's Asian Studies Program. He was the founding director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence. Dr. Deal received an A.B. in Religion (magna cum laude) and an A.M. in Asian Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. He received his Ph.D. in Religion from Harvard University in 1988. At CWRU, Dr. Deal teaches courses that focus on theory and interpretation in the academic study of religion, the cognitive science of religion and ethics, comparative religious ethics, and East Asian religious and ethical traditions. His scholarship includes numerous articles, chapters, and book reviews on methodology in the academic study of religion, religion and ethics, and Japanese Buddhism. He is co-author of the books A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism (Wiley Blackwell) and Theory for Religious Studies (Routledge) and author of Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan (Oxford University Press). +
'''In Memoriam: Hubert Decleer (1940–2021)'''
:by Andrew Quintman
With great sadness, we share news that our incomparable teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend Hubert Decleer passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 25. He was at his home with his wife, the poet Nazneen Zafar, in Kathmandu, Nepal, near the Swayambhū Mahācaitya that had been his constant inspiration for nearly five decades. His health declined rapidly following a diagnosis of advanced-stage lung cancer in May, but he remained lucid and in high spirits and over the past weeks he was surrounded by family members and close friends. Through his final hours, he maintained his love of Himalayan scholarship and black coffee, and his deep and quiet commitment to Buddhist practice.
Hubert’s contributions to the study of Tibetan and Himalayan traditions are expansive, covering the religious, literary, and cultural histories of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India. For nearly thirty-five years he directed and advised the School for International Training’s program for Tibetan Studies, an undergraduate study-abroad program that has served as a starting point for scholars currently working in fields as diverse as Anthropology, Art History, Education, Conservation, History, Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Public Policy. The countless scholars he inspired are connected by the undercurrent of Hubert's indelible "light touch" and all the subtle and formative lessons he imparted as a mentor and friend.
Hubert embodied a seemingly inexhaustible curiosity that spanned kaleidoscopic interests ranging from Chinese landscapes to Netherlandish still lifes, medieval Tibetan pilgrimage literature to French cinema, 1940s bebop to classical Hindustani vocal performance. With legendary hospitality, his home, informally dubbed “The Institute,” was an oasis for scholars, former students, artists, and musicians, who came to share a simple dinner of daal bhaat or a coffee on the terrace overlooking Swayambhū. The conversations that took place on that terrace often unearthed a text or image or reference that turned out to be the missing link in the visitor's current research project. When not discussing scholarship, Hubert inspired his friends to appreciate the intelligence and charm of animals—monkeys and crows especially—or to enjoy the marvels of a blossoming potted plum tree. His attentiveness to the world around him generated intense sensitivity and compassion. He was an accomplished painter and a captivating storyteller, ever ready with accounts of the artists’ scene in Europe or his numerous overland journeys to Asia. The stories from long ago flowed freely and very often revealed some important insight about the present moment, however discrete.
Hubert François Kamiel Decleer was born on August 22, 1940, in Ostend, Belgium. In 1946, he spent three months in Switzerland with a group of sixty children whose parents served in the Résistance. He completed his Latin-Greek Humaniora at the Royal Atheneum in Ostend in 1958, when he was awarded the Jacques Kets National Prize for biology by the Royal Zoo Society of Antwerp. He developed a keen interest in the arts, and during this period he also held his first exhibition of oil paintings and gouaches. In 1959 he finished his B.A. in History and Dutch Literature at the Regent School in Ghent. Between 1960 and 1963 he taught Dutch and History at the Hotel and Technical School in Ostend, punctuated by a period of military service near Köln, Germany in 1961–62. The highlight of his military career was the founding of a musical group (for which he played drums) that entertained officers’ balls with covers of Ray Charles and other hits of the day.
In 1963 Hubert made the first of his many trips to Asia, hitchhiking for thirteen months from Europe to India and through to Ceylon. Returning to Belgium in 1964, he then worked at the artists’ café La Chèvre Folle in Ostend, where he organized fortnightly exhibitions and occasional cultural events. For the following few years he worked fall and winter for a Belgian travel agency in Manchester and Liverpool, England, while spending summers as a tour guide in Italy, Central Europe, and Turkey. In 1967 he began working as a guide, lecturer, and interpreter for Penn Overland Tours, based in Hereford, England. In these roles he accompanied groups of British, American, Australian, and New Zealand tourists on luxury overland trips from London to Bombay, and later London to Calcutta—excursions that took two and a half months to complete. He made twenty-six overland journeys in the course of fourteen years, during which time he also organized and introduced local musical concerts in Turkey, Pakistan, India, and later Nepal. He likewise accompanied two month-long trips through Iran with specialized international groups as well as a number of overland trips through the USSR and Central Europe. In between his travels, Hubert wrote and presented radio scenarios for Belgian Radio and Television (including work on a prize-winning documentary on Nepal) and for the cultural program Woord. The experiences of hospitality and cultural translation that Hubert accumulated on his many journeys supported his work as a teacher and guide; he was always ready with a hint of how one might better navigate the awkward state of being a stranger in a new place.
With the birth of his daughter Cascia in 1972, Hubert’s travels paused for several years as he took a position tutoring at the Royal Atheneum in Ostend. He also worked as an art critic with a coastal weekly and lectured with concert tours of Nepalese classical musicians, cārya dancers, and the musicologist and performer Michel Dumont.
In 1975, during extended layovers between India journeys, Hubert began a two-year period of training in Buddhist Chinese at the University of Louvain with pioneering Indologist and scholar of Buddhist Studies Étienne Lamotte. He recalled being particularly moved by the Buddhist teachings on impermanence he encountered in his initial studies. He also worked as a bronze-caster apprentice and assistant to sculptor—and student of Lamotte—Roland Monteyne. He then resumed his overland journeying full time, leading trips from London to Kathmandu. These included annual three-month layovers in Nepal, where he began studying Tibetan and Sanskrit with local tutors. He was a participant in the first conference of the Seminar of Young Tibetologists held in Zürich in 1977. In 1980 he settled permanently in Kathmandu, where he continued his private studies for seven years. During this period he also taught French at the Alliance Française and briefly served as secretary to the Consul at the French Embassy in Kathmandu.
It was during the mid 1980s that Hubert began teaching American college students as a lecturer and fieldwork consultant for the Nepal Studies program of the School for International Training (then known as the Experiment in International Living) based in Kathmandu. In 1987 he was tasked with organizing SIT’s inaugural Tibetan Studies program, which ran in the fall of that year. Hubert served as the program’s academic director, a position he would hold for more than a decade. Under his direction, the Tibetan Studies program famously became SIT’s most nomadic college semester abroad, regularly traveling through India, Nepal, Bhutan, as well as western, central, and eastern Tibet. It was also during this period that Hubert produced some of his most memorable writings in the form of academic primers, assignments, and examinations. In 1999 Hubert stepped down as academic director to become the program’s senior faculty advisor, a position he held until his death.
Hubert taught and lectured across Europe and the United States in positions that included visiting lecturer at Middlebury College and Numata visiting faculty member at the University of Vienna.
Hubert’s writing covers broad swaths of geographical and historical territory, although he paid particular attention to the Buddhist traditions of Tibet and Nepal. His research focused on the transmission history of the Vajrabhairava tantras, traditional narrative accounts of the Swayambhū Purāṇa, the sacred geography of the Kathmandu Valley (his 2017 lecture on this topic, “Ambrosia for the Ears of Snowlanders,” is recorded here), and the biographies of the eleventh-century Bengali monk Atiśa. His style of presenting lectures was rooted in his work as a musician and lover of music—he prepared meticulously to be sure his talks were rhythmic, precise, and yet had an element of the spontaneous. One of his preferred mediums was the long-form book review, which incorporated new scholarship and original translations with erudite critiques of subjects ranging from Buddhist philosophy to art history and Tibetan music. His final publication, a forthcoming essay on an episode contained in the correspondence of the seventeenth-century Jesuit António de Andrade (translated by Michael Sweet and Leonard Zwilling in 2017), uses close readings of Tibetan historical sources and paintings to complicate and contextualize Andrade’s account of his mission to Tibet. This exemplifies the spirit and method of his review essays, which demonstrate his deep admiration of published scholarship through a meticulous consideration of the work and its sources, often leading to new discoveries.
In addition to Hubert’s published work, some of his most endearing and enduring writing has appeared informally, in the guise of photocopied packets intended for his students. Each new semester of the SIT Tibetan Studies program would traditionally begin with what is technically called “The Academic Director’s Introduction and Welcome Letter.” These documents would be mailed out to students several weeks prior to the program, and for most other programs they were intended to inform incoming participants of the basic travel itinerary, required readings, and how many pairs of socks to pack. The Tibetan Studies welcome letter began as a humble, one-page handwritten note, impeccably penned in Hubert’s unmistakable hand.
Hubert’s welcome letters evolved over the years, and they eventually morphed into collections of three or four original essays covering all manner of subjects related to Tibetan Studies, initial hints at how to approach cultural field studies, new research, and experiential education, as well as anecdotes from the previous semester illustrating major triumphs and minor disasters. The welcome letters became increasingly elaborate and in later years regularly reached fifty pages or more in length. The welcome letter for fall 1991, for example, included chapters titled “Scholarly Fever” and “The Field and the Armchair, and not ‘Stage-Struck’ in either.” By spring 1997, the welcome letter included original pieces of scholarship and translation, with a chapter on “The Case of the Royal Testaments” that presented innovative readings of the Maṇi bka’ ’bum. Only one element was missing from the welcome letter, a lacuna corrected in that same text of spring 1997, as noted by its title: Tibetan Studies Tales: An Academic Directors’ Welcome Letter—With Many Footnotes.
Hubert was adamant that even college students on a study-abroad program could undertake original and creative research, either for assignments in Dharamsala, in Kathmandu or the hilly regions of Nepal, or during independent-study projects themselves, which became the capstone of the semester. Expectations were high, sometimes seemingly impossibly high, but with just the right amount of background information and encouragement, the results were often triumphs.
Hubert regularly spent the months between semesters, or during the summer, producing another kind of SIT literature: the “assignment text.” These nearly always included extensive original translations of Tibetan materials and often extended background essays as well. They would usually end with a series of questions that would serve as the basis for a team research project. For fall 1994 there was “Cultural Neo-Colonialism in the Himalayas: The Politics of Enforced Religious Conversion”; later there was the assignment on the famous translator Rwa Lotsāwa called “The Melodious Drumsound All-Pervading: The Life and Complete Liberation of Majestic Lord Rwa Lotsāwa, the Yogin-Translator of Rwa, Mighty Lord in Magic Intervention.” There were extended translations of traditional pilgrimage guides for the Kathmandu Valley, including texts by the Fourth Khamtrul and the Sixth Zhamar hierarchs, for assignments where teams of students would race around the valley rim looking for an elusive footprint in stone or a guesthouse long in ruins that marked the turnoff of an old pilgrim’s trail. For many students these assignments were the first foray into field work methods, and Hubert's careful guidance helped them approach collaborations with local experts ethically and with deep respect for diverse forms of knowledge.
One semester there was a project titled “The Mystery of the IV Brother Images, ’Phags pa mched bzhi” focused on the famous set of statues in Tibet and Nepal and based on new Tibetan materials that had only just come to light. Another examined the “The Tibetan World ‘Translated’ in Western Comics.” Finally, there was a classic of the genre that examined the creative nonconformity of the Bhutanese mad yogin Drugpa Kunleg in light of the American iconoclast composer and musician Frank Zappa: “A Dose of Drugpa Kunleg for the post–1984 Era: Prolegomena to a Review Article of the Real Frank Zappa Book.”
Frank Zappa was, indeed, another of Hubert’s inspirations and his aforementioned review included the following passage: “If there’s one thing I do admire in FZ, it is precisely these ‘highest standards’ and utmost professional thoroughness that does not allow for any sloppiness (in the name of artistic freedom or spontaneous freedom)…. At the same time, each concert is really different, [and]…appears as a completely spontaneous event.” Hubert’s life as a scholar, teacher, and mentor was a consummate illustration of this highest ideal.
Hubert is survived by his wife Nazneen Zafar; his daughter Cascia Decleer, son-in-law Diarmuid Conaty, and grandsons Keanu and Kiran Conaty; his sister Annie Decleer and brother-in-law Patrick van Calenbergh; his brother Misjel Decleer and sister-in-law Martine Thomaere; his stepmother Agnès Decleer, and half-brother Luc Decleer. A traditional cremation ceremony at the Bijeśvarī Vajrayoginī temple near Swayambhū is planned for Friday.
Benjamin Bogin, Andrew Quintman, and Dominique Townsend
Portions of this biographical sketch draw on the introduction to [[Himalayan Passages]]: Newar and Tibetan Studies in Honor of Hubert Decleer (Wisdom Publications, 2014)
Yasuo Deguchi is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Kyoto University in Japan. His research interests include: Philosophy of Mathematical Sciences that include Probability Theory and Statistics, Scientific Realism, Philosophy of Computer Simulation and Chaos Studies, Kant’s Philosophy of Mathematics, Skolem’s Philosophy, and Analytic Asian Philosophy. ([http://www.philosophy.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/staff/deguchi/ Source Accessed Dec 2, 2019]) +
Paul Demiéville (13 September 1894 – 23 March 1979) was a Swiss-French sinologist and Orientalist known for his studies of the Dunhuang manuscripts and Buddhism and his translations of Chinese poetry, as well as for his 30-year tenure as co-editor of ''T'oung Pao''.
Demiéville was one of the foremost sinologists of the first half of the 20th century, and was known for his wide-ranging contributions to Chinese and Buddhist scholarship. His influence on Chinese scholarship in France was particularly profound, as he was the only major French sinologist to survive World War II.
Demiéville was one of the first sinologists to learn Japanese to augment their study of China: prior to the early 20th century, most scholars of China learned Manchu as their second scholarly language, but Demiéville's study of Japanese instead was soon followed by nearly every major sinologist since his day. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Demi%C3%A9ville Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
Mark Dennis is Associate Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth Texas. He earned his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006, focusing on early Japanese Buddhism. Before joining the Religion Department at TCU in 2007, he taught for four years at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. He has lived in Japan and India for eight years where he studied Buddhism and Hinduism, and has traveled widely in Asia. His research focuses on the reception history of Japanese Buddhist texts, looking particularly at notions of authorship, textuality, and canon. He has published a translation of the ''Shomangyo-gisho'', a Japanese Buddhist text written in classical Chinese and attributed to Japan’s Prince Shotoku (574–622 CE). He has also written articles looking at the reception of this text in various periods of Japanese history. One of these articles examines the different ways in which four medieval Japanese monks understood and used the text, while another considers modern representations of it in Japanese manga, or comic books. He has also coedited a volume of essays on Shusaku Endo's novel ''Silence'' that was published in 2014 by Bloomsbury-Continuum. ([https://www.rug.nl/research/centre-for-religious-studies/centre-religion-culture-asia/about/associate-fellows/textual Source Accessed Jun 6, 2019]) +
OBITUARY (Summit Times, November 15, 2021)
NAMGYAL INSTITUTE OF TIBETOLOGY REMEMBERS ITS FORMER DIRECTOR, BERMIOK RINPOCHE TASHI DENSAPA
A meaningful life lived in the service of others
OBITUARY written by the Director and Staff of Namgyal Institute of Tibetology
Our former Director, Bermiok Rinpoche Tashi Densapa passed away at Manipal Central Referral Hospital on the morning of November 13, 2021. With his passing, Sikkim and the Buddhist world lost a leading light and luminary.
Bermiok Rinpoche was born on January 10, 1942 to Bermiok Athing Tashi Dadul Densapa and Chamkusho Yonten Dolma, sister of Gyalyum Dechen Dolma of Sakya Phuntsok Phodrang. At an early age, he was recognized as a reincarnation of his paternal uncle, Bermiok Kusho Karma Palden Choegyal who was the State Lama of Sikkim and through him as the third reincarnation of Simick Rechen Drubwang Wosel Dorjee by His Holiness the XVIth Gyalwa Karmapa.
However, Bermiok Athingla eschewed a monastic education for a western one for his son. Rinpoche got his schooling from Mount Hermon School, Darjeeling, majored in Political History from St. Stephens, Delhi University and subsequently went on to do his post-graduate studies at Washington University, Seattle, U.S.A. Upon his return from the States, he had a brief stint as the Assistant Director at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology which he would return to helm later in his life. Rinpoche then joined government service and ably served in various departments such as Tourism and Culture and in capacities such as Managing Director, STCS and Resident Commissioner of Sikkim House in New Delhi before ultimately superannuating as Secretary to the Government of Sikkim.
Post retirement, Rinpoche took over the reins of the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT) on March 14, 2002 as its new Director. This marked a definitive and most productive epoch for both Rinpoche and the NIT. He went on to dedicate almost two decades of his life to the NIT and distinguish himself during his stint- the longest ever by any incumbent- as a visionary leader of unwavering commitment and unsurpassable zeal; he infused fresh life into and lifted the institute out of the doldrums and steered it towards its acme. It was under his peerless guidance that the NIT went on to reclaim its position as a premier institute for the preservation and promotion of Buddhist ethos in the trans-Himalayan region thus keeping alive the dream of our Founder President Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal.
Rinpoche expanded and revitalized the academic thrust areas by initiating the Sikkim Studies that focused on Sikkim-centric research, of particular note the Sikkim Ritual Video Archive and the Historic Photographs of Sikkim projects. Concurrently, he got on board Tibetan Buddhist scholars to spearhead research on various aspects of Buddhism with a special focus on Sikkim which resulted in a large number of important publications in both Tibetan and English to serve as a corpus of resources for the benefit of posterity. He was always keen that we research and document as much as we could before it was too late.
He used his strong networking skills and leveraged his many alumni and other contacts in various Ministries of the Central Government to get the requisite funding for the many new projects he implemented at the cash- strapped institute while simultaneously getting funding for the digitization of the existing resources of the NIT. With the help of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India, he took great initiative in developing the digital Tibetan language and making the digitized wealth of Buddhist wisdom in the collection of the NIT easily accessible to the Buddhist world at large.
A progressive and able administrator, under his stewardship, the NIT infrastructure grew to include perimeter fencing against encroachment, the addition of the new Conference Hall and Library complex and new hostel and apartment accommodation; NIT concurrently grew in leaps and bounds in its organizational skills and was soon organizing and hosting international conferences as well as a series of workshops and lectures on topics as varied as Science, Spirituality and Education and Quantum Physics and Emptiness in Buddhist Philosophy.
However, Rinpoche always voiced his concern over the continued future of the NIT and felt that the way forward was to morph into a Buddhist university. Interestingly, in 2016, the State Government mooted the proposal for the establishment of the first Buddhist University in Sikkim, and NIT was entrusted with this huge responsibility. Rinpoche proved himself more than equal to embark on this ambitious project, and along with the new OSD Mr KN Bhutia, he actuated a plan of action that included the starting in 2017 of the Post Graduate programme in Buddhist and Tibetan Studies and the Faculty of Sowa Rigpa under the Sikkim University as per UGC norms and with the due approval of the State Government. The Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India sanctioned funding for the infrastructure development of the Faculty of Sowa Rigpa which today boasts its own academic block, hostel block, pharmacy, clinic and herbal garden and is on the verge of churning out the first batch of newly minted Amjilas of the BSRMS course equivalent to MBBS. The MA Buddhist and Tibetan Studies programme is in its third intake.
It was primarily to consolidate and see his passion project to successful completion that Rinpoche opted to serve from mid-2019 until his retirement in February, 2021 as an Honorary Director with only a nominal salary. He left on a high note with the Institute on a sustained growth trajectory and a legacy hard to match forget surpass.
Outside of his activities at NIT, Rinpoche was very active in the preservation and promotion of Tibetan Buddhism as well as the social, religious and cultural ethos of his native Sikkim. While possibly not an exhaustive list, some of the various positions he held are:
Founding Member of the International Buddhist Confederation, New Delhi
Member of the Mahabodhi Society of India, Kolkata.
Advisor to HH Gyalwa Karmapa Orgen Trinley Dorje and Chairman of one of his Charitable Trusts
Advisor to Sakya Dolma Phodrang Foundation, Dehra Dun
Advisor to Rumtek Labrang
Advisor to Mingyur Rinpoche’s Labrang
Chairman of Sakya Tashi Choeling Trust
Member of the Executive Council of Sikkim University
Rinpoche was also a generous philanthropist and donated land at Alu Bari, South Sikkim to Sakya Tashi Choling and Mindroling Penam Rinpoche for the establishment of their monasteries. He also re-built the Simick Sangag Dudul Ling monastery of his predecessor at Simick Lingzey. This was the first monastery in Sikkim to incorporate earthquake- resistant engineering design. He also built the Nyama Lhakhang at Simick. Simick monks came on record to state that Rinpoche in his lifetime had expressly evinced his desire to be cremated at his monastery there, but this was sadly not to be.
Rinpoche’s untimely demise has been a monumental loss not only to us here at NIT and Sikkim in particular but to the entire Buddhist world at large. His Dharma activities were diverse and innumerable, and his demise leaves a huge vacuum. But in the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we take succour in the fact that he ‘lived a meaningful life in the service of others.’ We condole his family and share their grief in this darkest hour.
As a mark of respect for the departed soul, the Director, NIT has declared November 16, 2021 as a holiday for the institute. A huge prayer meeting was held on November 15, 2021 in the NIT Conference Hall with the full attendance of NIT staff as well as the Faculty of Sowa Rigpa and Buddhist and Tibetan studies. Tsogbhum and Tongchoe will also be offered by the NIT at the Chorten monastery on November 19, 2021. Monlom recitation and Gyamchod will be offered every morning henceforth at the NIT until the 49 th day for the swift rebirth of Rinpoche.
Om Ami Dewa Hri!
(Source: http://tibetology.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Obituary.pdf)
Marc-Henri Deroche is associate professor at Kyōto University (GSAIS, Shishu-Kan), Japan, where he teaches Buddhist studies and cross-cultural philosophy. His doctoral dissertation (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, 2011) and a series of articles have investigated the life, works, and legacy of Tibetan author Prajñāraśmi (Tertön Sherab Öser, 1518-84) in the successive revivals of the Nyingma school and the nineteenth-century ecumenical (''rimé'') movement. He is also the coeditor of ''Revisiting Tibetan Religion and Philosophy'' (AMI, 2012). Recent research has focused on Dzokchen, including "The ''Dzogs chen'' Doctrine of the Three Gnoses" (with Akinori Yasuda, RET, No. 33, 2015) and a current project on its specific philosophy of vigilance. Having traveled extensively in Tibet and the Himalayas, and having lived in Kyōto since 2008, his work centers on the philosophical and transcultural significance of the Buddhist paradigm of the development of wisdom according to "listening, reflection, and meditation." (Source: ''A Gathering of Brilliant Moons'', 327–28) +
J.F. Marc des Jardins joined Concordia in 2005 as Assistant Professor after completing a postdoctoral degree on Conflict Resolutions at the Institute of Asian Research at The University of British Columbia. He teaches courses on the various Buddhist traditions (Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese and South Asian) as well as Chinese Popular Cults, Daoism and Tibetan religions. His research focuses on the Tibetan Bön religion and local societies and he has been actively engaged in field-based research along the Sino-Tibetan borderlands since 1991. Dr. des Jardins combines anthropological field methods with textual analysis and historiography. He has recently published a monograph entitled ''Le sûtra de la Mahâmâyûrî: rituel et politique dans la Chine des Tang (618-907)'' (Presse de l'Université Laval 2011) which is a study and translation of a key Chinese Buddhist grimoire important in the history of esoterism in Buddhism. In this work, he illustrates how Chinese indigenous cultural and political traditions were highly compatible with the Buddhist ritual traditions of Medieval India.
In 2011, Dr. des Jardins was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, and is currently working on different translation and research projects on the indigenous Bön Research which seeks to promote and support scientific research on indigenous Tibetan cultural and social traditions. ([https://www.concordia.ca/faculty/marc-des-jardins.html Source Accessed Nov 20, 2023]) +
Rodney P. Devenish (Karma Kunzang Palden Rinpoche) and his wife Lisa Devenish are co-founders of the Hermitage, and Lama has been teaching meditation there from the start, personally guiding individuals as they develop their meditation practice. His specialty is the Kagyü teaching of Mahāmudrā, which he received chiefly from his root master Karma Namgyal Rinpoche, but also from Trungpa Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche and a number of other Lamas. From those Lamas, and from His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, he received an array of Kagyü empowerments--particularly the Marpa lineage full crown empowerments of Śrī Vajradhara and Hevajra-ḍākiṇī-jālasaṃvara. Having completed both the Kagyü and Nyingma preliminary practices, he has further received the crowning empowerment of the Gūhyagarbha from Penor Rinpoche, late head of the Nyingmapa school, the Mindrolling Vajrasattva-cycle and Dzogchen instruction from Khenpo Palden Sherab Rinpoche, and the transmission of Vajrakīlāya from Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche (1933-2004). The Chöd practice of Jigme Lingpa was given by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche. During a ten year period as a celibate Buddhist monk, Lama Rodney spent his long winters in isolated meditation retreat in the snowy wilderness of the Rocky Mountains, where he completed the Kagyü practices given him by his teacher Namgyal Rinpoche, with particular focus on the Six Yogas of Nāropa and Mahāmudrā.
As a Western Lama inspired by the broad interests of his teacher Karma Namgyal Rinpoche, Lama's teaching style is ecumenical and universalist, while remaining deeply rooted in the Kagyü tradition. Originally trained as an artist, he has studied many subjects extensively, including analytical psychology, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, comparative religion, philosophy and classical metaphysics. He takes a non-dogmatic approach, believing that the essence of Dharma chiefly consists of personal self-enquiry, investigation of the nature of consciousness and the world in which we find ourselves, coupled with a persistent effort to establish love in the heart. Many students at the Hermitage have found Lama's method especially conducive for the rapid induction of blissful one-pointedness, the deep meditative state known as Samādhi. Students practice on their own, in the midst of nature, supported by frequent personal interviews with the teacher.
'''Short Biography:'''<br>
Mitra Tyler Dewar met [[Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche]] in 1997, just one year after beginning his journey of practicing the dharma. Through an auspicious coincidence, he learned the Tibetan alphabet that summer and soon after formed the conviction to serve the dharma through translating Tibetan into English. He became a formal student of Rinpoche's in 1998 and began translating for Rinpoche's organizations, Nalandabodhi and Nitartha Institute, in 2000. In 2001 he became the regular translator for Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen Negi at Nalandabodhi Seattle. From that point onward, Tyler has traveled extensively with The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche on Rinpoche's teaching tours, translating for the Tibetan segments of Rinpoche's teachings and occasionally presenting aspects of Rinpoche's teachings himself. In 2003 Nalandabodhi welcomed Acharya Tashi Wangchuk as a resident teacher; Tyler served as Acharya's oral interpreter and also worked closely with Acharya on the translation of several texts from the philosophical and intuitive traditions of Indian and Tibetan Buddhadharma. Tyler has served as a secretary in the Office of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche for the past seven years, and has thus felt enriched by the opportunity to support Rinpoche's teaching activity from many perspectives.
In terms of his formative dharma training, Tyler completed two dathuns (month-long intensive meditation retreats) in the late 90s and resided for one year, 1997-1998, at Gampo Abbey Monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada, practicing intensively, participating in several study curricula, and attending lengthy seminars by Ani Pema Chödrön on Mind Training. He has attended Nitartha Institute's summer program since 1999 and has been a faculty member since 2000, translating for such courses as Collected Topics, Abhidharma, Mind Only, and Madhyamaka. He attended his first Nalandabodhi Sangha Retreat in 2001 and has been in attendance ever since.
Two books of Tyler's translations have been published by [[Snow Lion Publications]]: [[Trainings in Compassion]]: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara (2004) and [[The Karmapa's Middle Way]]: Feast for the Fortunate (2008), a translation of a major philosophical work by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje.
John Deweese served as an editor for ''Drops of Nectar'', Andreas Kretschmar's translation of Khenpo Kunpal’s commentary on the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''. He was also an editor for Rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan's ''Parting from the Four Attachments''. +
Scholar and digital humanist, who is also a full stack web developer with experience in Ruby and JavaScript frameworks. I have a lifelong interest in coding, the Internet, and other digital media, which I see as innovative tools that allow me and others to share our knowledge. In my background in academia and museums, I have conducted rigorous research, gathered and interpreted data detail, and solved problems. Studying Tibetan Buddhism, teaching diverse groups of students, and working in the innovative Rubin Museum have furthered my passion for communicating with an international audience. (Source: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-dewey-phd-156baa32/ LinkedIn]) +
Khenpo Yönga aka Khenchen Yönten Gyatso (Tib. ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wyl. yon tan rgya mtsho) (19th-20th C.) was a personal student of Patrul Rinpoche and Orgyen Tendzin Norbu. He belonged to Gemang Monastery, a branch of Dzogchen Monastery, and studied at Dzogchen and Shechen monasteries. He wrote a very popular two-part commentary on Rigdzin Jikme Lingpa's Treasury of Precious Qualities, called Lamp of Moonlight and Rays of Sunlight. Among his students were Changma Khenchen Thubten Chöpel (the teacher of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Khenpo Jikmé Phuntsok) and Khenchen Tsewang Rigdzin of Washul Mewa (who attained the rainbow body). (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenpo_Yönga Rigpawiki]) +
The first of the Katok Getse (kaH thog dge rtse) incarnations, Gyurme Tsewang Chokdrup, Katok Getse Mahapandita (1761-1829) was an important Nyingma scholar from Katok Monastery who famously wrote a catalogue to the Nyingma Gyübum.
He was born in the Iron Snake year of the thirteenth calendrical cycle (1761) and recognized as an incarnation of Tsewang Trinlé, the nephew of Longsal Nyingpo (1625-1692). His teachers included Dodrupchen Kunzang Shenpen, Ngor Khenchen Palden Chökyong, Changkya Rolpé Dorje and Dzogchenpa Ati Tenpé Gyaltsen. Through his connection with the Derge royal family, he arranged for the printing of the ''Collection of Nyingma Tantras'' (''Nyingma Gyübum'') and the writings of Longchenpa and Jikmé Lingpa, and took responsibility for proofreading. Among his students were the Third Dzogchen Rinpoche and the Third Shechen Rabjam, Rigdzin Paljor Gyatso (1770-1809). ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Gyurme_Tsewang_Chokdrup Source Accessed Feb 18, 2022])
See also:<br>
*[[Deity, Mantra and Wisdom]]: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra, translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, Snow Lion, 2007.
**Ronis, Jann M. “Celibacy, Revelations, and Reincarnated Lamas: Contestation and Synthesis in the Growth of Monasticism at Katok Monastery from the 17th through 19th Centuries”. Available from [https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/downloads/hq37vp052?filename=1_Ronis_Jann_2009_PHD.pdf the University of Virginia, here].
*Tomoko Makidono, "Kah thog Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita’s Doxographical Position: The Great Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness (gzhan stong dbu ma chen po)" in Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies (IIJBS) vol. 12 (2011), pp. 77-119
*Tomoko Makidono, "The Turning of the Wheel of Mantrayāna Teachings in the Rnying ma rgyud ’bum dkar chag lha’i rnga bo che by Kaḥ thog Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita ’Gyur med tshe dbang mchog grub (149-186)" in IIJBS vol. 13 (2012), pp. 149-186 +
Bhikṣuṇī Lakṣmī, or Gelongma Palmo as she is known in the Tibetan world, was the originator of the practice of nyungne (''smyung gnas''). While some Tibetan sources identify her as a princess of Oḍḍiyana who later became a nun, the Adinath temple in the small hilltop village of Chobhar on the outskirts of Kathmandu is believed to have been either her family home or the original site in which she engaged in this practice. Based on the thousand-armed form of the deity Avalokiteśvara, nyungne involves a typically three day cycle of practice that combines long periods of prostrations with intermittent fasting and the strict observance of vows. The practice was developed by Bhikṣuṇī Lakṣmī and through it she is reported to have cured herself of leprosy. The practice continues to be popular among Himalayan Buddhists, especially among older lay people for whom it is often an annual event that they practice collectively in groups. It is also traditional to repeat the three day cycle eight times in a row. +
K. L. Dhammajoti (born 29 May 1949) is a Buddhist monk from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was ordained according to the Theravada tradition of Buddhism.
He is also one of the leading scholars on Sarvastivada Abhidharma. and is well known in the world of Buddhist scholarship for several contributions. These include some of his own personal work, such as ''Sarvastivada abhidharma'', ''The Chinese Version of the Dhammapada'', ''Entrance into the Supreme Doctrine'', and ''Abhidhamma Doctrines and Controversies on Perception''. He is also the founding editor of an annual academic ''Journal of Buddhist Studies from the Centre for Buddhist Studies, Sri Lanka''. Currently, he is serving as the director of Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong Ltd. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._L._Dhammajoti Source Accessed Jan 8, 2024]) +
Born in Shan State, Union of Myanmar and a Theravada Buddhist monk over thirty years, Venerable Dr. K Dhammasami has studied in Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka where taught Pali, Abhidhamma and meditation.
Based in Great Britain since 1996, he ran a Sunday School in London for four years before completing his doctorate study at Oxford and setting up a monastery there in 2003 where he is the abbot.
He served as secretary general of United Nations Day of Vesak in Bangkok (2006-2010), founder-executive of the two Buddhist universities associations: IATBU (2007- present) and IABU (2007- present). Among academic posts he holds are: Fellow and Trustee at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies (2004- present) and a member of Theology Faculty (2009-present) as well as Buddhist chaplain at Oxford University (2010-present); professor responsible for research, publication in Pali, and international affairs at International TheravadaBuddhistMissionary University, Yangon, Myanmar (2006-present).
Since 2006, he has supservised and examined a few theses for MPhil and PhD in London, Colombo, Bangkok and Yangon and been a visiting lecturer in India, Indonesia and Thailand.
He has been teaching midnfulness vipassana meditation since 1996 in Britain, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Spain, Thailand, USA, Canada, Hungary and Serbia. His book Mindfulness Meditation made Easy has been translated into Thai, Korean and Spanish. Its Hungarian and Serbian versions are expected to be out soon. Apart from running regular retreats, he also organises some conferences on meditation. ([https://ebtc.hu/staff/dr-khammai-dhammasami/ Source Accessed May 19, 2021]) +
The Most Venerable Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey was born on the 13th of the fifth Tibetan month in the year of the Iron-Bird (1921) in the town of Yätsak (or Ya Chak) in the Trehor district of Tibet's eastern province Kham. He was soon enrolled in the large local Dhargyey Monastery of the Gelug tradition, where he took pre-novice ordination vows. Although he was enrolled there he studied mainly in the village Sakya monastery, Lona Gonpa where he received instruction in reading, writing, grammar etc, and learned numerous texts and practices by heart. His teachers there included two of his uncles, as well as Kushu Gonpä Rinpoche, who was a master of all the five major fields of learning.
Image of Gen RinpocheAt the age of eighteen Gen Rinpoche left his home country to further his spiritual education at Sera Monastery, the great monastic university in Lhasa. There he underwent extensive training in all the five divisions of Buddhist philosophical study: Logic, Perfection of Wisdom, the Middle View, Metaphysics, and Ethical Discipline. This was interspersed with periods of intensive retreat at some of the many hermitages near Sera. By the time he was nineteen he had already mastered his studies sufficiently to become a scriptural teacher, and he began to have many students of his own. At the age of 21, he took full ordination vows of a Bhikshu from the widely renowned Purchog Jamgön Rinpoche. He also received numerous teachings, initiations and commentaries from the great Lamas of that time such as Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang (His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Tutor), Bakri Dorje Chang, Lhatsün Dorje Chang, Gönsar Dorje Chang and others. His monastic teachers were the great scholar- practitioners Gen Sherab Wangchuk, Gen Chöntse, and the now Gyume Kensur Ugyän Tseten.
He studied in Sera in Tibet for twenty years until, in 1959, Chinese oppression forced him to leave Tibet. Two years earlier he had been appointed tutor to two high incarnate lamas, Lhagön Rinpoche and Thupten Rinpoche. The three escaped from Chinese occupied Tibet together taking a long and dangerous journey of nine months under Chinese gunfire and snowstorms until they reached the Mustang region of Nepal. From Mustang it was a comparatively easy journey to India, where they joined His Holiness the Dalai Lama and some of Gen Rinpoche's other teachers.
In India, after a brief pilgrimage to the sacred Buddhist sites, he took up his studies once again, and for several continued tutoring the tulkus (incarnate lamas). In the mid 1960s, he was chosen along with fifty-five other scholars to attend an Acarya course at Mussourie (north of Delhi). During his year in Mussourie, he and the other scholars wrote textbooks for the Tibetan refugee schools being established in India at that time. He then returned to Dalhousie where, over various periods, he continued to teach another seven incarnate lamas. He also finished his Geshe studies and, in oral examinations held at the Buxador refugee camp in Assam in eastern India (the seat of Sera monastery at that time) he gained the highest grade (First Class) Lharampa Geshe.
In 1971 he was asked by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to start a teaching program for westerners at the newly constructed Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, northern India. Two of his incarnate lama disciples, Sharpa Rinpoche and Kamlung Rinpoche, acted as translators. He stayed there, teaching very extensively to thousands of Westerners, until 1984. During this time he himself received extensive and often exclusive teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and from both of the tutors, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Ling Rinpoche.
In 1982 he travelled to the West for the first time to take up a one-semester visiting professorship for at the University of Washington in Seattle. This was followed by a year-long extensive tour of Buddhist teaching centres all over North America, Europe and Australasia.
He spent six weeks in New Zealand during this tour, and at the end of the visit he was requested to establish a Buddhist centre here. In 1985 His Holiness advised Gen Rinpoche to come to New Zealand, initially for one and a half years, to establish a centre. After a six month tour of Australia, he arrived in Dunedin in mid 1985. Due to the success of the Buddhist centre he remained here, occasionally travelling to other parts of New Zealand and to Australia on teaching tours.
Gen Rinpoche was a wonderful teacher who loved to teach the great treatises, as well as experiential teachings which distilled their essence. He gave his last formal teaching in February 1995 in Dunedin. Gen Rinpoche entered into the death process on the 11th August 1995 (the 16th of the 6th Tibetan month) remaining in meditation for of three days.
His body was cremated with full traditional Tibetan funerary rites at Portobello, near Dunedin on 17th August (22nd of the 6th Tibetan month). Kushu Lhagön Rinpoche, one of Gen Rinpoche's tulku disciples, presided over the Great Offering to His Holy Body Ceremony at a specially built cremation stupa. ([https://dbc.dharmakara.net/GNDBiography.html Source Accessed Feb 24, 2023])
[http://dharmapublishing.com/about/our-founder/ About Tarthang Tulku]
Keenly aware of Tibet’s irreparable loss and willing to do everything possible to sustain the precious heritage of the Land of Snows, Dharma Publishing has worked to realize three principle goals: preservation of Tibetan texts and art, publication of works in Western languages that communicate the meaning and value of the Dharma, and distribution of texts to monks and scholars of the Tibetan Community.
It is our hope that, even if the lineages do not survive in their traditional form, the texts and the knowledge they contain will be available for future generations. Although civilizations rise and fall, perhaps the day will come when this precious enlightened knowledge can once more be fully applied for the benefit of all sentient beings. ([http://dharmapublishing.com/about/ Source Accessed August 26, 2015]) +
Dharmacandra (法月, 653–743) is known to be from either eastern India or the kingdom of Magadha in central India. He traveled widely in central India and was accomplished in medical arts and the Tripiṭaka. Then he went to the kingdom of Kucha (龜茲, or 庫車, in present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China), where he taught his disciple Zhenyue (真月) and others.
At the written recommendation of Lu Xiulin (呂休林), the governor appointed to keep peace with the western region (安西節度使), in 732, the twentieth year of the Kaiyuan (開元) years of Emperor Xuanzong (唐玄宗) of the Tang Dynasty (618–907), Dharmacandra arrived in Chang-an (長安), China. As an offering to the Emperor, he presented Sanskrit texts on alchemy and herbal remedies, as well as the Sūtra of the Mighty Vidya King Ucchuṣma (T21n1227), translated by Ajitasena, who was from northern India. With the help of his disciple Liyan (利言), Dharmacandra translated into Chinese the Sanskrit text of herbal remedies as well as of the Sūtra of the All-Encompassing Knowledge Store, the Heart of Prajñā-Pāramitā (T08n0252).
During an uprising in China, Dharmacandra moved to the kingdom of Yütian (于闐), or Khotan (和闐), present-day Hetian (和田), in Xinjiang, China. He stayed at the Golden Wheel Temple (金輪寺), teaching people attracted to him, until his death in 743, at the age of ninety-one. ([http://www.sutrasmantras.info/translators.html#dharmacandra Source Accessed Aug 19, 2021]) +
Dharmakṣema. (C. Tanwuchen; J. Donmusen; K. Tammuch'am 曇無讖 (385-433 CE). Indian Buddhist monk who was an early translator of Buddhist materials into Chinese. A scion of a brāhmaṇa family from India, Dharmakṣema became at the age of six a disciple of Dharmayaśas (C. Damoyeshe; J. Donmayasha) (d.u.), an Abhidharma specialist who later traveled to China c. 397–401 and translated the ''Śāriputrābhidharmaśāstra''. Possessed of both eloquence and intelligence, Dharmakṣema was broadly learned in both monastic and secular affairs and was well versed in mainstream Buddhist texts. After he met a meditation monk named "White Head" and had a fiery debate with him, Dharmakṣema recognized his superior expertise and ended up studying with him. The monk transmitted to him a text of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' written on bark, which prompted Dharmakṣema to embrace the Mahāyāna. Once he reached the age of twenty, Dharmakṣema was able to recite over two million words of Buddhist texts. He was also so skilled in casting spells that he earned the sobriquet "Great Divine Spell Master" (C. Dashenzhou shi). Carrying with him the first part of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' that he received from "White Head," he left India and arrived in the Kucha kingdom in Central Asia. As the people of Kucha mostly studied Hīnayāna and did not accept the Mahāyāna teachings, Dharmakṣema then moved to China and lived in the western outpost of Dunhuang for several years. Juqu Mengxun, the non-Chinese ruler of the Northern Liang dynasty (397–439 CE), eventually brought Dharmakṣema to his capital. After studying the Chinese language for three years and learning how to translate Sanskrit texts orally into Chinese, Dharmakṣema engaged there in a series of translation projects under Juqu Mengxun's patronage. With the assistance of Chinese monks, such as Daolang and Huigao, Dharmakṣema produced a number of influential Chinese translations, including the ''Dabanniepan jing'' (S. ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra''; in forty rolls), the longest recension of the sūtra extant in any language; the ''Jinguangming jing'' ("Sūtra of Golden Light"; S. ''Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra''; in four rolls); and the ''Pusa dichi jing'' (S. ''Bodhisattvabhūmisūtra''; in ten rolls). He is also said to have made the first Chinese translation of the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'' (C. ''Ru Lengqie jing'', but his rendering had dropped out of circulation at least by 730 CE, when the Tang Buddhist cataloguer Zhisheng (700–786 CE) compiled the Kaiyuan Shijiao Lu. The Northern Wei ruler Tuoba Tao, a rival of Juqu Mengxun's, admired Dharmakṣema's esoteric expertise and requested that the Northern Liang ruler send the Indian monk to his country. Fearing that his rival might seek to employ Dharmakṣema's esoteric expertise against him, Juqu Mengxun had the monk assassinated at the age of forty-nine. Dharmakṣema's translation of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese had a significant impact on Chinese Buddhism; in particular, the doctrine that all beings have the buddha-nature (''foxing''), a teaching appearing in Dharmakṣema's translation of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'', exerted tremendous influence on the development of Chinese Buddhist thought. (Source: "Dharmakṣema." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 247–48. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Dharmamitra ［曇摩蜜多・曇無蜜多］ (356–442) (Skt; Jpn Dommamitta or Dommumitta): A monk from Kashmir in ancient India who translated Buddhist sutras into Chinese. He entered the Buddhist Order while young and traveled through various kingdoms to pursue study of the sutras. He dedicated himself to the practice of meditation and, passing through Kucha and Tun-huang, went to China in 424, where he exhorted people to practice meditation. In 433 he went to Chien-k’ang, the capital of the Liu Sung dynasty, and in 435 founded Ting-lin-shang-ssu temple, where he lived. He converted the empress and crown prince of the Liu Sung dynasty. His works include ''The Secret Essentials of Meditation'' and Chinese translations of the ''Universal Worthy Sutra'' and the ''Meditation on Bodhisattva Space Treasury Sutra''. ([https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/D/55 Source Accessed July 15, 2021]) +
Bhikshu Dharmamitra (ordination name "Heng Shou" - 釋恆授) is a Chinese-tradition translator-monk and one of the earliest American disciples (since 1968) of the late Guiyang Ch'an patriarch, Dharma teacher, and pioneer of Buddhism in the West, the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua (宣化上人). He has a total of 34 years in robes during two periods as a monastic (1969‒1975 & 1991 to the present). Dharmamitra's principal educational foundations as a translator of Sino-Buddhist Classical Chinese lie in four years of intensive monastic training and Chinese-language study of classic Mahāyāna texts in a small-group setting under Master Hsuan Hua (1968-1972), undergraduate Chinese language study at Portland State University, a year of intensive one-on-one Classical Chinese study at the Fu Jen University Language Center near Taipei, two years of course work at the University of Washington's Department of Asian Languages and Literature (1988-90), and an additional three years of auditing graduate courses and seminars in Classical Chinese readings, again at UW's Department of Asian Languages and Literature. Since taking robes again under Master Hua in 1991, Dharmamitra has devoted his energies primarily to study and translation of classic Mahāyāna texts with a special interest in works by rya Nāgārjuna and related authors. To date, he has translated more than fifteen important texts comprising approximately 150 fascicles, including most recently the 80-fascicle Avataṃsaka Sūtra (the "Flower Adornment Sutra"), Nāgārjuna's 17-fascicle Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā ("Treatise on the Ten Grounds"), and the Daśabhūmika Sūtra (the "Ten Grounds Sutra") . . . ([https://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Bhikshu-Dharmamitra# Source Accessed July 15, 2021]) +
Cotranslator with Zhu Fonian of the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā''. +
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]) +
Dr. Gunapala Dharmasiri, retired chair of the philosophy department at the University at Peradeniya, was affectionately known as “Dharme” to his many students in Sri Lanka and around the world. The soft-spoken philosopher was one of Sri Lanka’s foremost Buddhist scholars. Over the course of his career, he integrated his profound understanding of the Theravadan tradition with the Mahayanan and Vajrayanan paths to enlightenment. Fluent in Sinhalese, Pali, Sanskrit, and English, Dharme’s books, translations, and lectures were infused with his remarkable understanding of the Buddha’s teachings and with his thorough comprehension of Eastern and Western philosophies. Read more [https://www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/archive/fall-2015-issue-i-cxiii/farewell-dharm.html here]. +
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]) +
Bríona Nic Dhiarmada is the Thomas J. & Kathleen M. O'Donnell Professor of Irish Studies Emeritus. and Concurrent Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre.
Professor Nic Dhiarmada is originator, writer, producer, and executive producer of the award-winning, multi part documentary series on the Easter Rising, ''1916 The Irish Rebellion'', and its 86-minute feature version, both narrated by Liam Neeson, that were broadcast and screened internationally throughout 2016 and 2017. She is also author of the companion book ''The 1916 Irish Rebellion'', published by the University of Notre Dame Press.
Also a Concurrent Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre, Professor Nic Dhiarmada has authored over 35 screenplays and 10 documentaries. She is the author of ''Téacs Baineann, Téacs Mná: Filíocht Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill'' as well as numerous articles on Irish language literature and culture. Additionally, she is an editor of ''The Field Day Anthology'' and co-editor with Máire Ní Annracháin of ''Téacs agus Comhthéacs: Gnéithe de Chritic na Gaeilge''.
Professor Nic Dhiarmada taught courses on film and literature, with some emphasis on Ireland's west coast. In Fall 2019, she led a community course at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on "Screening the Irish Troubles." ([https://irishstudies.nd.edu/scholars/emeritus-faculty/briona-nic-dhiarmada/ Source Accessed July6, 2023]) +
Tsering Wangmo Dhompa is a Tibetan poet and writer. +
K. Dhondup was a prominent literary and cultural figure of the Tibetan exile world in the eighties and nineties. Working at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) in Dharamsala, he was Managing Editor of the Tibet Journal as well as on the editorial board of Pema Thang, which was possibly the first Tibetan literary journal in English. He wrote three histories of Tibet, of which two were published and the third remained incomplete. An editor, journalist and historian, K. Dhondup also wrote poetry and published a translation of the Sixth Dalai Lama's poetry. +
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]) +
Charles DiSimone's research interests include the applications of philological and critical analysis of Buddhist sūtra manuscripts and literature, both Mahāyāna and Mainstream, in order to explore issues of intertextuality, translation, and canonicity. ([https://ugent.academia.edu/CharlesDiSimone Source Accessed Feb 22, 2021]) +
Siglinde Dietz PhD, born 1937, is a classical philologist and Indologist. She was a research assistant at the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen from 1980-2002. Her areas of work include Buddhist studies and lexicography. ([https://www.suhrkamp.de/autoren/siglinde_dietz_7404.html Adapted from Source Feb 22, 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.) +
John Ding is a Professor in the Philosophy Dept. at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He teaches courses in Comparative Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy, and Asian philosophy. He is currently the Editor-in-chief of the ''Journal of East-West Thought'' and the Secretary-General of the International Association for East-West Studies (IAES). +
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]) +
Trudy Dixon was a close disciple of Shunryu Suzuki and the editor of the book ''Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind''. She passed away before the book was published. +
Abbot of Ri bo dge rgyas dgon in Mongolia. Teacher was Zhabs drung chos rje ngag dbang tshe ring. ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P1KG10437 Source Accessed Feb 9, 2023]) +
A student of Khenpo Drakpa Bum, Khenchen Dewa Pal, Lopön Tukjé Palzang, Lopön Chöden Palzang, etc. A teacher of Joden Khenpo Sönam Drakpa, Butön Rinchen Drup, Zhangtön Sönam Drak, etc. Kadam master; important figure in the transmission lineage of both the kha che tradition of the vinaya and the gzhung pa transmission of the lam rim. ([https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:P2130 Source Accessed Feb 8, 2023]) +
A student of Tenpai Nyima and Ngakchen Palden Drakpa. A teacher of Sengchen Lobzang Tenzin Paljor, Lachiwa Lobzang Chökyi Gyatso, and Lhachö Khentri Drupwang Tulku Lobzang Tsöndru Gyatso. +
Venerable Doboom Lozang Tenzin Tulku (rDo-bum Blo-bzang bstan-’dzin sPrul-ku), also known simply as Doboom Tulku, was born in 1942 in Shayul (Sha-yul) in Kham (Khams), eastern Tibet. At the age of two or three, he was recognized by Lama Phurchog Jamgon Rinpoche (Bla-ma Phur-lcog ’Jam-mgon Rin-po-che) to be the reincarnation of the previous Doboom Tulku. Following this, he was taken to stay at a hermitage near Dargye Monastery (Dar-rgyas dGon), where he stayed until the age of twelve.
In 1953, Doboom Tulku entered Drepung Monastery (Bras-spungs dGon-pa) in Tibet, where he studied Buddhist philosophy until the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959 forced him into exile in India at the age of seventeen. For the following decade, Doboom Tulku resided at the lama camp at Buxa Duar, in West Bengal, enduring harsh conditions until he joined the Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarnath in 1969. Continuing with his studies in Sarnath, he obtained a Geshe Acharya degree in 1972.
After obtaining his degree, he worked as a librarian at Tibet House in New Delhi, until he joined the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala as a librarian and research assistant in 1973. By 1981, having gained more experience, he returned to Tibet House New Delhi to serve as Director, with the mission of promoting Tibetan cultural heritage through Tibet House’s diverse range of programs. Doboom Tulku served as Director of Tibet House for 30 years.
Doboom Tulku has also worked with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Private Office and has accompanied His Holiness the Dalai Lama on multiple visits abroad, from trips to the USA, USSR, Japan, and Mongolia. He has published widely, on topics ranging from Tibetan medicine to Buddhist meditation and the Chittamatra Mind-Only School of philosophy. He also has a personal interest in the effects of music for spiritual practice and worked hard at setting up the World Festival of Sacred Music, which became a global event. He passed on 28 January, 2024 in Drepung Loseling Monastery in south India. ([https://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/spiritual-teachers/l-t-doboom-tulku Source Accessed Dec 6, 2023])
Andreas Doctor (PhD 2004, University of Calgary) is the director of the Dharmachakra Translation Committee and the editorial co-director of 84000.
For a number of years, Andreas has studied Buddhist history and philosophy under the guidance of Tibetan monks and lamas, mostly in Nepal at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery. As a founding member of Rangjung Yeshe Institute, he spent fifteen years teaching at the Institute and for most of this period he served as director of studies at Kathmandu University’s Centre for Buddhist Studies, located at Rangjung Yeshe Institute.
As director of the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, Andreas has participated in numerous translation projects, most recently in translating sūtras and tantras from the Tibetan canon. He is also a founding member of Rangjung Yeshe Gomde, Denmark. ([https://www.khyentsevision.org/team/dr-andreas-doctor/ Adapted from Source Oct 1, 2022]) +
Thomas Doctor received his BA and MA degrees in Tibetan Studies from the University of Copenhagen and his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Lausanne. He has studied Buddhist philosophy at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery since the late 1980s and serves as a senior translator for the lamas and scholars there. Thomas’ main research interests are the pāramitā and mantra views and practices of Buddhism in India and Tibet. He has translated several classics of Buddhist philosophy, including Speech of Delight (Ju Mipham's commentary to the Madhyamakālaṃkāra) and Ornament of Reason (Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü's commentary to the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā). Thomas contributes to the 84000, an ongoing project to translate the Tibetan collection of the Buddha's words and associated treaties into English. He is currently teaching several courses on the MA program at RYI. (Source: [http://www.ryi.org/faculty Rangjung Yeshe Institute]) +
Kyabjé Dodrupchen Rinpoche, the Fourth Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Tubten Trinlé Pal Zangpo (Tib. ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཕྲིན་ལས་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་, Wyl. thub bstan phrin las dpal bzang po) aka Jikmé Trinlé Palbar (1927-2022), was one of the most important masters in the Nyingma and Dzogchen traditions. As the fourth incarnation of Dodrupchen Jikmé Trinlé Özer, the heart-son of Jikmé Lingpa who revealed the Longchen Nyingtik cycle, Dodrupchen Rinpoche was the principal holder of the Longchen Nyingtik teachings.
He was born in 1927 in the Golok province of Dokham in the eastern part of Tibet....At the age of four, he travelled to the Dodrupchen monastery, where he was enthroned....
At Dodrupchen monastery, he built a Scriptural College, and he provided the woodblocks for printing the Seven Treasures of Longchenpa. He gave many major teachings, especially in the eastern part of Tibet.
On account of the changing political situation, Dodrupchen Rinpoche left Tibet and arrived in Sikkim in October 1957; from then on, he made Gangtok his permanent residence. Once again he subsidized the printing of many books, including Longchenpa's Seven Treasures and Trilogy of Finding Comfort and Ease. He has given many empowerments, transmissions and teachings in Sikkim, where he has two monasteries, in Bhutan, where he also heads a monastery, and in India and Nepal. Dodrupchen Rinpoche recognized the Seventh Dzogchen Rinpoche, whose enthronement was held in the Royal Temple at Gangtok in 1972...
He made a number of visits to the West, his first being in 1973, when he established a centre called the Maha Siddha Nyingmapa Centre in Massachusetts. Dodrupchen Rinpoche also visited Britain, France and Switzerland, and in 1975, gave the empowerment of Rigdzin Düpa at Sogyal Rinpoche's request in London. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dodrupchen_Rinpoche Rigpa Wiki, Source Accessed February 2, 2022]) +
Aleksa Dokic received a PhD in Buddhist Studies from the University of Delhi in 2001. The dissertation was titled "Samādhirāja Sūtra: An English Translation of Chapters I-XX of the Sanskrit Text with Critical Notes." The supervisor for the dissertation was Karam Tej Singh Sarao. Dokic is currently Assistant Director, Government Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities, Croatia. +
Prof. Lucia Dolce is Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhism in the Department of Religions and Philosophies, School of History, Religions and Philosophies at SOAS, University of London. She is the Chair of the Centre of Buddhist Studies and the Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions.
Lucia Dolce specialises in Japanese religions and thought, with a particular research interest in the religiosity of the medieval period, including millenarian ideas and prophetic writings, the esotericisation of religious practice, and kami-Buddhas associations. She is also interested in Chinese Buddhist thought and in popular religion in contemporary Japan. ([https://ceres.rub.de/en/people/lucia-dolce/ Source Accessed Sep 21, 2021]) +
Review of PhD Thesis: http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/2594
Lewis Doney is a philologist and scholar of Buddhist Studies. He received his BA (Religious Studies) from Lancaster University in 2002, and his MA and PhD (Study of Religions) from SOAS, London, in 2004 and 2011. Since then he has been engaged in postdoctoral research on Tibet at LMU, Munich and FU, Berlin. His publications include a book with the title The Zangs gling ma: The First Padmasambhava Biography. (International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, 2014). He researched reflections of India in early Tibetan Buddhist historiography as part of the European Research Council-funded project “Asia Beyond Boundaries” at the British Museum. At Ruhr-Universität Bochum he worked on the BuddhistRoad project on "Localising Tibetan Tantric Communities at Dunhuang" - https://buddhistroad.ceres.rub.de/en/ +
Dong Qichang (Chinese: 董其昌; pinyin: Dǒng Qíchāng; Wade–Giles: Tung Ch'i-ch'ang; courtesy name Xuanzai (玄宰); 1555–1636), was a Chinese painter, calligrapher, politician, and art theorist of the later period of the Ming dynasty.
'''Life as a scholar and calligrapher:'''<br>
Dong Qichang was a native of Hua Ting (located in modern-day Shanghai), the son of a teacher and somewhat precocious as a child. At 12 he passed the prefectural Civil service entrance examination and won a coveted spot at the prefectural Government school. He first took the imperial civil service exam at seventeen, but placed second to a cousin because his calligraphy was clumsy. This led him to train until he became a noted calligrapher. Once this occurred he rose up the ranks of the imperial service passing the highest level at the age of 35. He rose to an official position with the Ministry of Rites.[1]
'''Landscape with Calligraphy, Tokyo National Museum:''''<br>
His positions in the bureaucracy were not without controversy. In 1605 he was giving the exam when the candidates demonstrated against him causing his temporary retirement. In other cases he insulted and beat women who came to his home with grievances. That led to his house being burned down by an angry mob. He also had the tense relations with the eunuchs common to the scholar bureaucracy. Dong's tomb in Songjiang District was vandalized during the Cultural Revolution, and his body dressed in official Ming court robes, was desecrated by Red Guards.
'''Painter:''''<br>
His work favored expression over formal likeness. He also avoided anything he deemed to be slick or sentimental. This led him to create landscapes with intentionally distorted spatial features. Still his work was in no way abstract as it took elements from earlier Yuan masters. His views on expression had importance to later "individualist" painters.
'''Art theory:''''<br>
In his art theoretical writings, Dong developed the theory that Chinese painting could be divided into two schools, the northern school characterized by fine lines and colors and the southern school noted for its quick calligraphic strokes. These names are misleading as they refer to Northern and Southern schools of Chan Buddhism thought rather than geographic areas. Hence a Northern painter could be geographically from the south and a Southern painter geographically from the north. In any event he strongly favored the Southern school and dismissed the Northern school as superficial or merely decorative.
His ideal of Southern school painting was one where the artist forms a new style of individualistic painting by building on and transforming the style of traditional masters. This was to correspond with sudden enlightenment, as favored by Southern Chan Buddhism. He was a great admirer of Mi Fu and Ni Zan. By relating to the ancient masters' style, artists are to create a place for themselves within the tradition, not by mere imitation, but by extending and even surpassing the art of the past. Dong's theories, combining veneration of past masters with a creative forward looking spark, would be very influential on Qing dynasty artists as well as collectors, "especially some of the newly rich collectors of Sungchiang, Huichou in Southern Anhui, Yangchou, and other places where wealth was concentrated in this period". Together with other early self-appointed arbiters of taste known as the Nine Friends, he helped determine which painters were to be considered collectible (or not). As Cahill points out, such men were the forerunners of today's art historians. His classifications were quite perceptive and he is credited with being "the first art historian to do more than list and grade artists." ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dong_Qichang Source Accessed July 14, 2023])
Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche was born in the Dhoshul region of Kham in eastern Tibet on June 10, 1950. On that summer day in the family tent, Rinpoche’s birth caused his mother no pain. The next day, his mother, Pema Lhadze, moved the bed where she had given birth. Beneath it she found growing a beautiful and fragrant flower which she plucked and offered to Chenrezig on the family altar.
Soon after his birth three head lamas from Jadchag monastery came to his home and recognized him as the reincarnation of Khenpo Sherab Khyentse. Khenpo Sherab Khyentse, who had been the former head abbot lama at Gochen Monastery, was a renowned scholar and practitioner who lived much of his life in retreat.
Rinpoche’s first dharma teacher was his father, Lama Chimed Namgyal Rinpoche. Beginning his schooling at the age of five, he entered Gochen Monastery. His studies were interrupted by the Chinese invasion and his family's escape to India. In India his father and brother continued his education until he entered the Nyingmapa Monastic School of Northern India, where he studied until 1967.
He then entered the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, which was then a part of Sanskrit University in Varanasi, where he received his B.A. degree in 1975. He also attended Nyingmapa University in West Bengal, where he received another B.A. and an M.A. in 1977.
In 1978 Rinpoche was enthroned as the abbot of the Wish-fulfilling Nyingmapa Institute in Boudanath, Nepal by [[H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche]], and later became the abbot of the Department of Dharma Studies, where he taught poetry, grammar, philosophy and psychology. In 1981, H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche appointed Rinpoche as the abbot of the Dorje Nyingpo Center in Paris, France. In 1982 he was asked to work with H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche at the Yeshe Nyingpo Center in New York. During the 1980s, until H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche’s mahaparinirvana in 1987, Rinpoche continued working closely with him, often traveling as his translator and attendant.
In 1988, Rinpoche and his brother founded the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center. Since that time he has served as a spiritual director at the various Padmasambhava centers throughout the world. He maintains an active traveling and teaching schedule with his brother, Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche.
Khenpo Tsewang Rinpoche has authored two books of poetry on the life of Guru Rinpoche, including ''Praise to the Lotus Born: A Verse Garland of Waves of Devotion'', and a unique two-volume cultural and religious history of Tibet entitled ''The Six Sublime Pillars of the Nyingma School'', which details the historical bases of the dharma in Tibet from the sixth through ninth centuries. At present, this is one of the only books written that conveys the dharma activities of this historical period in such depth. Khenpo Rinpoche has also co-authored a number of books in English on dharma subjects with his brother Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, including ''Ceaseless Echoes of the Great Silence: A Commentary on the Heart Sutra''; ''Prajnaparamita: The Six Perfections''; ''Door to Inconceivable Wisdom and Compassion''; ''Lion's Gaze: A Commentary on the Tsig Sum Nedek''; and ''Opening Our Primordial Nature''. ([http://www.padmasambhava.org/teach/longkhenpo.html Source Accessed Jan 29, 2015])
Gary Donnelly is an academic advisor at the University of Manchester, and lectures in Indic Religious Traditions at Liverpool Hope University. He holds a PhD in Indian Philosophy, specializing in Theravada, Madhyamaka, Yogacara, and Vedanta traditions. ([https://www.lionsroar.com/author/gary-donnelly/ Source Accessed April 25, 2024]) +
Neal Donner received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies in 1976 from the University of British Columbia for an annotated translation of the first chapter of Chih-i’s ''Mo-ho chih-kuan''. His translation (with Shotaro Iida)
of Yensho Kanakura’s ''Indo tetsugaku-shi'' has been published as ''Hindu-Buddhist Thought in India''. (''Sudden and Gradual'', contributors, 458) +
Daniel Donnet is professor emeritus at Université catholique de Louvain. +
Brief bio available at [http://www.bokarmonastery.org/mod/data/index.php?REQUEST_ID=cGFnZT1iaW9ncmFwaHktS2hlbnBvRG9ueW8= bokarmonastery.org] +
Gyurme Dorje (1950 – 5 February 2020) was a Scottish Tibetologist and writer. He was born in Edinburgh, where he studied classics (Latin and Greek) at George Watson's College and developed an early interest in Buddhist philosophy. He held a PhD in Tibetan Literature (SOAS) and an MA in Sanskrit with Oriental Studies (Edinburgh). In the 1970s he spent a decade living in Tibetan communities in India and Nepal where he received extensive teachings from Kangyur Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. In 1971 Dudjom Rinpoche encouraged him to begin translating his recently completed ''History of the Nyingma Schoo''l (རྙིང་མའི་སྟན་པའི་ཆོས་འབྱུང་) and in 1980 his ''Fundamentals of the Nyingma School'' (བསྟན་པའི་རྣམ་གཞག) - together this was an undertaking that was to take twenty years, only reaching completion in 1991. In the 1980s Gyurme returned to the UK and in 1987 completed his 3 volume doctoral dissertation on the ''Guhyagarbhatantra'' and Longchenpa's commentary on this text at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.
From 1991 to 1996 Gyurme held research fellowships at London University, where he worked with Alak Zenkar Rinpoche on translating (with corrections) the content of the Great Sanskrit Tibetan Chinese Dictionary to create the three volume ''Encyclopaedic Tibetan-English Dictionary''. From 2007 until his death he worked on many translation projects, primarily as a Tsadra Foundation grantee. He has written, edited, translated and contributed to numerous important books on Tibetan religion and culture including ''The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History'' (2 vols.) (Wisdom, 1991), ''Tibetan Medical Paintings'' ( 2 vols.) (Serindia, 1992), ''The Tibet Handbook'' (Footprint, 1996), the first complete translation of the ''Tibetan Book of the Dead'', and ''A Handbook of Tibetan Culture'' (Shambhala, 1994). ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyurme_Dorje Source Accessed Jul 14, 2020])
Khenpo Jampal Dorje (mkhan po 'jam dpal rdo rje, b. ca. 1970) is a teacher at Ari Dza Monastery in Dzachukha, Kham. (Source: Enlightened Vagabond) +
Karma Dorje (Rabjampa) is a member of the Alexander Csoma de Kőrös Translation Group along with Krisztina Teleki, Zsuzsa Majer, William Dewey, and Beáta Kakas. ([https://84000.co/grants Source Accessed Sep 30, 2022]) +
Tulku Sherdor is Executive Director of Blazing Wisdom Institute. Born in Montreal, Canada in 1961, he began studying Buddhist Insight meditation from a very young age, and met his principal teacher, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, in Nepal in 1981. He was fortunate to study with other pre-eminent masters of the 20th century, including His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Khetsun Zangpo Rinpoche, Dung Say Trinley Norbu Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, and many others. He completed a 3-year lama retreat in the Karma and Shangpa Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism, and a year-long solitary retreat in the Chogling Tersar practice lineage held by Tulku Urgyen. Over the past 18 years he has traveled far and wide, teaching and working with and translating for a great number of distinguished Nyingma and Kagyu meditation masters, such as helping Trangu Rinpoche establish the monastic retreat program at Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in the early 1990s; helping Kenpo Sonam Topgyal Rinpoche re-establish the vajrayana Buddhist tradition for the Chinese community in Thailand in the mid-1990s; and working closely with his precious teacher, His Holiness Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, to advance many philanthropic projects in Tibet dedicated to world peace. (Source: [http://www.blazingwisdom.org/id1.html Blazing Wisdom Institute]) +
Geshe Pema Dorjee is an internationally recognized authority, scholar, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. His fluent English, keen intellect, clear and practical explanations, warm-hearted nature, and infectious sense of humor enrich his talks and discussions with meaning and inspiration.
He was born into a nomadic family in Tibet in 1951. They escaped from the invading Chinese, and he settled in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile and the home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
From 1973 to 1981 at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics founded by H.H. the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, he completed an undergraduate degree and two Masters degrees in Buddhist Philosophy, one in Prajnaparamita (the Perfection of Wisdom) and one in Madhyamika (the Middle Way).
For the next 16 years, he dedicated himself to the Tibetan Children’s Village School located in Dharamsala. For nine of those years, he taught Tibetan Buddhism, language, and culture. In 1990, he was appointed Principal of the school, and from 1993 to 1997 he was its Director.
In 1995, he earned his Geshe degree at the Drepung Loseling Monastery.
Geshe Pema Dorjee served for two years as the Principal of the Tibetan Teachers Training Center. He was then named the first Principal of the College for Higher Tibetan Studies, and he remained in charge of that College from 1997 to 2002.
The Tibetan government-in-exile asked him to undertake various tasks. The Cabinet, for example, appointed him to the Higher Level Textbook Review Committee. His Holiness appointed him as a member of the Public Service Commission. The Department of Health appointed him as spiritual counselor to former political prisoners who had been tortured.
In 2001, H. H. the Dalai Lama asked Geshe Pema Dorjee to revive an important part of Tibetan Buddhism that had fallen into desuetude, the Bodong tradition. Fulfilling this task required him to establish both a scholarly project and a very practical one. To find the lost writings of that ancient tradition, to study them, translate them, and publish them, he founded in 2003 and continues to direct the [[Bodong Research and Publication Center]] in Dharamsala. To educate new monks in the Bodong tradition, he founded and continues to direct the Bodong monastery and school known as Porong Pelmo Choeding in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Although he insists that he is only a simple monk, Geshe Pema Dorjee lives the compassionate life about which he preaches. He travels to the most remote and impoverished regions of Himalayan India and Nepal. After a thorough analysis of what is most needed, he creates, organizes, directs, and raises funds for numerous humanitarian projects.
These projects include establishing schools, arranging medical care for the sick and injured, providing care for the elderly, creating an orphanage, supporting a drug rehabilitation center, educating villagers to protect them from human trafficking, creating a safe house for street girls, helping young people in Tibetan refugee camps, introducing new agricultural techniques, and providing safe water, toilets, and smokeless cookstoves.
Since 1997, he has donated much of his time to teaching and lecturing about Buddhist philosophy in countries around the world, including Sweden, England, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Norway, France, Estonia, India, Nepal, and Israel.
Since 2009, Geshe Pema Dorjee has lectured and taught in cities across the United States, including New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, Miami, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston and Cambridge. (Source: [https://tibethouse.us/presenter/geshe-pema-dorjee/ Tibet House US])
Penpa Dorjee is associate professor and head librarian of Shantarakshita
Library of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, India.
He received the acharya degree from Sampurnanada Sanskrit University in
Varanasi and his PhD from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. He has seventeen books in his name as author, coauthor, translator, and
editor. (Source: Sera Monastery, 2019). +
Brandon Dotson is associate professor and Thomas P. McKenna Chair of Buddhist Studies. Besides Georgetown, he has taught and researched at Oxford, SOAS, UCSB, and Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. He has also enjoyed research stays in China and Tibet. His work concerns ritual, narrative, and cosmology and the interaction of Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions in the Tibetan cultural area. In particular, he works closely with Tibetan Dunhuang manuscripts to explore the history and culture of the Tibetan Empire (7th to 9th centuries CE). ([https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014SlSxAAK/brandon-dotson Source: Georgetown University Page]) +
Keith Dowman is a translator and teacher of Dzogchen. A student of the great Dzogchen lamas Dudjom Rinpoche and Kanjur Rinpoche, he has lived in Banares, India, and Kathmandu, Nepal, for 50 years. His translations include SkyDancer, and Longchenpa’s Natural Perfection and Spaciousness.
A cultural refugee from his native England, Keith Dowman arrived in Banares, India in 1966, after travelling overland from Europe. Apart from an occasional foray back to the West he has spent a lifetime in the sub-continent, engaged in existential buddha dharma. In India and Nepal, not always in Tibetan refugee society, he has lived as a yogin, monk, pilgrim, and then as a householder, and as a scholar and poet gloriously free from western academia and cultural institutions of all shapes and sizes.
In India in the ‘sixties he was fortunate enough to encounter the grandfather-lama refugees just after their arrival in India in the wake of the Chinese invasion of Tibet. In those heady years when the old lamas were totally receptive to the solicitation of western disciples seeking confirmation of the validity of their existential trajectories, he received initiation, empowerment, pith instruction and personal guidance from Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje and Kanjur Rinpoche Longchen Yeshe Dorje, who became his root gurus, among many other Nyingma lamas and lamas of other schools, notably Khamtrul Rimpoche and the 16th Karmapa Rikpai Dorje. As Chogyal Namkhai Norbu remarked "In communion with many great masters [Keith Dowman] has fortuitously absorbed the realization of Dzogchen."
Settled in Kathmandu, in the ‘eighties he translated the Rabalaisian hagiography of The Divine Madman (Drukpa Kunley) and also that of the Guru’s Consort, Yeshe Tsogyel, in Skydancer, both of which remain in print. Entering Tibet immediately after it opened to foreign travelers, his three years of seasonal trekking in central Tibet resulted in The Pilgrim’s Guide to Central Tibet. The Power Places of Kathmandu was also written in the ‘eighties, description of pilgrimage in the Kathmandu Valley. Masters of Mahamudra: the Legends of the Eighty-Four Mahasiddhas was the fruit of his connection with the Kagyu school. More recently, spending less time in the polluted Kathmandu Valley, leaving Vajrayana behind, he has concentrated exclusively on the translation of Dzogchen texts: The Flight of the Garuda, Natural Perfection, Maya Yoga, The Great Secret of Mind, and Spaciousness: Longchenpa’s Treasury of the Dharmadhatu. Guru Pema Here and Now, The Mythology of the Lotus-Born, his most recent book, reverts to the imagery of the myth of Padmasambhava to illustrate the reality of Dzogchen.
Teaching the Dharma since 1992, his original concern was to assist in bridge building from East to West, a conduit for the lamas’ buddha-dharma. Now that aim has been achieved, leaving even the Dzogchen that is embedded in Vajrayana behind, the essence of Dzogchen which he calls radical Dzogchen is his primary concern and the main content of his teaching.
Still based in Kathmandu, he leads a nomadic lifestyle, teaching Dzogchen nonmeditation worldwide. This Dzogchen, derived from the early Nyingma tantras, free of the tendency toward the spiritual materialism so evident in western Buddhism, nonculturally specific, easily assimilable into Western culture, can, he believes provide a key to a renaissance, or at least a reformation, of Western mysticism in the existential mold. ([http://keithdowman.net/footer-pages/about-keith-dowman.html Source Accessed Feb 3, 2021])
Though the names Vīraprakāśa or Vīraprabhāsvara are unattested in Sanskrit sources, this author is known to Tibetans as Pawo Ösel and is associated with a cycle of spiritual songs related to the famed Eighty-four Mahāsiddhas of India. +
A well known scholar of the Dge lugs tradition from Bla brang bkra' shis 'khil in Amdo. The place of his birth was Dpa' ri. He was a teacher of the 13th Dalai Lama and a close friend of the Zhwa dmar pa. He famously criticized Mipam Rinpoche's commentary to the ninth chapter of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'', ''The Ketaka Gem'' (''Nor bu ke ta ka''). +
Patrul Rinpoche's reincarnation, Patrul Namkha Jigme (dpal sprul nam mkha' 'jigs med, 1888–1960), who was the seventh son of the renowned treasure revealer Dudjom Lingpa (bdud 'joms gling pa, 1835–1904), was Kunzang Wangmo's father. He was also know as Padma Khalong Yangpa Tsal and Tulku Namkha Jikmé. (Source: [https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Kunzang-Wangmo/13819 Treasury of Lives]). Patrul Namkha Jikmé’s two main teachers were his father Dudjom Lingpa, and Khenpo Kunpal. He revealed nine volumes of terma, and constructed a shedra at Dza Pukhung Gön and a Zabchö Shitro Gongpa Rangdrol drupdra at Dzagyal Monastery. His main dharma heir was his own daughter, Khandroma Kunzang Wangmo, a great-daughter of Dudjom Lingpa. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Patrul_Namkha_Jikm%C3%A9 Rigpa Wiki]) +
A renowned scholar born in Chisa in the Amdo Rebgong region. A student of Dzong Ngon Lodoe Tshang, Tsang Geshe Tshang, Zhwamar Pandita, Jampa Lobsang, Dzoge Lobsang Gyatsho, Horchen Yeshe Gyatsho, etc. He was an important holder of Tsongkhapa's transmission of the Whisper Lineage (''snyan rgyud''). His primary students were Tulku Jamyang Thinle Wangpo, Dzongkar Jigme Sherab Dagpa, Tulku Jigme Thinle Lhundup, Nangso Kukey, and Khaso Chogtrul. +
Carmen Dragonetti (born in Argentina, 1937) and Fernando Tola (born in Peru, 1915) are the most prestigious Indologists in the Spanish-speaking world, both being researchers from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina. They were President and Vice-President, respectively, of the Institute of Buddhist Studies Foundation (FIEB).
Both were professors at universities in Peru and Argentina. Dedicated to Indology and the study of Buddhism, they published a large number of books and articles in Spanish and English, containing highly reliable translations of Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese and/or Tibetan texts, such as the unsurpassed Tola versions of the ''Gita Govinda'' and the ''Bhagavad Gita'', and Dragonetti's ''Dhammapada'', which are remarkable for their beauty and clarity, one of the most relevant qualities of these authors as writers.
Other translations by the same authors include ''Five Mahayana Sutras'', also published by Primorda Media, the ''Udana'' and ''The Sutra of Infinite Meanings'', ''Wu liang i ching''. ([https://www-librosbudistas-com.translate.goog/autor/carmen-dragonetti-fernando-tola?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en Adapted from Source Oct 4, 2022]) +
bdrc P7770 +
Martina Draszczyk holds a PhD in Buddhist Studies and Tibetology. Her doctoral thesis at the Department for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies of the University of Vienna dealt with the integration of the notion of buddha-nature in meditation practice. She trained in Buddhist philosophy and meditation with both Tibetan Buddhist and Theravāda teachers and acted as an interpreter for Tibetan masters for many years. In her research projects she focuses on Tibetan Madhyamaka, Mahāmudrā, and buddha-nature theories mainly in the context of the Bka’ brgyud tradition. She also teaches in Buddhist centers in Europe as well as in the field of secular mindfulness. ([https://conference.tsadra.org/past-event/2019-vienna-symposium/ Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
Georges B. J. Dreyfus (born 1950 in Switzerland) is an academic in the fields of Tibetology and Buddhology, with a particular interest in Indian Buddhist philosophy. In 1985 he was the first Westerner to receive the Geshe Lharampa degree, the highest available within the Tibetan scholastic tradition.
He currently is Jackson Professor of Religion at Williams College, Massachusetts. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Dreyfus Source Accessed March 13, 2024]) +
Georges Driessens was a Buddhist monk (Sherpa Tulku) from the Tibetan tradition and has translated a number of Buddhist texts: ''Le grand livre de la progression vers l'éveil'', by Tsongkhapa, ''La lettre à un ami (Suhṛllekha)'' and ''Le traité du milieu (Mādhyamaka-śāstra)'' by Nāgārjuna. ([https://grupsderecerca.uab.cat/trafil/sites/grupsderecerca.uab.cat.trafil/files/00-edite-chez-Benjamins.pdf Adapted from Source Jan 8, 2021]) +
The Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang, Konchog Tenzin Kunsang Thrinle Lhundrup, was born on the 4th day of the 6th Tibetan month of the Fire-Dog-Year 1946 into the aristocratic family of Tsarong in Lhasa. This auspicious day marks the anniversary of the Buddha’s first turning of the Wheel of Dharma. Many prodigious signs and visions accompanied his birth. His grandfather, Dasang Damdul Tsarong (1888-1959), has been the favorite of the 13th Dalai Lama (1876-1933), Commander General of the Tibetan army and one of the most influential political figures in the early 20th century in Tibet. Chetsangs father, Dundul Namgyal Tsarong (b. 1920), held a high office in the Tibetan Government and he was still active in important positions for the Exile Government in Dharamsala after the escape of the Dalai Lama and the cabinet ministers. His mother, Yangchen Dolkar, is from the noble house of Ragashar, which descended from the ancient royal dynasty.
(Continue reading at [http://www.drikung.org/their-holiness/hh-kyabgoen-chetsang Drikung.org]) +
Born in 1977 in Ngayul in the Amdo region, he became a monk at Jonang Se Monastery when he was young and learned reading, writing, and rituals under Khar Lama Sherab Chophel. Having finished the training, he followed the tradition of the monastery and entered into three year retreat under Lama Kunga Thukje Pal in order to take up the practice of the six yogas of Kālacakra. In 1998, he arrived in India and joined Gomang College in Drepung Monastery and completed the full study of the five treatises. He sat for Grand Geluk Examination and also successfully passed the defense for the Lharam Geshe degree. Following this, he attended the Gyuto College for Tantric Studies and passed the exams. He is currently lecturer at Jonang Monastery in Parping, Nepal. +
Anne Holland (Pema Chonyi Drolma), Tibetan Buddhist priest, translator, meditation guide and teacher.
Chönyi Drolma completed six years of retreat under the direction of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche and Lama Tharchin Rinpoché in 2012 at Pema Osel Ling. She translated the autobiography of Traktung Dudjom Lingpa into English, published as [[A Clear Mirror]], as well as the secret biography of [[Yeshe Tsogyal]] as [[The Life and Visions of Yeshe Tsogyal]]. She currently lives in Montreal where she continues to translate and take her lamas’ instructions to heart.
[http://www.jnanasukha.org/news-blog/translation-secret-biography Source Accessed 16 March, 2016] +
Delog Dawa Drolma (?-1941) was a great female teacher of Tibet, a délok, and the mother of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche.
According to Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche:
My mother was revered throughout Tibet for her extraordinary powers as a lama, but she was more famous for being a delog, one who has crossed the threshold of death and returned to tell about it. Hers was not a visionary or momentary near-death experience. For five full days she lay cold, breathless, and devoid of any vital signs, while her consciousness moved freely into other realms, often escorted by the wisdom goddess White Tara. She undertook her journey as a delog according to instructions she had received from Tara in visions, but against the wishes of her lamas, who pleaded with her not to take such a risk. It is remarkable that she, a young woman of sixteen, had so much confidence in her meditation that she prevailed over very wise, much older lamas. However, she herself had been recognized as an emanation of White Tara, a powerful force of enlightened mind for the longevity and liberation of all sentient beings.
Delog Dawa Drolma received teachings from Dudjom Rinpoche. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Delog_Dawa_Drolma Source Accessed Feb 22, 2023]) +
Lama Palden was one of the first Western women to be authorized as a lama in 1986, by her primary teacher, Kalu Rinpoche, following her completion of the traditional Tibetan three year, three month retreat. She has been a student and practitioner of Buddhism and of Comparative Mysticism for over 40 years. She is the founding teacher of Sukhasiddhi Foundation http://www.sukhasiddhi.org in the SF Bay Area, a Tibetan Buddhist center in the Shangpa and Kagyu lineages. Lama Palden has a deep interest in helping to make the teachings and practices of Vajrayana Buddhism accessible and practical for Westerners in order to help students actualize our innate wisdom, love and joy. As a teacher, she is committed to each student's unique unfolding and blossoming.
In 1993 Lama Palden completed a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley. After licensing as a psychotherapist, she engaged in facilitating clients psycho-spiritual integration and development, through bringing together understandings and methods from Buddhism and Psychology, as well as from the Diamond Heart work, that she engaged with and trained in for many years. ([https://www.amazon.com/Lama-Palden-Drolma/e/B07NLJ87GM%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share Source Accessed August 13, 2020]) +
"After the death of 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi grags pa (the 3rd Drukchen or Gyalwang Drukpa), monks found the rebirth in the house of a minor aristocrat of Kongpo, to the disappointment of both the families of Rwa lung and Bya. This child, the sprul sku Ngag dbang nor bu, was to be the great Padma dkar po. Padma dkar po was one of those rare renaissance men. The breadth of his scholarship and learning invites comparison with the Fifth Dalai Lama. It was Padma dkar po who systematized the teaching of the 'Brug pa sect. It is no wonder that the 'Brug pa Bka' brgyud pa always refer to him as Kun mkhyen, the Omniscient, an epithet reserved for the greatest scholar of a sect. Padma dkar po was a shrewd and occasionally ruthless politician. His autobiography is one of the most important sources for the history of the sixteenth century. Padma dkar po was a monk and insisted on adherence to the vinaya rules for his monastic followers. He also held that in the administration of church affairs the claims of the rebirth and the monastic scholar took priority over those of the scion of a revered lineage. Although he preached often at both Rwa lung and Bkra shis mthong smon, the seats of his two immediate predecessors, he never exercised actual control over these monasteries and their estates. He founded his monastery at Gsang sngags chos gling in Byar po, north of Mon Rta dbang, which became the seat of the subsequent Rgyal dbang 'Brug pa incarnation." (Gene Smith, ''Among Tibetan Texts'', 81) +