Christina Stoltz Sky Dancer: The Secret Songs and Autobiography of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel Abstract: Sky Dancer: The Secret Songs and Autobiography of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel is a treasure text from the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It recounts the life and teachings of Yeshe Tsogyal, the famous consort of Padmasambhava. Although it was “discovered” and written in … [Read more...]
Panchen Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen
Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen, First Panchen Lama. "Chos Smra ba’i dge slong blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyi spyod tshul gsal bar ston pa nor bu’i phreng ba (=nor bu’i phreng ba)", Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyi gsung ’bum (Collected Works of the First Panchen Lama Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen). Tashi Lhunpo Edition. Vol.1, ff.1r-225v. Also see TBRC W23430 (5 vols.) Panchen … [Read more...]
The Life of Yol mo dzin nor bu
Tenzin Doma Lama The Life of Yol mo Bstan 'dzin nor bu: A critical edition, translation, and study of the memoirs of a seventeenth-century Tibetan Buddhist lama Abstract: “The Life of Yol mo Bstan 'dzin nor bu: A critical edition, translation, and study of the memoirs of a seventeenth-century Tibetan Buddhist lama” by Bogin, Benjamine E is already a critical edition, which … [Read more...]
The Biography of Pha jo sgom Zhig po
Michael Monhart The Biography of Pha-jo-Sgom Zhig-po: Called the Current of Compassion Abstract The biography of Pha-jo-Sgom Zhig-po (1184-1251/1208-1275) gives us a window into a little known period of Bhutanese history. Bhutan was first unified under a single religious/secular leader by the Shapdrung Ngawang Namgyel, a member of the Drukpa Buddhist sect, in the 17th … [Read more...]
The Samding Dorje Phagmo of Tibe
Abstract: Chokyi Dronma (1422-1455) was a princess of a kingdom in lower Ngari in south-western Tibet who left her royal marriage at a young age to pursue a religious life. She became renowned throughout Tibet as an embodiment of Vajravarahi (Tib: rdo rje phag mo) and became the first in an incarnation line of female lamas known as the Samding Dorje Phagmo, the first and most … [Read more...]
Drukpa Kunley
Summary written by Kim Carson, May 2015. Drukpa Kunley spent the 115 years of his life, from 1455 to 1570 AD, as a perpetual teenager, rebelling vehemently against convention. Born in the Tsang region of Western Tibet, he left home as a young man, following the assassination of his father in a family feud, with the goal of receiving formal religious training in the Mahamudra … [Read more...]
A Biography from the Tibetan
Abstract Evans-Wentz’s edition of the The Life of Milarepa begins in a particularly Mahayana context: Rechung (Ras chung pa), a disciple, dreams, and walks through the Western land of Urgyan. He finds images of a jeweled stupa upon which Buddha Ashobhya is seated, and requests transmission of the teachings. The histories of Tilopa, Naropa and Marpa are told, and a greater … [Read more...]
A brief biography of Buton Rinchen Drub
A Handful of Flowers recounts the life and teachings of Butön Rinpoche, (bu ston rin chen grub), 1290-1364, from the perspective of his close disciple, Dratsepa Rinchen Namgyal (sgra tshad pa rin chen rnam rgyal). Butön was active primarily in U and Tsang, travelling widely to teach, but his position as abbot of Zhalu Monastery found him there, between Zhigatse and Gyantse in … [Read more...]
Like an Illusion
Abstract: Nicole Riggs’s Like An Illusion: Lives of the Shangpa Kagyu Masters is a collection of translations of the autobiographies of key figures of Shangpa Kagyu, an important lineage of Tibetan Buddhism dating from early 11th century to recent. It traces the origin, development, key concepts and practices of Shangpa Kagyu as well as gives us quintessential examples of … [Read more...]
An Oral History of Tibetans in New York City
Website: Preserving the voices and stories of Tibetans living in New York City... Inspired by StoryCorps Daphne Chow: Ever since an English teacher introduced me to StoryCorps my senior year of high school (thank you, Ms. Baker), I have wanted to take up another oral history project of my own, and have finally been able to with my final project for Professor Tuttle’s class, … [Read more...]
Tibet Through the Eyes of a Tibetan American
A website documenting an interview by Molly Burke and Robin Nguy, VIEW WEBSITE HERE. … [Read more...]
Jackson Heights: Interviews
In an effort to get a understanding of the current society of Jackson Highest I briefly and informally interviewed three different locals. The first person I interviewed was a early-twenties Tibetan-American woman who had emigrated from Nepal in early 2015. The second person I interviewed was a middle aged Indian-American man who had immigrated to Jackson Heights from India in … [Read more...]