Buddhist Philosophy

Justin S. Whitaker received a BA (with Honors) in Philosophy from the University of Montana, and an MA (with Distinction) in Buddhist Studies from the University of Bristol, England.  He is presently a candidate for the PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London where his research focuses on the relationship between Buddhist and Western ethics, notably the work of Kant.  He has extensive experience teaching Buddhist Studies and Philosophy as an Instructor and Teaching Assistant at the University of Montana.  In 2010 he attended the world Youth Summit at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan.  He has presented papers at several academic conferences including “Meditation Ethics: Ignatian Spiritual Exercises and Buddhist Metta-Bhavana” at the American Academy of Religion International Conference in Montreal.

 

 

Contemporary Buddhist Culture

Dr. Margaret A. Karnyski received a BA in Sociology from SUNY Buffalo, an MA in Cultural Anthropology from San Diego State University, and a PhD in Applied Anthropology from the University of South Florida.  Her MA thesis was titled The Rebirth of Theravadan Buddhism in Cambodia Since the Fall of the Khmer Rouge Regime, and her PhD dissertation was Ethnomedical and Biomedical Health Care Practices among the Rathwa Adivasai of Kadipani Village, Gujarat State, India.  Dr. Karnyski has published her work and presented numerous papers at the meetings of professional organizations such as the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology.  She has extensive teaching experience in anthropology at San Diego Mesa College and the University of South Florida.

 

History of South Asian Buddhism

Dr. Arthur McKeown received a BA magna cum lauda, from Dartmouth College.  He received an MA and PhD from Harvard University where his dissertation was titled, From Bodhgaya to Lhasa to Beijing: The Life and Times of Sariputra (c.1335-1426), Last Abbot of Bodhgaya.  Among his academic honors Dr. McKeown has received a Fulbright Fellowship, Reischauer Center Fellowship, as well as the Harvard Certificate of Distinction in Teaching.  He has extensive research experience in South Asia and Tibet, and has presented papers at meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the International Association of Buddhist Studies.  Dr. McKeown has experience teaching Tibetan Language and Buddhist Studies as an Instructor and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University.

 

 

Tibetan Language

Dr. Pema Tenzin is a research scholar and editor at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India.  Born in the Tibetan cultural zone of northern India, he is a native speaker of the language.  As part of a project to restore to India the work of classical Indian Buddhist scholars Dr. Tenzin has translated texts by Acharya Asanga and Dipankara srijnana from Tibetan back into Sanskrit.  He has extensive experience working with western research scholars, and is highly skilled as a translator and teacher of Tibetan.  Dr. Pema Tenzin has been teaching Tibetan language with the Antioch Buddhist Studies program since 1995.

 

Hindi Language

Upma Dixit received a B.A. in English (honors) and Political Science from the University of Rajasthan, Maharani College, Jaipur and an M.A. in English literature from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.  She

has taught as a member of the English faculty at the Gyan Vihar School of Engineering and Technology, and as an English and computer teacher at the Jaipuria Bal Vidyalaya, Jaipur.  Upma has been a Hindi language instructor in the Intermediate and Advanced Hindi Language Programs organized by the American Institute of Indian Studies for American university students in Jaipur.  She has taught Hindi language with the Antioch Buddhist Studies program since 2006.

 

Buddhist Meditation Traditions

Seminars in this course will be led by Robert Pryor, Program Director.  Please refer to the previous page for his background.

 

 

Teaching Assistant and Dorm Advisor

Marcus Woo received a BA in Religious Studies and Chinese/Tibetan Language and Literature from the University of Virginia.  While a student at UVA Marcus participated in the 2004 Antioch Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya.  After graduation he taught English to Tibetan high school students at the Huangnan Nationalities Teachers’ College, Amdo, Tibet.  Since his return he has worked as Vice President of the Willows Development Company and Treasurer of the Willows Foundation, a non-profit organization with the goal of benefiting humanity through environmental, social, and educational programs.  In 2009 he participated in the Rickshaw Run, an auto-rickshaw race across India that raised money for Maiti Nepal and Frank Water Projects. 

 

 

Vihar Manager

Wanda Weinberger received a BA, cum laude, in Religion from Tufts University.  At present she is completing her MA in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management at SIT Graduate Institute.  She holds dual citizenship in the United States and Belgium, and has worked in a variety of administrative positions on both sides of the Atlantic.  Wanda was a participant in the 1993 Antioch program in Bodh Gaya, and has returned to India several times to follow her interests in Buddhism and South Asian studies.  In 2003 she completed her training as a Yoga teacher in an intensive program with Yoga Arts, Byron Bay, Australia.  Wanda served as the Teaching Assistant and Dorm Advisor for the Antioch program in 2000 & 2001, and from 2006-2008 she returned to the program as the Vihar Manager.

Meditation Faculty

   

Vipassana

U Hla Myint was born and educated in Myanmar (Burma).  He became a novice monk at the age of ten and a fully ordained bhikkhu at twenty.  After completing the traditional academic training for monks in Burma he practiced Vipassana meditation at the Mahasi Thathana Meditation Center in Yangon (Rangoon).  He then taught Vipassana under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita at this center where he was especially helpful to foreign meditators.  After twenty-two years as a monk U Hla Myint became a householder, and now has a wife and two children.  He lives in Pyin Oo Lwin near Mandalay in the Shan Hills where he primarily works on translation projects for Sayadaw U Pandita.  U Hla Myint also spends some of his time assisting Sayadaw U Pandita at Panditarama Meditation Center near Rangoon. 

                                                                                                               

 

Zen

Ekai Korematsu Osho was born and raised in Japan, but began his formal Zen practice while a university student in California where he was affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center.  In 1979 he returned to Japan for formal monastic training at Eiheiji the principal Soto Zen monastery.  Returning to America in 1983 he founded Kojin-an which later became the Oakland Zen Center.  At the request of his teacher Narasaki Roshi he returned to Japan in 1987 to become the director of an International Zen monastery, Shogoji, in Kyushu.  From 1994 to 1996 he was again at Eiheiji, and was also the Practice Director at Zuigakuin Temple in Yamanashi Prefecture.  At present he lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he is the founder and spiritual director of Jikishoan Zen Buddhist Community. 

 

Vajrayana

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche is the abbot of Ka Nying Shedrup Ling Monastery and the founder of Rangjung Yeshe Institute, a college for Buddhist Studies in Boudhanath, Nepal.  Born in Tibet and educated at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim under the guidance of H.H. Karmapa, he is the holder of Drikung Kagyu and Nyingma lineages.  Rinpoche is a scholar and master of both Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice.  He has taught meditation and philosophy to many Western students, while also super­vising a large shedra or traditional monastic training center in Nepal.  He regularly teaches in Europe and North America where he has meditation centers in Denmark, Germany, and California.  Rinpoche is the author of several books including The Union of Dzogchen and Mahamudra, Indisputable Truth and Present Fresh Wakefulness.