Callahan, E.
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Elizabeth Callahan
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 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:
- Mahamudra: Ocean of Definitive Meaning, the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje Source: Tsadra.org
7 Library Items
Elizabeth Callahan Interview on Buddha-Nature
Elizabeth Callahan discusses buddha-nature and its related concepts in an interview with Marcus Perman of Tsadra Foundation.
Elizabeth Callahan Interview on Buddha-Nature;Elizabeth Callahan Interview on Buddha-Nature;Defining buddha-nature;Mahamudra;tha mal gyi shes pa;Terminology;Kagyu;Sgam po pa;āgantukamala;Disclosure model;Vajrayana;gotra;Sentient beings;'jam mgon kong sprul;Karmapa, 3rd;Metaphors for buddha-nature;Elizabeth Callahan; 
Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy
Jamgön Kongtrül's masterful survey of the broad themes and subtle philosophical points found in more than fifteen hundred years of Buddhist philosophical writings.
Callahan, Elizabeth M. (Kalu Rinpoché Translation Group), trans. Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy: A Systematic Presentation of the Cause-Based Philosophical Vehicles. Book Six, Part Three of The Treasury of Knowledge. By Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé ('jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas). Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.
Callahan, Elizabeth M. (Kalu Rinpoché Translation Group), trans. Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy: A Systematic Presentation of the Cause-Based Philosophical Vehicles. Book Six, Part Three of The Treasury of Knowledge. By Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé ('jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas). Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.;Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy;Madhyamaka;rang stong;gzhan stong;triyāna;Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye;འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་;'jam mgon kong sprul;blo gros mtha' yas;yon tan rgya mtsho;'jam mgon chos kyi rgyal po;pad+ma gar dbang blo gros mtha' yas;pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug rtsal;pad+ma gar dbang phrin las 'gro 'dul rtsal;བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་མགོན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;པདྨ་གར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྩལ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་ཕྲིན་ལས་འགྲོ་འདུལ་རྩལ་; Elizabeth Callahan;The Treasury of Knowledge Book Six, Part Three: Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy: A Systematic Presentation of the Cause-Based Philosophical Vehicles;'jam mgon kong sprul
Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā
This classic Buddhist work, written in the sixteenth century, comprehensively presents the entire scope of the Tibetan Kagyu Mahāmudrā tradition. These profound yet accessible instructions focus on becoming familiar with the nature of one’s mind as the primary means to realize ultimate reality and thus attain buddhahood. Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s manual for the view and practice of Mahāmudrā is widely considered the single most important work on the subject, systematically introducing the view and associated meditation techniques in a progressive manner.
Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, along with the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance, are to this day some of the most studied texts on Mahāmudrā in the Kagyu monasteries throughout Tibet and the Himalayas. Elizabeth M. Callahan, a renowned translator of classical Kagyu literature, has provided new translations of these two texts along with ancillary materials and annotations, making this a genuine resource for both scholars and students of Tibetan Buddhism. This historic contribution therefore offers the necessary tools to properly study and apply the Mahāmudrā teachings in a modern context. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Callahan, Elizabeth M., trans. Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā. By Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (dwags po bkra shis rnam rgyal). With Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance by Wangchuk Dorje (dbang phyug rdo rje), the Ninth Karmapa. Tsadra Foundation Series. Boulder, CO: Snow Lion Publications, 2019.
Callahan, Elizabeth M., trans. Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā. By Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (dwags po bkra shis rnam rgyal). With Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance by Wangchuk Dorje (dbang phyug rdo rje), the Ninth Karmapa. Tsadra Foundation Series. Boulder, CO: Snow Lion Publications, 2019.;Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā;Kagyu;Mahamudra;Meditation;Elizabeth Callahan; Dakpo Tashi Namgyal;དྭགས་པོ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་;dwags po bkra shis rnam rgyal;sgam po pa bkra shis rnam rgyal;dwags po paN chen bkra shis rnam rgyal;sgam po pa paN chen bkra shis rnam rgyal;སྒམ་པོ་པ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་;དྭགས་པོ་པཎ་ཆེན་བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་;སྒམ་པོ་པ་པཎ་ཆེན་བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་;Takpo Tashi Namgyal;Gampopa Tashi Namgyal;Tashi Namgyal;Dakpo Panchen Tashi Namgyal;Dakpo Paṇchen Tashi Namgyal;Gampo Panchen Tashi Namgyal;Gampo Paṇchen Tashi Namgyal;Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje;དབང་ཕྱུག་རྡོ་རྗེ་;dbang phyug rdo rje;karma pa dgu pa;dkon mchog 'bangs;nam mkha' rgyal po;dpal ldan mi pham chos kyi dbang phyug;ཀརྨ་པ་དགུ་པ་;དཀོན་མཆོག་འབངས་;ནམ་མཁའ་རྒྱལ་པོ་;དཔལ་ལྡན་མི་ཕམ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་;Karmapa, 9th;Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā - Dakpo Tashi Namgyal: With Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance by Wangchuk Dorje, the Ninth Karmapa;Dwags po bkra shis rnam rgyal;Karmapa, 9th
On the Term Ordinary Mind by Elizabeth Callahan
In this video Elizabeth Callahan explains the term ordinary mind, a term that is often used in the Kagyu tradition, and its use as a term to describe buddha-nature. Ordinary mind, she explains, is the nature of mind that is not in its deluded state.
Callahan, Elizabeth. “On the Term Ordinary Mind.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, November 9, 2019. Video, 2:16. https://youtu.be/qx1NAke8aV0
Callahan, Elizabeth. “On the Term Ordinary Mind.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, November 9, 2019. Video, 2:16. https://youtu.be/qx1NAke8aV0;On the Term Ordinary Mind by Elizabeth Callahan;Defining buddha-nature;Mahamudra;tha mal gyi shes pa;Terminology;Kagyu;Sgam po pa;Elizabeth Callahan;On the Term Ordinary Mind
On the Terminology Associated with Buddha-Nature by Elizabeth Callahan
In this video Elizabeth Callahan discusses the various terminology that is used when talking about buddha-nature. She describes buddha-nature as who we are at our very core and goes on to discuss several terms that are associated with uncovering this buddha-nature within Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna, and Mahāmudrā contexts.
Callahan, Elizabeth. “On the Terminology Associated with Buddha-Nature.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, November 9, 2019. Video, 8:29. https://youtu.be/ValneCRetjc.
Callahan, Elizabeth. “On the Terminology Associated with Buddha-Nature.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, November 9, 2019. Video, 8:29. https://youtu.be/ValneCRetjc.;On the Terminology Associated with Buddha-Nature by Elizabeth Callahan;Terminology;Defining buddha-nature;Adventitious stains / defilements;Disclosure model;Vajrayana;Mahamudra;gotra;Sentient beings;Karmapa, 3rd;'jam mgon kong sprul;Elizabeth Callahan; On the Terminology Associated with Buddha-Nature
The Profound Inner Principles
With masterful clarity and precision, The Profound Inner Principles delineates the principles and foundations of Vajrayāna practice. Rangjung Dorje presents the nature of things—mental and physical—and looks at the cause of delusion, what delusion creates, and how delusion is corrected. His explanations capture the principles of the Vajrayāna’s niruttara tantras, with a special focus on the structure and functioning of the body. Just as sugatagarbha, or buddha nature, is the nature of our mind, the potential for awakening lies within our body. The Mahāyāna literature refers to this pure potential as the evolving gotra, whereas the Vajrayāna refers to it as the “vajra body”—the subtle body of channels, winds, and bindus with six elements (earth, water, fire, wind, space, and wisdom-bliss). The vajra body is not only our innate capacity, it is also our path. Understanding its components and properties is essential for most meditators. The overarching theme of the text is that we need to understand how buddha nature is present in sentient beings, those on the path, and buddhas. All the details concerning the mind’s workings, the vajra body’s structures, and the meditations, paths, and stages will reinforce that understanding and give us insight into how and why the Vajrayāna path provides access to wisdom through the body.
This translation includes a commentary by Jamgön Kongtrul with extensive footnotes containing extracts from all the other important commentaries to The Profound Inner Principles; several glossaries with annotations by the translator; a works cited list and a selected bibliography; and an index. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Callahan, Elizabeth M., trans. The Profound Inner Principles. By Rangjung Dorje (rang byung rdo rje), the Third Karmapa. With Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye's Commentary Illuminating "The Profound Principles." Tsadra Foundation Series. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2015.
Callahan, Elizabeth M., trans. The Profound Inner Principles. By Rangjung Dorje (rang byung rdo rje), the Third Karmapa. With Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye's Commentary Illuminating "The Profound Principles." Tsadra Foundation Series. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2015.;The Profound Inner Principles;Karma Kagyu;Vajrayana;Karmapa, 3rd;Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye;འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་;'jam mgon kong sprul;blo gros mtha' yas;yon tan rgya mtsho;'jam mgon chos kyi rgyal po;pad+ma gar dbang blo gros mtha' yas;pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug rtsal;pad+ma gar dbang phrin las 'gro 'dul rtsal;བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་མགོན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;པདྨ་གར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྩལ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་ཕྲིན་ལས་འགྲོ་འདུལ་རྩལ་; Elizabeth Callahan;Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje;རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་;rang byung rdo rje;karma pa gsum pa;ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་;Karmapa, 3rd; The Profound Inner Principles;'jam mgon kong sprul;Karmapa, 3rd
What Is Buddha-Nature? by Elizabeth Callahan
In this video Elizabeth Callahan discusses the meaning of buddha-nature, a term that, she describes, refers to who sentient beings really are. Buddha-nature is not something that we have to acquire. Rather it is always present as our best qualities. She goes on to discuss how buddha-nature is sometimes made manifest or recognizable during moments of great suffering and tragedy.
Callahan, Elizabeth. “What Is Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, November 9, 2019. Video, 3:00. https://youtu.be/0vOxXvDIpsU.
Callahan, Elizabeth. “What Is Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, November 9, 2019. Video, 3:00. https://youtu.be/0vOxXvDIpsU.;What Is Buddha-Nature? by Elizabeth Callahan;Defining buddha-nature;Metaphors for buddha-nature;Terminology;Elizabeth Callahan;What Is Buddha-Nature?
Affiliations & relations
- Tsadra Foundation · workplace affiliation
- Director of Study Scholarships · workplace affiliation
- Marpa Foundation · secondary affiliation
- Tsadra Advisory Board Member · secondary affiliation
- Kagyu · religious affiliation
- Tibetan Buddhism · religious affiliation
- Gyamtso, Khenpo Tsultrim · teacher
- http://www.tsadra.org/translators/elizabeth-callahan/ · websites