John Myrdhin Reynolds
Encyclopedia
John Myrdhin Reynolds, whose initiated name is Vajranatha (or Rigdzin Dorje Gonpo) was born in 1942 and is a scholar, linguist, author, translator, mystic and initiated ngagpa
of the Nyingma
pa.
Reynolds has made a special study of Dzogchen
and the Buddhist Tantras, both in their own context and in comparison with Gnosticism
and other Western mystical traditions. This has fruited in Reynolds translating many original Tibetan texts of the Nyingmapa and Kagyupa into English. He has also studied the Bön traditions of Dzogchen and has translated some Bön literature as well.
, Arabic, Sanskrit
, Tibetan
, and Buddhist Studies at Columbia University
, at the University of California
at Berkeley
, and at the University of Washington
at Seattle.
At Columbia University
Reynolds pursued Islamic Studies under Arthur Jeffrey along with Iranian Studies under J. Duchesne-Guillemin. Reynolds did his PhD research in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Buddhist Philosophy under Edward Conze
, the lauded scholar of the Buddhist Prajnaparamita
literature.
and Nepal
doing fieldwork research at a number of Hindu
Ashrams in South India
and at Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Darjeeling, Nepal
and Kalimpong. At these Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, Reynolds studied and researched the rituals, literature and meditation practices of the Kagyu
pa and Nyingma
pa. Reynolds' Lama
teachers included Dezhung Rinpoche
, Kangyur Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche
, Dudjom Rinpoche
, Kalu Rinpoche
, Gyalwa Karmapa, and Lama Gonpo Tseten
amongst others.
In Nepal
, Reynolds researched the techniques and folklore
of Himalayan shamanism
, including rite
s of soul retrieval
and exorcism
, employed and practiced among ngakpa lamas belonging to the Nyingmapa school. The mode of this research was experiential and participatory.
Reynolds has continued his researching and has lectured widely in India
, America
and Europe
. Reynolds has taught History of Religions and Buddhist Studies at Shanti Ashram (South India
), at the University of Massachusetts
(Amherst
), at the University of California Santa Cruz and at the College of New Rochelle in New York City
.
as a Ngakpa or Buddhist Tantric Yogin of the Nyingmapa order, receiving the name Vajranatha (Rigdzin Dorje Gonpo). With the direction of Dudjom Rinpoche
, Reynolds commenced research into the Ngakpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism welling from Padmasambhava
and Nubchen Sangye Yeshe in the 8th century CE.
Rinpoche on a number of translations of important Dzogchen texts. Since 1989, he has worked closely with Lopön Tenzin Namdak
, widely considered as the foremost scholar of the Bönpo tradition outside of Tibet. With the Lopön (teacher or master), he has collaborated on the translation of a large number of ancient and rare Bönpo Dzogchen texts into English, including the Zhang-zhung Nyan-gyud (refer Zhangzhung), and also the Ma Gyud, the Bönpo Mother Tantra. As his principal focus, Reynolds continues his research into the historical origins of Dzogchen in both the Nyingmapa and the Bön traditions, and especially into the connections of Dzogchen and the Bön with Iranian religious culture of ancient Central Asia and the West, including Iranian Buddhism, Mithraism
and Gnosticism
.
As the Bönpo Translation Project of the Bönpo Research Foundation, Reynolds has privately published a series of monographs on Bönpo Dzogchen and Tantra.
As Simhanada Publications, he has privately published a series of monographs and practice texts (sadhana
s) from the Nyingmapa and Kagyudpa relating to Dzogchen and Buddhist Tantra.
In San Diego, California
, Reynolds established the Vidyadhara Institute for Comparative Studies in Mysticism and the Esoteric Traditions with the aim of publishing and republishing a series of monographs on Buddhist and Tibetan Studies and also on various topics from the History of Religions, focusing on a comparative study of Buddhism and Bön with other mystical traditions such as Gnosticism
, Neo-Platonism, Early Christianity
, Kabalah, and Sufism
, as well as dealing with the questions of East-West Psychology and meditation practice.
Ngagpa
In Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, a Ngakpa is a non-monastic practitioner of Vajrayana, shamanism, Tibetan medicine, Tantra and Dzogchen amongst other traditions, disciplines and arts....
of the Nyingma
Nyingma
The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...
pa.
Reynolds has made a special study of Dzogchen
Dzogchen
According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
and the Buddhist Tantras, both in their own context and in comparison with Gnosticism
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
and other Western mystical traditions. This has fruited in Reynolds translating many original Tibetan texts of the Nyingmapa and Kagyupa into English. He has also studied the Bön traditions of Dzogchen and has translated some Bön literature as well.
Education
Reynolds studied History of Religions, AnthropologyAnthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, Arabic, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
, and Buddhist Studies at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, at the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
at Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, and at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
at Seattle.
At Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
Reynolds pursued Islamic Studies under Arthur Jeffrey along with Iranian Studies under J. Duchesne-Guillemin. Reynolds did his PhD research in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Buddhist Philosophy under Edward Conze
Edward Conze
Eberhart Julius Dietrich Conze was an Anglo-German scholar probably best known for his pioneering translations of Buddhist texts.-Life and work:...
, the lauded scholar of the Buddhist Prajnaparamita
Prajnaparamita
Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā with pāramitā . Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path...
literature.
Field research and experience
Post PhD, Reynolds spent circa ten years in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
doing fieldwork research at a number of Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
Ashrams in South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
and at Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Darjeeling, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and Kalimpong. At these Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, Reynolds studied and researched the rituals, literature and meditation practices of the Kagyu
Kagyu
The Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
pa and Nyingma
Nyingma
The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...
pa. Reynolds' Lama
Lama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...
teachers included Dezhung Rinpoche
Dezhung Rinpoche
Dezhung Rinpoche, born Ngawang Zangpo, was a Tibetan lama of the Sakya school, one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . In 1960 he came to the Seattle, Washington in the United States of America, one of the first Tibetan Lamas to settle and teach in the United States.-External links:*...
, Kangyur Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche
Chatral Rinpoche
Chatral Rinpoche, Sangye Dorje is a Dzogchen master in his mid-90s. He is a reclusive yogi known for his great realization and strict discipline. Rinpoche is one of the few living disciples of Khenpo Ngagchung and is widely regarded as one of the most highly realized Dzogchen yogis...
, Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom Rinpoche is the title of a prominent line of tulkus of the Nyingmapa order of Tibetan Buddhism. Dudjom Rinpoche was born in 1904 on the tenth day of the sixth month in the year of the wood dragon in Southern Tibet in a region called the "hidden land" of Pema Ko. He died on January 17, 1987...
, Kalu Rinpoche
Kalu Rinpoche
Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master, scholar and teacher. He was one of the first Tibetan masters to teach in the West.-Early life and teachers:...
, Gyalwa Karmapa, and Lama Gonpo Tseten
Lama Gonpo Tseten
Gonpo Tseten Rinpoche, , Dzogchen master, author, painter, sculptor, and teacher of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.-Biography:...
amongst others.
In Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Reynolds researched the techniques and folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
of Himalayan shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
, including rite
Rite
A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act. Rites in this sense fall into three major categories:* rites of passage, generally changing an individual's social status, such as marriage, baptism, or graduation....
s of soul retrieval
Soul retrieval
Soul Retrieval refers to forms of New Age and shamanic practice that aim to reintegrate various interpretations of the soul that might have become disconnected, trapped or lost through trauma...
and exorcism
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
, employed and practiced among ngakpa lamas belonging to the Nyingmapa school. The mode of this research was experiential and participatory.
Reynolds has continued his researching and has lectured widely in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, America
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Reynolds has taught History of Religions and Buddhist Studies at Shanti Ashram (South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
), at the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
(Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
), at the University of California Santa Cruz and at the College of New Rochelle in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Initiations and lineages
Reynolds has been initiated into both the Nyingmapa and the Kagyudpa Schools of Tibetan Buddhism and in 1974 in Kalimpong, Reynolds received ordination from Dudjom RinpocheDudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom Rinpoche is the title of a prominent line of tulkus of the Nyingmapa order of Tibetan Buddhism. Dudjom Rinpoche was born in 1904 on the tenth day of the sixth month in the year of the wood dragon in Southern Tibet in a region called the "hidden land" of Pema Ko. He died on January 17, 1987...
as a Ngakpa or Buddhist Tantric Yogin of the Nyingmapa order, receiving the name Vajranatha (Rigdzin Dorje Gonpo). With the direction of Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom Rinpoche is the title of a prominent line of tulkus of the Nyingmapa order of Tibetan Buddhism. Dudjom Rinpoche was born in 1904 on the tenth day of the sixth month in the year of the wood dragon in Southern Tibet in a region called the "hidden land" of Pema Ko. He died on January 17, 1987...
, Reynolds commenced research into the Ngakpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism welling from Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...
and Nubchen Sangye Yeshe in the 8th century CE.
Collaborations
Reynolds has worked closely with Chögyal Namkhai NorbuChogyal Namkhai Norbu
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is a Dzogchen teacher who was born in Derge, Kham district on 8 December 1938. When he was two years old, Namkhai Norbu was recognized as the 'mindstream emanation', a tulku, of the great Dzogchen teacher, Adzom Drugpa , at five he was also recognized as a mindstream...
Rinpoche on a number of translations of important Dzogchen texts. Since 1989, he has worked closely with Lopön Tenzin Namdak
Lopön Tenzin Namdak
Lopön Tenzin Namdak is Bön religious leader.-Birth, family & early education:Lopön Tenzin Namdak born in Khyungpo Karu in Xikang province of Republic of China to a family of famous artists. In 1933, at the age of seven he entered Tingchen Monastery in the same district...
, widely considered as the foremost scholar of the Bönpo tradition outside of Tibet. With the Lopön (teacher or master), he has collaborated on the translation of a large number of ancient and rare Bönpo Dzogchen texts into English, including the Zhang-zhung Nyan-gyud (refer Zhangzhung), and also the Ma Gyud, the Bönpo Mother Tantra. As his principal focus, Reynolds continues his research into the historical origins of Dzogchen in both the Nyingmapa and the Bön traditions, and especially into the connections of Dzogchen and the Bön with Iranian religious culture of ancient Central Asia and the West, including Iranian Buddhism, Mithraism
Mithraism
The Mithraic Mysteries were a mystery religion practised in the Roman Empire from about the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The name of the Persian god Mithra, adapted into Greek as Mithras, was linked to a new and distinctive imagery...
and Gnosticism
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
.
Projects
Reynolds' research into original texts in Tibetan and Sanskrit, as well as comparative studies of mysticism, magic and religion and the production of monographs thereof, is known collectively as the Vidyadhara Project.As the Bönpo Translation Project of the Bönpo Research Foundation, Reynolds has privately published a series of monographs on Bönpo Dzogchen and Tantra.
As Simhanada Publications, he has privately published a series of monographs and practice texts (sadhana
Sadhana
Sādhanā literally "a means of accomplishing something" is ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist and Muslim traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.The historian N...
s) from the Nyingmapa and Kagyudpa relating to Dzogchen and Buddhist Tantra.
In San Diego, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Reynolds established the Vidyadhara Institute for Comparative Studies in Mysticism and the Esoteric Traditions with the aim of publishing and republishing a series of monographs on Buddhist and Tibetan Studies and also on various topics from the History of Religions, focusing on a comparative study of Buddhism and Bön with other mystical traditions such as Gnosticism
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
, Neo-Platonism, Early Christianity
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
, Kabalah, and Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
, as well as dealing with the questions of East-West Psychology and meditation practice.
Publications
- The Alchemy of Realization (1978, Simhanada Publications)
- Tibetan Astrological Calendar and Almanac (1978, Kalachakra Publications)
- The Cycle of Day and Night (1984, 1987, Station Hill Press)
- The Golden Rosary of Tara (1985, Shang Shung Edizioni)
- The Adamantine Essence of Life (1987, Vidyadhara Publications)
- Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness (1989, 2000 Snow Lion)
- The Secret Book of Simhamukha (1990, 2001, Vidyadhara Publications)
- Wicca, Paganism, and Tantra (1994, Vidyadhara Publications)
- The Golden Letters (1996, Snow Lion)
- The Oral Tradition from Zhang-Zhung (2005, Vajra Publications)
- Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings (2006, Vajra Publications)
- The Sadhana Practice of Wrathful Deities in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra (2009, Bodhiszattva Publisher)
- Space, Awareness, and Energy (forthcoming, Snow Lion)
- Path of the Clear Light (forthcoming)
- The Way of the Garuda (forthcoming)