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Kiyotaka Goshima is a Japanese scholar of Buddhist studies and Sanskrit who was affiliated with Kyoto University. He specializes in Indic and Buddhist studies, with particular expertise in Sanskrit manuscripts and Tibetan Buddhist texts.
In 1983, Goshima co-compiled (with Keiya Noguchi) ''A Succinct Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Possession of the Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University'' for the Society for Indic and Buddhistic Studies at Kyoto University. This important cataloguing work documented Sanskrit manuscripts that had been collected by Professor Ryozaburo Sakaki (1872-1946), who had gathered them in Nepal and established the Sanskrit and Sanskrit Literature course at Kyoto Imperial University.
Also in 1983, Goshima published his edition of ''The Tibetan Text of the Second Bhāvanākrama'', providing scholars with a critical edition of the Tibetan version of Kamalaśīla's important 8th-century meditation text. This work filled a significant gap in the available scholarly editions of the ''Bhāvanākrama'' series.
Goshima's work represents an important contribution to the preservation and dissemination of Buddhist textual traditions, particularly in making Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist materials accessible to the scholarly community through both cataloguing and critical editing. +
Professor at Fordham University and author of several books, including ''Philosophy of the Buddha'' (Routledge, 2003) and ''Buddhist Moral Philosophy: An Introduction'' (Routledge, 2014).
University website: https://www.fordham.edu/academics/departments/philosophy/philosophy-faculty-students-and-staff/christopher-w-gowans/
See personal website at https://christophergowans.com/about-me +
Allison Choying Zangmo is Anyen Rinpoche's personal translator and a longtime student of both Rinpoche and his root lama, Kyabje Tsara Dharmakirti. She has either translated or collaborated with Rinpoche on all of his books. She lives in Denver, Colorado.
She has received empowerments, transmissions and upadesha instructions in the Longchen Nyingthig tradition from Khenchen Tsara Dharmakirti Rinpoche, as well as others of his main students, such as Khenpo Tashi from Do Kham Shedrup Ling. She also received an unusually direct lineage of Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje’s chod from the realized chodpa Lama Damphel.
After moving to the US with Anyen Rinpoche, she received many other empowerments, transmissions and upadesha instructions in the Secret Mantryana tradition from eminent masters such as Taklong Tsetrul Rinpoche, Padma Dunbo, Yangtang Rinpoche, Khenpo Namdrol, Denpai Wangchuk, and Tulku Rolpai Dorje.
Allison Choying Zangmo works diligently for both Orgyen Khamdroling and the Phowa Foundation, as well as composing books and translations of traditional texts & sadhanas with Anyen Rinpoche, and spending a portion of each year in retreat. Although she never had any wish to teach Dharma in the west, based on encouragement by Anyen Rinpoche, Tulku Rolpai Dorje and Khenpo Tashi, she began teaching the dharma under Anyen Rinpoche's guidance in 2017. ([https://orgyenkhamdroling.org/rinpoche/allison Source: Orgyen Khamdroling]) +
University of Vienna, Department of South Asian, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies +
Prof. GREIFFENHAGEN is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Applied Social Sciences. Before joining PolyU, Prof. GREIFFENHAGEN was Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University, and a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Sociology at The University of Manchester.
As a sociologist with a background in computer science, Prof. GREIFFENHAGEN uses innovative methods (in particular video-based ethnography) to understand how new scientific developments and digital technologies are transforming our work, learning, and everyday practices. His primary research areas are in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
Recent publications include “The visibility of digital money: A video study of mobile payments using WeChat pay” (Sociology), “Back to the control room: Managing artistic work” (Journal of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work), “Configuring prospective sensations: Experimenters preparing participants for what they will feel” (Symbolic Interaction), and “Orchestrated openings in video calls: Getting young left-behind children to greet their migrant parents” (Journal of Pragmatics).
Prof. GREIFFENHAGEN is a Visiting Associate Professor at Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Télécom ParisTech. ([https://www.polyu.edu.hk/apss/people/academic-staff/prof-greiffenhagen-christian/?sc_lang=en Source Accessed Mar 10, 2026]) +
Michael Griffin is Associate Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on Ancient Greek philosophy in late antiquity, particularly philosophical education. He is coeditor, with Richard Sorabji, of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle project. He is author of ''Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire'' (OUP, 2015) and a two-volume translation of the Neoplatonist Olympiodorus’ introduction to Platonic philosophy, ''Olympiodorus: On Plato’s Alcibiades'' (Bloomsbury, 2014 and 2016). (Source: [https://research.tsadra.org/index.php/Ethics_without_Self,_Dharma_without_Atman Ethics without Self, Dharma without Atman]) +
Griffiths was born in London, England, on 12 November 1955. Griffiths has held appointments at the University of Notre Dame, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Chicago. A scholar of Augustine of Hippo, Griffiths's main interests and pursuits are philosophical theology and the philosophy of religion – particularly Christianity and Buddhism. He received a doctorate in Buddhist studies in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his early works established him as one of the most incisive interpreters of Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy. His works on Buddhism include ''On Being Mindless'' (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1991) and ''On Being Buddha'' (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994). After converting from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism and accepting the Schmitt Chair of Catholic Studies at UIC, he has largely given up his work in Buddhist studies. His recent books include: ''Problems of Religious Diversity'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001); ''Philosophy of Religion: A Reader'' (co-edited with Charles Taliaferro) (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003); and ''Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity'' (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004). His latest book deals with curiositas and the nature of intellectual appetite; its title is: ''Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar''. According to the faculty pages at Duke Divinity School, from which he resigned in 2017, Griffiths has published ten books as sole author and seven more as co-author or editor. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J._Griffiths Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
A student of Chim Lobzang Drakpa and Zhönu Senge. A teacher of Nyendrak Zangpo, Khenchen Drupa Sherap, Nyakpuwa Sönam Wangchuk, Ritröpa Sönam Gyatso, and Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa. +
Pavel L. Grokhovsky was the head of the Department of Mongolian Studies and Tibetology of the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg State University.
In 1994, he graduated with honors from the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg State University with a degree in Orientalist-Philologist (Mongol-Tibetan Philology). In 1994–1998, P.L. Grokhovsky was a full-time postgraduate student of the Oriental Faculty, and in 2000 he successfully defended his thesis "Samadhiraja Sutra" as a monument of Buddhist canonical literature" for the degree of candidate of philological sciences.
From 1998 to 2001 P.L. Grokhovsky worked at the Department of Mongolian Philology as an assistant, from 2001 until his untimely death - as an assistant professor. In 2000–2004 P.L. Grokhovsky was the Deputy Dean of the Oriental Faculty for Academic Affairs. In 2003-2008 he was the head of the Department of Mongolian Philology, and in 2008-2009 he was the head of the Department of Mongolian Studies and Tibetology. Since 2012, P.L. Grokhovsky was the chairman of the Educational and Methodological Commission of the Oriental Faculty. By the decision of the Academic Council of St. Petersburg State University, since November 2016, P.L. Grokhovsky was appointed head of the Department of Mongolian Studies and Tibetology at St. Petersburg State University. ([http://www.orientalstudies.ru/rus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9593&Itemid=48&fbclid=IwAR1Fsoxq_ejxgaPPV0vzATjwUEqb47sOJcI5fSkr_MfHRNipZRCMIrUmTbI Source Accessed Apr 12, 2022]) +
Williiam Grosnick, Assistant Professor of Religion at La Salle College, Philadelphia, received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979. His articles on the Buddhist ''Tathāgatagarbha'' tradition have appeared in ''The Journal of the International Association for Buddhist Studies'' and the ''Proceedings of the International Conference of Orientalists'' in Japan. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=r61jYd_uDF0C&pg=PA175&lpg=PA175&dq=william+grosnick+Buddhism+professor&source=bl&ots=TFkHV3J0NN&sig=ACfU3U38FQ1F4GGaJgMNEiZULnWjSjeqYA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWzJ2BgIbnAhWpAp0JHa4_COMQ6AEwBHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=william%20grosnick%20Buddhism%20professor&f=false Source Accessed Jan 15, 2020]) +
The great accomplished practitioner, H.E. Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche was born in Drikung, Tibet in 1921. He entered Drikung Nyima Changra Buddhist Institute at a very young age and studied Buddhist philosophy. After his graduation, Drubwang Rinpoche became the disciple of one of the foremost contemporary retreat masters of the Drikung Kagyu lineage, Drubwang Pachung Rinpoche (1901-1988). Under the guidance of Drubwang Pachung Rinpoche, Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche went on retreat for many years and eventually gained the supreme experiential understanding of Mahamudra. At the request of H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama, Drubwang Rinpoche traveled to different countries such as India, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, and Taiwan to propagate the practice of Avalokiteshvara's six-syllable mantra. Through his deep compassion, he encouraged and inspired people to do the simplest of all dharma practices, extend kindness, and recite the mantras of the three kayas: Om Ami Dewa Hrih (mantra of Amitabha), Om Mani Padme Hung (mantra of Avalokiteshvara), [and] Om Ah Hung Benzra Guru Padma Siddhi Hung (mantra of Guru Rinpoche). Drubwang Rinpoche initiated the first Singapore 100 Million Mani Recitation Retreat in 2001. Accumulation of the 100 million Mani mantra was achieved. The retreat has since become an annual dharma event in Singapore. On 25 December 2007, Drubwang Rinpoche passed into parinirvana in Singapore. Rinpoche was remembered for his genuine teachings and straightforward advice. His compassion and his effort in propagating the six-syllable mantra have served as a great inspiration to many. ([https://maniretreat.sg/eminence-teachers/ Adapted from Source May 13, 2026]) +
Hans Gruber was born on January 5, 1959 in Ingolstadt. After graduating from high school, he came into contact with the perspectives and meditative practice of Tibetan Buddhism and in particular with many contemporary teachers and schools of early Buddhism in South Asia and Europe through various trips to Asia.
He studied Indology in Hamburg with a focus on Buddhist studies, Tibetology and European history and then completed further training in journalism and public relations. Hans wrote the guide "Vipassana course book - ways and teachers of insight meditation" and practiced Vipassana and Anapanasati meditation for many decades. His website and blog focuses primarily on the early Buddhist meditations and what Buddhism means to the West today.
Above all, he was in close contact with the English Vipassana teacher Christopher Titmuss for decades and was actively involved in his “Dharma Facilitator Program”. Hans interprets for various Dharma teachers at lectures and retreats, in particular the Malay-Chinese Vipassana teacher Bhante Sujiva, whose book "The Buddhist Heart Meditations" he translated into German. At the Hamburg Mindfulness Congress in 2011, he gave a widely acclaimed lecture on the early Buddhist mindfulness practice Vipassana. He dealt extensively with Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka teachings - the Middle Way - and the various physical and sensory Anapanasati training methods of Burmese and Thai Dhamma teachers such as S. N. Goenka, Ajahn Lee Dhammadaro and Buddhadasa Bikkhu.
Hans was a passionate debater, sharp thinker and loved clarifying philosophical arguments. This sometimes led to challenging encounters, which often pushed the other person to their own limits. Some of us felt very alienated by his political and ideological drafts of the last few years, so that some broke off contact. His sudden, early and unexpected death brought a great deal of gratitude to many of us, and we remembered the generosity with which he shared his understanding of the Dhamma teachings and the opportunity for clarifying discussions on philosophical and practical questions of Buddhist teachings to lead him. In everyday life, Hans was an open, lovable, warm-hearted and helpful friend for many years. ([https://buddhismus-deutschland.de/nachruf-hans-gruber/ Source Accessed Oct. 20, 2022])
—Alexandra Reif, Paul Stammeier
A Kadam scholar from Sangpu Neutok Monastery who was known for his expertise in the Five Treatises of Maitreya. He was a contemporary of both Dölpopa and Butön and a teacher of the Sakya scholar Yakde Paṇchen and the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. +
A student of Chapa Chökyi Senge, Nyangdrenpa Chökyi Yeshe, and Khamo Zeupa. A teacher of Drotön Dudtsi Drak and Madunpa. Famed scholar of the Sakya/Kadam tradition; most closely connected with the Narthang school. He authored commentaries on the ''Śikṣāsamuccaya'', ''Bodhicaryavatara'', and an dbu ma'i bstan bcos (treatise on the Middle Way). ([https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:P2259 Source Accessed Feb 8, 2023]) +
Rouyan Gu, PhD candidate at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2019), with research interests in comparative philosophy and religion, specifically the intersection of Christian and Buddhist ethics as exemplified in Thomas Aquinas and Śāntideva. +
Elio was born in Varese, Italy, on 5 August 1954 and grew up in Como. He studied art and received a Master of Arts before traveling to India to study Buddhism. On his return from India he moved to Switzerland, where for ten years he learned Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy under one of the Dalai Lama’s philosophical advisors. Elio joined the Dzogchen community in 1986, when he received teachings from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu for the first time.
Invited by the late Kalu Rinpoche, Elio spent almost twenty years in India working on the large encyclopedia on Indo-Tibetan knowledge known as Shes bya kun khyab (Myriad Worlds,Buddhist Ethics, Systems of Buddhist Tantra, The Elements of Tantric Practice) authored by Kongtrul the Great, published in separate volumes by Snow Lion Publications. During this time Elio continued to actively collaborate with the Dzogchen Community and especially with the Shang Shung Institute in Italy, of which he is a founding member.
Elio has worked on various translations for the Shang Shung Institute in Italy, including several books by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu relating to Tibetan medicine. He has completed several levels of the Santi Maha Sangha training, and became an authorized teacher of the base, first, and second level. Since 2003, Elio has been one of the three principal translators for the Ka-ter project of the Shang Shung Institute of Austria. Aside from serving as instructor for the Training for Translators from Tibetan program, he also works for the Dzogchen Tantra Translation Project. ([http://skyjewel.org/ Source Accessed March 26, 2020]) +
Dr. Herbert Guenther (1917-2006) was one of the first translators of the Vajrayana and Dzogchen teachings into English. He was well known for his pioneering translations of Gampopa's ''Jewel Ornament of Liberation'' and Longchenpa's ངལ་གསོ་སྐོར་གསུམ་, ''ngal gso skor sgum'', which was published as a trilogy under the title ''Kindly Bent to Ease Us''.
He was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1917. He studied in Munich and Vienna, and then taught at Vienna University from 1943 to 1950. He then lived and taught in India, at Lucknow University from 1950 to 1958, and the Sanskrit University in Varanasi from 1958 to 1963. He then went to the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, where his students included Leslie Kawamura, Kennard Lipman, Steven Goodman and James Valby.
According to Steven Goodman, Guenther used to say that a good translator must do two things: 1) translate Tibetan terms based on the genre and approach in which they are being used, and 2) continually refine one's translation choices.
Guenther had many admirers and although many of his translation choices never caught on, his work did have a clear and undeniable influence on many translators. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Herbert_V._Guenther Source Accessed July 22, 2020])
Also see Steven Goodman's article "[https://www.lionsroar.com/profile-death-of-a-pioneer/ Death of a Pioneer]".
See a list of terms used by Guenther in translation on [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Category:HVG_Glossary Rigpa Wiki here].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_V._Günther Herbert V. Günther on Wikipedia]
'''QUOTES:'''<br>
"1. To give an example, if someone were to 'translate' the French ''il a le mal de tête'' as 'he has the evil of the earthenware pot,' which is the correct philological rendering and then were to claim that this is what the French understood by that phrase, he would be considered insane, but when someone proclaims such absurdities as 'embryo of Tathāgatha,' 'substantial body', 'eminated incarnation Body,' and so on, which are not even philologically correct but merely reveal utter incomprehension of the subject matter, by a strange volte-face, he is said to be a scholar."
~ "Bodhisattva - The Ethical Phase in Evolution" in [[The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism]], page 123, note 1.
Laura Guerrero received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of New Mexico in 2013 where she specialized in classical Indian and Buddhist philosophy. Before coming to William and Mary she was an assistant professor of philosophy at Utah Valley University.
Professor Guerrero’s research is primarily in the areas of Buddhist metaphysics and epistemology. She explores the distinctive approaches various Buddhist thinkers take to questions concerning what is real, what is true, and how we come to know. Dr. Guerrero’s work presents Buddhist ideas in ways that can bring them into conversation with thinkers from other traditions who are interested in similar metaphysical and epistemological questions.
Dr. Guerrero is also interested in questions of meta-philosophy concerning what philosophy is and how philosophy is practiced. She is investigating the history of the academic study of philosophy to understand its relationship to traditions outside the Western canon. Her aim is understand how these traditions can challenge and inspire philosophers to be more inclusive in their conception of what philosophy is and how it can be fruitfully practiced.
Dr. Guerrero has published in the journals ''Comparative Philosophy'', ''Ratio'', and the ''Journal of Consciousness Studies'' as well as in several anthologies on topics in Buddhist and cross-cultural philosophy. She is currently working on a book about Buddhist metaphysics for which she received a Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies Research Fellowship. ([https://www.wm.edu/as/philosophy/people/faculty/guerrero_l.php Source Accessed Mar 10, 2026]) +
Natalie Gummer (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Professor of Religious Studies at Beloit College. A literary and cultural historian of Buddhism, she studies the intersection of textual practices with ritual, aesthetics, and ethics in premodern Mahāyāna Buddhist literary cultures. She is co-editor of ''Defining Buddhism(s): A Reader'', and is the author of several articles on Buddhist literary culture. She is currently working on a study of textual techniques of transformation in Mahāyāna sūtras, and a translation of the ''Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra'' (The Sūtra of Utmost Golden Radiance). ([https://southasia.wisc.edu/2014-spring-lecture-series/natalie-gummer/ Source Accessed Apr 14, 2022]) +
The Third Gungtang Lama Konchok Tenpai Dronme was identified as reincarnation of the Second Guntang Ngawang Tenpai Gyeltsen. He studied in Drepung Gomang College near Lhasa and Labrang Tashikhyil in Amdo, and later he served as the twenty-first abbot of the monastery. He also served as the first abbot of Ngawa Gomang Monastery. Familiar with Chinese and Mongolian languages, he spent most of his life in teaching and composing texts on many subjects such as ethics and medicine as well as religion. ([https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Konchok-Tenpai-Dronme/4730 Source Accessed Feb 3, 2022]) +
