Andrew Quintman
@andrewquintman.bsky.social
Buddhism in Tibet & Himalaya | Religion Dept @ Wesleyan U | The Yogin & the Madman | The Life of Milarepa | http://journaloftibetanliterature.org | http://lifeofthebuddha.org | www.andrewquintman.com | #TibetanStudies #BuddhistStudies #seakayaking
For Saga Dawa Duchen, the Tibetan commemoration of Buddha Śākyamuni's birth, enlightenment and parinirvāṇa.
📷 from Zhalu Monastery, Tibet
📷 from Zhalu Monastery, Tibet
June 11, 2025 at 3:29 PM
For Saga Dawa Duchen, the Tibetan commemoration of Buddha Śākyamuni's birth, enlightenment and parinirvāṇa.
📷 from Zhalu Monastery, Tibet
📷 from Zhalu Monastery, Tibet
Busy end of semester so haven’t really posted at all. But had dinner at the mouth of the CT River last night and now cleaning off kayak gear listening to Patrick O’Brian, so it must be summer right?
June 5, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Busy end of semester so haven’t really posted at all. But had dinner at the mouth of the CT River last night and now cleaning off kayak gear listening to Patrick O’Brian, so it must be summer right?
#SeaKayakSunday
Stonington, CT to Fishers Island, NY playing in the tide races at Latimer Light and the cans. Winds 15-20 kts, seas 3-4 ft. Gonna be sore tomorrow. (No action shots for obvious reasons.)
#seakayak #seakayaking
Stonington, CT to Fishers Island, NY playing in the tide races at Latimer Light and the cans. Winds 15-20 kts, seas 3-4 ft. Gonna be sore tomorrow. (No action shots for obvious reasons.)
#seakayak #seakayaking
May 19, 2025 at 1:31 AM
#SeaKayakSunday
Stonington, CT to Fishers Island, NY playing in the tide races at Latimer Light and the cans. Winds 15-20 kts, seas 3-4 ft. Gonna be sore tomorrow. (No action shots for obvious reasons.)
#seakayak #seakayaking
Stonington, CT to Fishers Island, NY playing in the tide races at Latimer Light and the cans. Winds 15-20 kts, seas 3-4 ft. Gonna be sore tomorrow. (No action shots for obvious reasons.)
#seakayak #seakayaking
Took a little social media break but now I'm back. So here's Luna after enjoying the freshly mowed lawn.
May 16, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Took a little social media break but now I'm back. So here's Luna after enjoying the freshly mowed lawn.
In the final formal presentation of the conference, Lewis Doney brings early Tibet back to the study of religion.
May 3, 2025 at 6:25 PM
In the final formal presentation of the conference, Lewis Doney brings early Tibet back to the study of religion.
Keynote lecture by Matthew Kapstein
“Wisdom and Tradition in Imperial Tibet: Apropos of Gtsug lag once more”
“Wisdom and Tradition in Imperial Tibet: Apropos of Gtsug lag once more”
May 2, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Keynote lecture by Matthew Kapstein
“Wisdom and Tradition in Imperial Tibet: Apropos of Gtsug lag once more”
“Wisdom and Tradition in Imperial Tibet: Apropos of Gtsug lag once more”
Spending the next few days thinking about Buddhism in Imperial Period Tibet. Meghan Howard has put together a stellar lineup to discuss work on and from Dunhuang.
macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/eve...
#TibetanStudies
macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/eve...
#TibetanStudies
May 2, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Spending the next few days thinking about Buddhism in Imperial Period Tibet. Meghan Howard has put together a stellar lineup to discuss work on and from Dunhuang.
macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/eve...
#TibetanStudies
macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/eve...
#TibetanStudies
This cracked me up: “we thought abt donating them to Buddhist groups but decided it was more fair to sell them to Buddhists instead…”
![The film-maker, who wrote a piece for Sotheby's about his family's custodianship of the gems, said they had considered donating them to temples and museums but this proved to be problematic. "An auction [in Hong Kong] seems the fairest and most transparent way to transfer these relics to Buddhists and we are confident that Sotheby's will achieve that," he added.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gtfglglzpt6sz2txgifwwukz/bafkreicrj7aopsjxrjd2umtx4sqhaknmozbgulgzo2sb5gzk4oe3duyb4i@jpeg)
May 2, 2025 at 12:44 PM
This cracked me up: “we thought abt donating them to Buddhist groups but decided it was more fair to sell them to Buddhists instead…”
this was the second thing
May 1, 2025 at 3:29 PM
this was the second thing
Watching Mon Mothma dance in that wedding scene, this is pretty much the first thing I thought of, ngl.
May 1, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Watching Mon Mothma dance in that wedding scene, this is pretty much the first thing I thought of, ngl.
Needham was interested in all sorts of things, and took copious notes. He helped Tsepon Shakabpa come to New Haven and publish A Political History of Tibet. He also worked with the Mongolian reincarnate lama Dilowa Hetukhtu to study various elements of Tibetan Buddhism.
3/
3/
April 28, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Needham was interested in all sorts of things, and took copious notes. He helped Tsepon Shakabpa come to New Haven and publish A Political History of Tibet. He also worked with the Mongolian reincarnate lama Dilowa Hetukhtu to study various elements of Tibetan Buddhism.
3/
3/
Wesley Needham was a fascinating figure. Through his correspondence w/ the 14th Dalai Lama, he was able to request a woodblock print edition of the 100-volume Lhasa edition of the Kangyur, rare in the west at that time. It travelled by horse caravan & freighter, reaching New Haven in February 1950.
![Photograph of Wesley Needham and the newly arrived Lhasa Kangyur, [ca. 1950] Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Tib.mss.64, box 21](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gtfglglzpt6sz2txgifwwukz/bafkreignevudyaftqyzvn4rn6mp3whz3gy4iofcmmwe5bl64qd25immq4a@jpeg)
April 28, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Wesley Needham was a fascinating figure. Through his correspondence w/ the 14th Dalai Lama, he was able to request a woodblock print edition of the 100-volume Lhasa edition of the Kangyur, rare in the west at that time. It travelled by horse caravan & freighter, reaching New Haven in February 1950.
#ManuscriptMonday Writing to the Dalai Lama edition.
A letter & envelope dated March 18, 1946, addressed to the Regent of Tibet (perhaps Takdrak Rinpoche) on behalf of the 14th Dalai Lama, written by Wesley Needham, librarian at the Beinecke Rare book & Manuscript Library.
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A letter & envelope dated March 18, 1946, addressed to the Regent of Tibet (perhaps Takdrak Rinpoche) on behalf of the 14th Dalai Lama, written by Wesley Needham, librarian at the Beinecke Rare book & Manuscript Library.
1/
April 28, 2025 at 8:38 PM
#ManuscriptMonday Writing to the Dalai Lama edition.
A letter & envelope dated March 18, 1946, addressed to the Regent of Tibet (perhaps Takdrak Rinpoche) on behalf of the 14th Dalai Lama, written by Wesley Needham, librarian at the Beinecke Rare book & Manuscript Library.
1/
A letter & envelope dated March 18, 1946, addressed to the Regent of Tibet (perhaps Takdrak Rinpoche) on behalf of the 14th Dalai Lama, written by Wesley Needham, librarian at the Beinecke Rare book & Manuscript Library.
1/
Late #SeaKayakSunday posting. Exciting big-water day around Jamestown, RI on Sunday: winds gusting to 25 kts and swell at about 4 ft. Got to work through some incident management in the rocks & luckily everyone was okay with just a broken paddle in the end.
#seakayaking #seakayak
#seakayaking #seakayak
April 28, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Late #SeaKayakSunday posting. Exciting big-water day around Jamestown, RI on Sunday: winds gusting to 25 kts and swell at about 4 ft. Got to work through some incident management in the rocks & luckily everyone was okay with just a broken paddle in the end.
#seakayaking #seakayak
#seakayaking #seakayak
And so glad I had a chance to say farewell to the singular Jay Garfield, philosopher extraordinaire and my undergrad advisor, before he moves to Tasmania in a couple of weeks.
April 25, 2025 at 5:20 PM
And so glad I had a chance to say farewell to the singular Jay Garfield, philosopher extraordinaire and my undergrad advisor, before he moves to Tasmania in a couple of weeks.
Wonderful evening yesterday with the 5-College Buddhist Studies faculty group to discuss the late Peter Gregory’s last unpublished essay on the autobiographical writing of Zongmi. Thanks to @protass.bsky.social for his moving opening remarks.
April 25, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Wonderful evening yesterday with the 5-College Buddhist Studies faculty group to discuss the late Peter Gregory’s last unpublished essay on the autobiographical writing of Zongmi. Thanks to @protass.bsky.social for his moving opening remarks.
Wonderful evening yesterday with the 5-College Buddhist Studies faculty group to discuss the late Peter Gregory’s last unpublished essay on the autobiographical writing of Zongmi. Thanks to @protass.bsky.social for his moving opening remarks.
April 25, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Wonderful evening yesterday with the 5-College Buddhist Studies faculty group to discuss the late Peter Gregory’s last unpublished essay on the autobiographical writing of Zongmi. Thanks to @protass.bsky.social for his moving opening remarks.
Also this: "The disciplines of American studies and
religion saw the largest declines in the number of
institutions awarding degrees in these disciplines over
that time period"
www.amacad.org/sites/defaul...
religion saw the largest declines in the number of
institutions awarding degrees in these disciplines over
that time period"
www.amacad.org/sites/defaul...
April 24, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Also this: "The disciplines of American studies and
religion saw the largest declines in the number of
institutions awarding degrees in these disciplines over
that time period"
www.amacad.org/sites/defaul...
religion saw the largest declines in the number of
institutions awarding degrees in these disciplines over
that time period"
www.amacad.org/sites/defaul...
The outline (sa bcad) of Desideri's _Inquiry_ follows a traditional Tibetan format:
![English translation of the outline of Ippolito Desideri's Inquiry, from Lopez & Jinpa (2017), Appendix 1.
[Salutation] [1a3] [Preamble] [1b17]
1. The benefits of studying others’ religions [2b26]
A. The benefit of becoming thoroughly learned in religion [2b30]
B. The benefit of creating an entirely firm mind in order to directly experience
religion [3a2]
C. The benefit of creating a strong and powerful sense of joy in religion by
engaging in appropriate religious deeds and infusing one’s mind with religion [3a23]
2. How to see the other’s religion in a wise way [5b20]
A. Generating the three recognitions
1. Having the recognition of religion as a seed [5b22]
2. Having the recognition of oneself as the soil [5b33]
3. Generating the recognition that the benefits of living in accordance
with religion and doing good deeds is unique to humans compared to beasts, and that the highest reality of definite goodness, far superior to all worldly happiness, is like the fruit [6a5]
B. Abandoning the three defects of a soil [6a30]
C. Cultivating all three conditions of listening [6b26]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gtfglglzpt6sz2txgifwwukz/bafkreicvzpggmnk5asnnqg3kquxu43a6n2fe3ziudsbjr7jeafnxu7lnmy@jpeg)
![English translation of the outline of Ippolito Desideri's Inquiry, from Lopez & Jinpa (2017), Appendix 1.
3. Demonstrating how, having studied the other’s religion, there is benefit in
debating about one’s own religion [7a26]
4. Actual debates on the essential points of the so-called previous births [9a7]
A. Engaging in debates on the essential points of the so-called previous births
1. Refuting the other’s position
a. Refuting that birth is beginningless [9a11]
b. Demonstrating that the birth of sentient beings does not come into
being through the power of deeds [71b16]1
1. General thoughts on the birth of sentient beings [71b18]
2. Specific thoughts on the birth of sentient beings as presented in
the opponent’s system [94a6]
a. The birth of humans [94a9]
1. Identification of human birth itself [94b14]
a. Consideration of the external continuum of humans
[94a15]
b. Consideration of the internal continuum of humans
[97b18]
2. Explanation of the sufferings associated with human birth
[107b5]
3. Analysis of the factors of happiness associated with human
birth [109b7]
4. Having considered virtuous deeds and human birth next to
each other, demonstrating that it is unsuitable for human
birth to be the effect of virtuous deeds [112b16]
5. As an aside, stating damaging objections to the opponent’s
system by analyzing the birth of gods and demigods
[142b16]
b. Demonstrating how the birth of sentient beings does not come
into being through the power of deeds, on the basis of analyzing the births as animals or ghosts [153b7]
1. Describing the opponent’s system [154b9]
2. Stating damaging objections to it [158b5]
c. The birth of so-called hell beings [189b32]
1. Describing the system and assertion of the opponent
[189b34]
a. The number and sufferings of the hells described in
their system [190a2]
1. The great hells of sentient beings [190a3] 2. The neighboring hells [190b7]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gtfglglzpt6sz2txgifwwukz/bafkreidjqgahwlfx5laoikwv2zeza4svbkw5rbkgzqtyjsp4a3gbk5k6py@jpeg)
![English translation of the outline of Ippolito Desideri's Inquiry, from Lopez & Jinpa (2017), Appendix 1.
3. The cold hells [190b32]
4. The hot hells [191a12]
b. Discussion of the life span [in the hells] [191a18]
c. Demonstrating how their system engages in senseless
contradictory talk concerning whether or not one can accumulate deeds while undergoing the sufferings of hell [192a18]
1. Showing how their system makes contradictory
statements, by asserting that a being can accumulate non-virtuous deeds that send one into a lower realm while experiencing the sufferings of hell, when they have already admitted that the life span in hell is of a definite length and that the sufferings of hell will come to an end [192a24]
2. Showing how their system makes contradictory statements by asserting that while undergoing the sufferings of hell, virtuous deeds cannot be accumu- lated and that they can be accumulated [194a14]
2. Refuting that system [196a15]
a. Stating damaging objections that refute the assertions of
that system [196a16]
1. Stating damaging objections that refute the assertion
that birth in hell comes through the power of deeds, the position that is specifically being analyzed in this context [196a20]
2. Conclusion of the refutation of the other’s system on the topic of former and later lives, showing that a great many points in the texts of the opponent are unreliable and impure, like the collapsed relying on the collapsed. Specifically, there are twenty [such points] [232b16] [The book ends with this heading. This and the remainder of the sections are missing.]
b. Dispelling objections
2. Presenting one’s position thoroughly
3. Dispelling objections [to one’s own position]
B. Engaging in debates pertaining to the view of emptiness](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gtfglglzpt6sz2txgifwwukz/bafkreihv67qw3et7jys4pyhc2p552fkwbklme4glbh24mffspwx5aa2z4i@jpeg)
April 21, 2025 at 3:12 PM
The outline (sa bcad) of Desideri's _Inquiry_ follows a traditional Tibetan format:
Desideri's _Inquiry_ is a massive work of over 464 handwritten Tibetan pages, giving a detailed refutation of the basic ideas of Buddhism, such as karma & rebirth, based on his own careful reading of Tibetan Buddhist treatises such as Tsongkhapa's Great Stages of the Path (Lam rim chen mo).
2/
2/
April 21, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Desideri's _Inquiry_ is a massive work of over 464 handwritten Tibetan pages, giving a detailed refutation of the basic ideas of Buddhism, such as karma & rebirth, based on his own careful reading of Tibetan Buddhist treatises such as Tsongkhapa's Great Stages of the Path (Lam rim chen mo).
2/
2/
#ManuscriptMonday Jesuits in Tibet edition.
First page of Jesuit Missionary and early Tibetologist Ippolito Desideri's fascinating early 18th-c treatise _Inquiry concerning the Doctrines of Previous Lives and Emptiness, Offered to the Scholars of Tibet by the Star Head Lama called Ippolito_
1/
First page of Jesuit Missionary and early Tibetologist Ippolito Desideri's fascinating early 18th-c treatise _Inquiry concerning the Doctrines of Previous Lives and Emptiness, Offered to the Scholars of Tibet by the Star Head Lama called Ippolito_
1/
April 21, 2025 at 3:02 PM
#ManuscriptMonday Jesuits in Tibet edition.
First page of Jesuit Missionary and early Tibetologist Ippolito Desideri's fascinating early 18th-c treatise _Inquiry concerning the Doctrines of Previous Lives and Emptiness, Offered to the Scholars of Tibet by the Star Head Lama called Ippolito_
1/
First page of Jesuit Missionary and early Tibetologist Ippolito Desideri's fascinating early 18th-c treatise _Inquiry concerning the Doctrines of Previous Lives and Emptiness, Offered to the Scholars of Tibet by the Star Head Lama called Ippolito_
1/
Wake me up when there's white smoke.
April 21, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Wake me up when there's white smoke.
What happened this morning?
April 21, 2025 at 2:04 PM
What happened this morning?
That map on the cover is amazing, and I'm not surprised to see the Potala Palace used as a metonym for both Lhasa and Tibet as a whole. Worth taking a moment to follow the link below.
April 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
That map on the cover is amazing, and I'm not surprised to see the Potala Palace used as a metonym for both Lhasa and Tibet as a whole. Worth taking a moment to follow the link below.
