GENE SMITH JOINS KF ADVISORY COMMITTEE
May 14, 2004This winter Rinpoche invited professor Smith to join Khyentse Foundation as an advisor. We are delighted that Gene agreed to take on the role despite his busy schedule at the which he helped found in New York City.
Gene has devoted his life to the preservation of Buddhist texts. After completing intensive Tibetan cultural and language studies, he finished his Ph.D. qualifying exams and went on to advanced studies in Sanskrit and Pali. In 1968 he joined the United States Library of Congress New Delhi field office. He then began a twenty five year project uncovering and reprinting Tibetan books recovered from Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. He held a number of different positions at the Library of Congress in India, Indonesia and Cairo.
Gene has studied with living masters of all of the Tibetan Buddhist and Bonpo traditions including the Ven. Deshung Rinpoche Kunga Tenpai Nyima, Geshe Lobsang Lungtok (Ganden Changtse), Drukpa Thoosay Rinpoche and Khenpo Noryang, and H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
Matthieu Ricard says of Gene, "For me, there is no one even remotely approaching his knowledge among western tibetologists. Under Gene's unique supervision and unswerving dedication [with the USLOC in Delhi], over 10,000 volumes of Tibetan text were reprinted and disseminated all over the world and in countless monasteries. He thus has played a key role in saving the Tibetan scriptural tradition. His encyclopedic knowledge and unfailing memory draw the deep admiration of tibetologists all over the world. Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche used to call him affectionately 'Jamyang Namgyal Mahapandita' [a classical expression implying someone of great learning]".
After retiring from the Library of Congress, Gene helped co-found TBRC where he continues his text preservation work. He is also acquisitions editor at Wisdom Publications and is the author of Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau.
Gene has already been instrumental in Khyentse Foundation's progress restoring texts to the library at the Dzongsar monasteries. A prototype hard drive consisting over 4000 volumes of Tibetan Buddhist texts has been installed in India and trial printing of important texts is planned. These hard drives enable a new way of restoring and printing Tibetan texts in the digital age. The vast Khyentse library in Derge Eastern Tibet that once took the Red Guards of the Chinese Cultural Revolution an entire week to burn could now potentially fit in a medium sized trunk, thanks to Gene and his hard working team at TBRC. We look forward to his valuable input as we move toward fulfilling Rinpoche's wish of making the dharma available to all who request. Welcome Gene!
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