Flavio Geisshuesler | |
---|---|
Born | Flavio Alessio Geisshüsler |
Nationality | Swiss and Italian |
Occupation | Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney |
Academic background | |
Education | University of Lausanne (2008, B.A.) University of Virginia (2013, M.A.) HEC Paris (2025, EMBA) |
Alma mater | University of Bern (2018) University of Virginia (2019) |
Thesis | Prisons of Freedom: An Interdisciplinary Study of Contemplative Practices in Great Perfection Buddhism (2019) |
Academic advisors | David Germano Kurtis Schaeffer Peter W. Ochs |
Academic work | |
Discipline | History of Religions |
Sub-discipline | Indo-Tibetan Buddhism Theory in religious studies European intellectual history |
Main interests | Meditation research Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism |
Website | www |
Flavio Alessio Geisshuesler is a Swiss-Italian academic and writer. As historian of religions,he specializes in the study of meditation and other contemplative practices in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.
Geisshuesler spent his childhood in Zürich,Switzerland. He graduated with a B.A. from the University of Lausanne in 2008,where he majored in religious studies,focusing on Judaism and Indian religions,while studying Biblical Hebrew,Hindi,and Tibetan. In 2013,he obtained an received an M.A. from the University of Virginia. [1] [2] Afterwards,he earned two PhDs,one from the University of Bern [3] in 2018 and another from the University of Virginia in 2019. [4]
His 2018 doctoral dissertation,defended at the University of Bern,is titled Crisis and Critique in the History of Religions:Ernesto de Martino (1908-1965) in Italy and Beyond. [5] In 2019,he also defended a second doctoral disseration,Prisons of Freedom:An Interdisciplinary Study of Contemplative Practices in Great Perfection Buddhism,at the University of Virginia. [6] As part of his research,he also spent several years living and studying in various parts of Asia,particularly in the Himalayan regions of India and Nepal. [7]
In 2021,he published a monograph on the life and work of Ernesto de Martino. [8] [9] The research project is based on 18 months of archival work in Rome,which was financed by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. [9] Geisshuesler also wrote a book on Tibetan sky-gazing meditation in the Dzogchen tradition,which is based on his doctoral dissertation and further expanded during his postdoctoral research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. [7] [10] The fieldwork in Nepal was funded by a Fulbright–Hays Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship. [11] His postdoctoral position in Israel was funded by fellowships from the Khyentse Foundation (2019-21), [12] the Lady Davis Foundation (2020-21), [13] the Azrieli Foundation (2021-23), [14] [15] and the Mandel Scholion Research Center (2021-24). [16]
Throughout his career,has also taught courses at several universities,including the University of Virginia, [17] [18] the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,the University of Bern, [19] the University of Fribourg in 2021, [20] the University of Basel in 2022, [21] and the Sapienza University of Rome in 2023. [22]
Bilingual in German and Italian,he has mastered English,French,Spanish,Hebrew,Tibetan,Nepali,Hindi,Urdu,and Persian. He also reads Sanskrit,Tibetan,Pali,Biblical Hebrew,and Russian. [12] [23]
In 2023,he was appointed as KF-Macready Senior Lecturer in Tibetan Buddhism at the University of Sydney. [24] [12]
Geisshuesler's primary research centers on the contemplative traditions of India,Tibet,and the wider Himalayas,particularly the Dzogchen or Great Perfection tradition. His most recent publication offers the first comprehensive English-speaking introduction to the Tibetan sky-gazing practice. The book's most important argument is that the Great Perfection was originally a pre-Buddhist indigenous Tibetan tradition that emerged in close contact with the early Bön tradition. He argues that Dzogchen once belonged to a shamanic cult centered on the quest for vitality,which involved the worship of the sky as primordial source of life and endorsed the hunting of animals,as they were believed to be endowed with the ability to move in between the divine realm of the heavens and the world of humans. The book also traces the historical development of the Great Perfection,delineating a process of buddhicization that started with the introduction of Buddhism during the time of the Tibetan Empire,intensified with the rise of new schools in the 11th century,and reached its climax in the systematization of the teachings by the great scholar-yogi Longchenpa in the 14th century. [7]
Geisshuesler also published about other subjects,such as the Italian anthropologist and historian of religion Ernesto de Martino, [25] [26] the methodology of the cognitive science of religion,or the connection between collective trauma and the historical development of contemplative traditions. [27] [28] [29]
Selected articles by Geisshuesler include: [16] [30]
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal. Smaller groups of practitioners can be found in Central Asia, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and some regions of Russia, such as Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia.
Longchen Rabjam Drimé Özer, commonly abbreviated to Longchenpa was a Tibetan scholar-yogi of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. According to tibetologist David Germano, Longchenpa's work led to the dominance of the Longchen Nyingthig lineage of Dzogchen over the other Dzogchen traditions. He is also responsible for the scholastic systematization of Dzogchen thought within the context of the wider Tibetan Vajrayana tradition of philosophy which was highly developed at the time among the Sarma schools. Germano also notes that Longchenpa's work is "generally taken to be the definitive expression of the Great Perfection with its precise terminological distinctions, systematic scope, and integration with the normative Buddhist scholasticism that became dominant in Tibet during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries."
Dzogchen, also known as atiyoga, is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Yungdrung Bon aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. The primordial ground is said to have the qualities of purity, spontaneity and compassion. The goal of Dzogchen is knowledge of this basis, this knowledge is called rigpa. There are numerous spiritual practices taught in the various Dzogchen systems for awakening rigpa.
Bon or Bön, also known as Yungdrung Bon, is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but retains elements from earlier Tibetan religious traditions. Bon is a significant minority religion in Tibet, especially in the east, as well as in the surrounding Himalayan regions.
The Rimé movement is a movement or tendency in Tibetan Buddhism which promotes non-sectarianism and universalism. Teachers from all branches of Tibetan Buddhism – Sakya, Kagyu, Nyingma, Jonang, Gelug, and Bon – have been involved in the promoting Rimé ideals.
Nyingma, often referred to as Ngangyur, is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the eighth century, during the reign of King Trisong Detsen.
Surya Das is an American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He is a poet, chantmaster, spiritual activist, author of many popular works on Buddhism, meditation teacher and spokesperson for Buddhism in the West. He has long been involved in charitable relief projects in the developing world and in interfaith dialogue.
Jamgön Ju Mipham Gyatso, or Mipham Jamyang Namgyal Gyamtso (1846–1912) was a very influential philosopher and polymath of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He wrote over 32 volumes on topics such as painting, poetics, sculpture, alchemy, medicine, logic, philosophy and tantra. Mipham's works are still central to the scholastic curriculum in Nyingma monasteries today. Mipham is also considered one of the leading figures in the Rimé (non-sectarian) movement in Tibet.
Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798) was a Tibetan tertön of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the promulgator of the Longchen Nyingthig, the Heart Essence teachings of Longchenpa, from whom, according to tradition, he received a vision in which the teachings were revealed. The Longchen Nyingthik eventually became the most famous and widely practiced cycle of Dzogchen teachings.
Ernesto de Martino was an Italian anthropologist, philosopher and historian of religions. He studied with Benedetto Croce and Adolfo Omodeo, and did field research with Diego Carpitella into the funeral rituals of Lucania and tarantism.
Dark retreat is a spiritual retreat in a space that is completely absent of light, which is an advanced practice of Tibetan Buddhism and Bön.
Longchen Nyingthig is a terma, revealed scripture, of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, which gives a systematic explanation of Dzogchen. It was revealed by Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798).
Bruce Alan Wallace is an American author and expert on Tibetan Buddhism. His books discuss Eastern and Western scientific, philosophical, and contemplative modes of inquiry, often focusing on the relationships between science and Buddhism. He is founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.
Anne Carolyn Klein is an American Tibetologist who is a professor of Religious Studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas and co-founding director and resident teacher at Dawn Mountain, a Tibetan temple, community center and research institute.
In Dzogchen, sky gazing is one of the core practices of trekchö as well as tögal. It is part of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon. Detailed instructions on the practice are provided by the Nyingma teacher Tarthang Tulku, among others. The result of the practice is the rainbow body.
The Seventeen Tantras of the Esoteric Instruction Series or the Seventeen tantras of the Ancients are an important collection of tantras in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. They comprise the core scriptures of the "esoteric instruction series" (Menngagde) of Dzogchen teachings and are its most authoritative scriptures.
David Francis Germano is an American Tibetologist and Professor of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia (UVa), the largest Tibetan Studies program in the Americas, where he has taught and researched since 1992. With dual appointments in the School of Nursing and the Department of Religious Studies, Germano currently oversees the work of over twenty graduate students. He is on the board of the International Association of Tibetan Studies and is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies (JIATS), a leading journal of Tibetology. In 2000, he founded the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, a digital initiative for collaborative building of knowledge on the region, which he continues to lead as Director. Since 2008 he has also been the co-director of the UVa Tibet Center. More recently, Germano acted as the founding director of SHANTI at the UVa. Since 2011, Germano has also played a leading role in organizing the University of Virginia's Contemplative Sciences Center, which he currently directs.
In Dzogchen, tögal literally means "crossing the peak." It is sometimes translated as 'leapover,' 'direct crossing,' or 'direct transcendence.' Tögal is also called "the practice of vision," or "the practice of the Clear Light" (od-gsal).
Dzogchen practice refers to the various contemplative practices which are part of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions of Dzogchen. Dzogchen contemplation or meditation relies on having the proper Dzogchen view, which, according to Tibetan Dzogchen teacher Namkhai Norbu, is not an intellectual view, but a "direct, non-dual, non-conceptual knowledge" of fundamentally pure absolute nature which has become veiled by dualistic conditioning. In Dzogchen, one achieves this view through one's relationship with a guru or lama who introduces one to our own primordial state and provides instruction on how to practice. This "direct introduction" and transmission from a Dzogchen master is considered absolutely essential.
Dzogchen, also known as atiyoga, is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. The primordial ground is said to have the qualities of purity, spontaneity and compassion. The goal of Dzogchen is knowledge of this basis, this knowledge is called rigpa. There are numerous spiritual practices taught in the various Dzogchen systems for recognizing rigpa.
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