Biodata
Michael R. Sheehy; Jomonang, 2006
Michael R. Sheehy has a Ph.D. in Tibetan and Buddhist studies, and is the founder and executive director of Jonang Foundation. His doctoral dissertation was a study of the intellectual history, philosophical formulation, and literary productions of zhentong (gzhan stong) Buddhist thought according to the Jonangpa along with an annotated translation of the ground (gzhi) section of the modern Tibetan text, The Great Exposition on Extrinsic Emptiness.
For several years, Michael lived in a Jonang monastery in the Golok region of northeastern Tibet where he studied Buddhist thought and literature with Jonangpa scholars. He has conducted extensive field research on Jonang art, literature, and religious sites throughout the Golok, Ngawa, Gyarong, and Dzamthang regions of the Amdo cultural domain of far eastern Tibet. As a scholar and the facilitator of initiatives hosted by Jonang Foundation, he has spent years working closely with Jonangpa masters, and has served as an oral interpreter for the extensive Kālachakra empowerment and for zhentong teachings on numerous occasions.
His most recent research is concerned with Tibetan historical and philosophical works that narrate the exegetical tradition of Zhentong Madhyamaka from the time of the Jonang author Tāranātha (1575-1635), up to the modern author Khenpo Lodrö Drakpa (1920-1975). In particular, he has taken an interest in the biographies and works of several of the major Tibetan authors who contributed to the late 19th and 20th century renaissance of the Jonang scholastic tradition in Amdo. He is now working on a book about the contemporary Jonang tradition, a series of academic articles that discuss the Zhentong Madhyamaka lineage, and is translating Khenpo Lodrö Drakpa's History of the Jonang Tradition.
Michael is currently the Shelly and Donald Rubin Scholar in Residence at the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC) in New York City.
Select Publications
Translations & Research
Paths of Pure Vision: Histories, Views and Practices of Tibet’s Living Traditions. By Khentrul Jamphal Lodrö. Translator. New Delhi: Independent Publishing House, New Delhi, 2006.
The Gzhan stong chen mo: A Study of Emptiness According to the Modern Tibetan Buddhist Jo nang Scholar 'Dzam thang Mkhan po Ngag dbang Blos gros Grags pa (1920-1975). Ph.D. Dissertation. California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS): San Francisco, 2007.
Articles
"A Lineage History of Vajrayoga and Tantric Zhentong from the Jonang Kālachakra Practice Tradition." In As Long As Space Endures: Essays on the Kālachakra Tantra in Honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Snow Lion Publications: New York, (forthcoming) 2008.
"Rangjung Dorje's Variegations of Mind: Ordinary Awareness and Pristine Awareness in Tibetan Buddhist Literature." In Buddhist Thought and Applied Psychological Research: Transcending the Boundaries. Routeledge Curzon Press, Critical Series in Buddhism: London, 2005.
"Severing the Source of Fear: Contemplative Dynamics of the Tibetan Buddhist gCod Tradition." In Contemporary Buddhism, 6.1. Routeledge Curzon Press, London, 2005.
Online Publications
"Seizing the Crucial Point." By Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Translator. In Jonang Foundation's Digital Library, www.jonangfoundation.org/translations, 2008.
"Essence of Zhentong." By Tāranātha. Translator. In Jonang Foundation's Digital Library, www.jonangfoundation.org/translations, 2008.
"A Brief History of the Jonang Tradition." Author. In Jonang Foundation's Digital Library, www.jonangfoundation.org/essays, 2007.
"Supplication to the Profound Zhentong Madhyamaka Lineage." By Tāranātha and Khenpo Lodrak. Translator. In Jonang Foundation's Digital Library, www.jonangfoundation.org/translations, 2007.
"Ordinary Awareness & Pristine Awareness: A Treatise on the Distinction." By the 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. Translator. In Jonang Foundation's Digital Library, www.jonangfoundation.org/translations, 2007.
