Bodhisattva Awakening

Trained and ordained in the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, Thokme Sangpo (1295–1369) was also an important custodian and transmitter of the instructions of the Kadam school, with his writings focusing on the Indian treatises on the bodhisattva ideal and on the Tibetan tradition of mind training (lojong). He is said to have composed 115 works, he served as abbot of Bodong E Monastery for nine years, and his masters included Buton, and he trained figures such as Rendawa. Much of his later life was spent in seclusion.

Thupten Jinpa Langri was educated in the classical Tibetan monastic academia and received the highest academic degree of Geshe Lharam (equivalent to a doctorate in divinity). Jinpa also holds a BA in philosophy and a PhD in religious studies, both from the University of Cambridge, England. Since 1985, he has been the principal English-language translator to the Dalai Lama. He has translated and edited many books by the Dalai Lama, including The World of Tibetan Buddhism, Essence of the Heart Sutra, and Ethics for the New Millennium. Jinpa has published scholarly articles on various aspects of Tibetan culture, Buddhism, and philosophy, and books such as Songs of Spiritual Experience (co-authored) and Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Thought. He serves on the advisory board of numerous educational and cultural organizations in North America, Europe, and India. He is currently the president and the editor-in-chief of the Institute of Tibetan Classics, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to translating key Tibetan classics into contemporary languages. He also currently chairs the Mind and Life Institute.

Julia Stenzel is an assistant professor at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Centre for Buddhist Studies of Kathmandu University, Nepal. She received her PhD from McGill University, Montreal. Her research focuses on cross-cultural transformation processes of Buddhist contemplative traditions and their relevance in today’s world. Julia examined compassion meditations in Indian and Tibetan contexts and their secular application in contemporary secular settings. Her publications include The Sciencization of Compassion (Springer, 2020) and Buddhist Monasteries of the Thai Forest Tradition in Ontario (Wilfried Laurier Press, 2015).