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From Buddha-Nature
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The 14th Shamarpa, Mipham Chokyi Lodro, passed away aged 61 on 11th June 2014.<br>
'''February 15, 2020: Karmapas Work Together to Identify Reincarnated Lama: <br>[https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/karmapas-work-together/ Tricycle Magazine Reports]'''
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Mipham Chökyi Lodrö was born in Derge, Tibet. At the age of four he was recognized by the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje as the 14th Shamarpa reincarnation. Upon the Karmapa's request the Tibetan Government withdrew its one hundred and fifty nine year old ban of the Shamarpas.
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Shamar Rimpoche remained with the 16th Karmapa until his death in 1981. He received the entire cycle of Kagyu teachings from the 16th Karmapa. Since the 16th Karmapa’s death in 1981, Shamar Rimpoche has devoted his efforts to the many projects initiated by the late 16th Karmapa. He has completed the reprinting of the “Tengyur” a body of two hundred and fourteen volumes in which prominent Indian and Tibetan masters elucidate the teachings given by the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Shamar Rimpoche also supports and offers guidance to Rumtek Monastery, the seat of H. H. the sixteenth Karmapa. He co-founded and brought into being the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute, New Delhi, India. The Institute currently offers courses in Buddhist studies for both monastic and lay students.<br>
([https://shamarpa.org/history/mipham-chokyi-lodro/ Source Accessed Dec 19, 2019])
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The Shamarpa and the Karmapa are spiritually inseparable, and are fellow holders of the 900 year old Karma Kagyu lineage, a tradition that precedes the Dalai Lama’s lineage by over 200 years. ([https://www.karmapa.org/karmapa-thaye-dorje-find-reincarnation-of-shamarpa/ Source Accessed May 2, 2020]) +
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Aaron K. Koseki received his PhD in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1977 under the supervision of Minoru Kiyota. His dissertation is entitled "Chi-tsang's Ta-ch'eng-hsüan-lun: The Two Truths and the Buddha-Nature." Some of his articles include: "Prajñāpāramitā and the Buddhahood of the Non-Sentient World: The San-Lun Assimilation of Buddha-Nature and Middle Path Doctrine," ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' 3/1 (1980), "Later Mādhyamika in China: Some Current Perspectives on the History of Chinese Prajñāpāramitā Thought," ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' 5/2 (1982), "Chi-tsang's ''Sheng-man pao-k'u'': The True Dharma Doctrine and the Bodhisattva Ideal," ''Philosophy East and West'' 34, no. 1, (1984), "The concept of practice in San Lun thought: Chi-tsang and the 'concurrent insight' of the Two Truths," ''Philosophy East and West'' 31, no. 4, (1981), and a review of Minoru Kiyota's book ''Shingon Buddhism: Theory and Practice'', ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' 1/2 (1979). +
Masao Abe is a leading Buddhist thinker who has spent many years furthering the work begun by D. T. Suzuki. He received his Ph.D. from Kyoto University after postgraduate studies at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary. Abe has been a visiting professor at several major universities in the United States and has traveled widely in Europe and Asia as well. Author of ''Zen and Western Thought'', he has also contributed to the Macmillan Library of Philosophy and Religion series. ([https://www.shambhala.com/authors/a-f/masao-abe.html Source Accessed Nov 22, 2019]) +
Adam S. Pearcey is the founder-director of Lotsāwa House, a virtual library of translations from Tibetan. His publications include (as co-translator) Mind in Comfort and Ease by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Wisdom Publications, 2007); Ga Rabjampa’s ''To Dispel the Misery of the World'' (Wisdom Publications, 2012), which he translated at the suggestion of the late Khenchen Appey Rinpoche; and ''Beyond the Ordinary Mind: Dzogchen Advice from Rimé Masters'' (Snow Lion, 2018). A partial list of the many translations he has published online can be found [https://adamspearcey.com/translations/ here].
Adam first encountered Tibetan Buddhism in 1994 when he taught English at two monasteries near Darjeeling in India. He went on to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London; the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Kathmandu, where he also taught Tibetan and served as an interpreter; the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala; Oxford University, where he earned a Master’s degree in Oriental Studies; and again at SOAS, where he completed his PhD with a thesis entitled ''A Greater Perfection? Scholasticism, Comparativism and Issues of Sectarian Identity in Early 20th Century Writings on rDzogs-chen''.
In 2018 he was a senior teaching fellow at SOAS, lecturing on Buddhist philosophy and critical approaches to Buddhist Studies. ([https://adamspearcey.com/ Source Accessed Feb 10, 2020]) +
Marc Agate holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, Atlanta (GA) and graduated from the École des Mines de Nantes in Computer Sciences. After working for a web services company for five years in Atlanta, he returned to France and joined the Dashang Rimay Community where he learned Tibetan and started to develop several multilingual lexicographic projects.
With his wife, he published a practical guide on Tibetan Kunye Massage. He also translated several sutras from Tibetan to French, as well as the ''Uttaratantra'' and its commentary by Asanga, and books 2, 3 and 4 of the ''Treasury of Knowledge'' by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye. Marc has joined BDRC to offer his expertise, and help preserve and spread Buddhist teachings around the world. ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!footer/community/people Source Accessed Oct 4, 2019]) +
Zahiruddln Ahmad was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia. He is the author of several books on Tibetan history, including ''China and Tibet, 1708-1959'' (Oxford University Press, 1960); ''Tibet and Ladakh: A History'' (Chatto & Windus, 1963); ''Sino-Tibetan Relations in the 17th Century'' (Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1970); ''Life of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Vol. IV, Part I'' (International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 1999); ''An introduction to Buddhist Philosophy in India and Tibet'' (International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 2007); ''The Song of the Queen of Spring'' (International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 2008); and ''The Historical Status of China in Tibet'' (Aditya Prakashan, 2012). He is also the author of numerous articles on Tibetan history and related subjects. +
Prof. Akira Saito is a faculty member at the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies in Tokyo Japan. He holds an M.A. from the University of Tokyo (1979) and received his Ph.D. from Australian National University (1985). His primary area of specialization is the History of Indian Buddhist Philosophy and Madhyamaka Studies. His teaching activities at ICPBC include: Reading Buddhist Studies in Foreign Languages; Inner Asian Buddhist Philology; Ph.D. Tutorials; and Special topics in Buddhist Studies. ([http://www.icabs.ac.jp/en/research/faculty/saito Adapted from Source Aug 3, 2020]) +
Lama Tsultrim Allione is founder and resident lama of Tara Mandala. She is author of ''Women of Wisdom'', ''Feeding Your Demons'', and ''Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine''. Born in New England to an academic/publishing family, she traveled to India in her late teens and was ordained as a Buddhist nun at the age of 22 by H.H. the 16th Karmapa. She was the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in the Karma Kagyu lineage. After living in the Himalayan region for several years she returned her vows and became the mother of three, while continuing to study and practice Buddhism, particularly focusing on the lineage of Machig Labdron and Dzogchen teachings. In 1993, Lama Tsultrim founded Tara Mandala, a 700-acre center in southwest Colorado where an extraordinary three-story temple in the form of a mandala, dedicated to the sacred feminine in Buddhism has been constructed and consecrated. In 2007 while traveling in Tibet she was recognized as an emanation of Machig Labdron at the historic seat of Machig Zangri Khangmar by the resident lama. This recognition was confirmed by several other lamas, and in 2012 she was given the Machig Labdron empowerment by HH the 17th Karmapa. ([https://taramandala.secure.retreat.guru/teacher/tsultrim-allione/ Source Accessed July 15, 2020]) +
Orna Almogi studied Tibetology (major) and Religious Studies and Psychology (minors) at the University of Hamburg (MA 1998). She received her PhD in Tibetology from the same University in 2006 (doctoral thesis: “Rong-zom-pa’s Discourses on Traditional Buddhology: A Study on the Development of the Concept of Buddhahood with Special Reference to the Controversy Surrounding the Existence of Gnosis (ye shes: jñāna) at the Stage of a Buddha”). From 1999 until 2004 she had been working for the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project (NGMPP) and the Nepalese-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project (NGMCP), where she had been responsible for the Tibetan materials. From 2008 to 2011 she has been a member of the Researcher Group “Manuscript Cultures in Asia and Africa” with the subproject “The Manuscript Collections of the Ancient Tantras (rNying ma rgyud ’bum): An Examination of Variance.” From 2011 to 2015 she has been working at the “Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures” as the leader of the subproject “Doxographical Organisational Schemes in Manuscripts and Xylographs of the Collection of the Ancient Tantras.”<br> Since 2015 she has been involved in the “Academic Research Program Initiative” (ARPI). Since 2016 she is leading the project “A Canon in the Making: The History of the Formation, Production, and Transmission of the ''bsTan 'gyur'', the Corpus of Treatises in Tibetan Translation.” Her research interests extend to a number of areas connected with the Tibetan religio-philosophical traditions and Tibetan Buddhist literature, particularly that of the rNying-ma school. The primary focus of her research the past years has been the concept of Buddhahood in traditional Buddhist sources, early subclassifications of Madhyamaka, the ''rNying ma rgyud ’bum'', and the ''bsTan ʼgyur''. Another interest of her is the culture of the book in Tibet in all its variety, specifically in connection with the compilation and transmission of Buddhist literary collections, both in manuscripts and xylographs forms. ([https://www.kc-tbts.uni-hamburg.de/en/people/almogi.html Source Accessed Jul 14, 2020])
Buddhist émigré ācarya who played a major role in the introduction and translation of seminal Buddhist texts belonging to the esoteric tradition or mijiao. His birthplace is uncertain, but many sources allude to his ties to Central Asia. Accompanying his teacher Vajrabodhi, Amoghavajra arrived in the Chinese capital of Chang'an in 720–1 and spent most of his career in that cosmopolitan city. In 741, following the death of his mentor, Amoghavajra made an excursion to India and Sri Lanka with the permission of the Tang-dynasty emperor and returned in 746 with new Buddhist texts, many of them esoteric scriptures. Amoghavajra's influence on the Tang court reached its peak when he was summoned by the emperor to construct an abhiṣeka, or consecration, altar on his behalf. Amoghavajra's activities in Chang'an were interrupted by the An Lushan rebellion (655–763), but after the rebellion was quelled, he returned to his work at the capital and established an inner chapel for homa rituals and abhiṣeka in the imperial palace. He was later honored by the emperor with the purple robe, the highest honor for a Buddhist monk and the rank of third degree. Along with Xuanzang, Amoghavajra was one of the most prolific translators and writers in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Among the many texts he translated into Chinese, especially important are the ''Sarvatathāgatasaṃgraha'' and the ''Bhadracarīpraṇidhāna''. (Source: "Amoghavajra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 36. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Ari Goldfield is a Buddhist teacher. He had the unique experience of being continuously in the training and service of his own teacher, Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, for eleven years. From 1998-2009, Ari served as Khenpo Rinpoche’s translator and secretary, accompanying Rinpoche on seven round-the-world teaching tours. Ari received extensive instruction from Rinpoche in Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and teaching methods, and meditated under Rinpoche’s guidance in numerous retreats. In 2006, Khenpo Rinpoche sent Ari on his own tour to teach philosophy, meditation, and yogic exercise in Europe, North America, and Asia. In 2007, Ari moved with Rinpoche to Seattle, where he served and helped care for him until Rinpoche moved back to Nepal in 2009. Ari now teaches in Rinpoche’s Karma Kagyu lineage, with the blessings of the head of the lineage, H.H. the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, and of Khenpo Rinpoche.
Ari is also a published translator and author of books, articles, and numerous songs of realization and texts on Buddhist philosophy and meditation. These include Khenpo Rinpoche’s books ''Stars of Wisdom'', ''The Sun of Wisdom'', and Rinpoche’s ''Song of the Eight Flashing Lances'' teaching, which appeared in ''The Best Buddhist Writing'' 2007. He is a contributing author of ''Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind: Writings on the Connections Between Yoga and Buddhism''.
Ari studied Buddhist texts in Tibetan and Sanskrit at Buddhist monasteries in Nepal and India, and at the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in India. In addition to translating for Khenpo Rinpoche, he has also served as translator for H.H. Karmapa, Tenga Rinpoche, and many other Tibetan teachers. From 2007–11, Ari served as president of the Marpa Foundation, a nonprofit organization initiated by Khenpo Rinpoche that supports Buddhist translation, nunneries in Bhutan and Nepal, and other Buddhist activities. Ari holds a BA from Harvard College and a JD from Harvard Law School, both with honors. ([https://insightla.org/teacher/ari-goldfield-2/ Source Accessed July 22, 2020])
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold is the abbot and resident teacher of Zen Mountain Monastery and abbot of the Zen Center of New York City. He received dharma transmission from John Daido Loori Roshi in 1997. ([https://www.lionsroar.com/mind-is-buddha/ Source Accessed Nov 18, 2019]) +
Gyurme Avertin began his study of the Tibetan language in 1997. He spent two years following the Tibetan program at Langues’O University in Paris. He then went to Nepal in 1999 to study at the [[Rangjung Yeshe Institute]], before making his way to Bir in northern India, where he studied at Dzongsar Shedra. He regularly interprets for teachers visiting Rigpa centres and at the Rigpa Shedra East. (2014 Translation & Transmission Conference Program) +
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Prabodh Chandra Bagchi (18 November 1898 – 19 January 1956) was one of the most notable Sino-Indologists of the 20th century. He was the third Upacharya (Vice-Chancellor) of Visva-Bharati University. He published a large number of books in English, French, and Bengali. His best known work that is still acclaimed as a classical work even today is ''India and China'', which was first published in 1944. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prabodh_Chandra_Bagchi Source Accessed Jun 4, 2019]) +
Sir Harold Walter Bailey, FBA (16 December 1899–11 January 1996), who published as H. W. Bailey, was an eminent English scholar of Khotanese, Sanskrit, and the comparative study of Iranian languages.
Bailey has been described as one of the greatest Orientalists of the twentieth century. He was said to read more than 50 languages.
In 1929 Bailey began his doctoral dissertation, a translation with notes of the ''Greater Bundahishn'', a compendium of Zoroastrian writings in Middle Persian recorded in the Pahlavi scripts. He became the world's leading expert in the Khotanese dialect of the Saka language, the mediaeval Iranian language of the Kingdom of Khotan (modern Xinjiang). His initial motivation for the study of Khotanese was an interest in the possible connection with the ''Bundahishn''. He later passed his material on that work to Kaj Barr.
He was known for his immensely erudite lectures, and once confessed: "I have talked for ten and a half hours on the problem of one word without approaching the further problem of its meaning."
Bailey was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1944, and subsequently a member of the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Academies. He received honorary degrees from four universities including Oxford; served as president of Philological Society, the Royal Asiatic Society, the Society for Afghan Studies, and the Society of Mithraic Studies; and chaired the Anglo-Iranian Society and Ancient India and Iran Trust. He was knighted for services to Oriental studies in 1960. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Walter_Bailey Source Accessed Dec 6, 2019])
See complete biography in [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bailey-harold-walter-1 Encyclopædia Iranica] +
Baizhang Huaihai (Chinese: 百丈懷海; pinyin: Bǎizhàng Huáihái; Wade-Giles: Pai-chang Huai-hai; Japanese: Hyakujō Ekai) (720–814) was a Zen master during the Tang Dynasty. A native of Fuzhou, he was a dharma heir of Mazu Daoyi (Wade-Giles: Ma-tsu Tao-i).[1] Baizhang's students included Huangbo, Linji and Puhua.
Hagiographic depictions of Baizhang depict him as a radical and iconoclastic figure, but these narratives derive from at least a century and a half after his death and were developed and elaborated during the Song dynasty.[2] As Mario Poceski writes, the earliest strata of sources (such as the ''Baizhang guanglu'' 百丈廣錄 ) about this figure provide a "divergent image of Baizhang as a sophisticated teacher of doctrine, who is at ease with both the philosophical and contemplative aspects of Buddhism."[3] Poceski summarizes this figure thus:
:The image of Baizhang conveyed by the Tang-era sources is that of a learned and sagacious monk who is well versed in both the theoretical and contemplative aspects of medieval Chinese Buddhism. Here we encounter Baizhang as a teacher of a particular Chan brand of Buddhist doctrine, formulated in a manner and idiom that are unique to him and to the Hongzhou school as a whole. Nonetheless, he also comes across as someone who is cognizant of major intellectual trends in Tang Buddhism, as well as deeply steeped in canonical texts and traditions. His discourses are filled with scriptural quotations and allusions. He also often resorts to technical Buddhist vocabulary, of the kind one usually finds in the texts of philosophically oriented schools of Chinese Buddhism such as Huayan, Faxiang, and Tiantai. Here the primary mode in which Baizhang communicates his teachings is the public Chan sermon, presented in the ritual framework of “ascending the [Dharma] hall [to preach]” (''shangtang'').[4]
Regarding his teachings, Poceski notes:
:A central idea that infuses most of Baizhang’s sermons is the ineffability or indescribability of reality. Ultimate reality cannot be predicated in terms of conventional conceptual categories, as it transcends the familiar realm of words and ideas. Nonetheless, it can be approached or realized—as it truly is, without any accretions or distortions—as it manifests at all times and in all places. That is done by means of intuitive knowledge, whose cultivation is one of the cornerstones of Chan soteriology. Since the essence of reality cannot be captured or conveyed via the mediums of words and letters, according to Baizhang it is pointless to get stuck in dogmatic assertions, or to attach to a particular doctrine or practice. Like everything else, the various Chan (or more broadly Buddhist) teachings are empty of self-nature. They simply constitute expedient tools in an ongoing process of cultivating detachment and transcendence that supposedly free the mind of mistaken views and distorted ways of perceiving reality; to put it differently, they belong to the well-known Buddhist category of “skillful means” (''fangbian'', or upāya in Sanskrit). Holding on rigidly or fetishizing a particular text, viewpoint, or method of practice—even the most profound and potent ones—can turn out to be counterproductive, as it becomes a source of attachment that impedes spiritual progress. The perfection of the Chan path of practice and realization, therefore, does not involve the attainment of some particular ability or knowledge. Rather, in Baizhang’s text it is depicted as a process of letting go of all views and attachment that interfere with the innate human ability to know reality and experience spiritual freedom.[5]
One of his doctrinal innovations is what are called the “three propositions” (sanju), which are three distinct stages of spiritual realization or progressive ways of knowing:[6]
*Thoroughgoing detachment from all things and affairs
*Nonabiding in the state of detachment
*Letting go of even the subtlest vestiges of self-referential awareness or knowledge of having transcended detachment.
Baizhang's teachings and sayings have been translated by Thomas Cleary in ''Sayings and Doings of Pai-Chang''.[7] The Wild fox koan is attributed to Baizhang. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baizhang_Huaihai Source Accessed July 15, 2021])
Bardor Tulku Rinpoche was born in 1949 in Kham, East Tibet. At a very early age, he was recognized by His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa as the third incarnation of Terchen Barway Dorje.
When Rinpoche was a small child, with his family and his Dharma tutor he maintained a nomadic life style. Rinpoche was six when he left East Tibet in the company of his grandparents on a journey that took him first to Lhasa, then Tsurphu, and finally to Drikung where Rinpoche was to remain for a couple of years at the home of his grandparents.
After Rinpoche’s grandparents passed away, his parents and siblings joined him in Drikung. When the political and social conditions in Tibet worsened as a result of the Chinese Communist occupation, Rinpoche and his family—initially a party of thirteen—set out toward India over the Himalayas along with many other Tibetans who were also fleeing the fighting.
They traveled through Kongpo to Pema Ku. In Pema Ku, at the border of Tibet and India, as a result of the arduous journey, all Rinpoche’s family members died. When Rinpoche’s father—the last member of his family—died, Rinpoche left Pema Ku and continued on toward Assam with other refugees.
At the township known as Bomdila, where the borders of Tibet, Bhutan, and India meet, a bombing raid dispersed the group. Rinpoche and a young friend fled the attack and traveled westward, along the border of Bhutan and India, to Siliguri and eventually to Darjeeling. When they arrived in Darjeeling, His Holiness the 16th Karmapa was notified that Rinpoche had safely made his way out of Tibet. Filled with joy at the good news, His Holiness arranged for Rinpoche to be brought to Sikkim, and for Rinpoche’s friend to be taken care of.
Bardor Tulku Rinpoche was enthroned as a tulku at Rumtek Monastery when he was in his teens. It was also at Rumtek Monastery, under the tutelage of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, that Rinpoche’s formal training took place.
After completing many years of study and practice, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche accompanied the 16th Karmapa on his world tours in 1974 and 1976. In 1977, His Holiness asked Rinpoche to remain in Woodstock, New York, at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD). During his first two years at KTD, Rinpoche worked side-by-side with the staff to renovate and winterize the house and prepare for the last visit of His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa to the West. During that last visit, in 1980, His Holiness directed that his monastery and seat in North America be established at KTD, and he performed the formal investiture. After the groundbreaking ceremony in May of 1982, Bardor Rinpoche directed the construction activities and labored each day to build the monastery. When the construction of the shrine building was essentially completed in early 1990s, he assumed responsibilities as a teacher at KTD and its affiliate Karma Thegsum Chöling centers (KTCs).
In 2000, with a blessing from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa and His Eminence the 12th Tai Situ Rinpoche, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche established Raktrul Foundation in order to help rebuild the Raktrul Monastery in Tibet and provide educational facilities for monks and the lay community. In 2003, Rinpoche established Kunzang Palchen Ling (KPL), a Tibetan Buddhist Center in Red Hook, New York. Based on nonsectarian principles, KPL offers Dharma teachings from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and serves as a base for preserving and bringing to the West the terma teachings of Terchen Barway Dorje.
After working tirelessly for thirty-one years with the Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, the abbot of KTD, to firmly establish KTD and its affiliates in the United States, in October 2008, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche resigned from all his responsibilities at KTD. In August 2009, the KTD Board of Trustees issued an appreciation letter acknowledging Bardor Tulku Rinpoche’s role in the establishment KTD and its affiliates in North America.
Since he left KTD, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche has been directing the activities of Kunzang Palchen Ling, guiding Palchen Study Groups nationwide, overseeing translation projects of terma texts of Terchen Barway Dorje and the construction of the new facility at Kunzang Palchen Ling that is an implementation of his vision for KPL. Rinpoche also serves as an adviser for Dharma TV, an online Buddhist television project. [http://www.kunzang.org/biography/ Source Kunzang.org, Accessed January 27, 2022.]
David Landis Barnhill is the former Director of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. He is the translator of ''Basho's Journey: The Literary Prose of Matsuo Basho'' (2005), ''Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho'' (2004), and the coeditor (with Roger S. Gottlieb) of ''Deep Ecology and World Religions: New Essays on Sacred Ground'' (2001), all published by SUNY Press. +
Richard Barron is a Canadian-born translator who specializes in the writings of Longchenpa. He has served as an interpreter for many lamas from all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, including his first teacher, Kalu Rinpoche. He completed a traditional three-year retreat at Kagyu Ling in France and later became a close disciple of the late Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. He was engaged in a long-term project to translate ''The Seven Treasuries'' of Longchenpa.
His other translations include ''Buddhahood Without Meditation'', ''The Autobiography of Jamgön Kongtrul: A Gem of Many Colors'', and ''A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage'' by Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. ''The Autobiography of Jamgön Kongtrul'' was his first translation in the Tsadra Foundation Series published by Snow Lion Publications. +
Christian Bernert (MA) comes from Austria where he studied Tibetology at the University of Vienna until 2009. He embarked on the Buddhist path in 1999 under the guidance of Khenchen Amipa Rinpoche. Since 2001 he has been studying at IBA, where he currently works as language program coordinator and translator. Christian is a founding member of the Chödung Karmo Translation Group. ([https://conference.tsadra.org/past-event/the-2014-tt-conference/ Source Accessed Jul 20, 2020])
His dissertation was published as a book-length translation: ''Perfect or Perfected? Rongtön on Buddha-Nature: A Commentary on the Fourth Chapter of the Ratnagotravibhāga'' (v v.1.27-95[a]). Kathmandu: Vajra Books, 2018. +
