Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism
"Through the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism, may the radiant flower of
Tibetan Culture be preserved for the benefit of all beings."
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Lecturer: Dr. Tom Yarnall
Saturday, August 11th
Time: 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Location: Monastery Shrine Room
Suggested contribution: $20 Public, $15 Members.
 

 
This intensive three-hour class will be divided into two parts. In the first part Tom will present an overview and an analysis of the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Canon (the Kangyur and Tengyur). The Kangyur is the collection of discourses (Sutras, Tantras, etc.) ascribed to the Buddha (translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan), and the Tengyur is comprised of over 4,000 key Indian Buddhist texts and commentaries (also translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan) written by over 700 Indian scholar-adepts during the first millennium of the common era (the golden renaissance era in India). Tom will be discussing such topics as: What comprises these canonical collections? How were they collected and organized in Tibet? What are their contents? How were they used in practice in India and Tibet, and what is their broader significance to global spirituality today?

Noting that Buddhists in Tibet were especially focused on the traditions and interpretations revealed in the Tengyur texts, and noting that of the seventeen subsections of the Tengyur the Tantric subsection comprises almost a full third of the entire Tengyur, in the second part of this class Tom will discuss the importance and the contents of the Tengyur in general, and of the Tantric material in particular. Special attention will be given to how diverse Indian scholar-adepts illuminated the theory and practice of Tantric deity yoga practice in general, and of the creation and perfection stages of Unexcelled Yoga Tantra in particular.

There will be ample time for questions and discussion throughout both sections of this class.

Dr. Tom Yarnall is an Associate Research Scholar and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Religion at Columbia University in New York, specializing in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies. He is also the executive editor for the “Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences” series of translations of works from the Tibetan Tengyur (and associated literature), being co-published by the
American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS, founded in 1972 at the suggestion of H.H. the Dalai Lama and at the behest of the late Ven. Geshe Wangyal), the Columbia Center for Buddhist Studies, and Tibet House US, and being distributed by Columbia University Press.

Dr. Yarnall’s own scholarly work has focused on Indian and Tibetan Tantric materials, especially those of the Unexcelled Yoga class, and especially as interpreted by the Tibetan Gelug and Sakya traditions. His study and translation of the Creation and Perfection Stage chapters of Tsong Khapa’s Great Stages of Mantra (sngags rim chen mo) is forthcoming from AIBS in 2012.

For over three decades Dr. Yarnall has been a student of lamas from all four orders of Tibetan Buddhism. He has been a student of H.H. Dagchen Rinpoche’s and a member at Sakya Monastery since 1979. He also has been a very popular summer teacher at Sakya Monastery for many years, teaching a wide range of subjects. This will be a rare opportunity to hear him speak and to engage with him in dialogue.

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