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Douglas Duckworth, Ph.D. (Virginia, 2005) is Professor at Temple University and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Religion. His papers have appeared in numerous journals and books, including the ''Blackwell Companion to Buddhist Philosophy'', ''Sophia'', ''Philosophy East & West'', the ''Journal for the American Academy of Religion'', ''Asian Philosophy'', and the ''Journal of Contemporary Buddhism''. Duckworth is the author of ''Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition'' (SUNY 2008) and ''Jamgön Mipam: His Life and Teachings'' (Shambhala 2011). He also introduced and translated ''Distinguishing the Views and Philosophies: Illuminating Emptiness in a Twentieth-Century Tibetan Buddhist Classic'' by Bötrül (SUNY 2011). He is a co-author of ''Dignāga’s Investigation of the Percept: A Philosophical Legacy in India and Tibet'' (Oxford 2016) and co-editor of ''Buddhist Responses to Religious Diversity: Theravāda and Tibetan Perspectives'' (Equinox 2020). He also is the co-editor, with Jonathan Gold, of ''Readings of Śāntideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice (Bodhicaryāvatāra)'' (CUP 2019). His latest works include ''Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature'' (OUP 2019) and a translation of an overview of the Wisdom Chapter of the ''Way of the Bodhisattva'' by Künzang Sönam, entitled ''The Profound Reality of Interdependence'' (OUP 2019). Doctor Duckworth received the first '''Distinguished Research Grant in Tibetan Buddhist Studies''' from Tsadra Foundation for 2020-2023. In 2025, ''The Great Hūṃ: A Commentary on Śāntideva's Way of the Bodhisattva'' was published with Wisdom Publications. +
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]) +
Dungkar Lobzang Trinle was one of the so-called "Three Great Scholars" in the second half of the twentieth century, together with Tseten Zhabdrung and Muge Samten, credited with reinstituting scholastic Buddhism and Tibetology as an academic discipline in China. Trained in Lhasa in the 1940s and 1950s, he survived the Cultural Revolution to serve at high levels of the Chinese government in the service of Buddhist learning and Tibetan cultural history more generally. His most famous publication is the ''Dungkar Encyclopedia''. (Source: [https://treasuryoflives.org/zh/biographies/view/Eighth-Dunkar-Dungkar-Lobzang-Trinle/2419 Treasury of Lives.org]) +
John Dunne was educated at Amherst College and Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. from the Committee on the Study of Religion. Before joining the Emory community, he served on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he previously conducted research at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (India). His work focuses on Buddhist philosophy and contemplative practice, and he is a co-director of Emory's Collaborative for Contemplative Studies as well as the Encyclopedia of Contemplative Practices. His current research focuses especially on the concept of "mindfulness" in both theoretical and practical contexts. +
Ilia Durovic is an independent scholar, translator, and Director of Publishing at the Tibetan Buddhist Institute in Adelaide, Australia. A student of the late Geshe Rabten Rinpoche, Counsellor in Religious Affairs to H.H. the Dalai Lama, Durovic studied Buddhist philosophy under Geshe Rabten's direction in Switzerland and served as his personal French-language interpreter. In 1985 he translated into French for H.H. the Dalai Lama in Geneva. After years of further study, he pursued an intensive course in Buddhist philosophy at Sera Je Monastic University in Karnataka, India, where he passed a formal debate examination in Tibetan before the full assembly of some 3,500 monks. He has served as interpreter for numerous senior Tibetan teachers in exile and has sponsored and translated key Geluk ''lamrim'' texts into English, including works by Panchen Lobsang Yeshe and the Fifth Dalai Lama. +
Nalinaksha Dutt (1893–1973), was an Indian scholar of Buddhism, professor of Sanskrit and Pali at the University of Calcutta and chaired The Asiatic Society, among other representative functions, as Vice-President of the Maha Bodhi Society. He was also a politician who served as Member of Parliament, representing West Bengal in the Rajya Sabha the upper house of India's Parliament representing the Indian National Congress. He is the author of numerous books on Buddhism.
Nalinaksha Dutt was born on 4 December 1893. He did his undergraduate studies at Chittagong College and the Presidency University, Kolkata. Initially interested in mathematics and physics, he was a student of Ashutosh Mukherjee, before discovering the Sanskrit and Pali languages with scholar Satish Chandra Vidyabhusan who also introduced him to Indian and Tibetan Buddhist texts. After graduation, he became a professor of Sanskrit and Pali at Judson College (which later, in 1920, became part of the University of Yangon). But Ashutosh Mukherjee, as a wise educator, perceived Dutt's real abilities and persuaded him to return to Calcutta in order to deepen his studies on Buddhism from the Sanskrit source texts, because at that time, most of the known Buddhist texts were translations from Tibetan. He met the scholar Sarat Chandra Das and the tibetan translator Kazi Dawa Samdup and they worked together.
In appreciation of Dutt’s researches in both the schools of buddhism, Calcutta University awarded him the Premchand Roychand Scholarship award and the doctor’s degree. Then he went to London, being admitted to the School of Oriental Studies, to prepare the D. Littérature, specialty Buddhism in Sanskrit. However, in the absence of a British Sanskrit scholar able to direct his work, the Belgian Indologist Louis de La Vallée-Poussin took on the task. Thus Dutt lived most of his time in Brussels, near his research master.
He defended his thesis in 1930, entitled: Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its relationship with the Hinayana, before renowned Western scholars, including Lionel Barnett, Fyodor Shcherbatskoy, who praised his work. His later works will be the subject of publications (the main ones are listed in the rest of the article), which will make him, with Lokesh Chandra, one of the main Indian scholars in Buddhism.
He has held many official positions: President (1959–1961), and Vice-President of The Asiatic Society, Vice-president of the Maha Bodhi Society (1959–1973). ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalinaksha_Dutt Source Accessed Sep 30, 2022])
Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (Dakpo Paṇchen Tashi Namgyel, Wylie: dwags po paN chen bkra shis rnam rgyal) (1513–1587) was a lineage holder of the Dagpo Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also trained in the Sakya lineage and was renowned as a scholar and yogi.
He should not be confused with his namesake, also known as Kunkyen Tashi Namgyal, (1399–1458), who helped establish Penpo Nalendra Monastery in 1425 with Sakya master Rongton Sheja Kunrig (1367–1449). Later in life he served as chief abbot of the Kagyu Daklha Gampo Monastery in southern Tibet.
His most famous works were two Mahamudra texts, ''Moonbeams of Mahamudra'' and ''Clarifying the Natural State.'' ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagpo_Tashi_Namgyal Source Accessed Feb 28, 2020]) +
Ngawang Drakpa of Dagpo (15th century)
Ngawang Drakpa of Dagpo, also known as Gomchen Ngawang Drakpa, was born in the Tsang region of Tibet in the 15th century. He became a great scholar and tantric adept having studied the great texts under the preeminent Gelugpa masters of the day, including Gyaltsab Je, Khedrub Je, and Choeje Lodro Tenpa.
A wandering monastic community called Dagpo Dratsang had formed under his teacher, Je Lodro Tenpa, with the monks travelling from monastery to monastery debating as they went. Je Lodron Tenpa entrusted this community to Ngawang Drakpa and under his abbotship they finally settled at Gyatsa in Dagpo under the name of Thösamling. This was the first monastic university for advanced studies in Buddhist philosophy in Dagpo, and it later became known as Dagpo Shedrub Ling. Ngawang Drakpa’s collected works comprise 19 volumes.
He wrote a commentary on the ''Bodhicittavivaraṇa'' titled ''Rnam shes nor bu phreng ba'' (རྣམ་ཤེས་ནོར་བུ་ཕྲེང་བ་). ([https://archive.jangchuplamrim.org/jangchup-lamrim/lamrim-authors-biographies/ Source Accessed Sep 24, 2025]) +
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche (b.1964) — the present Dzigar Kongtrul, Jigme Namgyel (འཛི་སྒར་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་འཇིགས་མེད་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་, Wyl. 'dzi sgar kong sprul 'jigs med rnam rgyal), was born in Northern India, shortly before the Tibetan community settlement at Bir was established by his father, the third Neten Chokling Rinpoche. When Rinpoche was just nine years old, his father passed away. Soon after this His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche recognized him as an emanation of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great and His Holiness the 16th Karmapa confirmed this. He was soon enthroned at Chokling Gompa in Bir.
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche grew up in a monastic environment and received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine. In particular, he received the teachings of the Nyingma lineage, especially those of the Longchen Nyingtik, from his root teacher, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Rinpoche also studied extensively under Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, and the great scholar Khenpo Rinchen.
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche then moved to the United States in 1989 with his family and began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Naropa University (then Institute) in 1990. Not long after arriving in the United States, he founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization dedicated to furthering the practice of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage. He established a mountain retreat centre, Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, in southern Colorado, where he spends much of his time in retreat and guides students in long-term retreat practice.
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche's students include Pema Chödrön, the best-selling buddhist author, his wife Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, and his son Dungse Jampal Norbu. He is also an avid painter in the abstract expressionist tradition. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dzigar_Kongtrul_Rinpoche Source Accessed Dec 11, 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.) +
According to Peter Alan Roberts, " . . . Dānaśīla, also known as Mālava, . . . came to Tibet much later [than Jinamitra], in the reign of Ralpachen (''ral pa can'', r. 815–838). Dānaśīla has his name on 167 texts. He is also listed as the author of seven of these, five of which he translated himself, one of which curiously is a text of divination based on the croaks of crows. Of the remaining two texts he authored, Jinamitra translated one, while Rinchen Zangpo (''rin chen bzang po'', 958–1055), the prolific translator of a later generation, translated the other. Dānaśīla was from Kashmir."<br> Roberts continues, "Jinamitra and Dānaśīla, together with a few other Indian scholars, compiled the great Tibetan-Sanskrit concordance entitled ''Mahāvyutpatti'', which was the fruit of decades of work on translation." ([http://www.jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/37/35 Source Accessed Aug 18, 2020]) +
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Malcolm David Eckel is Professor of Religion and Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Religion at Boston University. He received a B.A. from Harvard, a B.A. and M.A. from Oxford, and a Ph.D. in the Study of Religion from Harvard. His scholarly interests include the history of Buddhist philosophy in India and Tibet, the relationship between Buddhism and other Indian religions, the expansion and adaptation of Buddhism in Asia and the West, Buddhist narrative traditions and their relationship to Buddhist ethics, and the connection between philosophical theory and religious practice. His teaching at Boston University has been recognized by the Metcalf Award for Teaching Excellence (1998), and he has served as the Distinguished Teaching Professor of the Humanities (2002-5). He also has served as Assistant Dean and Director of the Core Curriculum (2007-13), an integrated program in the liberal arts for first- and second-year students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
His publications include ''Bhāviveka and His Buddhist Opponents'' (Harvard); ''Buddhism: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places'' (Oxford); ''To See the Buddha: A Philosopher’s Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness'' (Princeton); ''Jñānagarbha’s Commentary on the Distinction Between the Two Truths: An Eighth-Century Handbook of Madhyamaka Philosophy'' (State University of New York); and “Is There a Buddhist Philosophy of Nature?” in ''Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Buddhism and Ecology'' (Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions). He is the editor of two volumes of essays: ''India and The West: The Problem of Understanding'' (Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions) and ''Deliver Us from Evil'' (Continuum).
Before joining the faculty at Boston University, he served as Associate Professor at Harvard Divinity School and as Administrative Director of the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions. He recently returned to Harvard to serve on the Visiting Committee of Harvard Divinity School. In 2013, he was invited to deliver a series of lectures entitled “Modes of Recognition: Aspects of Theory in Mahayana Buddhist Narrative” as Visiting Professor in Buddhist Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. ([https://www.bu.edu/religion/faculty/m-david-eckel/ Source Accessed July 14, 2023])
William teaches on the history of Western philosophy, non-Western philosophy, and contemporary thought. His courses often engage disciplines outside of philosophy, including literature and art, the cognitive and behavioral sciences, Asian studies, religious studies, and environmental studies. Recent courses have included: Hegel’s ''Phenomenology'' of Spirit; Antigone and Philosophy; Understanding Happiness: Philosophy, Religion, Science; Emptiness and Form: Philosophical and Literary Expressions of the Dharma; The Genealogy of Race; Moral Theory and Contemporary Science; Critical Theory From Marx to Nancy Fraser; Environmental Philosophy; Interdisciplinary Seminar on Climate Change; Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Attention, Mindfulness, and Contemplation; Heidegger’s ''Being and Time''; Philosophy of Place; and Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics.<br> William has published widely in Buddhist philosophy, environmental philosophy, and 20th-century European philosophy. Recent projects include work on: phenomenology and climate ethics; rethinking faith and reason in Indian Buddhism; Buddhism and human dignity; the limits of language; deep time; and happiness and the science of meditation. His work has been supported by grants from the Templeton Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He currently serves as chair of the board of directors of the International Association of Environmental Philosophy and co-editor of the journal Environmental Philosophy. William is also co-editor of Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings (Oxford University Press, 2009), the Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2011), and Facing Nature: Levinas and Environmental Thought. William also serves on the editorial boards for a number of journals. For more on his scholarly work, see a recent interview William did with 3:AM Magazine and another with Insight Journal, or this conversation with William on the Imperfect Buddha Podcast. ([https://www.marlboro.edu/live/profiles/16-william-edelglass Source Accessed May 7, 2020])
Joel Edelman, J.D. is a mediator, lawyer, marriage and family counselor, holotropic breathwork facilitator in Santa Monica, California. He practices and teaches dispute mediation within and between families, businesses, and international organizations. He is co-author of ''Two to Make War, One to Make Peace: Preventing and Responding to Conflict in Love'' and ''Work and Life''. He was coordinator of the dialogues presented in Worlds in Harmony and organizer of the small group discussions. (Source: ''Worlds in Harmony'', 1992) +
Joseph Edkins (19 December 1823 – 23 April 1905) was a British Protestant missionary who spent 57 years in China, 30 of them in Beijing. As a Sinologue, he specialised in Chinese religions. He was also a linguist, a translator, and a philologist. Writing prolifically, he penned many books about the Chinese language and the Chinese religions especially Buddhism. In his ''China's Place in Philology'' (1871), he tries to show that the languages of Europe and Asia have a common origin by comparing the Chinese and Indo-European vocabulary. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Edkins Source Accessed Apr 22, 2022]) +
Heinrich Julius Eggeling (1842–1918) was Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh from 1875 to 1914, second holder of its Regius Chair of Sanskrit, and Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, London.
Eggeling was translator and editor of the Satapatha Brahmana in 5 volumes of the monumental Sacred Books of the East series edited by Max Müller, author of the main article on Sanskrit in the Encyclopædia Britannica, and curator of the University Library from 1900 to 1913. In August 1914 he left for a vacation in his native Germany, but because of World War I, he was unable to return before his death in 1918. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Eggeling Source Accessed Mar 22, 2021]) +
Helmut Eimer, Ph.D. (1974) in Indology, Tibetan and Oriental Art History, University of Bonn, is a senior researcher (emeritus) at that same university. He has published extensively on, e.g. the life of Atisha (Dipankarashrijnana), Kanjur transmission, collections of Tibetan manuscripts and blockprints. His most recent work is ''The Early Mustang Kanjur Catalogue'' (dkar chag) (Vienna, 1999). ([https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Many_Canons_of_Tibetan_Buddhism.html?id=jubNIsX6P50C Source Accessed Feb 22, 2021]) +
Kadam Neil Elliot is the resident teacher at KMC London, and, also, the teacher of the STTP (special teacher training program).
Kadam Neil has been a student of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche for nearly 40 years and has worked closely with him on editing and translating many of his books. He is a senior teacher who teaches the Special Teacher Training Programme at KMC London with over 800 people around the world studying on the programme by correspondence. ([https://meditaenmenorca.org/kadam-neil-elliot/?lang=en Source Accessed May 24, 2021]) +
Vincent Eltschinger is Professor for Indian Buddhism at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, PSL Research University, Paris. His research work focuses on the religious background, the apologetic dimensions and the intellectual genealogy of late Indian Buddhist philosophy. His publications include numerous books and articles dedicated to various aspects of the Indian Buddhists’ polemical interaction with orthodox Brahmanism from Aśvaghoṣa to late Indian Buddhist epistemologists. Mention can be made of Penser l’autorité des Écritures (2007), Caste and Buddhist Philosophy (2012), Buddhist Epistemology as Apologetics (2014), Self, No-Self and Salvation (2013, together with Isabelle Ratié). Vincent Eltschinger has been teaching at various universities including Budapest, Lausanne, Leiden, Leipzig, Tokyo, Venice, Vienna, and Zurich. ([https://ephe.academia.edu/VincentEltschinger Source Accessed March 18, 2019]) +
