Property:Bio
From Buddha-Nature
This is a property of type Text.
P
Tony See is currently teaching in the National University of Singapore (NUS). His research interests include philosophy, critical theory and media studies. His current research interest is in exploring theories of subjectivity, with a focus on the intersections between Deleuze’s idea of immanence and desire, and its resonances with the idea of Buddha-nature in Mahayana Buddhism. His previous publications include the book ''Community Without Identity: The Ontology and Politics of Heidegger'' (2009), and a number of articles such as "Deleuze and Mahayana Buddhism" (2014), "Deleuze and Ikeda" (2015) and "Deleuze, Religion and Education" (2016). ([https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137567055#aboutAuthors Source Accessed May 22, 2020]) +
I do research on philosophy of education and ethics, drawing from and comparing Japanese philosophy (the Kyoto School of Philosophy), American philosophy (contemplative pedagogy, care ethics, Deweyan philosophy), and continental philosophy (existential education, post-structuralism). I am particularly interested in the ethical, existential, and spiritual aspects of education, and the kind of human relationships involved therein. My Ph.D. research was on Watsuji Tetsurô and the ethics of emptiness, which I completed under Buddhist philosopher Sueki Fumihiko (at the Graduate University of Advanced Studies, based in Nichibunken, Kyoto). I came to Kyushu University just this year (2015), but prior to this I taught in the Department of Philosophy of the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines for five years. ([http://asianstudies-kyushu.com/staff/dr-anton-luis-sevilla/ Source Accessed Aug 6, 2020]) +
Born in Rome, Italy, in 1965, Francesco Sferra studied philosophy and Indology at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” under the guidance of Prof. Raniero Gnoli, Prof. Raffaele Torella and Prof. Corrado Pensa. He was awarded a Doctorate in Sanskrit by the same University in 1999.
He has a permanent appointment for the teaching of Sanskrit Language and Literature at the University of Naples “L’Orientale.”
His main research areas are: tantric traditions in pre-13th century South Asia, especially Vajrayāna Buddhism; Śaivism; and classical Indian philosophy of language. ([https://www.tantric-studies.uni-hamburg.de/people/prof-francesco-sferra-naples.html Source Accessed Dec 17, 2019])
[http://docenti.unior.it/index2.php?content_id=18425&content_id_start=1 Curriculum Vitae] +
Robert Sharf is D. H. Chen Distinguished Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley. He received a B.A. in Religious Studies (1979) and an M.A. in Chinese Studies (1981) from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Michigan (1990). His graduate work included study in Japan; he was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Research into the Humanities (Jinbun Kagaku Kenkyūjo) at Kyoto University, and also conducted fieldwork at Kōfukuji in Nara (1985-87).
Before joining the Berkeley faculty he taught in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University (1989-95) and in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan (1995-2003). He works primarily in the area of medieval Chinese Buddhism (especially Chan), but he also dabbles in Japanese Buddhism, Buddhist art, ritual studies, and methodological issues in the study of religion. He is author of Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise (2002), co-editor of Living Images: Japanese Buddhist Icons in Context (2001), and is currently working on a book tentatively titled "Thinking about Not Thinking: Buddhist Struggles with Mindlessness, Insentience, and Nirvana."
In addition to his appointment in East Asian Languages and Cultures, he is Chair of the Center for Buddhist Studies at UCB. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, the Journal for the Study of Chinese Religions, the Journal of Religion in Japan, and the Kuroda Institute Series published in conjunction with University of Hawai'i Press. ([http://buddhiststudies.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/sharf/ Source Accessed Jun 11, 2019]) +
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. ([http://www.sunypress.edu/pdf/64101.pdf 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.
Sheng Yen (聖嚴; Pinyin: Shèngyán, birth name Zhang Baokang, 張保康) (January 22, 1931 – February 3, 2009) was a Chinese Buddhist monk, a religious scholar, and one of the mainstream teachers of Chan Buddhism. He was a 57th generational dharma heir of Linji Yixuan in the Linji school (Japanese: Rinzai) and a third-generation dharma heir of Hsu Yun. In the Caodong (Japanese: Sōtō) lineage, Sheng Yen was a 52nd-generation Dharma heir of Dongshan Liangjie (807–869), and a direct Dharma heir of Dongchu (1908–1977).
Sheng Yen was the founder of the Dharma Drum Mountain, a Buddhist organization based in Taiwan. During his time in Taiwan, Sheng Yen was well known as a progressive Buddhist teacher who sought to teach Buddhism in a modern and Western-influenced world. In Taiwan, he was one of four prominent modern Buddhist masters, along with Hsing Yun, Cheng Yen and Wei Chueh, popularly referred to as the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Taiwanese Buddhism. In 2000 he was one of the keynote speakers in the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held in the United Nations. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheng-yen Source Accessed November 12, 2019]) +
Born in Nyeshang Drakar, as a young boy he joined Trangu Tashiling monastery near Bouddha and became a monk. For four years, he learnt prayers, rituals, making of tormas and butter sculpture, and playing musical instruments. In 1996, he joined the Trangu Monastic College in Namo Buddha started by HH Trangu Rinpoche and studied Buddhist texts including the five great treatises, and language and grammar under Khenpo Karma Tashi, Lobzang Tenzin and Jigme. He served as Assistant Lecturer for three years and in 2003 was conferred the Khenpo title. He studied under HH Trangu Rinpoche as the main teacher receiving monastic, Bodhisattva and tantric vows and numerous instructions from him. For 15 years, he served as a lecturer at the Trangu Monastic College and from 2016 for over four years, he undertook retreat in order to carry out meditation at Sekhar Retreat Centre according to the Kamtshang tradition. He currently serves as a lecturer/teacher at Trangu Monastic College and has authored many works including commentaries and synopses on the Middle Way, Perfection of Wisdom, monastic discipline, brief biographies of 17 Karmapa lamas, brief biographies of the founding fathers of Kagyu, and works on Kālacakra and Sarvavid. +
Ven. Khenchen Palden Rinpoche (1942-2010) began his intensive monastic training at the age of six at Gochen Monastery. So strong was his desire to study and learn that he would sneak outdoors after curfew and into the shrubberies to read his books under the moonlight. At age 12, he entered Riwoche Monastery, one of the oldest and largest monastic institutes in eastern Tibet and famous for its philosophers and logicians. There he was trained to become the next Abbot of Gochen. He completed his studies just as the Chinese invasion reached the area. ([http://www.padmasambhava.org/teach.html Source Accessed Jan 29, 2015]) +
Khenchen Pema Sherab (Tib. པདྨ་ཤེས་རབ་, Wyl. pad+ma shes rab) is one of the seniormost khenpos in the Nyingma tradition and one of the three Khenchen or 'great khenpos' of Namdroling Monastery.
Khenpo Pema Sherab was born in 1936, at Riphu, in the Dergé region of Eastern Tibet. He started to study at the age of eight, learning to read and write Tibetan with his uncle, Lama Chözang, while he was herding cattle. At fourteen, he went to Lhasa and studied under masters and scholars of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1953 he received ordination from Shechen Kongtrul Rinpoche. In Lhasa, he also met Kyabjé Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and served as his attendant for about ten years, fleeing with him to Bhutan and then India in 1959. Over the years, he received many teachings from him, including the Guhyagarbha Tantra, and Longchenpa’s Treasury of Pith Instructions. During the 1950s he also stayed for long periods at Nenang Monastery and Tshurphu, the monastery of the Karmapas, which at that time was home to many great Kagyü masters who had escaped from the troubles in East Tibet. While on pilgrimage in Central Tibet, he met Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö at Tsering Jong, the seat of Jikmé Lingpa. While in India, he also studied with Kyabjé Dudjom Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsöndrü, and from Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche he received the vows of a fully ordained monk, and also various empowerments and teachings.
In 1968, at the request of Kyabjé Penor Rinpoche he went to Namdroling Monastery to teach. Though the shedra was not yet established at that time, Khen Rinpoche taught the monks for several years. The shedra was finally established in 1978 and from then until 2003, for 25 years, Khenpo Pema Sherab taught there tirelessly while also managing the institution.
Among the many books he has written are a biography of Guru Padmasambhava, an exposition of the two truths, lorik and tarik, and an exposition of logic. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenchen_Pema_Sherab Source Accessed June 29, 2022])
James Mark Shields is Associate Professor of Comparative Humanities and Asian Thought at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA), Japan Foundation Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Kyoto, Japan), and Research Associate with the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies, Harvard University. He was educated at McGill University (Canada), the University of Cambridge (UK), and Kyoto University (Japan). He conducts research on modern Buddhist thought, Japanese philosophy, comparative ethics, and philosophy of religion. He has published articles and translations in ''Asian Philosophy'', ''The Eastern Buddhist'', ''Japan Review'', ''Studies in Religion / Sciences religieuses'', ''Journal of Religion and Society'', ''Kultura i Politkya'', and ''Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions''. He is author of ''Critical Buddhism: Engaging with Modern Japanese Buddhist Thought'' (Ashgate, 2011) and co-editor (with Victor Sōgen Hori and Richard P. Hayes) of ''Teaching Buddhism in the West: From the Wheel to the Web'' (Routledge, 2003). He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled ''Warp and Woof: Modernism and Progressivism in Japanese Buddhism, 1886–1936''. He is Associate Editor of the ''Journal of Buddhist Ethics'', and is on the editorial board of the ''Journal of Japanese Philosophy''. ([https://bucknell.academia.edu/JamesMarkShields Source Accessed Jan 15, 2020]) +
Professor Venerable Heng-Ching Shih earned a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught in the Department of Philosophy, National Taiwan University. She has worked in Buddhist education at almost all levels in Taiwan throughout the years.
Venerable Heng-Ching helped establish Pumen Buddhist High School and Fakuang Buddhist Graduate Institute. She also founded the Center of Buddhist Studies at National Taiwan University and Taiwan’s first Graduate Students’ Buddhist Forum. She was also active in the early stages of the project to digitize the Chinese tripitaka, known as CBETA (Chinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Association).
Venerable Heng-Ching has retired and now serves as the President of the Bodhi Education Foundation and as Consultant to the Committee of Western Bhiksunis. She is the author of many academic papers and books, including [https://www.amazon.com/Syncretism-Buddhism-Asian-Thought-Culture/dp/0820416819 The Syncretism of Ch’an and Pure Land Buddhism] (English), Buddha Nature (Chinese), and Good Women on the Bodhisattva Path (Chinese).
She continues to work tirelessly in support of fully ordained nuns worldwide.
([https://sravastiabbey.org/guest-teacher/professor-venerable-heng-ching-shih/ Source Accessed March 21, 2019]) +
Rigdzin Shikpo grew up in Dalston in East London, and at an early age he took a keen interest in Buddhism, which he has now studied for over 65 years. As a young man, he previously worked as a physicist, mathematician and a computer consultant and practised for nine years under the instruction of Theravadin monks while becoming closely associated with the Buddhist Society in London.
In 1965, he met his root guru Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche who was studying in Oxford at the time. Trungpa Rinpoche entrusted Rigdzin Shikpo at a very early stage with some of most profound Nyingma Dzogchen teachings and together they translated seminal Dzogchen texts and Sutras from Tibetan into English. Trungpa Rinpoche also encouraged him to take teachings and guidance from his own teacher HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. In 1975 Trungpa Rinpoche established the Longchen Foundation in consultation with HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, appointing Rigdzin Shikpo as spiritual director.
When Chögyam Trungpa left to teach in the United States, Rigdzin Shikpo continued to follow his instruction, from time to time travelling to America to see him to receive further teachings. Khyentse Rinpoche also told him to take further Dzogchen instruction from Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, an eminent yogin and scholar who was also a student of HH Khyentse Rinpoche. Since the deaths of Trungpa Rinpoche and Khyentse Rinpoche, Khenpo Rinpoche has been Rigdzin Shikpo’s main source of guidance.
In 1990, Rigdzin Shikpo went into a traditional three year retreat under the supervision of Khenpo Rinpoche in a semi-detached house in Marston, Oxford. On finishing his retreat in 1993, as a sign of his accomplishment, he was given the title ‘Rigdzin Shikpo’. ‘Rigdzin’ (Skt. ''vidyādhara'', ) means ‘awareness holder’ and ‘Shikpo’ means ‘beyond conepts’. Rigdzin Shikpo teaches his students the whole of the path according to the lineage transmissions he received from his own teachers. They encouraged him to transmit the teachings according to his inspiration in response to the needs of his students.
Khenpo Rinpoche emphasises that the Longchen Foundation lineage is more than simply an organisation—it is a Buddhist school in its own right. It is the living embodiment of the Mahayana and Maha Ati (Dzogchen) teachings and as such has a particular significance for the expression of the Buddha’s teachings in the West. ([https://www.longchenfoundation.org/rigdzin-shikpo-rinpoche/ Source Accessed August 8, 2022])
Prof. Shimoda specializes in the history of the formation of the scriptures of Indian Buddhism, as well as Digital Humanities. Concerning the former, he focuses on the clarification of the background of history of thought and social history from early Buddhism to Mahāyāna Buddhism through the formation process clarified in the sutras and vinayas. During the past two years he has proposed a new theory regarding the origins of Mahāyāna Buddhism generated by the change of the medium of the received tradition. The topics he has researched up to the present are: (1) a revised approach to prior research regarding the formation of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its prominent characteristics; (2) a re-questioning of the methods of research of Buddhism in the modern age that support Buddhist studies; (3) an investigation of relations between Buddhism and various modern problems, as well as (4) consolidating these four points in research on Mahāyāna Buddhism. He is seeking to lay hold of the future trajectory of Buddhist studies by focusing on examining the field of Buddhist studies that originated in the West during modernity, having a 200-year history, oriented around the above four points.
Concerning his second major area, Digital Humanities, starting from seven years ago, he entered into full scale efforts toward the process of advancing the digitization of the Buddhist canonical works. These works were supported by A-level Grant-in-aid from the JSPS under the topic of "Formation of a Buddhist studies Knowledge Base through International Cooperation." The creation of an international knowledge base of Buddhist studies for the next generation was developed around this project, serving as a model case for the advancement of Digital Humanities in Japan. ([http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/DHI/index.php?English%20shimoda Source Accessed October 9, 2019]) +
Shinran (1173–1263) lived during the late-Heian early-Kamakura period (1185–1333), a time of turmoil for Japan when the emperor was stripped of political power by the shōguns. Shinran's family had a high rank at the Imperial court in Kyoto, but given the times, many aristocratic families were sending sons off to be Buddhist monks instead of having them participate in the Imperial government. When Shinran was nine (1181), he was sent by his uncle to Mount Hiei, where he was ordained as a śrāmaṇera in the Tendai sect. Over time, Shinran became disillusioned with how Buddhism was practiced, foreseeing a decline in the potency and practicality of the teachings espoused.
Shinran left his role as a dosō ("practice-hall monk") at Mount Hiei and undertook a 100-day retreat at Rokkaku-dō in Kyoto, where he had a dream on the 95th day. In this dream, Prince Shōtoku appeared to him, espousing a pathway to enlightenment through verse. Following the retreat, in 1201, Shinran left Mount Hiei to study under Hōnen for the next six years. Hōnen (1133–1212) another ex-Tendai monk, left the tradition in 1175 to found his own sect, the Jōdo-shū or "Pure Land School". From that time on, Shinran considered himself, even after exile, a devout disciple of Hōnen rather than a founder establishing his own, distinct Pure Land school. ([https://encyclopediaofbuddhism.org/wiki/Jodo_Shinshu Source Accessed October 16, 2019]) +
Dr. Henry Shiu is the Shi Wu De Professor in Chinese Buddhist Studies at Emmanuel College on Toronto, Canada. Dr. Shiu holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (2006). He is currently a Sessional Lecturer in the Buddhism, Psychology, and Mental Health Program at New College; and Emmanuel College. Dr. Shiu’s teaching of Buddhist Contemplative Care represents a development of the principles of Engaged Buddhism. He brings expertise in the foundational areas that contribute to the Buddhist focus within Emmanuel’s Master of Pastoral Studies Program, including the foundational tenets and practices of Buddhism, Buddhist ethics, and Buddhist meditative traditions. As the coordinator of the Applied Buddhist Studies Initiative at Emmanuel College, he facilitated connections with the local and international Buddhist communities. His published research focuses on early Mahayana Buddhism and the transmission of Buddhism to China. He has recently completed articles about Buddhist women in the Chinese diaspora and about the construction of Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Canada. He is also the author of numerous scholarly works in Chinese, including his forthcoming book with Oxford University Press, ''The Cultural Interpretation of the Heart Sutra in India, China, and Tibet''. ([https://emmanuel.utoronto.ca/home/henry-shui/ Source Accessed June 1, 2020]) +
Mark Siderits was trained in Asian and Western philosophy at the University of Hawaii and Yale University. He has taught both Asian and Western philosophy, for many years at Illinois State University, and most recently as Professor of philosophy at Seoul National University, from which he retired in 2012. He is the author or editor of five books and has published numerous articles on a wide variety of subjects in Indian Buddhist philosophy and comparative philosophy. Much of his work aims at building bridges between the classical Indian tradition and contemporary philosophy, by using insights from one tradition to cast light on problems arising in the other. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/mark-siderits/ Wisdom Experience]) +
Silk (1960-) studied East Asian Studies at the Oberlin College in Ohio and subsequently Buddhist Studies at the University of Michigan. At the latter university he obtained his PhD in 1994 with the thesis: ''The Origins and Early History of the Mahāratnakūţa Tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism, With a Study of the Ratnarāśisūtra and Related Materials''.
During his studies, Silk spent several years in Japan. After his PhD, he became Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Grinnell College in Iowa and in 1995 at the Department of Comparative Religion of the Western Michigan University. From 1998 until 2002 he taught in the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University, and from 2002 in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Since 2007 he has been Professor in the study of Buddhism at Leiden. In 2010 he was awarded a VICI grant from the NWO (Dutch National Science Foundation) for project: “Buddhism and Social Justice.” In 2016 he was elected as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen [KNAW]).
Currently, Silk is Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. He specializes in Buddhism in its Asian contexts, primarily from a historical point of view. He has a special interest in Buddhist scriptures.
Research:
Silk’s scientific orientation on Buddhism is very broad, in time as well as geographically: his interest covers the oldest primary sources and the rise of Buddhist communities all over Asia, but he is equally interested in the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia. Silk reads Sanskrit, Pāli, , Classic Tibetan, Classic Chinese, and Japanese.
Recent publications:
2016 - ''Materials Toward the Study of Vasubandhu’s Viṁśikā (I): Sanskrit and Tibetan Critical Editions of the Verses and Autocommentary; An English Translation and Annotations''. Harvard Oriental Series 81 (Cambridge MA: Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University).
2015 - ''Buddhist Cosmic Unity: An Edition, Translation and Study of the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta''. Hamburg Buddhist Studies 4 (Hamburg: Hamburg University Press). Indian Buddhist Monasticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
2015 - ''Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Volume I: Literature and Languages''. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section Two, India, 29/1. Leiden: Brill. (editor)
2013 - ''Buddhism in China: Collected Papers of Erik Zürcher''. Sinica Leidensia 112 (Leiden: Brill). (co-editor) ([https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/jonathan-silk/publications#tab-2 Source Accessed Aug 5, 2020])
Peter Skilling is a Fellow of the Lumbini International Research Institute (Lumbini, Nepal) and a Special Lecturer at Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand). He is founder of the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation (Bangkok), a project dedicated to the preservation, study and publication of the Buddhist literature of Southeast Asia. He is a founding member of the International Centre for Buddhist Studies (Bangkok). Peter Skilling has lived in Thailand for over thirty years, and has travelled extensively in Asia. His interests include the early history of religion in Southeast Asia as known through inscriptions and archaeological remains; the history of Indian Buddhism and the development of Mahayana sutras; and the Pali and vernacular literature of pre-modern Siam, including jataka and sermon genres. He has also written about the history of the Buddhist order of nuns in India and Siam and the development of the Tibetan canonical collections (Kanjur). His publications include Mahasutras, a critical edition and study of ten Sarvastivadin texts preserved in Tibetan translation in the Kanjur compared with their Pali counterparts (Vols. I and II, Oxford: The Pali Text Society, 1994, 1997; Vol. III, translations, forthcoming). Skilling is reported to be overly fond of durian. He lives in Nandapuri on the outskirts of Bangkok with a turtle rescued from the streets after a flood some years ago.
Translation & Transmission Conference Bio: Professor Skilling is a Fellow of the Lumbini
International Research Institute (Lumbini, Nepal) and a Special Lecturer at Chulalongkorn
University (Bangkok, Thailand). At present he is Maître de Conférences with the École
française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) and Head of the Buddhist Studies Group of the EFEO.
He is founder of the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation (Bangkok), a project dedicated to the
preservation, study and publication of the Buddhist literature of Southeast Asia. He received a PhD with honours and a Habilitation in Paris (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes). Peter’s publications include numerous articles and several books, the most recent being ''How Theravada is Theravada?'' (University of Washington Press, 2012) and ''Mahāsātras: Great Discourses of the Buddha'' (2 vols., Oxford, The Pali Text Society, 1994 and 1997) and the edited volume ''Wat Si Chum, Sukhothai: Art, Architecture and Inscriptions'' (River Books, Bangkok, 2008).
Tadeusz Skorupski is Senior Lecturer in Buddhist Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He received his Ph.D. in Indo-Tibetan Studies from the University of London in 1978. His publications include ''The Sarvadurgatipariśodhana'' and ''The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh''. +
Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim, the abbot who led Narthang monastery at the peak of its history, was an illustrious figure of his time in Central Tibet. A resolute monk, a meditation master, a learned scholar, author, and public figure, he epitomized the high ideals, practices, and approaches of the Kadam school and championed its traditions of scriptural exegesis and meditation instructions. A Kadam luminary, he also left behind religious writings which hold great significance for Tibetan Buddhist scholarship and practice today.
(Source: Karma Phuntsho, ''The Life and Works of Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim'', iii) +
