Alexander Berzin
Autor(a) de Taking the Kalachakra Initiation
About the Author
Alexander Berzin lived in India for twenty-nine years, studying under his main teacher, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpochey, and other lamas, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Widely published, Berzin has taught in over seventy countries.
Image credit: From http://www.berzinarchives.com
Obras de Alexander Berzin
Alaya and Impure Appearance-Making 1 exemplar(es)
The Five Pathway Minds (Five Paths) 1 exemplar(es)
Introduction à l'initiation de Kalachakra 1 exemplar(es)
Kalachakra and Other Six-Session Guru Yoga Texts 1 exemplar(es)
Buddhist Terminology 1 exemplar(es)
Zwischen Freiheit und Unterwerfung Chancen und Gefaren spiritueller Lehrer-Schüler-Beziehungen (2002) 1 exemplar(es)
Making Sense of Tantra - Part II Why Tantra Is More Efficient Than Sutra - 9. Non-Gelug Variations Concerning General… 1 exemplar(es)
The Validity and Accuracy of Cognition of the Two Truths in Gelug-Prasangika and Non-Gelug Madhyamaka 1 exemplar(es)
The Union of Method and Wisdom in Sutra and Tantra: Gelug and Non-Gelug Presentations 1 exemplar(es)
The Two Truths in Vaibhashika and Sautrantika 1 exemplar(es)
The Major Facets of Dzogchen 1 exemplar(es)
Developing Balanced Sensitivity: Practical Buddhist Exercises for Daily Life Part II: Uncovering the Talents of Our… 1 exemplar(es)
The Chittamatra Assertion of No External Phenomena 1 exemplar(es)
The Appearance and Cognition of Nonexistent Phenomena: Gelug and Non-Gelug Presentations in Alternating Order 1 exemplar(es)
Relationships between Two Objects in Anuttarayoga Tantra 1 exemplar(es)
Coração-e-Memte 1 exemplar(es)
Introduction to Dzogchen 1 exemplar(es)
Impure and Pure Appearances According to Non-Gelug 1 exemplar(es)
Fine Analysis of Objects of Cognition: Gelug and Non-Gelug Presentations in Alternating Order 1 exemplar(es)
Eliminating the Two Sets of Obscurations in Sutra and Highest Tantra According to Nyingma and Sakya 1 exemplar(es)
Brief History of Dzogchen 1 exemplar(es)
Basic Features of the Gelug-Chittamatra System 1 exemplar(es)
Associated Works
The Four Themed Precious Garland An Introduction to Dzog-ch'en (1979) — Tradutor, algumas edições — 40 cópias
Chö yang the voice of tibetan religion and culture = ཆོས་དབྱན̂ས [chos dbyan̂s]. Year of Tibet… — Contribuinte — 1 exemplar(es)
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Data de nascimento
- 1944-12-10
- Sexo
- male
- Local de nascimento
- Paterson, New Jersey, USA
- Locais de residência
- Dharamsala, India
Berlin, Germany - Educação
- Harvard University (PhD|Departments of Far Eastern Languages and Sanskrit and Indian Studies|1972)
Rutgers University (AB|Oriental Studies|1965) - Organizações
- Tibetan Government in Exile
Translation Bureau of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
Gere Foundation - Pequena biografia
- Alexander Berzin, born in 1944 in Paterson, New Jersey, received his B.A. degree in 1965 from the Department of Oriental Studies, Rutgers University in conjunction with Princeton University; and his M.A. in 1967 and Ph.D. in 1972 from the Departments of Far Eastern Languages (Chinese) and Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University. From 1969 to 1998, he resided primarily in Dharamsala, India, initially as a Fulbright Scholar, studying and practicing with masters from all four Tibetan Buddhist traditions. His main teacher was Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, the late Master Debate Partner and Assistant Tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He served as his interpreter and secretary for nine years, accompanying him on several world tours. He has also served as occasional Dharma interpreter for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
A founding member of the Translation Bureau of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Berzin has developed a new terminology for translating, into English, Tibetan technical terms that have often been misunderstood. Working with translators in many other languages, he has helped them to revise and develop their terminology according to the same principles.
Since 1983, Berzin has been traveling around the world, teaching various aspects of Buddhist practice and philosophy, as well as Tibetan-Mongolian history and astro-medical theory, at Dharma centers and universities in more than seventy countries. His travels have focused primarily on the former and present communist world, Latin America, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East. In addition to his numerous published writings and translations, many of his lectures have been published in the languages of these areas.
Berzin has served as unofficial liaison for several international projects of Tibetan-Mongolian culture, such as a Tibetan medical aid program for Chernobyl victims with the Russian Ministry of Health and a project in Mongolia for the Gere Foundation to produce books on Buddhism in the colloquial language to help revive the traditional culture. He has also been instrumental in establishing and furthering a Buddhist-Islamic dialogue.
In 1998, Berzin moved back to the West to have conditions more conducive for writing. Traveling occasionally, he teaches at several Dharma centers, but devotes most of his time to preparing his unpublished materials for the Berzin Archives website. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany.
Membros
Resenhas
From goodreads:
I appreciate Berzin's deliberate efforts to explain Buddhist technical language. Many Tibetan Buddhist books are loaded with terms that are foreign or with everyday words that have a different meaning in the context of Tibetan Buddhism. Navigating Buddhist technical language can be a challenging, and Berzin understands the importance of not only defining technical terms but using them consistently in his writing.
One thing that caught my attention in this book is the role technology is given in the Kalacakra literature in promoting world peace. The idea is that technological advancements bring a higher quality of life, and that if a society may come under attack by "barbarians," if technology (and the higher life quality that comes with it) is shared with the barbarians, they are likely to give up their interest in war, settle down, and make peace.
Another thing that caught my attention was a brief discussion on modern technology and on the Buddhist belief that there are four manners in which rebirth happens. The four manners are birth from an egg (e.g. birth as a bird), birth from a womb (e.g., birth as a dog), birth from heat and moisture (a traditional example of this is birth as an insect, but I'm not clear how this is different from birth from an egg since most insects are born from eggs), and spontaneous birth (e.g., birth without a gestation period in which a being appears "out of thin air" such as birth as a god). Berzin speculates that a human birth is possible by all four manners. Regular birth is from a womb. "Birth from an egg is from a joined sperm and egg, but in a container different from the bare womb itself. Test-tube babies undoubtedly fall in this category. Birth from heat and moisture, in other words not from a sperm and egg, may refer to birth by cloning techniques. In the case of birth by transformation [i.e., spontaneous birth], the body is fully formed at the moment life begins. Rebirth as an android in a computerized body seems the closest equivalent" (p. 58). What is interesting to me about this is how Berzin uses Buddhist beliefs to integrate scientific advances peacefully into society. If androids are, for example, just as sentient as "womb-born" humans, androids would deserve the same rights as womb-born humans. I could imagine some people arguing that androids have no rights, so it is interesting to hear a Buddhist argument in favor of androids having rights.
Berzin brings out the richness of the Kalacakra materials by discussing all of the myriad things that the Kalacakra weaves together such as astrology, medicine, the role of technology in society, how to create a peaceful society, a description of how the universe is created and destroyed, how the death process happens and how one is reborn, and, of course, tantric practice.
I really appreciate Berzin's breakdown of all the vows associated with Kalacakra tantra specifically and with tantra in general. I also appreciate his breakdown of the Kalacakra initiation process into very distinct steps… (mais)
I appreciate Berzin's deliberate efforts to explain Buddhist technical language. Many Tibetan Buddhist books are loaded with terms that are foreign or with everyday words that have a different meaning in the context of Tibetan Buddhism. Navigating Buddhist technical language can be a challenging, and Berzin understands the importance of not only defining technical terms but using them consistently in his writing.
One thing that caught my attention in this book is the role technology is given in the Kalacakra literature in promoting world peace. The idea is that technological advancements bring a higher quality of life, and that if a society may come under attack by "barbarians," if technology (and the higher life quality that comes with it) is shared with the barbarians, they are likely to give up their interest in war, settle down, and make peace.
Another thing that caught my attention was a brief discussion on modern technology and on the Buddhist belief that there are four manners in which rebirth happens. The four manners are birth from an egg (e.g. birth as a bird), birth from a womb (e.g., birth as a dog), birth from heat and moisture (a traditional example of this is birth as an insect, but I'm not clear how this is different from birth from an egg since most insects are born from eggs), and spontaneous birth (e.g., birth without a gestation period in which a being appears "out of thin air" such as birth as a god). Berzin speculates that a human birth is possible by all four manners. Regular birth is from a womb. "Birth from an egg is from a joined sperm and egg, but in a container different from the bare womb itself. Test-tube babies undoubtedly fall in this category. Birth from heat and moisture, in other words not from a sperm and egg, may refer to birth by cloning techniques. In the case of birth by transformation [i.e., spontaneous birth], the body is fully formed at the moment life begins. Rebirth as an android in a computerized body seems the closest equivalent" (p. 58). What is interesting to me about this is how Berzin uses Buddhist beliefs to integrate scientific advances peacefully into society. If androids are, for example, just as sentient as "womb-born" humans, androids would deserve the same rights as womb-born humans. I could imagine some people arguing that androids have no rights, so it is interesting to hear a Buddhist argument in favor of androids having rights.
Berzin brings out the richness of the Kalacakra materials by discussing all of the myriad things that the Kalacakra weaves together such as astrology, medicine, the role of technology in society, how to create a peaceful society, a description of how the universe is created and destroyed, how the death process happens and how one is reborn, and, of course, tantric practice.
I really appreciate Berzin's breakdown of all the vows associated with Kalacakra tantra specifically and with tantra in general. I also appreciate his breakdown of the Kalacakra initiation process into very distinct steps… (mais)
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Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 40
- Also by
- 2
- Membros
- 292
- Popularidade
- #80,152
- Avaliação
- 4.1
- Resenhas
- 2
- ISBNs
- 17
- Idiomas
- 4
> L'INITIATION DE KALACHAKRA, Alexander Berzin, Dalaï-Lama (préf) - Ed. Dangles. — Kalachakra est un système de méditations appartenant à l'Anuttara Yoga tantra, la plus haute des quatre classes de tantras (le mot anuttara signifie "insurpassable"). Cet enseignement supérieur, mais pas inaccessible, vise à abolir les limites imposées par les cycles du temps extérieur et intérieur, que l'on pourrait rapprocher des notions de macrocosme et de microcosme dans la philosophie grecque. Ces dernières décennies, nombre de grands maîtres tibétains, dont Sa Sainteté le Dalaï-Lama, ont conférée cette initiation à travers le monde ; des pratiquants du tantra ont ainsi reçu la pleine transmission de pouvoir de Kalachakra, mais des milliers de néophytes ont également pris part à ce rituel en tant qu'observateurs, recevant ainsi une inspiration certaine pour leur progression spirituelle.
—Infos Yoga, (27), Mars/Avril 2000, (p. 37)… (mais)