Latest News

New Development Director for ITC

ITC is pleased to announce that we now have a new member in the administrative faculty of the institute. The board of directors of ITC has appointed Ms Bonnie Thorne as the Director of Development of the institute. Ms Thorne has most generously offered to work in this capacity for ITC on a voluntary basis, most kindly donating her time and expertise.  Ms Thorne will work closely with Dr Thupten Jinpa, the president of ITC, on many of the development aspects of the Institute, especially its fund-raising efforts. Over the next two years, Ms Thorne will work with Dr Jinpa on two important priorities: (a) to raise pledge of funding for the remaining volumes from The Library of Tibetan Classics and (b) to explore ways in which ITC could improve its outreach efforts so that it could serve its various constituencies in the most effective way.

Bonnie Thorne is the founder of the Garbha Foundation and Institute, (www.garbhafoundation.com) formerly the Diamond Heart Foundation of Canada. After a decade of chairing this foundation, she has stewarded and convened international events, interdisciplinary dialogues, healing arts workshops, and sold out concerts.  She has built long established relationships with North American private and public foundations that lend their official support to her projects internationally. She honed her skills from working twenty years in social services, and specializing in palliative and hospice care. She worked with youth-at-risk for 10 years, and continues to serve on boards and committees.          Bonnie inspires visionaries to realize their dreams and champions ground-breaking projects. She promotes socially responsible books and distribution of ethical merchandise. Bonnie engages in social enterprise with vision, altruism, practical experience and wisdom.

The past three years, she has been secured by The Impact Foundation, out of Denver, Co. Ms Thorne oversees all aspects of social marketing, brand communications, partnership development, and events management. She is currently working in both Boston and Vancouver -- overseeing the Foundation’s presence in both cities and managing stakeholder outreach. Bonnie believes that conscious media and storytelling are necessary levers for motivating people to act on important issues. Her passion emerges at the intersection of spirituality, education, community outreach, and development of social enterprise.

English translation series

The third volume of The Library of Tibetan Classics series is now available through our partner and publisher Wisdom Publications. This is the special volume on the core teachings of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism and is entitled Taking the Result as the Path: Core Teachings of the Sakya Lamdré Tradition. This is a volume compiled under the personal supervision of H.H. Sakya Trizin and masterefully translated by Cyrus Stearns. This volume contains eleven vital works from different periods in the history of the Path with the Result (Lamdré) teachings, including the Vajra Root Lines of the great Indian adept Virupa (ca seventh/eighth century), together with the fundamental exposition of the root text by Sachen Kunga Nyingpo. The volume also includes six writings of Jamgyang Khyentsé Wangchuk (1524-68) and important instructional works by the Fifth Dalai Lama and Mangthö Lodrö Gyatso. None of the works in this volume have ever been published before in any European language, and most have traditionally been kept secret. In commenting on this important volume in translation, the noted authority on Tibetan Buddhism and especially on the Sakya School, Professor David P. Jackson writes:

“In this volume, Stearns makes available for the first time a selection of key texts from the highly prized esoteric transmission of the great Tsarpa masters, translated with enormous effort and care. Students of the Lamdré will rejoice to see these often enigmatic Tibetan yoga manuals transformed into such lucid English.”

The next volume to appear in the translation series is Thupten Jinpa’s translation of The Book of Kadam: Core Teachings of the Kadam School. This volume contains the twenty-three chapters of the highly revered “Father Teachings” from The Book of Kadam, as well as selected chapters from the “Son Teachings” of Dromtönpa birth stories. In addition, the volume contains a guide to the meditation on the mandala of the Sixteen Drops of Kadam, two short verse summaries of the teachings of The Book of Kadam, as well as the famous Sayings of the Kadam Masters. Publication of this volume, containing works most of which have been never translated before, will represent a landmark contribution towards making the teachings of the early Kadam school available to the English speaking world. Currently, the manuscript of this volume is at the stage of copyediting and is expected to be published by end of 2007.

Complete English Catalog of LOTC Available for download

A full, descriptive catalogue of The Library of Tibetan Classics can now be downloaded in pdf format for your personal archive. This booklet contains the entire list of the series and provides a page-long description of the contents of each of the thirty-two volumes of the series. Libraries, educational and cultural organizations, as well as bookshops, that wish to obtain the actual printed booklet of the catalog may contact our partner and publisher Wisdom Publications at sales@wisdompubs.org.

Second Translation Workshop in Dharamsala

In September, 2006, the second workshop on Problems and Methods of Translation was held at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamsala, India. This workshop was sponsored by the Insitute of Tibetan Classics and led by Geshé Lhakdor Lobsang Jordan, Director of LTWA. This month-long intensive workshop was attended by over twenty-five participants representing various educational and cultural institutions as well as independent scholars. Professor Samdhong Rinpoché, the Chairman of the Kashag (Central Tibetan Administration), addressed the closing ceremony of this highly successful workshop. LTWA now plans to hold a 3-month translation workshop from 2nd July, 2007. The Institute of Tibetan Classics feels deeply heartened to see the continuation of these translation workshops, which it recognizes to be one of the lasting impact of its first translation workshop, conducted by its president Dr. Thupten Jinpa in 2004 and jointly sponsored by the Institute and LTWA.

Critical Tibetan Editions

Four more volumes of the critical Tibetan editions have now been published. They are:

Vol 11. rgyal sras kyi spyod pa la ‘jug pa’I chos skor (The Bodhisattva’s Altruistic Ideal)

Vol.20. dpal sa skya pa’I tshad ma rig pa’I gzung gces btus (Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology I: The Sakya School)

Vol.21. dpal dge ldan pa’I thsad ma rig pa’I gzhung gces btus (Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology II: The Geluk School)

Vol.27. legs bshad lugs kyi bslab bya’I dpe tshogs (The Well-Uttered Insights).

All four volumes carry extensive introductory essays in Tibetan written by the general series editor Dr. Thupten Jinpa. It is hoped that these essays might prove a useful resource for teachers and students alike when reading the classical Tibetan texts critically edited and published in these volumes.

We shall aim to have the pdf of these Tibetan volumes available for download soon on our website.