Ram Shankar Tripathi

Prof. Ram Shankar Tripathi was born in Sodalpur village of Harda district in Madhya Pradesh, not far from Sanchi. After completing his secondary education in Sanskrit in ltarsi, Madhya Pradesh, he came to Sampūrṇānanda Sanskrit University (Varanasi) for higher education, focusing on Sanskrit Grammar and Ayurveda. While studying there he came in contact with Prof. Jagannath Upadhyay and elicited a keen interest in Buddhist philosophy. To further his knowledge of Buddhism, he studied extensively with Prof. Jagannath Upadhyaya, and with scholars of traditional schools of Buddhism and Vedanta, including scholar-monks from Myanmar and Tibet. Later, he visited Nalanda, Bihar, for two years to study Pali language and literature from Prof. Jagdish Kashyap. At a more personal level of Buddhist practice, he most notably received Guhyasamaja initiation and other transmissions from his main Guru, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Prof. Tripathi's published output in both Hindi and Sanskrit is vast, and covers many aspects of Buddhism, from Theravada Abhidhamma, to Sautrantika, Yogacara and Madhyamaka philosophy, and Tantra. His students, all over the world, are too many to count; he taught very generously both in his official capacities (Sampūrṇānanda Sanskrit University, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies) and privately.

Prof. Tripathi was awarded the honorary title of Padmaśrī by the Government of India; he is well-known and respected in the Tibetan tradition as the modern-day heir of the Nalanda tradition. Until recently, Prof. Tripathi was working on a further installment of his commentary on Ācārya Dharmakīrti's Pramāṇavārttika.

He never said no to any serious learner of Buddhism; nor did he ever let his students feel that he is facing any kind of difficulty while teaching. Thus, he kept up with his mission of reviving Sanskrit Buddhism in India, till his last breath. (Source Accessed Mar 22, 2021)