Anne C. Klein
Encyclopedia
Anne Carolyn Klein is Professor of Religious Studies
at Rice University
in Houston, Texas
and founding director and resident teacher at Dawn Mountain, a Tibet
an temple, community center
and research institute
.
She specializes in Buddhist thought and practice, Tibetan philosophical texts, Tibetan language
, Contemplative Studies and Women's studies
. Her six books explore the nature of perception, consciousness and mystic
experience as understood from a variety of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist
traditions. She is currently researching the type of knowing unique to the body and the body’s role in contemplative practice.
in New Jersey
in 1971 , and began studying and practicing under Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche of Kathmandu in 1973, and receiving teaching authorization from him in 1995. She has studied extensively with a number of prominent Geluk and Dzogchen
teachers in India
, Nepal
and the United States
, including Lama Gonpo Tseten
.
Dawn Mountain, co-founded with Harvey Aronson, offers a blend of traditional Tibetan Buddhist learning and practice, as well as supportive practices and cross-cultural reflection. It thus seeks to be a bridge for modern Western students seeking to understand and genuinely engage in Buddhist teachings.
In her dharma
teaching, Klein emphasizes the need for embodiment in meditation practice and for an awareness that encompasses cultural as well as personal insights. Since 1998 she has been developing and leading Buddhism in the Body workshops with Phyllis Pay. These have been offered in Berkeley
, Houston, Esalen Institute
, and Arizona
.
) cum laude with Highest Honors in English, Anne Klein earned her M.A. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
and her PhD
in Religious/Tibetan Studies from the University of Virginia
. Following this she was awarded a Teaching and Research postdoctoral position
at Harvard Divinity School
as a Research Associate
in Women's Studies and the History of Religion. It was here that she began work on what became her book Meeting the Great Bliss Queen, putting the significance and symbolism of Yeshe Tsogyal
, a female Buddha renowned throughout Tibet, in conversation with contemporary western and feminist concerns.
Anne Klein has received National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH) translation grants and an American Council of Learned Societies
(ACLS) Contemplative Studies grant. She is currently a recipient of a Ford Foundation
grant under the rubric of Buddhism, Self and Gender: Traditional Buddhism and Modern Western Culture, A Living Dialogue.
She is on the Board of Directors
of Ligmincha Institute, an international community for the study and preservation of Bon Buddhism founded by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
. She is also on the Board of Asia Society
, Houston.
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
at Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and founding director and resident teacher at Dawn Mountain, a Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an temple, community center
Community centre
Community centres or community centers or jumping recreation centers are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole community or for a specialised group within...
and research institute
Research institute
A research institute is an establishment endowed for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research...
.
She specializes in Buddhist thought and practice, Tibetan philosophical texts, Tibetan language
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
, Contemplative Studies and Women's studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
. Her six books explore the nature of perception, consciousness and mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
experience as understood from a variety of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
traditions. She is currently researching the type of knowing unique to the body and the body’s role in contemplative practice.
Buddhism teaching
Anne Klein has been a practicing Buddhist and student of Buddhist thought since 1971, when she studied with Kensur Ngawang Lekden, the last Abbot of the Tantric College of Lower Lhasa. She then met Geshe WangyalGeshe Wangyal
Ngawang Wangyal , popularly known as "Geshe Wangyal," was a Buddhist priest and scholar of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Astrakhan province in southeast Russia sometime in 1901....
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in 1971 , and began studying and practicing under Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche of Kathmandu in 1973, and receiving teaching authorization from him in 1995. She has studied extensively with a number of prominent Geluk and Dzogchen
Dzogchen
According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
teachers in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including Lama Gonpo Tseten
Lama Gonpo Tseten
Gonpo Tseten Rinpoche, , Dzogchen master, author, painter, sculptor, and teacher of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.-Biography:...
.
Dawn Mountain, co-founded with Harvey Aronson, offers a blend of traditional Tibetan Buddhist learning and practice, as well as supportive practices and cross-cultural reflection. It thus seeks to be a bridge for modern Western students seeking to understand and genuinely engage in Buddhist teachings.
In her dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
teaching, Klein emphasizes the need for embodiment in meditation practice and for an awareness that encompasses cultural as well as personal insights. Since 1998 she has been developing and leading Buddhism in the Body workshops with Phyllis Pay. These have been offered in Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, Houston, Esalen Institute
Esalen Institute
Esalen Institute is a residential community and retreat in Big Sur, California, which focuses upon humanistic alternative education. Esalen is a nonprofit organization devoted to activites such as meditation, massage, Gestalt, yoga, psychology, ecology, and spirituality...
, and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
Education, honors & boards
After graduating from Harpur College (now Binghamton UniversityBinghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
) cum laude with Highest Honors in English, Anne Klein earned her M.A. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
and her PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in Religious/Tibetan Studies from the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. Following this she was awarded a Teaching and Research postdoctoral position
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral research is scholarly research conducted by a person who has recently completed doctoral studies, normally within the previous five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including acquiring novel skills and methods...
at Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...
as a Research Associate
Research associate
The title of research associate is used to denote an academic research position at a university or similar institution. A research associate usually conducts research under the supervision of a principal investigator. In contrast to a research assistant or research officer, a research associate...
in Women's Studies and the History of Religion. It was here that she began work on what became her book Meeting the Great Bliss Queen, putting the significance and symbolism of Yeshe Tsogyal
Yeshe Tsogyal
Yeshe Tsogyal , was the consort of the great Indian tantric teacher Padmasambhava, the founder-figure of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Nyingma tradition considers her equal in realization to Padmasambhava himself. The meditational practices related to her, stress her enlightened...
, a female Buddha renowned throughout Tibet, in conversation with contemporary western and feminist concerns.
Anne Klein has received National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
(NEH) translation grants and an American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
(ACLS) Contemplative Studies grant. She is currently a recipient of a Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
grant under the rubric of Buddhism, Self and Gender: Traditional Buddhism and Modern Western Culture, A Living Dialogue.
She is on the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of Ligmincha Institute, an international community for the study and preservation of Bon Buddhism founded by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is a teacher of the Bon Tibetan religious tradition. He is founder and director of the Ligmincha Institute and several centers named Chamma Ling, organizations dedicated to the study and practice of the teachings of the Bon tradition.-Life:Tenzin Wangyal's parents fled the...
. She is also on the Board of Asia Society
Asia Society
The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States and around the world Hong Kong, Manila, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, and Melbourne...
, Houston.
Books
- Heart Essence, The Vast Expanse: A Story of Transmission (Snow Lion PublicationsSnow Lion PublicationsSnow Lion Publications is a book publisher established in 1980 in Ithaca, New York. It is devoted to the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist culture. It is the largest press devoted to Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, printing over one million copies, and distributing over 650 titles published by other...
2010) - Unbounded Wholeness: Dzogchen, Bon and the Logic of the Nonconceptual (Oxford University 2006)
- Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists, and the Art of the Self (Beacon PressBeacon PressBeacon Press is an American non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association.Beacon Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses....
1996) - Path to the Middle: Oral Madhyamaka Philosophy in Tibet: The Spoken Scholarship of Kensur Yeshey Tupden (State University of New YorkState University of New YorkThe State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
Press 1994) - Knowing, Naming, and Negation: A Sourcebook on Tibetan Sautrantika (Snow Lion Publications 1991)
- Knowledge and Liberation: Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology in Support of Transformative Religious Experience (Snow Lion Publications 1987)
Select authored articles
- "He, She, God, and Me" in: Religion: A Search for Meaning. Ed. Margaret C. Huff and Ann K. Wetherilt. McGraw-Hill CompaniesMcGraw-HillThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
, Inc. 2005. - “Womb of the Sky Woman: Symbols and Significance of the Dakini in Tibet”, Chakra-tidskrift för indiska religioner [Chakra: Journal for Indian religions] 1.1 (2004)
- “Orality in Tibet” in: Oral Tradition 18.1 (2003)
- “Finding a Self: Buddhist and Feminist Perspectives” in: Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology. Ed. Charles Taliaferro and Paul GriffithsPaul J. GriffithsPaul J. Griffiths is the Warren Professor of Catholic Thought at Duke University.Griffiths has previously held appointments at the University of Notre Dame, University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago...
. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies, Blackwell PublishingBlackwell PublishingWiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley's Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing, after Wiley took over Blackwell Publishing in...
, 2003. 329-344. - "Unbounded Functionality: A Modest rDzogs-chen Rejection of the Classic `don byed nus pa Criterion" in Religion and Culture, in:Tibet: Tibetan Studies II. Proceedings of the International Association of Tibetan Studies in Leiden. Ed. Henk Blezer. 2002. 345-364.
- "On Love and Work: A Vow of Wholeness, in Writing" in: Hypatia: A Journal of Women and Philosophy: Special Issue on Love and Work 17.2 (2002)
- “Bon Dzogchen on Authenticity: Prose. Poetry and the Path” in Changing Minds: Contributions to the Study of Buddhism and Tibet in Honor of Jeffrey Hopkins. Ithaca: Snow Lion Press, 2001. 133-153.
- "Assorted Topics of the Great Completeness" translation and introduction for Tantra in Practice. Ed. David White. Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
, 2000. 557-572. - “Authenticity, Effortlessness. Delusion and Spontaneity in The Authenticity of Open Awareness and Related Texts" in New Horizons in Bon Studies. Ed. Y. Nagano and S. Karmay. Ethnographic Museum, Osaka, JapanOsakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, 2000. 193-223.