84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, a global nonprofit initiative founded by the renowned Bhutanese lama, author, and filmmaker Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, has announced that it will host an online Dharma teaching by His Eminence Khondung Avikrita Vajra Sakya Rinpoche. Titled ‟Sunlight on Wisdom,” the webinar will be held 31 May to mark the auspicious month of Saga Dawa.
“Avikrita Vajra Sakya Rinpoche will reflect on the integration of practical skills and transcendent wisdom, as taught in The Suryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom,” 84000 shared with BDG. “This condensed Prajnaparamita sutra presents a dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Suryaprabhasa, who asks the Buddha how bodhisattvas skilled in means should train themselves in the perfection of wisdom.”
Saga Dawa (Skt: Vaishakha), the fourth month in the Tibetan lunar calendar, is the most important Buddhist religious and cultural event of the year. The name is derived from the clan name of Shakyamuni Buddha. The occasion is also known in Tibetan as Bumgyur Dawa, “the 100,000-multiplying month,” as karma from all skillful and unskillful actions is believed to be multiplied 100,000 times. This year, Saga Dawa runs from 28 May–25 June, with Saga Dawa Duchen, the single most important day of the year for Tibetan Buddhists, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and final passing into parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha, falling on 11 June, the full moon day. The occasion is also known as Buddha Purnima and Vesak in other Buddhist traditions and following different calendars.
“HE Khondung Avikrita Vajra Rinpoche is a leading figure in the new generation of scholars, practitioners, and teachers from the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism,” 84000 noted. “Born into an ancient Tibetan family that settled in the USA, he was raised in Buddhist temples in India and Nepal from the age of four, and has emerged as an international spiritual guide for the 21st century. Since 2012, HE Avikrita Vajra Sakya has been traveling the world, sharing his rich Dharma teachings with warmth, clarity, and wisdom.”
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a long-term undertaking to translate and publish all surviving canonical texts preserved in the Classical Tibetan language—70,000 pages of the Kangyur (the translated words of the Buddha) in 25 years and 161,800 pages of the Tengyur (the translated commentaries on the Buddha’s teachings by the great Indian Buddhist masters and scholars) in 100 years. According to 84000, less than 5 per cent of the canon had hitherto been translated into a modern language, and due to a rapid decline in the knowledge of Classical Tibetan and in the number of qualified scholars, the world is in danger of losing an irreplaceable cultural and spiritual wisdom legacy.
The webinar will be live-streamed at the following times, with simultaneous interpretation into Standard Chinese (Mandarin), Cantonese, Russian, Sharcop, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Auckland: 3pm, Saturday 31 May
Canberra: 1pm, Saturday 31 May
Seoul, Tokyo: 12pm, Saturday 31 May
Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei: 11am, Saturday 31 May
Bangkok, Jakarta: 10am, Saturday 31 May
Thimphu: 9am, Saturday 31 May
New Delhi: 8:30am, Saturday 31 May
Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm: 5am, Saturday 31 May
London: 4am, Saturday 31 May
Rio de Janeiro: 12am, Saturday 31 May
Montreal, New York: 11pm, Friday 30 May
Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver: 8pm, Friday 30 May
Click here to register for ‟Sunlight on Wisdom” with Avikrita Vajra Sakya Rinpoche
Avikrita Vajra Rinpoche was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1993 into the Phuntsok Phodrang—one of two branches of the Khon lineage, which can be traced to the earliest origins of Buddhism in Tibet. The Khon family’s ancestral homeland is the township of Sakya in Tibet, from which the Sakya tradition takes its name.
After relocating to Dehradun in northern India at the age of four, Rinpoche undertook a traditional Buddhist education, studying under revered masters of his lineage, among them His Holiness the 41st Sakya Gongma Trichen Rinpoche, his late grandfather His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Dorje Chang, His Eminence Luding Khenchen Rinpoche.
In 2010, Rinpoche enrolled at the Dzongsar Institute in India, where he undertook a program of study and dialectics in the classic treatises of Sakya’s philosophical tradition. He has taught philosophy classes there since 2016. Rinpoche began teaching the Buddhadharma in 2012 to Tibetan and Western students and then to Chinese Buddhists in Asia.
Rinpoche is head lama of Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Seattle and the Sakya Heritage Society in New Delhi. He founded the Marici Fellowship in 2018 to coordinate community welfare projects, and the Bhadracarya Foundation in Nepal to maintain Buddhist activities in Lumbini, the birthplace of the historical Buddha. Rinpoche is also author of the book Wake Up to What Matters.
“Don’t miss what promises to be an engaging live teaching with Avikrita Vajra Sakya Rinpoche!” 84000 emphasized.
Since its inception in 2010,* 84000—named for the number of teachings the historical Buddha is said to have given—has awarded in excess of US$6 million in grants to teams of translators around the world, including Tibetan scholars and Western academics. In just 14 years, with the endorsement of all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, 84000 continues to strive forward, supported by some of the most learned living teachers of the Vajrayana tradition.
Liberation is not something that is to be acquired, bestowed or, figured out. It is to be realized here and now. — Khondung Avikrita Vajra Sakya Rinpoche
* 84000 Launches Video Campaign to Mark 10 Years of Preserving the Tibetan Buddhist Canon (BDG) and 84000 Announces that 25 Per Cent of the Tibetan Kangyur Is Now Freely Available in English (BDG)
See more
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
“Sunlight on Wisdom” | May 31 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha)
The Sūryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom (Toh 26) (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha)
On 84000 and the importance of translation | H.E. Avikrita Vajra Rinpoche, 2018 (YouTube)
Related news reports from BDG
Online Dharma: 84000 to Host Conversation with Dr. John Canti: “The Buddha in the God Realms”
84000 Launches New Community for Supporters of its Dharma-Translation Mission
84000 Announces New Translation Milestone, Publishing Their First Text from the Tibetan Tengyur
UPDATE: 84000 Launches Crowdfunding Campaign to “Bring 10,000-pages of the Buddha’s Words to Life”
84000 Announces that 25 Per Cent of the Tibetan Kangyur Is Now Freely Available in English
