Tibet Center

The Buddhist Studies Group at UVa
Presents a Graduate Student Conference in Buddhist Studies

Buddhist Traditions: New Directions
September 14-16, 2012

Events will kick off on Friday, Sept. 14th
with a keynote address by
Professor Gregory Schopen, a leading scholar who
transformed the study of early Mahayana Buddhism,

Nau 101 at 4:00pm, followed by a reception.

Please register (free!) here and check out the conference website here.

UVa Directions/Map to: Nau Hall – New South Lawn Building, Room 101

Conference Schedule

Friday, September 14th:

4:00-6:00 pm:  Opening Remarks & Keynote Address by Prof. Gregory Schopen (Nau 101, New South Lawn Building)

6:00-6:30 pm:  Reception in New South Lawn Commons

7:00 pm: Dinner off-Grounds

Saturday, September 15th:

8:30-9:00am:  Breakfast in the Commons

9:00-11:15am: Panel 1 – Literary and Textual Studies (Gibson 211, New South Lawn Building)

11:30am-1:30pm: “Teaching Buddhism Today” panel of experts, workshop, and lunch (Nau 101)

2:00-4:00pm:  Panel 2 – Art, Relics, and Festivals (Gibson 211)

4:00-4:30pm: Refreshments in the Commons

4:30-6:30pm: Panel 3 – Buddhist Biographies (Gibson 211)

7:00pm: Dinner off-Grounds

Sunday, September 16th:

9:00-9:30am:  Breakfast in the Commons

9:30am-12:15pm: Panel 4 – Rituals, Magic, and Healing (Gibson 211)

12:30pm: Closing Remarks and Lunch (Nau 101 and the Commons)

Ms. Rigzen Dolma will be sharing her intoxicating voice and lyrics with the UVA community, as well as the residents of Charlottesville on Friday.

When: 6:30PM on Friday, April 20

Where: McKim Hall Auditorium at UVA

The Tibet Center, the East Asia Center and the Department of South Asian Studies are pleased to announce that the Tibetan performer Ms. Rigzen Dolma, one of the most well-known pop stars in Tibet, is visiting UVA.

In addition to her popularity as a musician, Rigzen Dolma is a well-respected social entrepreneur. The Tibetan language program that Ms. Rigzen Dolma initiated for the village children in the Palree region of Tibet has provided great hope and inspiration for the local community.

Rigzen Dolma’s passion is creating opportunities for Tibetan village children to receive a modern education that values Tibetan language. Rigzen Dolma relies on the generosity of her supporters and to help ensure the future well being of the students of the Tibetan language program in Palree. Please help support this program with your presence and with a donation at the event!

UVa Directions/Map to: McKim Hall – Health System, McKim Auditorium

Tibetan Zen – Manuscripts, Communities and Rituals

A public talk with Sam van Schaik of the British Library

EVENT DATE: April 20, 2012, 3:00-5:00pm

LOCATION: Gibson Hall, Room 342

Straight from London, Dr. Sam van Schaik of the British Library, the foremost authority on Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang, will discuss his recent findings on the history of Zen Buddhism in Tibet.

UVa Directions/Map to: Gibson Hall – New South Lawn Building, Room 342

UVA Tibet Day 2012

Join us to discover all the ways you can engage with Tibet and Tibetan Culture at UVA.

Learn about Tibetan language and culture, Tibetan studies at UVa, study abroad opportunities in Tibet, and more.

Location: Minor Hall, Room 125, Charlottesville, VA

Presented by the UVA Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Sponsored by: UVA Tibet Center, UVA Asia Institute, the Charlottesville Tibetan Community

Tibetan Medicine and Meditation Symposium

Announcing a very special event ~ April 13-15, 2012

This event is free and open to the public, but as of April 11 there are 450 registrants, which was our registration limit.  We expect some people won’t actually come, so we welcome people to still come, though we can not absolutely guarantee a seat at this point if you didn’t register. We will do our best to accommodate those who arrive without registrations.

Location: University of Virginia School of Nursing, Charlottesville, VA.

Click to Download Event Flyer

Organized by:  Arura Medicine of Tibet, the UVa Contemplative Sciences Center, the UVa Tibet Center, and the UVa School of Nursing

Sponsored by:  the Page-Barbour Lecture Series at UVa, the UVa Center for International Studies, the UVa East Asia Center, and the UVa South Asia Center

With Support from Featheridge and Sacred Plant Traditions

This innovative symposium will bring together leading Tibetan, American and international scholars and practitioners of meditation and mindfulness, researchers on mind-body connections, and medical professionals to explore the intersection between modern science and the classical medical and contemplative traditions of Tibet. It will investigate how Tibetan medical and meditation systems have traditionally been used in the healing of mind and body, as well as exploring how these techniques can be adapted and incorporated into contemporary healthcare and educational systems.

The event will inaugurate the opening of Arura Medicine of Tibet’s USA branch in Charlottesville and the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia

Symposium details are forthcoming and will be provided on the future conference website (www.tibetconference.org) that will be launched in March. Until then you can now learn more about the conference on this Tibet Center website and subscribe to the newsletter for the Contemplative Sciences Center. This will help you stay informed by email of all related news about this conference and more.

NOTE: Registration is not required, and the symposium is open to the public but we cannot guarantee a seat if you are not registered. Register today, as seats are nearly filled! Please bring your registration confirmation to the conference with you.

SYMPOSIUM PARKING

Primary parking for the symposium is available in the McLeod Hall parking garage here (free after 5pm on Friday, but okay to arrive a bit early, and free all day Saturday and Sunday). If the McLeod garage is full, overflow parking is available at the parking lot behind Gibson Hall off of Jefferson Park Avenue (free after 5pm on Friday and all day Sat. and Sun.).

Directions

McLeod Hall, 202 Jeanette Lancaster Way, Charlottesville, VA  22903

Driving From the North: Take U.S. 29 South. Upon reaching Charlottesville, go past the U.S. 250 Bypass and remain on 29 South Business (Emmet Street). After passing University Hall move to the left lane. At the intersection of University Avenue and Ivy Road (the Cavalier Inn is on the corner), turn left onto University Avenue. Proceed to third traffic light [you will pass under train bridge]. Turn right onto Jefferson Park Ave. Continue to second traffic light and turn left onto Lane Road. Take immediate right onto Jeanette Lancaster Way [formerly 15th St, SW]. McLeod Hall is on your left with underground parking attached to building [not marked, so go slowly or you’ll miss it! If you reach ‘Hospital Parking Garage South’ /permit only, you’ve gone too far.]

Driving From the South: Take U.S. 29 North. Upon reaching Charlottesville, take the U.S. 29 North Business exit and turn right when coming off the exit ramp onto Fontaine Avenue. Follow the signs to the Medical Center/University Hospital. Go through two traffic lights – the street becomes Jefferson Park Avenue. Proceed to the light at the intersection. Bear right to continue on Jefferson Park Avenue. Turn right onto Lane Road. Take immediate right onto Jeanette Lancaster Way [formerly 15th St, SW]. McLeod Hall is on your left with underground parking attached to building [not marked, so go slowly or you’ll miss it! If you reach ‘Hospital Parking Garage South’ /permit only, you’ve gone too far.]

Gibson Hall, 1550 Jefferson Park Avenue, Charlottesville, VA 22903

From McLeod Hall, Head northeast on Jeanette Lancaster Way toward Lane Rd. From Lane Rd. turn left onto Jefferson Park Avenue (JPA).  From JPA take the second left onto Brandon Rd. at the light and proceed about until you find the K2 parking lot on your right.

Click Here to Register

Symposium Schedule

Friday (April 13)

3:00-4:30pm: Related Talk – Maitri: An Introduction to Mandala Principle, Judith Simmer Brown, Professor, Naropa University and Richard Brown, Associate Professor of Contemplative Education, Naropa University. Location: Claude Moore Nursing Education Building Room G010 (across the road from McLeod Hall)

Location: McLeod Auditorium, McLeod Hall, University of Virginia School of Nursing

5:00-5:10pm: Welcome from David Germano, Director of UVa Tibet Center and Dorrie Fontaine, Dean of UVa Nursing

5:10-5:20: Welcome from Dr. Otsang Tsokchen, President of ARURA Tibetan Medical Group in Tso-Ngon (Qinghai)

5:20-5:40: Introduction to ARURA, Tsem Gonthar, Vice Director, Tibetan Medicine and Cultural Museums

5:45-6:45: Tibetan Physicians and the Medicine Buddha, Robert Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Columbia University

6:45-6:55: Welcome and Announcement of the UVa Contemplative Sciences Center from UVa President Teresa Sullivan

6:55-7:15: Reception outside of auditorium

Saturday (April 14)

Location: McLeod Auditorium, McLeod Hall, University of Virginia School of Nursing

9:30-11:30am: Tibetan Medical Care
Talks are 20 minutes with 10 minutes of Q&A.  Questions/comments from the audience should be under 2 minutes in duration.

• Tibetan Medicine for Cancer – A Review of Case Studies, Susan Bauer-Wu, Associate Professor, Emory University Woodruff School of Nursing
• Knowledge of Maintaining Good Health Improves Current Tibetan Medical Care, Kunchok Gyaltsen, Tibetan Medical Doctor and Professor of Tso-Ngon (Qinghai) University Tibetan Medical College
• Integrating mind, body and spirit: Tibetan medicine as a model for healing across the continuum of life, Leslie Blackhall, Associate Professor of Medicine, UVa Medical School
• History and Theory Based Clinical Practices of Tibetan Medicine, Doctor Dorjee, Tibetan Medical Doctor, Professor, and President of Tso-Ngon (Qinghai) Provincial Tibetan Medical Research Institute

11:30-1:00:  Lunch break. Catered for participants only.

1:00-3:00pm: Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and Education
Talks are 15 minutes in duration with a final 45 minutes of collective interaction between the panel and audience.

• Contemplation in Curricular Context: Classical Buddhist Models, Kurtis Schaeffer, Professor, UVa Department of Religious Studies
• Teaching Mindfulness for Healthcare Providers,  John Schorling, Professor of Internal Medicine and Health Evaluation Sciences and Director, UVa Mindfulness Center
• Mindfulness is Not Enough, Judith Simmer Brown, Professor of Religious Studies, Naropa University
• Contemplative Wisdom and Social Transformation, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, President, Ligmincha Institute
• Compassionate Presence in Teaching, Richard Brown, Associate Professor of Contemplative Education, Naropa University

3:30-5:30pm:  Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Tibetan Buddhist Meditation

• Contemplative Neuroscience and the Mind-Body Problem: Western and Tibetan Perspectives, Evan Thompson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto
• A response from John Dunne, Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies, Emory University
• A response from David Germano, Professor of Tibetan Buddhist Studies, University of Virginia

Sunday (April 15)

Location: McLeod Auditorium, McLeod Hall, University of Virginia School of Nursing

9:30am-11:30am: Tibetan Medicine in Modern Society

• Tibetan Medical Perspectives on Diabetes, Phuntsog Wangmo, Director of the School of Tibetan Medicine, Shang Shung Institute
• Either Medicine or Religion? Epistemologies and Practices of Tibetan Medicine in Tibet and the West, Mona Schrempf, Researcher, Humbolt University, Berlin
• Tibetan Medicine, Public Health, and Cultural Competency in an Era of Evidence-Based Health-Development Programs, Sienna Craig, Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College
• Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychological Disorders in Tibetan Medicine, Lhusham Gyal, Tibetan Medical Doctor, Professor, and Dean of Tso-Ngon (Qinghai) University Tibetan Medical College
• Integrating Integrative Medicine, Andy Haig, Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Michigan

Click Here to Register

“Rewriting the Medieval History of Tibet: A Field Survey of the Great Tombs and Relics of the Tibetan Empire in the Western Kokonor Region”

A lecture by Yongdrol K. Tsongkha
Professor of Ethnic and Tibetan Studies, Lanzhou University (Amdo)
Research Associate at Indiana University

When: Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Where: Gibson 241 at 6pm

Presented by the UVa Tibet Center and the Buddhist Studies Group at UVa

Don’t miss this chance to hear one of Tibet’s foremost historians speak about the biggest archaeological discovery in Tibet since Dunhuang

Since the 1983 discovery of plundered imperial tombs in Dulan in the western Kokonor region of the Tibetan Plateau, thousands of tombs dated to the period of the Tibetan Empire (7th-9th centuries) have been discovered in the area. A great number of tomb relics such as gold, silver and silk artifacts and Tibetan inscriptions on stone tablets and wood slats are now circulating in public museums and private collections in Europe, North America, Japan and China as well as in antique markets in Hong Kong, Beijing, Lanzhou and elsewhere. Based on extensive field studies, Professor Tsongkha’s lecture will give a survey of the tombs, relics from the tombs, and recent academic studies, all detailing the significance of these discoveries for understanding the medieval civilization of Tibet.

Biography:

A leading historian of Tibet, Yongdrol K. Tsongkha is Professor of Ethnic and Tibetan Studies in the School of History and Culture and School of Ethnology, founding director of the Institute for Tibeto-Burman & Altaic Studies at Lanzhou University, Gansu Province, and a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University. He has published extensively, in Chinese, Tibetan and English, on a wide range of topics, including Tibetan folklore, archaeology and early history of Tibet, local history of Amdo, linguistics, history of Tibetan, Indic and Chinese medicines, ecological and environmental issues. He is also a cultural entrepreneur and advocate for the revival of the lost traditions of Tibet. He has initiated more than seven festivals featuring traditional Tibetan dances, sports and games in his hometown in Kumbum and other areas of Amdo. His 2003 film, Life Among the People of Choni, has been broadcast by Gansu TV, Canadian Shaw Multicultural, Maysles Institute Cinema, and at the Sichuan TV International Festival where it won the Golden Panda Award in 2009. He has lectured at the University of Virginia, Columbia University, Harvard University, Cornell University, Simon Fraser University, Georgia Washington University and Waseda University as well as at universities across the PRC.

Professor Tsongkha holds a Ph.D. in Medical History (1995) and a Master’s degree (1988) in the local history of Amdo. He has taught and studied at the Department of Central Eurasian Studies and Department of Anthropology as an assistant professor (adjunct 1999-2003) at Indiana University and was a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute for the History of Natural Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences 1995-2000 and Junior Research Fellow in the Department of History at Tso-ngon (Qinghai) Normal University from 1988-1991.

Field Team in Western Tso-ngon-po (Kokornor )

• location: <strong>UVa Directions/Map to:</strong> <a onclick="detailRight('http://www.virginia.edu/webmap/popPages/200-GibsonHall.html','pop',675,550)" href="http://www.virginia.edu/webmap/ACentralGrounds.html" target="_blank">Gibson Hall - New South Lawn Building</a>, Room 241

Buddhist Text Talk with Dr. Dragomir Dimitrov

Please join one of the foremost scholars in the field of Buddhist textual studies discuss the intricacies, trials, and joys of working with various Buddhist manuscripts, Dr. Dragomir Dimitrov of the University of Marburg.

When Friday, October 21, 2011 3 PM – 5 PM,
Where: Nau 241
Snacks, Refreshments, and Discussion included.

Dr. Dragomir Dimitrov is the leading authority in the world on the history of the Mirror of Poetry (Kavyadarsa, Snyan ngag me long), the most important Indian work on poetry in Tibet. See his resume here:http://www.dragomir-dimitrov.net/.

In preparation for the discussion, you may take a look at the essay by Dr. Dimitrov located here.

Note: Dr. Sam van Schaik was scheduled to speak after Dr. Dimitrov. Unfortnately Dr. van Schaik’s plane experienced technical difficulties, and he was not able to make it here from London. We will reschedule Dr. van Schaik’s visit for the Spring.

• location: <strong>UVa Directions/Map to:</strong> <a onclick="detailRight('http://www.virginia.edu/webmap/popPages/201-NauHall.html','pop',675,550)" href="http://www.virginia.edu/webmap/ACentralGrounds.html" target="_blank">Nau Hall - New South Lawn Building</a>, Room 241

Mission Improbable: The Jesuit Enterprise in Tibet, 1624-1721
Michael Sweet, Lennie Zwilling, and Trent Pomplum

Three of the world’s leading experts on Jesuits in Tibet will talk about the Tibet mission, their past and current work, and then host a roundtable discussion with the audience.

UVa Directions/Map to: Nau Hall – New South Lawn Building, Room 342

Tibetan Customaries (bca’ yig) in the Growth of the Gelukpa in Amdo,
by Brenton Sullivan, Ph.D. Candidate UVa

The UVa Buddhist Studies Forum is pleased to announce their first speaker of the year!

Refreshments provided

Brenton will present his study of the chayik (T. bca’ yig)—customary or monastic constitutions—of one of the most influential monasteries in Amdo (i.e. in Western China and Northeastern Tibet) from the late Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911) as well as those chayik of its numerous branch monasteries.

While chayik serve to prescribe the behavior of a monstery’s monks and officers and to prescribe a particular liturgical calendar for a monastery, for the historian they also help reveal how sectarian and institutional networks came into being and legitimized their hegemony. The monastery in question, Gönlung Jampa Ling (dgon lung byams pa gling), was one of the earliest and most influential Geluk monasteries in the region. Also, it is said to have had nearly fifty “branch” or “child” monasteries and temples at its height. Thus a study of the chayikof Gönlung and its affiliates can help us begin to understand the explosion of Geluk activity in Amdo in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and it can also help us understand how a single “mother” monastery such as Gönlung might spread its influence in a region.

The Buddhist Studies Forum, founded in 2010, seeks to facilitate collaboration and exchange among UVA faculty and students in the field of Buddhist Studies.

UVa Directions/Map to: Nau Hall – New South Lawn Building, Room 342

A Glimpse into the Unique Culture and Music of Tibetan Monastic Life, Presented by the monks of the Gomang Monastery

Invited and Sponsored by Tibet Center and UVa’s Asia Institute, a group of eight Tibetan Buddhist monks will be arriving in Charlottesville to bring the spirits of their ancient monastic life to the UVa campus.

Admission is free. All are welcome!

This group of Tibetan monks will offer the UVa community and local residents of Charlottesville a glimpse into the unique culture and music of Tibetan monastic life. Both the group of monks and the organizers of the event warmly invite all to share the spiritual melodies of the Drepung Gomang Monks of Gelukpa order of the Tibetan Buddhism.

The Drepung Gomang Monastery was founded in 1416 near Lhasa. Prior to 1959, the Drepung Gomang monastery had more than 5,000 monks and was known for producing eminent Buddhist scholars and practitioners. Today, approximately 2,000 monks study and live at the Drepung Gomang monastery that was constructed in Mongod, south India starting in 1969.

The event is free, however donations to benefit the monks are gratefully accepted.

For more information call: Tenzin at 434-466-7569 or visit www.uvatibetcenter.org

Friday, July 29th at 6:30PM

– UVA Campus: McKim Hall, Auditorium