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Lara E. Braitstein

Academic title(s): 

Associate Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism

Chair, B.A. Committee

Lara E. Braitstein
Contact Information
Address: 

3520 University Street, Room 301
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 2A7, Canada

Phone: 
514-398-6027
Fax number: 
514-398-6665
Email address: 
lara.braitstein [at] mcgill.ca
Degree(s): 

M.A.,聽Ph.D. (涩里番)

Specialization: 

Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist聽Philosophy, Buddhist Hagiography, and聽Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhist literature聽and historiography

Biography: 

My areas of research interest include South Asian and Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhist literature and historiography and my current research revolves around the life of the 10thShamarpa Ch枚drup Gyatso (1742-1792), a Tibetan Lama who played a complex role in the fraught relations between Tibet, Nepal and China during the late 18th century. My published work includes Saraha鈥檚 Adamantine Songs (2014), a translation and literary analysis of a set of three long esoteric poems composed in the 9th century, and I was also the translator and editor of Shamar Rinpoche鈥檚 book Path to Awakening (2009 and 2011). In addition to introductory courses on Buddhism, Buddhist thought and Buddhist Studies, I teach courses on Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist poetry, and Indian and Tibetan Buddhist tantric traditions. From 2013-18, I was Principal of the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (New Delhi), where I helped to oversee and implement a curricular transformation that integrates academic and traditional Tibetan methods of teaching and learning. I have been a regular visiting professor at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute (Kathmandu), and in 2018 I was the UBEF Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Sydney. My research has been supported by SSHRC (2008-11) and Bukky艒 Dend艒 Ky艒kai (2009), and I am a member of the FRQSC funded research group Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire sur le Tibet et l鈥橦imalaya (GRITH), an initiative that brings together academics in Qu茅bec carrying out research about the greater Himalayan region ().

Courses: 

  • RELG 264. Introductory Tibetan 1.

    Credits: 3
    Offered by: Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts)
    This course is not offered this catalogue year.

    Description

    An introduction to the language of Classical Tibetan, specifically Tibetan script and basic grammar.
    • Fall

    Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

  • Course information not available.

  • RELG 344. Mahayana Buddhism.

    Credits: 3
    Offered by: Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts)
    This course is not offered this catalogue year.

    Description

    Investigation of Mahayana schools of thought based on reading of key sutras and commentarial literature.
    • Fall
    • Prerequisites: RELG 252 or RELG 253.

    Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

  • RELG 369. Tibetan Buddhism.

    Credits: 3
    Offered by: Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts)
    This course is not offered this catalogue year.

    Description

    Buddhism has been central to Tibetan culture and identity since the 7th century CE. This course introduces key aspects of the history and practices of Tibetan Buddhism, including: early history, political and sectarian developments, the spread of Tibetan Buddhism outside of Tibet, and the myth of "Shangri-La".
    • Due to the intensive nature of this course, the standard add/drop and withdrawal deadlines do not apply. Add/drop is the second lecture day and withdrawal is the fifth lecture day.
    • This course is expected to be offered every 3 years
    • Winter
    • Prerequisite(s): RELG 252 or RELG 253

    Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

  • RELG 453. Vajrayana Buddhism.

    Credits: 3
    Offered by: Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts)
    This course is not offered this catalogue year.

    Description

    A study of Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism, approached predominantly through the genre of life writing/sacred biography.
    • Prerequisite: RELG 344.
    • Prerequisite: RELG 344.

    Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

  • RELG 464. Advanced Tibetan 1.

    Credits: 3
    Offered by: Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts)
    This course is not offered this catalogue year.

    Description

    Translation of specially selected Tibetan texts.
    • Fall
    • Prerequisite: RELG 365 or permission of instructor.

    Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

  • RELG 558. Indian Tantric Traditions.

    Credits: 3
    Offered by: Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts)
    This course is not offered this catalogue year.

    Description

    Study of esoteric Tantric culture (philosophy, ritual, pilgrimage, art, and iconography) with focus on either Hindu or Buddhist Tantric traditions.
    • Prerequisites: Any two 300-level courses in Hinduism or Buddhism.
    • Prerequisites: Any two 300-level courses in Hinduism or Buddhism.

    Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

  • RELG 560. Buddhist Poetry.

    Credits: 3
    Offered by: Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts)
    This course is not offered this catalogue year.

    Description

    Since the time of Buddha, poetry has been used by Buddhist to express devotion, to compose philosophical treatises, and to communicate insight into the experience of awakening. The seminar's content will vary, treating the history, poetics, esthetics, roles and genres of Buddhist poetry in India, Tibet, China and Japan.
    • Prerequisite (s): RELG 252 or RELG 253 or RELG 344 or permission of the instructor
    • This course is expected to be offered every 3 years
    • Readings will be English translations of the original texts

    Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

Current research: 
  • Recovering the Red Crown: a study of the 10th Shamarpa Chodrup Gyatso (SSHRC funded)
Selected publications: 
  • Boundless Wisdom: a Mahamudra Practice Manual.. (English language editor). Author: Shamar Rinpoche. General editor: Tina Draszczyk. Lexington: Bird of Paradise Press, 2018.
  • Les Chants Adamantins: 茅tude, traduction, et 茅dition critique tib茅tain. Franqueville (France): 脡ditions Rabsel (a translation The Adamantine Songs), 2017.
  • The King of Prayers: A Commentary on The Noble King of Prayers of Excellent Conduct (co-editor and co-translator). Author: Shamar Rinpoche. Lexington: Bird of Paradise Press, 2015.
  • The Adamantine Songs (Vajragiti): Study, Translation, and Tibetan Critical Edition. American Institute of Buddhist Studies, Columbia University Press, 2014
  • The Path to Awakening: a Commentary on Ja Chekawa Yeshe Dorje鈥檚 Seven Points of Mind Training, (editor and translator). American edition. Author: Shamar Rinpoche. Harrison, New York: Delphinium Books, 2014
  • The Path to Awakening: a Commentary on Ja Chekawa Yeshe Dorje鈥檚 Seven Points of Mind Training, (editor and translator). Author: Shamar Rinpoche. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass This book was translated into Spanish (El Camino al Despertar, 2011), German (Lojong: Der buddhistische Weg zu Mitgef眉hl und Weisheit, 2010), and French (Lo Djong: la Voie vers l鈥櫭塿eil, 2010). 2009, 2011 (second edition).
Graduate supervision: 

Current Ph.D.:

Gurung, Chulthim (co-supervisor Professor Thupten Jinpa; working on Abhidharma)

Jones, Ryan (working on concepts of lineage and the history of Surmang monastery)

Moevus, Adrien (working on Ati艣a鈥檚 poetry)

Perks, Matilda (working on Ch枚gyam Trungpa Rinpoche鈥檚 Tibetan poetry)

Troughton, Tom (co-supervisor Professor Thupten Jinpa; working on the place of Chenrezi in Tibet鈥檚 foundational mythography).

Ph.D. Completed:

Stenzel, Julia (2018) (co-supervisor Prof. Thupten Jinpa): The Buddhist Roots of Secular Compassion Training. A Comparative Study of Indian and Tibetan Mah膩y膩na Sources with the Contemporary Program of Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT)

M.A. Current:

Tahereh Tavakkoli (working on a comparative study of compassionate violence in Buddhism and Islam)

M.A. Completed:

Moevus, Adrien (M.A. granted 2019), To Be Tantric or Not to Be: An evaluation of themodern scholarly debate on Maitr墨pa鈥檚 Mah膩mudr膩 and a textual analysis of his Amanasik膩ra cycle.

Perks, Matilda (M.A. granted 2019), The skylark鈥檚 song: Tibetan literary and religious themes in Ch枚gyam Trungpa鈥檚 English Poetry.

Divall, Jennifer (M.A. granted October 2014), Songs of a wandering yogi: mgur as a distinctly Tibetan genre in the verse of Godrakpa.

Temprano, Victor. (M.A. granted February 2013), The scholar and the sage: Sallie B. King, David Loy, and Th铆ch Nh岷 H岷h.

Samuelson, Anna. (M.A. granted May 2012), He dances, she shakes: the possessed mood of nonduality in Buddhist tantric sex.

Young, Elena. (M.A. granted 2011), The Boundaries of Identity: The 14th Dalai Lama, Nationalism, and 芦Ris med禄 ("non-sectarian") Identity in the Tibetan Diaspora.

Dickson, Alnis (M.A. granted February 2010), Organizing religion: situating the three-vow texts of the Tibetan Buddhist renaissance.

Troughton, Tom (M.A. granted October, 2008), Tibetan Mind Training: Tradition and Genre (co-supervised with Prof. Thupten Jinpa).

Stenzel, Julia (M.A. granted May 2008), Saraha and the Mah膩mudr膩 Tradition (from University of the West).

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