Rice Seedling Sutra

Rice Seedling Sutra Teaching and Q&A

The UChicago Buddhist Association warmly welcomes our university community to attend a teaching on the Rice Seedling Sutra with visiting Tibetan scholar, Khentrul Jurmey Dorje, supported by the Buddhist Studies Club.

The Rice Seedling Sutra (Skt. Śālistamba-sūtra; Tib. སཱ་ལུའི་ལྗང་པའི་མདོ་) is a key text in the Buddhist tradition expounding tendrel, or interdependent origination/arising/causation (Skt. pratītyasamutpāda; Tib. རྟེན་འབྲེལ་). In the sutra, the future Buddha Maitreya uses the image of the developing seedling in a way that helps us deepen our understanding of the nature of causality, of appearances, of karma, of the self, and of the ethical and ecological implications of all our actions and beliefs. Though an exploration of the spirit of tendrel as it informs a range of Tibetan cultural practices, Khentrul Jurme Dorje (Special Visiting Prof. at Gifu Women’s University in Tokyo, Japan) will give a teaching on the meaning of this text from the perspective of the Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma tradition.

About Khentrul Jurme Dorje
Distinguished Visiting Associate Professor, Gifu University
Since 2010, Khentrul Jurme Dorje, has been visiting Japan and giving teachings at The Tibetan Himalayan Cultural Center and Japan Samyechoe Khorling.

From 1988 to 1991, he was a student at Larung Gar Institute. In 1994, he joined Ngagyur Nyingma College, where he studied the Sutras and Tantras and the five main texts: Logic, Madhyamika, Prajnaparamita, Abhidharma, and Vinaya. Khentrul also studied Buddhist poetry and art. In 2002, he obtained a Bachelor of Sutra Studies from Ngagyur Nyingma College. Thereafter, Khentrul’s studies focused on Mahayoga and other tantric texts. In 2004, after two years of intensive study, he earned his Vidyadhara degree. From 1999 to 2002, he served as a teaching assistant (skyor-dpon) and, from 2003-2009, was a teacher at Nyingma College. He was also in charge of editing and publishing the first issue of the Journal called “The Eastern Sun”, compiled a Pilgrim’s Guide, and published several works of the great Khenpo Tsewang Rigzin of Mindroling Nyingma College. In 2010, he gave teachings in Nepal at Zhalpa Monastery and obtained the degree of Khenpo from Ngagyur Nyingma College. On the occasion of the great Nyingma prayer in Bodhgaya that same year, he composed the Memoirs of the Lord of Dharma, the great Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, the Wish-fulfiller.

Over the two years that followed, Khentrul taught at Ngagyur Nyingma College and headed the Examinations Supervisory Committee. In 2013, while studying English at Sarnath International Nyingma Institute, he was also a proofreader. At that time, Khentrul also aided in the transcription of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s recorded teaching entitled The Drum of Heaven: A timely advice.

On April 11, 2023, in recognition of his scholarly contributions to the study and understanding of Buddhism, he was awarded the title of Associate Professor by Gifu University of Japan. Khentrul is also a permanent member of the Nationwide Association of Non-Sectarian Buddhists in India.

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