Description:

The The Khyentse Foundation Buddhist Studies Lecture Series at Northwestern is pleased to host our own Dr. Carmen Simioli and Khenpo Yeshi for two back-to-back talks on their current studies in the field of Tibetan Buddhism. Dr. Simioli will present: "Between Buddhism and Medicine: Tracing the History of Theriac Recipes (dar ya kan) in Tibetan Medical and Alchemical Sources of the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Centuries." Khenpo Yeshi will present: "Interpreting the End: Zhang nyi ma 'bum on the Result of Great Perfection Practice."

Carmen Simioli is a postdoc researcher at “L’Orientale” University of Naples, where she completed her PhD in Indological and Tibetological studies in 2015. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the history and literature of Tibetan mercurial alchemy and iatrochemistry. From 2006 to 2008 she lived in Lhasa, where she concluded the two years course of Tibetan Language (Certificate of Advanced Knowledge of Modern Tibetan) at Tibet University (Xizang Daxue). She has served as interpreter for Tibetan lamas and doctors since 2011. Her research focuses on the historical interactions of Buddhism and medical traditions in Tibet. Her project intends to evaluate role of Buddhist tantric medicine in the development of Tibetan nosology and ritualised pharmacology. She is member and cofounder of the Italian Association of Tibetan, Himalayan and Mongolian Studies (AISTHiM).

Khenpo Yeshi was born in 1969 in Nakchu, Tibet, and walked across the Himalayas to India at the age of 20. There, he pursued his studies at several monasteries of the Geluk, Kagyu, and Nyingma schools. He completed a three-year retreat under Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and taught both monks and westerners at Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Kathmandu. In 2000, he moved to the United States, and received a B.A. in Religious Studies (2012), and an M.A. in South and Southeast Asian Studies (2017), both from UC Berkeley, where he is now a doctoral candidate. His research focuses on Tibetan Buddhism and the early development of the Dzogchen Heart Essence tradition. His interests revolve around this contemplative system’s view, path, conduct, and fruition, as well as broader issues in Dzogchen’s relationship with other traditions in Tibet and beyond.