New on the site:

Light from the Wisdom Sun
A Sadhana of Noble Manjushri, Supreme Deity of Deities

by Alak Zenkar Rinpoche

We are in the process of improving the design and functionality (horrible word) of the site. New dropdown menus should make it easier to navigate, for example, and the whole House should feel a little more spacious…and er, warm and cozy.

The main Lotsawa House site is currently experiencing technical difficulties. We are working on it.

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the parinirvana of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, perhaps the greatest master of the previous century. We hope you enjoy the following film from Remembering the Masters. Although slightly biased here at the House, we think it is incredible.

From Lotsawa School News:

The latest version of our Compendium of Quotations (version 6.0) in English and Tibetan is now available here. In 134 pages, it includes many of the most popular citations from the Words of the Buddha, both sutra and tantra, and the major treatises composed by the great Indian and Tibetan commentators.

From Lotsawa School News:

Yesterday I had the good fortune to attend the Rangjung Yeshe Institute’s Symposium on Buddhism Translated. The speeches by John Dunne, Tom Tillemans and Sara McClintock were every bit as stimulating as I had anticipated, and each one of them brilliant in its own way. They also provided plenty of pointers to further research material, which is what I would like to highlight here. Dr. John Dunne, for example, during his lively power-point enhanced examination of mindfulness made reference to a wonderful article by Jay Garfield entitled Translation as Transmission and Transformation, which is available online here and highly recomended. Professor Tom Tillemans led us through an enlightening investigation of why translation often fails, with particular reference to problems in translating texts on logic and epistemology (Skt. pramana), during which he referred, among many other sources, to Quine’s famous thesis on the indeterminacy of translation, an important idea although widely dismissed and regarded by many, including Tillemans, as extreme. For her part, Dr. Sara McClintock introduced the brilliant Umberto Eco’s theories on the role of the reader into her lucid  discussion of the importance of narrative in Buddhism.

Hopefully it will not be too long before the lectures appear online.

It recently came to our attention here are at the House that plans are afoot to make a documentary about the work of E. Gene Smith and TBRC. Over at Digital Dharma you can see the trailer, which is wonderful, and plenty of great interviews with the likes of Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, Leonard van der Kuijp and Matthieu Ricard. While you are browsing, please do make a donation and help them complete the film.

New on Lotsawa House

Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

Complete with Tibetan text

I have been a little busy recently (click here to see why), so I did not get chance to post about this great new site, Online Dharma Classics, which was created partly in response to an earlier post right here on the House blog.

Anyway, go pay them a visit, browse the videos, and support the site!

Here’s more recommended reading. This time it is the forthcoming Mipam on Buddha Nature by my learned friend Douglas S. Duckworth.

If you buy it from Amazon through this link, you will also be supporting Lotsawa House. Thanks.