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Jens Braarvig’s main subject is the history, literature and languages of Buddhism.
Among his publications on Buddhism are “The Akṣayamatinirdesasūtra and The Tradition of Imperishability in Buddhist Thought,” the main topic of which is the morality of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and ”Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection,” containing a rather recent find of manuscript fragments from Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
He also works with other Indian religious and philosophical traditions, as well as Greek and Mesopotamian religion in a comparative perspective and in a general setting of global and macrohistoric cultural study. His studies are based on comparative and philological methods, and he works with a number of classical and archaic languages from the Mediterranean areas, from early Middle Eastern cultures, as well as classical languages of South, Central and East Asia.
He is also developing methodologies for making philological reasearch relevant for cultural studies, and he has thus created an analytical internet tool – as now available on the internet as Bibliotheca Polyglotta – for understanding the role of linguae francae and multilingualsm in the global diffusion of knowledge.
He is also active as an editor and organizer of popular science. ([https://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/people/aca/study-of-religion/tenured/braarvig/ Source Accessed Aug 30, 2021]) +
Drakar Lobzang Palden Tendzin Nyendrak (Brag dkar blo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin snyan grags 1866–1928) of Trehor Kardzé wrote a refutation of Mipam Rinpoche's commentary on the ninth chapter of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''. He was also a disciple of the Longchen Nyingtik master Ragang Chöpa, and a teacher of Amdo Geshe Jampal Rolwé Lodrö. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Drakkar_Lobzang_Palden Adapted from Source Oct 4, 2022]) +
Khenpo Drayab Lodrö Gyaltsen (Tib. བྲག་གཡབ་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་, Wyl. brag g.yab blo gros rgyal mtshan) (d. early 1960s?) - He came from Drayab Sakya Monastery. His main teachers were Öntö Khyenrab Chökyi Özer, Gapa Khenpo Jamgyal and Gatön Ngawang Lekpa and Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. He was the fifth khenpo at Dzongsar Shedra, from ca. 1939-1943.
He taught just like Öntö Khyenrab Chökyi Özer, who, it is said, taught exactly like Khenpo Shenga. He spent many years in prison, were he was tortured, but he taught his fellow inmates whenever he had an opportunity.
<h5>Writings</h5>
He composed a commentary on the ninth chapter of the ''Bodhicharyavatara''. He also wrote a commentary to Sakya Pandita's ''Treasury of Valid Reasoning'', which has not survived. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenpo_Drayab_Lodr%C3%B6 Rigpa Wiki]) +
Francis Brassard is from Quebec, Canada. He received his PhD from McGill University in religious studies. He also studied at the Institut für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets, Hamburg University. His research interests include Buddhist philosophy and psychology, comparative religions and philosophies, and interreligious dialogue. His book, ''The Concept of Bodhicitta in Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra'', was published by the State University of New York Press (2000). Some of his other publication titles include: "Buddhism" in A Catholic Engagement with the World Religions, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Book (2010), “Asking the Right Question” in Asian Texts - Asian Contexts: Encountering the Philosophies and Religions of Asia., Albany: SUNY Press (2010), “On the Origin of Religious Discourse” in The Dialectics of the Religious & the Secular: Studies on the Future of Religion. Koninklijke Brill NV (2014) and “Ruđer Bošković and the Structure of the Experience of Scientific Discovery” in Cadmus, Vol. 2, 6, (May 2016). He has taught at Berry College in Rome, Georgia (USA) and Miyazaki International College in Japan. Francis Brassard is a Lecturer at RIT Croatia (Dubrovnik campus). ([https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-brassard-50992339/ Source Accessed Jan 6, 2021]) +
Margaret Brenman-Gibson (1918–2004) was an American psychologist, among the first to use of hypnosis in the treatment of neurosis resulting from war and related areas. She was the first non-physician to receive full clinical and research psychoanalytic training in America. In 1982 she was one of the first women to receive a Harvard professorship as Clinical Professor of Psychology. She earned a Masters in Anthropology from Columbia University and a doctorate in Psychology from the University of Kansas. She was the only female psychotherapist on the staff at the Austen Riggs Center and was recognized as a notable member of staff at the organization's centenary anniversary, playing a key role in the organization's establishment as a leading psychiatric hospital and treatment center. Her other work includes a biography of Clifford Odets, and narration of the film Erik Erikson: A Life’s Work. She was married to the playwright William Gibson from 1940 until her death in 2004. +
Joseph Britton, B.S., at Princeton University, was formerly a Mechanical Engineer, designing energy systems and, in a different department, an Instructor teaching Yoga, Movement, and Meditation.
Upon moving to and living in Japan for 28 years, Joseph co-founded Japan’s first executive speech training company based in Tokyo, Media and Communications. Several years later, at Osaka Metropolitan University, he was honored to become a Professor of Communications & Mindfulness for 22 years. During this culturally rich experience, he spent many years personally studying with renowned Zen Buddhist master Uchiyama Kosho Roshi in Kyoto, Japan. He has taught seminars in communications and mindfulness throughout Asia, Europe and North America.
To understand the dynamics of how we generate and project energy, he also became a Hellerwork body & movement practitioner.
Presently, Joseph is a Adjunct Instructor at Portland Community College in the Community Education Department teaching 3 courses: Mindfulness – Awareness Practice, Mysteries of Dying, and Public Speaking with Mindfulness.
He is also a Hospice Volunteer accompanying people who die alone. ([https://www.hol.edu/instructors/48854/Joseph-Britton Source Accessed Sep 8, 2026]) +
Vanja is a multifaceted intellectual who defies conventional boundaries. With a Master's in Economics/IT and another in philosophy and sociology, he's now pursuing a PhD in Buddhist philosophy and has co-translated a Croatian edition of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''. His decade-long meditation practice and annual journeys to India reflect his deep commitment to Buddhist studies, even as he humorously acknowledges his ongoing struggles with taming his "wild mind." Beyond academia, he's carved out expertise in digital marketing, previously organizing cultural salons at Matrix Croatica and now running his own marketing company. +
José van den Broeck was a Belgian scholar who, along with others, published translations of Buddhist texts between 1969 and 1980 at the Institut Belge des Hautes Etudes Bouddhiques in Brussels. +
Johannes Bronkhorst (born 17 July 1946, in Schiedam, d. 14 May 2025) was a Dutch Orientalist and Indologist, specializing in Sanskrit grammar, Buddhist studies and early Buddhism. He was Professor of Sanskrit and Indian studies at the University of Lausanne from 1987–2011, and thereafter emeritus professor until his death in 2025. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Bronkhorst Source Accessed Jan 13, 2026]) +
Brian Edward Brown was an undergraduate and graduate student of Thomas Berry at Fordham University where he earned his doctorate in the History of Religions, specializing in Buddhist thought. He subsequently earned his doctorate in law from New York University. Currently he is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Iona College, New Rochelle, N.Y. He is the co-founder of The Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona as well as being one of the founding faculty of the Integral Environmental Studies major at Iona, a joint venture of the departments of biology, political science and religious studies. He is the author of two principal texts: ''The Buddha Nature: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha and Ālayavijñāna'' (Motilal Banarsidass,1991, reprinted 1994, 2003, 2010), and ''Religion, Law and the Land: Native Americans and the Judicial Determination of Sacred Land'' (Westport, Greenwood Press, 1999). He is co-editor of ''Augustine and World Religions'' (Lexington Books, 2008). Among his other publications are articles which have addressed the ecological implications of the Buddhist and Native American tribal traditions, as well as the Earth jurisprudence of Thomas Berry. ([http://thomasberry.org/life-and-thought/past-award-recipients Adapted from Source Jul 20, 2020]) +
Daniel Brown is the author of 15 books including Transformations of Consciousness (with Ken Wilbur & Jack Engler), and a book on Mahamudra, Pointing Out the Great Way: The Mahamudra Tradition of Tibetan Meditation-Stages (Wisdom Publications), and two books on public dialogues with H.H. The Dalai Lama. He is also the co-author of a forthcoming book on the Bon A Khrid lineage of Bon Great Completion Meditation.
In graduate school at The University of Chicago he studied Sanskrit with Hans van Beutenen, and also studied Tibetan, Buddhist Sanskrit, and Pali languages in the Buddhist Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison WI. He spent 10 years translating meditation texts for his doctoral dissertation on Tibetan Buddhist Mahamudra meditation.
He has studied meditation practice for about 45 years, beginning with reading Patanjali’s Yogasutras and its main commentaries in the original Sanskrit with the great historian of religion professor Mircea Eliade, as well as practicing Patanjali's stages of meditation directly with Dr. Arwind Vasavada. At the same time, Dr. Brown studied the Burmese Theravadin Buddhist mindfulness meditation, first with Western teachers in the United States like Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Christopher Titmus, and then directly with the originator of the Burmese mindfulness tradition, Mahasi Sayadaw in Rangoon, Burma and other masters like Tungpulo Sayadaw and Achaan Cha. Read more [https://www.drdanielpbrown.com/buddhist-meditation-teacher here]. +
Kerry Brown is a New Zealander and former journalist. She now lives in Britain and works as religious consultant for the World Wide fund for Nature. She is an executive-director of the international Sacred Literature Trust and has edited various books on world faiths. ([https://readersend.com/product/buddhism-and-ecology-2/ Source Accessed Feb 22, 2023]) +
Pierre Gustave Brunet (18 November 1805 – 24 January 1896) was a French bibliographer, historian and editor.
====Works====
*(ed.) ''Poèsies basques de Bernard Dechepare, recteur de Saint-Michel-le-Vieux, Publiéés d'après l'édition de Bordeaux, 1545, et traduites pour la première fois en fraçais'', 1847.<br>
*(ed.) ''Histoire maccaronique de Merlin Coccaie : prototype de Rabelais ou est traicté les ruses de Cingar, les tours de Boccal, les adventures de Léonard, les forces de Fracasse, les enchantemens de Gelfore et Pandrague et les rencontres heureuses de Balde'' by Teofilo Folengo. 1859.<br>
*''Fantaisies bibliographiques'', 1864<br>
*''La France littéraire au XVe siècle; ou, Catalogue raisonné des ouvrages en tout genre imprimés en langue franc̜aise jusqu'à l'an 1500'', 1865<br>
*''Imprimeurs imaginaires et libraires supposés; étude bibliographique, suivie de recherches sur quelques ouvrages imprimés avec des indications fictives de lieux ou avec des dates singuliéres'', 1866<br>
*(ed.)'' Les sociétés badines, bachiques, littéraires et chantantes, leur histoire et leurs travaux'' by Arthur Dinaux. 1867.<br>
*(ed.) ''Les supercheries littéraires dévoilées. Galerie des écrivains français de toute l'Europe qui se sont déguisés sous des anagrammes, des astéronymes, des cryptonymes, des initialismes, des noms littéraires, des pseudonymes facétieux ou bizarres, etc.'' by Joseph Marie Quérard. 1869.<br>
*''Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes [by Barbier], suivi des Supercheries littéraires dévoilées [by Quérard]; supplément à la dernière édition de ces deux ouvrages'', 1889. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Gustave_Brunet Source Accessed Aug 25, 2021]) +
Born in Germany, Karl Brunnhölzl, M.D. was trained as a physician in Germany. He studied Tibetology, Buddhology, and Sanskrit at [[Hamburg University]]. He received training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by [[Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamsto Rinpoche]].
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[[The Foliage of Superior Insight|Ashé Journal Article]]
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[http://www.nalandabodhi.org/teachers/western-teachers/karl-brunnholzl.aspx Nalandabodhi teacher page]
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'''Brief Biography:'''
Karl was originally trained, and worked, as a physician. He took Buddhist refuge vows in 1984 and, in 1990, completed a five-year training in higher Buddhist philosophy at Kamalashila Institute, Germany, receiving the traditional Kagyü title of "dharma tutor" (Tib. skyor dpon). Since 1988, he received his Buddhist and Tibetan language training mainly at Marpa Institute For Translators in Kathmandu, Nepal (director: Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche) and also studied Tibetology, Buddhology, and Sanskrit at Hamburg University, Germany. Since 1989, Karl served as a translator, interpreter, and Buddhist teacher mainly in Europe, India, and Nepal. Since 1999, he has acted as one of the main translators and teachers at Nitartha Institute (director: Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche) in the USA, Canada, and Germany. In addition, he regularly taught at Gampo Abbey's Vidyadhara Institute from 2000-2007. He is the author of several books on Buddhism, such as The Center of the Sunlit Sky, Straight from the Heart, In Praise of Dharmadhātu, and Luminous Heart (all Snow Lion Publications).
Karl met Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche in 1986 during Rinpoche's first teaching tour through Europe, receiving extensive teachings as well as pratimoksha vows from him during the following years in both Europe and Nepal, and later also in Canada and the USA. He served as Rinpoche's personal translator during his teachings tours in Europe (particularly at Nitartha Institute in Germany) from 1999-2005. In 2005, he was appointed as one of five Western Nalandabodhi teachers and given the title "mitra."
In 2006, he moved to Seattle and works as a full-time Tibetan translator for Tsadra Foundation. Since his arrival in Seattle, Karl was instrumental in creating the new introductory NB Buddhism 100 Series, leads NB Study Path classes, presents weekend courses and open house talks at Nalanda West, offers selected teachings to the Vajrasattva and Mahamudra practice communities, and provides personal guidance as a PI. He also teaches weekend seminars and Nitartha Institute courses in NB centers in the US, Canada, and Mexico as well as other locations.
Within the Mitra Council, Karl is the current Dean until 2010 and is mainly supervising and revising the NB Study Path (which includes revising the Hinayana and Mahayana study path and creating a Vajrayana study path). While enthusiastic about all facets of the dharma, his main interests are the teachings on Mahamudra, Yogacara and Buddha Nature, and to make the essential teachings by the Karmapas and other major Kagyu lineage figures available to contemporary Western audiences. [http://www.nalandabodhi.org/teachers/western-teachers/karl-brunnholzl.aspx Source]
Degree in English, teacher of French, professional translator; completed two three-year retreats at Chanteloube, France, 1980–1985 and 1990–1993; founding member of Padmakara Translation Group. Tsadra Foundation Fellow since 2002.
Declaring himself “methodical and particular” to the point of excess, Christian Bruyat is pleased that working with Tsadra allows him the extra time to try and do accurate translations. Coupled with this drive he has an “uncanny ability” to find translation errors “even when I read the works of others who are much more worthy than me, and are big scholars.” He does not mean to be arrogant or irritating, and attributes his knack to “some kind of karma with Tibetan …” Since at age five he informed his parents that he intended to marry a Japanese lady when he grew up—he married a Chinese woman instead—one might well agree that some sort of past-life Asian connection seems to be at play in Christian’s life.
He has had the fortunate destiny to spend five years with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in Nepal and Bhutan. Appropriately enough, Dzogchen teachings are Christian’s favorite and most inspiring scriptural material, especially the works of Longchenpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Mipham Rinpoche.
Previously Published Translations<br>
• Le Chemin de la Grande Perfection, Patrul Rinpoché (and preliminary work on the draft of its English version, The Words of My Perfect Teacher, with Charles Hastings)
'''Completed Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow'''<br>
• Mahasiddhas, La vie de 84 sages de l’Inde, Abhayadatta (with Patrick Carré)
• Le Précieux Ornement de la libération, Gampopa
• Perles d’ambroisie (3 vols.), Kunzang Palden (with Patrick Carré)
• Bodhicaryavatara, La Marche vers l’Éveil, Shantideva (with Patrick Carré) +
Rod Bucknell is Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia. +
Buddhabhadra (佛馱跋陀羅, 359–429) means enlightenment worthy. Born in northern India, he was a descendent of King Amṛtodana, who was the youngest of the three uncles of Śākyamuni Buddha (circa 563–483 BCE). He renounced family life at age seventeen and became a monk. Studying hard, he mastered meditation and the Vinaya.
In 408, the tenth year of the Hongshi (弘始) years of the Later Qin Dynasty (後秦 or 姚秦, 384–417), one of the Sixteen Kingdoms (304–439), he went to its capital, Chang-an. The illustrious translator Kumārajīva (鳩摩羅什, 344–413) had arrived there in 401. However, Buddhabhadra did not like Kumārajīva’s students. Together with his own forty-some students, he went to the Lu Mountain (廬山, in present-day Jiangxi Province) and stayed with Master Huiyuan (慧遠, 334–416), the first patriarch of the Pure Land School of China.
In 415, the eleventh year of the Yixi (義熙) years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (東晉, 317–420), Buddhabhadra went south to its capital, Jiankong (建康), present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He stayed at the Daochang Temple (道場寺) and began his translation work. Altogether, he translated from Sanskrit into Chinese thirteen texts in 125 fascicles. For example, texts 376 and 1425 were translated jointly by him and Faxian (法顯, circa 337–422). Text 376 (T12n0376) in 6 fascicles is the earliest of the three Chinese versions of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra; text 1425 (T22n1425) in 40 fascicles is the Chinese version of the Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya. Texts 278 and 666 were translated by him alone probably between years 418 and 421. Text 278 (T09n0278) is the 60-fascicle Chinese version of the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra of Buddha Adornment (Buddhāvataṁsaka-mahāvaipulya-sūtra); text 666 (T16n0666) in one fascicle is the first of the two extant Chinese versions of the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra of the Tathāgata Store.
In 429, the sixth year of the Yuanjia (元嘉) years of the Liu Song Dynasty (劉宋, 420–79), Buddhabhadra died, at age seventy-one. People called him the Indian Meditation Master. He is one of the eighteen exalted ones of the Lu Mountain. ([http://www.sutrasmantras.info/translators.html#kumarajiva Source Accessed Aug 19, 2021])
Buddhayaśas. (C. Fotuoyeshe; J. Butsudayasha; K. Pult'ayasa 佛陀耶舍) (d.u.; fl. c. early fifth century). A monk from Kashmir . . . who became an important early translator of Indic Buddhist texts into Chinese. Buddhayaśas is said to have memorized several million words worth of both mainstream and Mahāyāna materials and became a renowned teacher in his homeland. He later taught the Sarvāstivāda vinaya to the preeminent translator Kumārajīva and later joined his star pupil in China, traveling to the capital of Chang'an at Kumãrajīva's invitation in 408. While in China, he collaborated with the Chinese monk Zhu Fonian (d.u.) in the translation of two massive texts of the mainstream Buddhist tradition: the Sifen Lü ("Four-Part Vinaya," in sixty rolls), the vinaya collection of the Dharmaguptaka school, which would become the definitive vinaya used within the Chinese tradition; and the Dīrghāgama, also generally presumed to be associated with the Dharmaguptakas. Even after returning to Kashmir four years later, Buddhayaśas is said to have continued with his translation work, eventually sending back to China his rendering of the ''Ākāśagarbhasūtra''. (Source: "Buddhayaśas." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 157. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Buddhaśānta. A north Indian *monk who went to *China in 511 CE where he cooperated with *Bodhiruci in translating the *''Daśabhumika Sūtra''. Later he worked on a version of the *''Mahāyāna-saṃgraha'' and other texts. (Source: "Buddhaśānta." In ''A Dictionary of Buddhism'', 45. Oxford University Press, 2003) +
Katia Buffetrille is a French ethnologist and tibetologist. She works at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE 5th section). Her doctoral thesis is entitled ''Montagnes sacrées, lacs et grottes : lieux de pèlerinage dans le monde tibétain. Traditions écrites. Réalités vivantes'' (thesis national number: 1996PA100065). She has done fieldwork in Tibet and Nepal, researching pilgrimage, non-Buddhist beliefs, and sacred geography.
She is in charge of a seminar on rituals at the CRCAO (Centre de recherches sur les civilisations de l'Asie orientale; UMR 8155) and is editor of the journal ''Études mongoles, sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines (EMSCAT)''. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katia_Buffetrille Source Accessed Sep 23, 2021]) +
