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Kunga Lekpé Rinchen (fifteenth century) — a student of Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo. He wrote ''A Concise Guide to Parting from the Four Attachments'' (translated in ''Mind Training, The Great Collection'', by Thupten Jinpa for the Institute of Tibetan Classics, Wisdom Publications). ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Kunga_Lekp%C3%A9_Rinchen Source Accessed April 30, 2025]) +
Venerable Thubten Kunga grew up bi-culturally as the daughter of a Filipino immigrant in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC.
She received a BA in Sociology from the University of Virginia and an MA from George Mason University in Public Administration before working for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Refugees, Population, and Migration for seven years. She also worked in a psychologist’s office and a community-building non-profit organization.
Venerable Kunga met Buddhism in college during an anthropology course and knew it was the path she had been looking for, but did not begin seriously practicing until 2014. She was affiliated with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington and the Guyhasamaja FPMT center in Fairfax, VA.
Realizing that the peace of mind experienced in meditation was the true happiness she was looking for, she traveled to Nepal in 2016 to teach English and took refuge at Kopan Monastery.
Shortly thereafter she attended the Exploring Monastic Life retreat at the Abbey and felt she had found a new home, returning a few months later to stay as a long-term guest, followed by anagarika (trainee) ordination in July 2017 and novice ordination in May 2019. ([https://sravastiabbey.org/community-member/venerable-thubten-kunga/ Source Accessed May 17, 2023]) +
Erik Pema Kunsang is one of the most highly regarded Tibetan translators and interpreters today. Erik has been the assistant and translator for [[Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche]] and his sons since the late 1970s. He has translated and edited over fifty volumes of Tibetan texts and oral teachings, and was one of the founding directors of [[Rangjung Yeshe Publications]]. ([http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Erik_Pema_Kunsang Source Accessed Jul 24, 2020]) +
Born in Poland, Arnold Kunst studied first at the University of Lwów. He later studied in Vienna, with Erich Frauwallner, as well as in Warsaw, with Stanislaw Schayer; and it was under this gifted Warsaw historian of Indian philosophy and religion that he took his doctorate. His thesis, published under the title of ''Probleme der buddhistischen Logik in der Darstellung des Tattvasaṅgraha'' (Polska Akademia Umiejȩtności, Prace komisji orientalistycznej Nr. 33, Kraków 1939), was devoted to an edition and translation of the ''Anumāna''-chapter in Śāntarakṣita's great treatise on the main topics of Indian philosophy. Together with his teacher Stanistaw Schayer, Arnold Kunst was thus responsible for inaugurating in Europe the careful study on both a philological and philosophical basis of Śāntarakṣita's ''Tattvasaṃgraha''.
Having moved to England just before the war, Arnold Kunst published in collaboration with E. H. Johnston the Sanskrit text of Nāgārjuna's ''Vigrahavyāvartanī'' (''Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques'' 9 [1948-1951], pp. 99-152; reprinted, with an English translation in Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, ''The dialectical method of Nāgārjuna'', Delhi 1978). His continuing interest in problems of Indian logic is reflected in later articles, such as the one on the vexed question of the excluded middle in Buddhism (Rocznik Orientalistyczny 21 [1957], pp. 141-7). His work on the ''Tattvasaṃgraha'' and Kamalaśīla's ''Pañjikā'' on it also brought him to lndo-Tibetan studies. In this field he published not only an edition of the Tibetan translation, contained in the Tibetan bsTan 'gyur, of Kamalaśīla's ''Pañjikā'' on the ''Anumāna''-chapter of the ''Tattvasaṃgraha'' but also a detailed study on the editions of the bsTan 'gyur, one of our main sources for the history of classical Indian philosophy (''Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques'' 8 [1947], pp. 106-216).
Read more [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23444169 here]. +
Traleg Kyabgon (1955–2012) was born in Eastern Tibet and educated by many great masters of all four major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the founder of the Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute, which is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with a major practice center in upstate New York and a practice community in New York City. He taught extensively at universities and Buddhist centers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia beginning in 1980, and is the author of numerous books that present Buddhist teachings to Western readers, including ''The Essence of Buddhism'' and ''[[Mind at Ease]]''. ([https://www.shambhala.com/authors/g-n/traleg-kyabgon.html Source Accessed July 27, 2020]) +
Heidi I. Köppl has translated for Tibetan lamas in Kathmandu for many years and has a degree in Tibetology from the University of Copenhagen. Heidi translated at the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Nepal for more than a decade and has been a faculty member at the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies. Heidi has a degree in Tibetology from the University of Copenhagen, and has translated works such as ''Illuminating the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva'' and ''Establishing Appearances as Divine''. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/heidi-i-koppl/ Wisdom Experience]) +
Kālayaśas (C. Jiangliangyeshe; J. Kyōryōyasha; K. Kangnyangyasa 畺良耶舍 (383–442). A Central Asian monk who was one of the early translators of Buddhist texts into Chinese. Kālayaśas arrived at Jiankang, the capital of the Liu-Song dynasty, in 424, where he became an adviser to Emperor Wen. Two works of translation are attributed to him in the Buddhist catalogues. Perhaps the most influential work with which he is associated is the ''Guan Wuliangshou jing'', the "meditation-sūtra" on Amitābha Buddha, which is one of the three foundational texts of the East Asian Pure Land traditions. Because no Sanskrit recension of this sūtra is attested, this scripture is now considered to be either a Central Asian or a Chinese indigenous scripture . . ., and its ascription to Kālayaśas is problematic. The second text that he translated is the ''Guan Yaowang Yaoshang er pusa jing'' ("Sūtra on Visualizing the Two Bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata"), an early sūtra on the Medicine Buddha/Bodhisattva cult associated with the bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja and the buddha Bhaiṣajyaguru. (Source: "Kālayaśas." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 408. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Sanskrit name of one of the Buddha's chief disciples and an eminent Arhat deemed foremost among the Buddha's disciples in his ability to elaborate on the Buddha's brief discourses. According to the Pāli accounts, where he is known as Mahākaccāna, he was the son of a brāhmaṇa priest who served King Caṇḍappajjota of Avanti. He was learned in the Vedas and assumed his father's position upon his death. He was called Kaccāna because of the golden hue of his body and because it was the name of his clan. Once, he and seven companions were sent by the king to invite the Buddha to Avanti, the capital city of Ujjenī (S. Ujjayinī). The Buddha preached a sermon to them, whereupon they all attained arhatship and entered the order. Mahākaccāna took up residence in a royal park in Ujjenī, where he was treated with great honor by the king. He was such an able preacher and explicator of doctrine that many persons joined the order, until, it is said, the entire kingdom of Avanti sparkled with yellow robes. He became most renowned for his discourses in the ''Madhupiṇḍikasutta'', ''Kaccāyanasutta'', and ''Parāyanasutta''. In a previous life, Mahākaccāna was a thaumaturge (vijjādhara; S. vidhyādhara) during the time of the buddha Padumuttara. It was then that he first made the vow to win the eminence he eventually did under Gotama (S. Gautama) Buddha. Although living far away in Avanti, Mahākaccāna often went to hear the Buddha preach, and the assembled elders always left a place for him. He is said to have requested the Buddha to allow for special dispensation to ordain new monks in outlying regions without the requisite number of monastic witnesses. Mahākaccāna was noted for his ability to provide detailed exegeses of the Buddha's sometimes laconic instructions and brief verses, and several suttas in the Pāli canon are ascribed to him. According to tradition, he is the author of the ''Nettippakaraṇa'' and the ''Peṭakopadesa'', which seek to provide the foundational principles that unify the sometimes variant teachings found in the suttas; these texts are some of the earliest antecedents of commentarial exegesis in the Pāli tradition and are the only commentaries included in the suttapiṭaka proper. He is also said to be the author of the Pāli grammar, the ''Kaccāyanavyākaraṇa''. According to the Sanskrit tradition, Mahākātyāyana was the initiator of the Sthaviranikāya branch of the mainstream Buddhist schools and traditional compiler of the Abhidharma. The ''Jñānaprasthāna'' of the Sarvāstivāda Abhidarmapiṭaka is attributed to him, but it was certainly composed several hundred years later by an author of the same name. He is often depicted holding an alm's bowl (pātra) or with his fingers interlaced at his chest. Like many of the great arhats, Mahākātyāyana appears frequently in the Mahāyāna sūtras, sometimes merely as a member of the audience, sometimes playing a more significant role. In the ''Vimalakīrtinirdeśa'', he is one of the srāvaka disciples who is reluctant to visit the lay Bodhisattva Vimalakīrti. In the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra'', he is one of four arhats who understand the parable of the burning house and who rejoices in the teaching of the one vehicle (ekayāna); later in the sūtra, the Buddha prophesies his eventual attainment of buddhahood. (Source: "Mahākātyāyana." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 498. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
In Japanese, “Sea of Emptiness”; monk who is considered the founder of the tradition, often referred to as the Shingonshū, Tōmitsu, or simply mikkyō. He is often known by his posthumous title Kōbō Daishi, or "Great Master Who Spread the Dharma," which was granted to him by Emperor Daigo in 921. A native of Sanuki province on the island of Shikoku, Kūkai came from a prominent local family. At the age of fifteen, he was sent to Nara, where he studied the Chinese classics and was preparing to become a government official. However, he seems to have grown disillusioned with this life. At the age of twenty, Kūkai was ordained, perhaps by the priest Gonsō, and the following year he took the full precepts at Tōdaiji. He is claimed to have experienced an awakening while performing the Kokūzō gumonjihō, a ritual dedicated to the mantra of the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha. While studying Buddhist texts on his own, Kūkai is said to have encountered the ''Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhisūtra'' and, unable to find a master who could teach him to read its mantras, decided to travel to China to learn from masters there. In 804, he was selected as a member of a delegation to China that set sail in four ships; Saichō was aboard another of the ships. Kūkai eventually traveled to the Tang capital of Chang’an, where he studied tantric mijiao Buddhist rituals and theory under Huiguo and Sanskrit under the Indian monk Prajña. Under the direction of his Chinese master, Kūkai was initiated into the two realm (ryōbu) maṇḍala lineages of Yixing, Śubhakarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavajra. In 806, Kūkai returned to Japan; records of the texts and implements he brought with him are preserved in the ''Shōrai mokuroku''. Little is known about his activities until 809, when he moved to Mt. Takao by imperial request. Kūkai described his new teachings as mikkyō, or "secret teachings," vajrayāna ( J . ''kongōjō''), and mantrayāna (J. ''shingonjō''). At the core of Kūkai’s doctrinal and ritual program was the belief that all acts of body, speech, and mind are rooted in, and expressions of, the cosmic buddha Mahāvairocana, as the dharmakāya. Kūkai argued that the dharmakāya itself teaches through the artistic and ritual forms that he brought to Japan. Once his teachings gained some renown, Kūkai conducted several abhiṣeka ceremonies, including one for the Tendai patriarch Saichō and his disciples. However, Kūkai and Saichō’s relationship soured when Kūkai refused to transmit the highest level of initiation to Saichō. In 816, Emperor Saga granted Kūkai rights to Kōyasan, to serve as a training center for his Shingon mikkyō tradition. In early 823, Kūkai was granted the temple of Tōji in Kyōto, which became a second center for the Shingon tradition. In the summer of 825, Kūkai built a lecture hall at Tōji, and in 827 he was promoted to senior assistant high priest in the Bureau of Clergy. In 829, he built an abhiṣeka platform at Tōdaiji. In early 834, he received permission to establish a Shingon chapel within the imperial palace, where he constructed a maṇḍala altar. Kūkai passed into eternal samādhi (J. ''nyūjō'') in 835 on Mt. Kōya, and it is said that he remains in his mausoleum in meditation waiting for the bodhisattva Maitreya to appear. Kūkai authored a number of important texts, including the ''Benkenmitsu nikyōron'', a treatise outlining the inherent differences of kengyō (revealed) and mikkyō (inner) teachings; ''Sokushin jōbutsugi'', a treatise on the doctrine of attainment of buddhahood in "this very body" (J. sokushin jōbutsu); ''Unjigi'', a text describing the contemplation of Sanskrit syllables (S. ''bīja'' , J. ''shuji''); ''Shōjijissōgi'', a text outlining Kūkai's theory of language in which all sounds and letters are themselves full embodiments of the dharmakāya’s teachings; and his magnum opus, the ''Himitsu mandara jūjūshinron'', in which Kūkai makes his case for recognizing Shingon mikkyō as the pinnacle of Buddhist wisdom. Kūkai was an accomplished calligrapher, poet, engineer, and sculptor and is also said to have invented kana, the Japanese syllabary (Source: "Kūkai." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 450. Princeton University Press, 2014.)
Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita was and Indian scholastic who lived in the 11th century and was the author or translator of numerous works. According to ''The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Five, Buddhist Ethics'', Krishna Pandita (Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍita) was the "author of one of the most respected commentaries to Shantideva's ''Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life''. He is not the Krishna (Kṛṣṇācārya) who is counted among the eighty-four accomplished tantric adepts of ancient India. The means for restoration of the commitments is found in his ''Ascertainment of the Difficult Points of the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life'' (''Bodhisattvacaryāvatāraduravabodhananirvṇaya; Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i rtogs par dka' ba'i gnas gtan la dbab pa'') (Toh. 3875), f. 95a7–b3." ('Jam mgon kong sprul. ''The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Five, Buddhist Ethics''. Translated by Kalu Rinpoché Translation Group. [New York: Snow Lion Publications, 2003], 424n85). +
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Louis Étienne Joseph Marie de La Vallée Poussin was born on 1. January, 1869 in Liège, where he received his early education. He studied at the University of Liege from 1884 to 1888, receiving his doctorate at the age of nineteen. He studied Sanskrit, Pali, and Avestan under Charles de Harlez and Philippe Colinet from 1888 to 1890 at the University of Leuven, receiving a docteur en langues orientales in July 1891. Moving to Paris, he began his studies at the Sorbonne that same year under Victor Henri and [[Lévi, S.|Sylvain Lévi]]. During this time (1891-1892), he also occupied the chair of Sanskrit at the University of Liege. He continued his study of Avestan and the Zoroastrian Gathas under Hendrik Kern at Leiden University, where he also took up the study of Chinese and Tibetan. In 1893, he attained a professorship at the University of Ghent teaching comparative grammar of Greek and Latin, a position which he held until his retirement in 1929. Louis de La Vallée Poussin died in Brussels on 18 February, 1938. ([https://www2.hf.uio.no/polyglotta/index.php?page=person&vid=92&entity=92 Source Accessed July 27, 2020]) +
Dr. Linda Jean LaMacchia was born in Greenbelt, MD. Linda was a teacher, researcher, and author of ''Songs and Lives of the Jomo'', about Tibetan Buddhist nuns living in northern India. +
Bhiksu Thich Tri Lai is a monk and lecturer at the Linh-Son World Buddhist Congregation. +
Banārasī Lāl was an Indian scholar specializing in Buddhist studies, particularly in the areas of Sanskrit texts and Buddhist philosophy. He made significant contributions to the field through his research and publications in academic journals.
Lāl's work focused on analyzing and interpreting important Buddhist texts. He published an article titled "Āryamañjuśrī-nāma-saṃgīti: A Text-Analysis" in the journal ''Dhīḥ'' in 1986, demonstrating his expertise in textual analysis of Sanskrit Buddhist literature. In 1994, he worked on the texts "Amṛtakaṇikā" by Raviśrījñāna and "Amṛtakaṇikod-dyotanibandha," further showcasing his philological skills.
His research interests extended to Buddhist iconography and symbolism. In 2003, Lāl published a study on "Samyaksambuddhabhāṣitapratimālakṣaṇa" in ''Dhīḥ'', exploring the characteristics of Buddha images as described in Buddhist literature.
Banārasī Lāl's contributions to the field of Buddhist studies helped advance the understanding of complex Sanskrit texts and their philosophical implications. His work continues to be cited by contemporary scholars. +
A student of the Second Pabongkha, Dechen Nyingpo, and Tenzin Trinle Kunkhyen. +
Raymond Sze Hon H. Lam is a Hong Kong-born scholar and religion journalist who grew up in Australia. He studied religion and philosophy at the University of Queensland, where he completed his undergraduate thesis, "A Dialogue Between Thomas Merton on Agape and Shantideva on Karuna: Some Moral Dimensions of a Catholic and Mahayana Exchange" (2009), exploring moral affinities between Merton's concept of ''agape'' and Śāntideva's ''karuṇā''. He subsequently earned an MA in Buddhist Studies at SOAS University of London (2011) and studied Christianity and Interreligious Relations at Heythrop College (2012). A Mahāyāna Buddhist layman since 2008, Lam has been senior writer at Buddhistdoor Global since 2010, where his journalism covers Buddhist figures and scholarship, religion's influence on society and diplomacy, and the intersection of religion with arts and culture. He serves on the executive committee of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists and is a trustee of the Heythrop Association. +
Lama Choedak Rinpoche, is the founder and Spiritual Director of Sakya Losal Choe Dzong, Rongton Buddhist College and Virupa Retreat Centre in Canberra. He is also Spiritual Director of the Sakya Jamchen Buddhist Centre in Melbourne, as well as at least 20 centres around Australia and New Zealand and has helped design teaching programs for many other Tibetan Buddhist centers in Malaysia, USA, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. ([https://eastwestwisdoms.com/lama-choedak-rinpoche/ Source Accessed Oct 7, 2021]) For a longer biography, click [http://www.sakya.com.au/lama-choedak-rinpoche/ here]. +
Étienne Paul Marie Lamotte (21 November 1903 – 5 May 1983) was a Belgian priest and Professor of Greek at the Catholic University of Louvain, but was better known as an Indologist and the greatest authority on Buddhism in the West in his time. He studied under his pioneering compatriot Louis de La Vallée-Poussin and was one of the few scholars familiar with all the main Buddhist languages: Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. His first published work was his PhD thesis: ''Notes sur le Bhagavad-Gita'' (Paris, Geuthner, 1929). In 1953, he was awarded the Francqui Prize in Human Science.
He is also known for his French translation of the ''Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa'' (Chinese: 大智度論, English: ''Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom''), a text attributed to Nāgārjuna. Lamotte felt that the text was most likely composed by an Indian bhikkhu from the Sarvāstivāda tradition, who later became a convert to Mahāyāna Buddhism. Lamotte's translation was published in five volumes but unfortunately remains incomplete, since his death put an end to his efforts.
In addition to the ''Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa'', Lamotte also composed several other important translations from Mahāyāna sūtras, including the ''Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra'', and the ''Vimalakīrtisūtra''. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Lamotte Source Accessed Sep 30, 2022]) +
Gen Lamrimpa was a Tibetan Buddhist scholar and contemplative who has devoted more than thirty-five years of his life to solitary retreat in the Himalayas, including twenty-one years outside Dharamsala, India, where he died in 2003. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/gen-lamrimpa/ Wisdom Publications])
Read more about Gen Lamrimpa [https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/passing-of-an-extraordinary-mountain-yog-gen-lamrimpa/?srsltid=AfmBOopco6lhDWsc7Y7IQobi_apTnIcU0svT5lLEuDrq9gtdTGvRNPfb here.] +
Ven. Thubten Lamsel began studying the Dharma in 2011 at The Dhargyey Buddhist Centre in Dunedin, New Zealand. When she began exploring the possibility of ordination in 2014, a friend referred her to the Preparing for Ordination booklet by Venerable Thubten Chodron.
Soon after, Ven. Lamsel made contact with the Abbey, tuning in weekly for the livestreamed teachings and offering service from afar. In 2016 she visited for the month-long Winter Retreat. Feeling like she had found the supportive monastic environment she had been looking for, under the close guidance of her spiritual mentor, she requested to come back for training.
Returning in January 2017, Ven. Lamsel took anagarika precepts on March 31st. In the most fantastic circumstances, she was able to take her sramaneri and shikshamana vows during the Living Vinaya in the West course on February 4, 2018.
Ven. Lamsel previously worked as a university-based public health researcher and health promoter at a small non-governmental organization.
At the Abbey she is part of the video recording/editing team, helps with inmate outreach, and enjoys making creations in the kitchen. ([https://sravastiabbey.org/community-member/venerable-thubten-lamsel/ Source Accessed May 16, 2023]) +
