Buddhist “higher education” (adhiśikṣā) traditionally is divided into the interconnected disciplines of ethics (śīla), wisdom/philosophy (prajñā), and meditation or experiential cultivation (samādhi / bhāvanā). In this introductory talk Dr. Tom Yarnall will focus on the theory and practice of ethics (with reference to the other inextricably interrelated higher educations) within the Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions.

Topics will include the ethical practices and commitments of each of the Three Vehicles (the Individual, Universal, and Tantric Vehicles). This will involve discussions aimed at developing deeper, more nuanced and practical understandings of the exoteric attitudes and practices of “renunciation,” taking refuge, love and compassion, altruistic mind training (lo jong), the spirit of awakening (bodhicitta), and the six perfections (pāramitā), as well as the esoteric attitudes and practices of cultivating buddha-identity and pure perception that support and constitute accelerated Tantric techniques for achieving buddhahood.

This introductory session will provide an overview of and foundation for a series of more detailed sessions to be given in the Spring of 2016. This later series will provide an opportunity for much deeper explorations and discussions of the many topics covered in the overview session.

Dr. Tom Yarnall is an Associate Research Scholar and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Religion at Columbia University in New York. As a teacher he specializes in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, teaching courses in Buddhist history, philosophy, ethics, and contemplative sciences, and in Tibetan and Sanskrit languages. As a researcher he works with the Columbia Center for Buddhist Studies (CCBS) and the Columbia-affiliated American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS), serving as the Executive Editor for the “Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences” series of translations of works from the Tibetan Tengyur (and associated literature), being co-published by AIBS, CCBS, and Tibet House US, and being distributed by Columbia University Press.

Dr. Yarnall began his engagement with Buddhism almost 40 years ago (in the late 70s), studying intensively with Tibetan Lamas from all four orders (including H.H. the Dalai Lama, H.H. Sakya Dagchen Rinpoche, Ven. Dezhung Rinpoche, and many others), while earning a B.A. in Religion (Buddhist Studies) at Amherst College in 1983. He later enrolled in the graduate program in Religion (Buddhist Studies) at Columbia University, earning an M.A., an M.Phil., and  Ph.D. (with honors) in 2003.

Dr. Yarnall’s own scholarly work has focused on Mādhyamika philosophy, Buddhist ethics, and especially on Indian and Tibetan Tantric materials of the Unexcelled Yoga class. His study and translation of the creation stage chapters of Tsong Khapa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of Mantra (sngags rim chen mo) was published in the “Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences” series in 2013. His forthcoming book, entitled The Emptiness that is Form: The Nonconceptual Embodiment of Buddhahood, contains a detailed analysis and study of the relationship between the view of emptiness and practice of deity yoga in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Tantra.

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