September 2008

September 25, 2008
FULL TIME ESL POSITION OPEN AT DKCLI, INDIA
A full-time, male ESL teacher is required from 6 March 2009 to teach monks at Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö Institute in Chauntra (HP), India. Over 90 monks aged 20-35, are currently enrolled in the Institute's English language program sponsored by Khyentse Foundation. The successful applicant will be provided with accommodation (within the monastery), meals and a stipend (based on experience and qualifications). The position requires a commitment of at least six months, but preferably a year. If you have relevant qualifications and experience and are interested in the position, please email Suzie Erbacher for details of the program and a job description.

September 18, 2008
BERKELEY APPOINTS JACOB DALTON
Fruition of many years of collaboration, a major step towards filling the Khyentse Chair in Tibetan Buddhism. Khyentse Foundation and the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of California at Berkeley are delighted to announce that Jacob Dalton, a specialist in Tibetan Buddhism and Buddhist Tantra, has accepted an Assistant Professor position at UC Berkeley. Dalton, currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University, will hold a joint appointment in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies. This appointment is the result of an exciting and fruitful collaboration between UC Berkeley's Buddhist Studies program and the Khyentse Foundation that began in 2003. This collaboration resulted in the gift of a one million dollar endowment to establish a new Khyentse Chair in Tibetan Buddhism. The provisions of the gift stipulate that, in the event that Berkeley make a junior level appointment (such as is the case with Jacob Dalton), the proceeds from the endowment will be used to develop and expand the program in Tibetan Buddhism at Berkeley. In addition to funding faculty research, over the next several years the Khyentse gift will be used to create a new annual lecture series in Tibetan Buddhism, as well as to support long and short term visits by specialists in Tibetan Buddhism. (The visitors will be known as Khyentse Visiting Professors.) Last, but not least, the gift will be used to provide scholarship funds for graduate students with a research focus on Tibetan Buddhism. The Khyentse gift will thus have a momentous impact at Berkeley; not only was it instrumental in creating a new faculty position, but it will also fund a host of innovative programming and research initiatives now and into the future. Since graduates of the Berkeley Buddhist Studies Ph.D. program typically go on to hold professorships at major teaching and research institutions in North American and around the world, the Khyentse Foundation gift promises to have a far-reaching impact on the study and teaching of Tibetan Buddhism for years to come.

Jacob Dalton received his B.A. in Religious Studies from Marlboro College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Michigan. After working for three years (2002-05) as a researcher with the International Dunhuang Project at the British Library, he taught at Yale University (2005-2008). He works on Nyingma religious history, Tantric ritual, paleography, and Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang. He is the author of a forthcoming study on violence and the formation of Tibetan Buddhism, and coauthor of Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library (Brill, 2006). He is currently working on a history of Tibetan Buddhism, as seen through the eyes of the "Sutra Empowerment" (Mdo dbang) tradition of the Nyingma school.

Jacob will joining one of the largest and most dynamic Buddhist Studies doctoral programs in the world today. With the strong support of UC Berkeley's administration, the Berkeley's program in Buddhist Studies has been able to make five new faculty hires in the past five years. Berkeley's "Group in Buddhist Studies"--the unit that oversees the doctoral program--will now consist of ten permanent faculty members (in addition to various annual visitors), whose collective expertise covers the vast literary and art-historical legacy of all of the major Asian Buddhist traditions. Jake Dalton's personal message. "It was several years ago when I first heard about the collaboration between Khyentse Foundation and UC Berkeley. I already felt that Berkeley's Buddhist Studies program was the most dynamic of its kind, and the addition of a Tibetan position seemed the perfect complement. That it would be named after Khyentse Rinpoche only made it more exciting. Now that I have been offered the Berkeley position, I feel both amazingly lucky and deeply grateful. A century and a half ago, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo transformed Buddhist education by returning to the roots of the teachings, breaking down sectarian boundaries, and renewing Buddhism for a changing world. Now Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has extended this rich tradition into the west by bringing Tibetan Buddhist Studies to one of our top universities. As a practitioner of the Longchen Nyingtik in particular, I am truly humbled to hold a post named after such a great lineage of Buddhist teachers. I look forward to beginning my first classes in January, and to introducing my students to Tibetan Buddhism and its radically different ways of thinking."

September 09, 2008
UPDATE ON THE KF TRANSLATION CONFERENCE
Over 45 of the world’s most dedicated Tibetan-English Dharma translators have confirmed their participation in the conference to be hosted by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche at Deer Park Institute in Bir, India, from March 15-20, 2009. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche will chair “Translating the Words of the Buddha,” which aims to foster collaboration among key translators from all four Tibetan schools and from the scholarly and practice traditions.
Participants will work to address the challenges that translators face today; to improve the tools and resources available to ensure the highest standards of translation for the coming century; and to move toward a shared vision. This gathering has the potential to be a ground-breaking historical event that could play an important role in the transmission of Dharma to the west.

Perhaps most importantly, the conference will consider the long-term future of translation, including identifying high-priority texts for translation. In particular, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche hope to initiate a multigenerational project to translate the full Tripitaka, including the Kangyur. The gathering has the blessing of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Sakya Trizin, His Holiness the XVIIth Gyalwa Karmapa, Chökyi Nyingma Rinpoche, Sogyal Rinpoche, Pema Wangyal Rinpoche, and—before his recent passing—His Holiness Mindroling Trichen.

In a recent message to conference participants, Rinpoche wrote:
As long as there is no end to emotion, there can be no end to samsara; as long as there is no end to samsara, there can be no end to the Buddhas' manifestations. Buddhas manifest to benefit beings in many different ways, particularly through their body, speech, and mind. However, the original manifestation of Buddha Shakyamuni's body, from the relative point of view, is now long gone—it is 2,500 years since he passed into parinirvana; and one Buddha's mind can be perceived only by the mind of another Buddha. This leaves us with the manifestation of Buddha's speech, which is the only one of the three aspects that we can interact with to this very day. Therefore I can't think of any greater merit, or more wholesome activity, then translating the speech of the Buddha. That the mere thought of doing this has occurred to us, must itself be the blessings of the Buddha.

The conference can be thought of as an informal strategic planning session for Tibetan- English translation activity, to explore the direction, scope, and focus of Dharma translation in the coming century. Read about the conference goals and themes here.

List of confirmed participants:

Richard Barron, Rigpa / Tsadra
Alexander Berzin, Berzin Archives
Karl Brunnholzl, Nalandabodhi / Nitartha
Elizabeth Callahan, Tsadra / Marpa Foundation
John Canti, Padmakara Translation Group
Rev. Dr. Ane Kunga Chodron, George Washington University / Tsechen Kunchab Ling
Eric Colombel, Tsadra / Trace Foundation
Joshua W.C. Cutler, Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center
Cortland J. Dahl, Rime Foundation / Tergar Institute v Jake Dalton, Yale University
Tyler Dewar, Nalandabodhi / Nitartha
Lama Doboom Tulku, Tibet House (India)
Andreas Doctor, Rangjung Yeshe Institute
Thomas Doctor, Dharmachakra Translation
Dr. Gyurme Dorje
John Dunne, Emory University
Wulstan Fletcher, Padmakara Translation Group
Ari Goldfield, Marpa Institute for Translation
Steven Goodman, California Institute of Integral Studies
Lama Kalsang Gyaltsen, Tsechen Kunchab Ling
Sarah Harding, Kalu Rinpoche / Tsadra / Naropa University
Jeffrey Hopkins, UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies
David Jackson, Rubin Museum of Art
Matthew Kapstein, Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes (Paris) / The University of Chicago
Anne Carolyn Klein, Rice University / Dawn Mountain
Gavin Kilty, Institute of Tibetan Classics
David Kittelstrom, Wisdom Publications
Erik Pema Kunsang, Rangjung Yeshe Publications
Gwenola Le Serrec, Padmakara Translation Group
Jakob Leschly, Siddhartha’s Intent / Khyentse Foundation
Jules Levinson, Light of Berotsana
Geshe Lhakdor, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
Donald S. Lopez, University of Michigan
David Lunsford, Bodhi Foundation
Larry Mermelstein, Nalanda Translation Committee / Shambhala Publications
Michele Martin, TBRC / Shambhala Publications
Elizabeth Napper, Tibetan Nuns Project
Adam Pearcey, Rigpa / Lotsawa House
Matthieu Ricard, Shechen Monastery / Padmakara
Inge Riebe, Sakya Drolma Phodrang
Peter Skilling, Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation
Gene Smith, TBRC
Bob Thurman, Tibet House / Columbia University
Jeff Watt, Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation
Christian K. Wedemeyer, University of Chicago Divinity School
Scott Wellenbach, Nalanda Translation Committee / Nitartha Institute
Dr. Thomas Yarnall, Columbia University

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