Sheehy, M.

Sheehy, M. on the DRL

Translators • Authors of English Works • Independent Researchers

Michael R. Sheehy

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Contact information

Website:	http://www.michaelrsheehy.com

About

Primary Affiliation (Workplace)

University of Virginia

Secondary Affiliation

Jonang Foundation

Religious Affiliation

Jonang

PhD University

California Institute of Integral Studies

Education

• Ph.D. Buddhist Studies 2007

Department of Asian Philosophies and Cultures

California Institute of Integral Studies. San Francisco, CA

• Columbia University

Tibetan Language, Concurrent Graduate Studies

• University of California, Berkeley

Buddhist Studies, Concurrent Graduate Studies

• B.A.

Religion and Asian Studies. 1998

Wheaton College. Norton, MA

• Naropa University

Himalayan Buddhist Studies, Study Abroad. Kathmandu, Nepal

Biographical Information

Michael R. Sheehy is a Research Assistant Professor in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, Director of Scholarship at the Contemplative Sciences Center, and affiliated faculty with the Tibet Center at the University of Virginia. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Tibet, including three years training in a Buddhist monastery in the far eastern cultural domain of Golok. Michael’s research interests include Buddhist philosophy of mind, practices of contemplation, and the history of thought and science in Tibet. His writings and translations have given attention to histories of marginalized lineages in Tibet, most notably the zhentong (gzhan stong) and Kālacakra lineages of the Jonang order of Tibetan Buddhism.

For over a decade, through extensive collaborations with monastic communities, Michael worked on-the-ground to digitally preserve rare Tibetan manuscripts across the plateau. From 2008 to 2016, he was the editor-in-chief and research director at the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (formerly the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, TBRC). He worked closely with the late Tibetologist E. Gene Smith (1936-2010) to digitize Tibetan literature, develop scholarly resources, and architect the encyclopedic digital library. In 2004, together with Jonangpa exemplars, he founded the Jonang Foundation, an international nonprofit that preserves and promotes research on the Jonang order of Tibetan Buddhism.

Michael’s current research focus is contexts and dynamics of Tibetan contemplative practices. Most broadly, his interest lies in questions about how Buddhism, and Tibetan contemplative traditions more specifically, can contribute to discourses in the humanities, cognitive science, and cultural psychology about consciousness and its transformations. He is particularly interested in Tibetan contemplative practices of attention, dream, imagination and visualization, and embodiment as detailed in Tibetan yoga and meditation manuals.

He recently coedited with Klaus-Dieter Mathes (Vienna University) the book, The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet (SUNY Press 2019), an anthology of scholarship on the history, literature, and philosophy of zhentong in Tibet. With David Germano, he is Series Editor of the Traditions and Transformations in Tibetan Buddhism and the Contemplative Sciences book series published by the University of Virginia Press.

Recent publications include:

• "The Philosophical Grounds and Literary History of Zhentong." 2019. Co-authored with Klaus-Dieter Mathes. In The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Edited by Michael R. Sheehy and Klaus Dieter-Mathes. State University of New York Press. (Click here to read)

• "The Dharma of the Perfect Eon: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsan’s (1292-1361) Hermeneutics of Time and the Jonang Doxography of Zhentong Madhyamaka." 2019. In The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Edited by Michael R. Sheehy and Klaus Dieter-Mathes. State University of New York Press.

• "The Zhentong Lion Roars: Dzamthang Khenpo Lodro Drakpa (1920-1975) and the Jonang Scholastic Renaissance." 2019. In The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Edited by Michael R. Sheehy and Klaus Dieter-Mathes. State University of New York Press.

• "Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen on Refraining from Meat." 2019. In The Faults of Meat: Tibetan Buddhist Writings on Vegetarianism. Edited by Geoff Barstow. Boston: Wisdom Publications.

• "Traversing the Path of Meditation." 2017. In A Gathering of Brilliant Moons: Practice Advice from Rimé Masters of Tibet. Ed. Holly Gayley and Joshua Schapiro. Wisdom Publications: Boston, MA.
  

Curriculum Vitae

Appointments

Director of Programs Mind & Life Institute

Faculty, Department of Religious Studies. Affiliated Faculty at the Contemplative Sciences Center and Tibet Center. University of Virginia. Charlottesville, VA 2016—Present

Visiting Researcher Kyoto University. Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability. Kyoto, Japan. 2018

Visiting Scholar Harvard University, Divinity School. Cambridge, 2016

Director of Research Buddhist Digital Resource Center (formerly Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center). Cambridge, MA 2011-2015

Adjunct Professor Boston College. Theology Department. Boston, MA

Lecturer in Asian Religions The New School University, Eugene Lang College. New York, NY 2009-2012

Academic Program Director The New School University. Study Abroad in Tibet. New York, NY 2011-2012

Senior Editor Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center. New York, NY 2009-2011

Adjunct Professor Manhattanville College. Asian Studies Department. Purchase, NY 2008-2010

Adjunct Professor City University of New York. Asian Studies Department. New York, NY 2008-2009

Recent Presentations and Public Lectures

A Comparative Analysis of Digital Manuscripts from Eastern Tibet Centre for the Study of Manuscript Culture University of Hamburg. Hamburg, Germany. 2015

Methods and Pathways in the Study of Digital Tibetan Manuscripts The Martin Center for the Advanced Study of Religion The University of Chicago Divinity School. Chicago, IL. 2015

An Ontology for the Digital Tibetan Book “Symposium on the Tibetan Book” The University of Virginia. Charlottesville, VA. 2014

The Jonang in 18th Century Tibet Harvard University. Cambridge, MA. 2014

Ecumenism in Tibet University of Colorado. Boulder, CO. 2013

A Buddhist Tradition on the Edge: The Migration and Marginalization of the Jonangpa in Tibet Center for the Study of World Religions Harvard Divinity School. Cambridge, MA. 2013

Three Years in Tibet: Reflections from a Buddhist Monastery The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, AL. 2012

Values in Tibetan Buddhist Education Wheaton College. Norton, MA. 2012

Bibliographic Sources for Tibetan Studies: A TBRC Workshop Columbia University. New York, NY. 2012

Technology and Translation in the Future of Tibetan Studies Tibetan Studies After Gene Smith and Directions for the Future Columbia University. New York, NY. 2011

Applied Scholarship in Tibetan Cultural Regions of China The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, AL. 2010

Zhentong Buddhist Philosophy in the Jonang Tradition Skidmore College. Saratoga Springs, NY. 2010

Visualizing the Tantric Buddhist Mandala Yale University. New Haven, CT. 2010

On the History of the Jonang Kalachakra Tradition Tibet House. New York, NY. 2009

Conference Presentations

An Entangled Buddhist History: Shangs pa Lineage Networks, Transmission Strategies, and their Records of Reception in Tibet “Transference and Transmission in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist ‘Philosophical’ Traditions” XVIIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies University of Vienna. Austria. 2014

Materializing Dreams and Omens: Narrative Devices in the Autobiographical Writing of the Tibetan Yoginī Trinle Wangmo “Writing Tibetan Women” American Academy of Religion. Baltimore, MD. 2013

Charting Par khang Culture: Towards an Analytics of Early Xylographic Literary Production in Tibet “Among Digital Texts: Remembering Gene Smith” International Association of Tibetan Studies. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. 2013

In Your Face: Bamda Tubten Gelek’s Up-Close Personal Advice “Translating Buddhist Luminaries: A Conference on Ecumenism and Tibetan Translation” University of Colorado. Boulder. 2013

Relocating the Tibetan Manuscript Writings of Kunga Drolchok (1507-1566) “Documentary and Manuscript Sources from Tibet” Association of Asian Studies. San Diego, CA. 2013

Mapping Scholarship on Tibet: Recent Findings of Jonang Monasteries National Outreach Scholarship Conference The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, AL. 2012.

Conducting Tibetological Research: A TBRC Workshop International Seminar of Young Tibetologists Kobe City University of Foreign Studies. Kobe, Japan. 2012

Accessing a Global Vision of Tibetan Literary Culture “Preservation of the Literary Heritage” Third International Conference on the Tibetan Language. Columbia University. New York, NY. 2011

A Buddhist Hermeneutic of Time: Tibetan Recalculations of the Buddhist Councils and Zhentong Literary History in India “India in the Asian Buddhist Imagination,” Buddhism Section American Academy of Religion. San Francisco, CA. 2011

Banned Books, Sealed Printeries and Neglected Dkar chag: Precursors and Prospects in Light of E. Gene Smith’s Contributions to Tibetan Literary Studies “E. Gene Smith: Remembering His Life and Works” International Association of Buddhist Studies. Taiwan. 2011

Codifying the Krtyuga: Preliminary Remarks on a Literary History of Gzhan stong in Tibet “Rang stong / Gzhan stong: Perspectives on the Discourse in India and Tibet” International Association of Buddhist Studies. Taiwan. 2011

Identity Politics of Re-Embodiment: Lineage Formation in Tibetan and Mongolian Accounts of Rje btsun Tā ra nā tha’s (1575-1635) Death and the Birth of Khal kha Blo bzang bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan (1635-1723) “Madness, Smallpox, and Death in Tibet,” Tibetan and Himalayan Religions Group American Academy of Religion. Atlanta, GA. 2010

Revealing the Gsang ba’i ye shes: Reflections on the Autobiography of the Female Jo nang pa Adept Rje bstun ma ‘Phrin las dbang mo (1585-c.1668) “The Jo nang pa: Narrative, Transmission, and Tradition Reconsidered” International Association of Tibetan Studies. University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada. 2010

Life after Tāranātha: Priorities and Strategies for Sustaining Esoteric Buddhist Knowledge Transmission Among the Jonangpa in 17th Century Tibet “Strategies of Buddhist Knowledge Transmission: Texts, Techniques, and Technologies in Tibet,” Tibetan and Himalayan Religions Group American Academy of Religion. Montreal, Canada. 2009

Is the Uttaratantra-śastra Really a Madhyamaka Text?: Jonangpa Understandings of Tibetan Buddhist Doxography and Historiography “The Uttaratantra in Tibet,” Buddhist Philosophy and Tibetan and Himalayan Religions Group American Academy of Religion. Chicago, IL. 2008

Tāranātha’s Secret: Reading from the Autobiography of the Tibetan Female Adept Phrin las dbang mo TBRC/Rubin Foundation Scholars Seminar. New York, NY. 2008

Retelling Mahayana History: Jo nang Sources for the Indian and Tibetan Transmissions of Gzhan stong Madhyamaka “Mahayana Buddhism Section” International Association of Buddhist Studies. Atlanta, GA. 2008

Publications

Books

• Descended from Shambhala: A History of the Jonang Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. On the intellectual history and literature of zhentong philosophical thinking and the Kālacakra Tantra within the Jonang tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Wisdom Publications. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Forthcoming.

• The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in India and Tibet. Co-Editor with Klaus Dieter-Mathes. State University of New York Press. Forthcoming.

Dissertation

• ”The Gzhan stong Chen mo: A Study of Emptiness According to the Modern Tibetan Buddhist Jo nang Scholar ‘Dzam thang Mkhan po Ngag dbang Blos gros grags pa (1920-1975).” Doctoral Dissertation. California Institute of Integral Studies. 2007

Articles

• “The Jonangpa after Tāranātha: Auto/biographical Accounts of the Transmission of Esoteric Buddhist Knowledge in Seventeenth Century Tibet.” In The Bulletin of Tibetology, 45.1. Namgyal Institute. 2010

• “Transforming a Tradition: Tibetan Artists on the Dialectic of Sanctity and Modernity.” In Tradition Transformed: Tibetan Artists Respond. Arts Asia Pacific and Rubin Museum of Art. 2010

• “The Zhentong Madhyamaka Writings of Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso (1880-1940).” In Ngag dbang tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho gzhan stong phyogs bsgrigs. Sichuan Nationalities Publishing House. 2009

• “A Radial Ngor Kalachakra Mandala.” In Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism. Rubin Museum of Art. 2009

• “A Lineage History of Vajrayoga and Tantric Zhentong from the Jonang Kālacakra Practice Tradition.” In As Long As Space Endures: Essays on the Kālacakra Tantra. Snow Lion Publications. 2009

• “Rangjung Dorje’s Variegations of Mind: Ordinary Awareness and Pristine Awareness in Tibetan Buddhist Literature.” In Buddhist Thought and Applied Psychological Research. Routeledge Curzon Press. 2005

• “Severing the Source of Fear: Contemplative Dynamics of the Tibetan Buddhist gCod Tradition.” In Contemporary Buddhism, 6.1. Routeledge Curzon Press. 2005

Online

• “Jonang.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Buddhism. Ed. Richard Payne. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

• “Taranatha.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Buddhism. Ed. Richard Payne. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

• “The Essence of Zhentong” by Taranatha. Translation in Jonang Foundation Online Library.

• “Ngawang Lodro Drakpa” Entry in Treasury of Lives: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Himalayan Religions.

• Jonangpa Blog. Author.

• TBRC Blog. Author contributor to research section.

Links

Wiki Pages

• Sheehy, M. on the DRL
• Sheehy, M. on the LIB
• Sheehy, M. on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

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

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

• Personal Website

• List of Publications

• Curriculum Vitae

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

Can refer to either the Kālacakra Tantra and its derivative texts or to the systematic tantric tradition based on these texts, as well as the deity Kālacakra upon which the associated practices are centered.

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

State University of New York

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

The new Buddhist schools which began to rise in the second millennium in Tibet after Buddhism declined in the ninth century as a result of the fall of the Yarlung dynasty. The Sarma schools were mostly based on Buddhist teachings freshly received from India and Nepal in contrast to the revival of the old teachings which already existed in Tibet.

Can refer to either the Kālacakra Tantra and its derivative texts or to the systematic tantric tradition based on these texts, as well as the deity Kālacakra upon which the associated practices are centered.

The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra.

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

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

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

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