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Lama Tony is a very well-known practitioner, scholar, and translator who has spent over forty years of his life fully dedicated to studying, practising, teaching, and translating the Buddhist teachings. He has been a full-time Buddhist practitioner-scholar since 1973. He was a member of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's Nalanda Translator Committee in which he retains honorary status. He was Tsoknyi Rinpoche's personal translator during the 1990's and has translated orally and in writing for many other great teachers during the years. He has been a member of several translation committees and has published or been involved in the publication of many Tibetan Buddhist texts.
Based on his long experience with Kagyu teachings, he has prepared many books on the Kagyu view, called "Other Emptiness", and on Mahamudra and the Kagyu teaching of it.
Tony has spent decades with the Nyingma teachings. In particular, he spent long periods in Tibet, receiving and practising the highest Dzogchen teachings in retreat. He has made a point of translating the key texts of the system for others who need accurate, reliable, and in-depth information about the practices of Dzogchen. His translation of the ultimate text of Longchen Nyingthig, known in Tibetan as "triyig yeshe lama" or "Guidebook to Highest Wisdom", has been highly praised by Tibetan teachers. <br>([https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Tony-Duff/e/B004O56VFK?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1599063446&sr=8-1 Source Accessed Sep 2, 2020]) +
The 7th Dzogchen Ponlop (Karma Sungrap Ngedön Tenpa Gyaltsen, born 1965) is an abbot of Dzogchen Monastery, founder and spiritual director of Nalandabodhi, founder of Nītārtha Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies, a leading Tibetan Buddhist scholar, and a meditation master. He is one of the highest tülkus in the Nyingma lineage and an accomplished Karma Kagyu lineage holder.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche was born in 1965 at Rumtek Monastery (Dharma Chakra Center) in Sikkim, India. His birth was prophesied by the supreme head of the Kagyu lineage, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, to Ponlop Rinpoche's parents, Dhamchö Yongdu, the General Secretary of the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, and his wife, Lekshey Drolma. Upon his birth, he was recognized by the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa as the seventh in the line of Dzogchen Ponlop incarnations and was formally enthroned as the Seventh Dzogchen Ponlop at Rumtek Monastery in 1968.[1]
After receiving Buddhist refuge and bodhisattva vows from the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Dzogchen Ponlop was ordained as a novice monk in 1974. He subsequently received full ordination and became a bhikṣu, although he later returned his vows and is now a lay teacher.
Rinpoche received teachings and empowerments from the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Dilgo Khyentse, Kalu Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (chief Abbot of the Kagyu lineage), Alak Zenkar Rinpoche, and Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, his root guru.
Ponlop Rinpoche began studying Buddhist philosophy at the primary school in Rumtek at age 12. In 1979 (when Rinpoche was fourteen), the 16th Karmapa proclaimed Ponlop Rinpoche to be a heart son of the Gyalwang Karmapa and a holder of his Karma Kagyu lineage. In 1980 on his first trip to the West, he accompanied the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa to Europe, United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia. While serving as the Karmapa's attendant, he also gave dharma teachings and assisted in ceremonial roles during these travels.[2]
In 1981, he entered the monastic college at Rumtek, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies where he studied the fields of Buddhist philosophy, psychology, logic, and debate. During his time at Rumtek, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche worked for the Students' Welfare Union, served as head librarian, and was the chief-editor of the Nalandakirti Journal, an annual publication which brings together Eastern and Western views on Buddhism. Rinpoche graduated in 1990 as Ka-rabjampa from Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies in Rumtek Monastery. (Ka-rabjampa means "one with unobstructed knowledge of scriptures", the Kagyu equivalent of the Sakya and Gelug's geshe degree.) He simultaneously earned the degree of Acharya, or Master of Buddhist Philosophy, from Sampurnanant Sanskrit University. Dzogchen Ponlop has also completed studies in English and comparative religion at Columbia University in New York City. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen_Ponlop_Rinpoche Source Accessed Nov 19, 2019])
For further information about Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, visit his [https://dpr.info/ Official Website]
Dānapāla. (C. Shihu; J. Sego; K. Siho 施護) (d.u.; fl. c. 980 CE). In Sanskrit, lit. "Protector of Giving"; one of the last great Indian translators of Buddhist texts into Chinese. A native of Oḍḍiyāna in the Gandhāra region of India, he was active in China during the Northern Song dynasty. At the order of the Song Emperor Taizhong (r. 960–997), he was installed in a translation bureau to the west of the imperial monastery of Taiping Xingguosi (in Yuanzhou, present-day Jiangxi province), where he and his team are said to have produced some 111 translations in over 230 rolls. His translations include texts from the prajñāpāramitā, Madhyamaka, and tantric traditions, including the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā'', ''Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra'', ''Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha'', ''Hevajratantra'', Nāgārjuna's ''Yuktiṣaṣtikā'' and ''Dharmadhātustava'', and Kamalaśīla's ''Bhāvanākrama'', as well as several dhāraṇī texts. (Source: "Dānapāla." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 212. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 19 January 1200– 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.
Originally ordained as a monk in the Tendai School in Kyoto, he was ultimately dissatisfied with its teaching and traveled to China to seek out what he believed to be a more authentic Buddhism. He remained there for five years, finally training under Tiantong Rujing, an eminent teacher of the Chinese Caodong lineage. Upon his return to Japan, he began promoting the practice of zazen (sitting meditation) through literary works such as ''Fukan zazengi'' and ''Bendōwa''.
He eventually broke relations completely with the powerful Tendai School, and, after several years of likely friction between himself and the establishment, left Kyoto for the mountainous countryside where he founded the monastery Eihei-ji, which remains the head temple of the Sōtō school today.
Dōgen is known for his extensive writing including his most famous work, the collection of 95 essays called the ''[[Shōbōgenzō]]'', but also ''Eihei Kōroku'', a collection of his talks, poetry, and commentaries, and ''Eihei Shingi'', the first Zen monastic code written in Japan, among others. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%8Dgen Source Accessed Jan 9, 2020]) +
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Franz-Karl Ehrhard is a German Tibetologist. He teaches at the University of Munich, where he is a professor at the Institute of Tibetology and Buddhist Studies. His research focuses on religious and literary traditions in Tibet and the Himalayas (Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan). ([https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz-Karl_Ehrhard&prev=search Source Accessed Jun 7, 2019]) +
Elio was born in Varese, Italy, on 5 August 1954 and grew up in Como. He studied art and received a Master of Arts before traveling to India to study Buddhism. On his return from India he moved to Switzerland, where for ten years he learned Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy under one of the Dalai Lama’s philosophical advisors. Elio joined the Dzogchen community in 1986, when he received teachings from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu for the first time.
Invited by the late Kalu Rinpoche, Elio spent almost twenty years in India working on the large encyclopedia on Indo-Tibetan knowledge known as Shes bya kun khyab (Myriad Worlds,Buddhist Ethics, Systems of Buddhist Tantra, The Elements of Tantric Practice) authored by Kongtrul the Great, published in separate volumes by Snow Lion Publications. During this time Elio continued to actively collaborate with the Dzogchen Community and especially with the Shang Shung Institute in Italy, of which he is a founding member.
Elio has worked on various translations for the Shang Shung Institute in Italy, including several books by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu relating to Tibetan medicine. He has completed several levels of the Santi Maha Sangha training, and became an authorized teacher of the base, first, and second level. Since 2003, Elio has been one of the three principal translators for the Ka-ter project of the Shang Shung Institute of Austria. Aside from serving as instructor for the Training for Translators from Tibetan program, he also works for the Dzogchen Tantra Translation Project. ([http://skyjewel.org/ Source Accessed March 26, 2020]) +
Artemus B. Engle began studying the Tibetan language in Howell, New Jersey in early 1971 at Labsum Shedrup Ling, the precursor of the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center. In 1972 he became a student of Sera Mey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin Rinpoche, a relationship that spanned more than thirty years. In 1975 he enrolled in the Buddhist Studies program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and received a PhD in 1983. Since the mid-1980s he taught Tibetan language and Buddhist doctrine at the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Center in Howell, New Jersey. In 2005 he became a Tsadra Foundation Translation Fellow and has worked primarily on the ''Pañcaskandhaprakarana'' and the ''Bodhisattvabhūmi''. +
Erik Pema Kunsang is one of the most highly regarded Tibetan translators and interpreters today. Erik has been the assistant and translator for [[Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche]] and his sons since the late 1970s. He has translated and edited over fifty volumes of Tibetan texts and oral teachings, and was one of the founding directors of [[Rangjung Yeshe Publications]]. ([http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Erik_Pema_Kunsang Source Accessed Jul 24, 2020]) +
French Orientalist and seminal figure in the development of Buddhist Studies as an academic discipline. He was born in Paris on April 8, 1801, the son of the distinguished classicist Jean-Louis Burnouf (1773–1844). He received instruction in Greek and Latin from his father and studied at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. He entered the École des Chartes in 1822, receiving degrees in both letters and law in 1824. He then turned to the study of Sanskrit, both with his father and with Antoine Léonard de Chézy (1773–1832). In 1826, Burnouf published, in collaboration with the young Norwegian-German scholar Christian Lassen (1800–1876), ''Essai sur le pâli'' (“Essay on Pāli”). After the death of Chézy, Burnouf was appointed to succeed his teacher in the chair of Sanskrit at the Collège de France. His students included some of the greatest scholars of the day; those who would contribute to Buddhist studies included Philippe Edouard Foucaux (1811–1894) and Friedrich Max Müller. Shortly after his appointment to the chair of Sanskrit, the Société Asiatique, of which Burnouf was secretary, received a communication from Brian Houghton Hodgson, British resident at the court of Nepal, offering to send Sanskrit manuscripts of Buddhist texts to Paris. The receipt of these texts changed the direction of Burnouf's scholarship for the remainder his life. After perusing the ''Aṣtasāhasrikāprajñāpãramitā'' and the ''Lalitavistara'', he decided to translate the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra''. Having completed the translation, he decided to precede its publication with a series of studies. He completed only the first of these, published in 1844 as ''Introduction à l’histoire du Buddhisme indien''. This massive work is regarded as the foundational text for the academic study of Buddhism in the West. (Source: "Burnouf, Eugène." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 158. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Lama Tsering Everest was one of the main students of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, who recognized her as an emanation of Tara and a holder of the Red Tara lineage.
Born in the U.S.A., Lama Tsering has served Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche as his translator for more than 11 years. After completing a three year retreat in 1995, she was ordained as a lama and recognized by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche as a holder of the Red Tara lineage, authorized to give teachings and empowerments. In the same year she was invited to teach in Brazil where she moved to shortly after.
She teaches and conducts retreats in many cities across Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and Australia as well as returning each year to fulfill the requests of her students in North America.
Lama Tsering is the resident lama and director of Chagdud Gonpa Odsal Ling in São Paulo and is currently coordinating the construction of Odsal Ling's temple in Cotia, Brasil, along with her husband Lama Padma Norbu. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Lama_Tsering_Everest Rigpa Wiki]) +
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A monk and translator of the Western Jin apparently of unknown origin active between 290–306. A collaborator of Dharmarakṣa, who appears in the colophon of Dharmarakṣa's translation of the ''Lalitavistara'' and the ''Daśabhūmikasūtra''. (Source: Zürcher, ''The Buddhist Conquest of China'', 2007) Twenty-four texts are attributed to him in the Taisho canon. (See [http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/indexes/index-authors-editors-translators.html ''The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue'']) +
Bernard Faure, Kao Professor in Japanese Religion, received his Ph.D. (Doctorat d’Etat) from Paris University (1984). He is interested in various aspects of East Asian Buddhism, with an emphasis on Chan/Zen and Tantric or esoteric Buddhism. His work, influenced by anthropological history and cultural theory, has focused on topics such as the construction of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, the Buddhist cult of relics, iconography, sexuality and gender. His current research deals with the mythico-ritual system of esoteric Buddhism and its relationships with medieval Japanese religion. He has published a number of books in French and English. His English publications include: ''The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism'' (Princeton 1991), ''Chan Insights and Oversights: An Epistemological Critique of the Chan Tradition'' (Princeton 1993), ''Visions of Power: Imagining Medieval Japanese Buddhism'' (Princeton 1996), ''The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality'' (Princeton 1998), ''The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender'' (Princeton 2003), and ''Double Exposure'' (Stanford 2004). ([https://religion.columbia.edu/content/bernard-r-faure Source Accessed Jun 10, 2019]).
He recently completed a two-volume work on Japanese Gods and Demons: ''The Fluid Pantheon: Medieval Japanese Gods, Volume I'' and ''Protectors and Predators: Medieval Japanese Gods, Volume 2'' (Both volumes by University of Hawai'i Press, 2015). +
Fazang is Zhiyan’s most accomplished and influential student, and became the third patriarch of Huayan. He is responsible for systematizing and extending Zhiyan’s teaching, and for securing the prominence of Huayan-style Buddhism at the imperial court. He is known especially for his definitive commentaries on the ''Avatamsaka Sutra'' and ''Awakening of Faith in Mahayana'', and for making Huayan doctrines accessible to laity with familiar technologies such as mirror halls and wood-block printing. These contributions support the traditional regard for Fazang as the third patriarch of the Huayan School.
Fazang’s ancestors came from Sogdiana (a center for trade along the Silk Road, located in what is now parts of Uzbekistan and Tajikestan), but he was born in the Tang dynasty capital of Chang’an (now Xi’an), where his family had become culturally Chinese. Fazang was a fervently religious adolescent. Following a then-popular custom that took self-immolation as a sign of religious devotion, Fazang burned his fingers before a stupa at the age of 16. After becoming a monk, he assisted Xuanzang—famous for his pilgrimage to India—in translating Buddhist works from Sanskrit into Chinese. Fazang had doctrinal differences with Xuanzang, though, so he later became a disciple of Zhiyan, probably around 663 CE.
Zhiyan’s access to the imperial court gave Fazang access to Empress Wu, with whom he quickly gained favor. He undertook a variety of public services, such as performing rain-prayer rituals and collaborating in various translation projects. He traveled throughout northern China, teaching the ''Avatamsaka Sutra'' and debating Daoists. He intervened in a 697 military confrontation with the Khitans, gaining further favor when Empress Wu ascribed to his ritual services an instrumental role in suppressing the rebellion. In addition, Fazang provided information to undermine plots by some of the empress’ advisors to secure power after her death. This secured Fazang’s status—and the prominence of Huayan teachings—with subsequent rulers. ([https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buddhism-huayan/#Faza643712 Source Accessed Jan 28, 2020])
Zoketsu Norman Fischer is an American poet, writer, and Soto Zen priest, teaching and practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma transmission in 1988. Fischer served as co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1995–2000, after which he founded the Everyday Zen Foundation in 2000, a network of Buddhist practice group and related projects in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Fischer has published more than twenty-five books of poetry and non-fiction, as well as numerous poems, essays and articles in Buddhist magazines and poetry journals. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoketsu_Norman_Fischer Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
Wulstan Fletcher holds degrees in Modern Languages and Theology (Oxford and Rome) and is a teacher of modern languages. He completed a three-year retreat at Chanteloube France from 1986–1989. He is a member of the Padmakara Translation Group and has been a Tsadra Foundation Fellow since 2001.
'''Current Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow (with Helena Blankleder):'''
* ''Lion Speech, The Life of Jamgön Mipham'', Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
'''Completed Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow (with Helena Blankleder):'''
* ''Treasury of Precious Qualities'' (Sutra Section), Jigme Lingpa, commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche
* ''Counsels from My Heart'', Dudjom Rinpoche
* ''Introduction to the Middle Way'', Chandrakirti, commentary by Jamgön Mipham
* ''The Adornment of the Middle Way'', Shantarakshita, commentary by Jamgön Mipham
* ''Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat'', Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol
* ''The Way of the Bodhisattva'', Shantideva (rev. ed.)
* ''The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva’s "Way of the Bodhisattva,"'' Kunzang Pelden
* ''The Root Stanzas on the Middle Way'', Nagarjuna
* ''White Lotus: An Explanation of the Seven-line Prayer to Guru Padmasambhava'', Jamgön Mipham
* ''Treasury of Precious Qualities'' (Tantra Section), Jigme Lingpa, commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche
* ''The Purifying Jewel and Light of the Day Star'' by Mipham Rinpoche
* ''Trilogy of Resting at Ease'', Longchenpa
(Source: [http://www.tsadra.org/translators/wulstan-fletcher/ Tsadra.org]) +
Floring Giripescu Sutton was Assistant Professor of Oriental Philosophy at Rutgers University. +
Dr. Gregory Forgues is Director of Research at Tsadra Foundation. Before joining the foundation, Gregory was part of the Open Philology research project with Professor Jonathan Silk at the University of Leiden. He also worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Heidelberg and a Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Bochum. Gregory has published on a wide variety of topics including Mahāyāna sūtra translations, Tibetan tantric rituals, Dzogchen teachings, and digital humanities methods. His PhD dissertation on Jamgon Mipham’s interpretation of the two truths under Professor Klaus-Dieter Mathes' supervision was reviewed by Professor Birgit Kellner and Professor Matthew Kapstein, receiving a distinction from the University of Vienna. +
T. Griffith Foulk trained in Zen monasteries in Japan. He is active in Buddhist studies, with research interests in philosophical, literary, social, and historical aspects of East Asian Buddhism, especially the Ch’an/Zen tradition. He is co-editor in chief of the Soto Zen Text Project (Tokyo). He is a member of the American Academy of Religion Buddhism Section steering committee (1987–1994, 2003–) and a board member for the Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values. ([https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/faculty/foulk-t.-griffith.html Source Accessed Jun 11, 2019]) +
Eli Franco (born June 19, 1953 in Tel Aviv ) is an Israeli Indologist. He received his BA in Philosophy and Jewish Philosophy from the University of Tel Aviv in 1976, the Diplôme de l' Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in 1978, Paris, and the Doctorat 3e cycle from the Université de Paris X and L'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in 1980. Since 2004 he has held the chair for Indology at the Institute for Indology and Central Asian Studies at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Among his writings include: ''Perception, Knowledge and Disbelief: A Study of Jayarāśi's Skepticism'' (Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden, 1987), ''Dharmakīrti on Compassion and Rebirth'' (Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien, 1997), ''The Spitzer Manuscript: The Oldest Philosophical Manuscript in Sanskrit'' (Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2004), and (with Miyako Notake) ''Dharmakīrti on the Duality of the Object: Pramāṇavārttika III, 1 - 63'' (Lit Verlag, 2014). ([https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Franco Adapted from Source July 20, 2019]) +
Koun Franz is a Soto Zen priest. He leads practice at Thousand Harbours Zen in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he also works as editor of Buddhadharma. His writing and teachings on Zen can be found at nyoho.com and on the Thousand Harbours Zen podcast. ([https://www.lionsroar.com/author/koun-franz/ Source: Lion's Roar]) +
