Newport’s Sravasti Abbey to feature online Buddhist scholars series

This month, Sravasti Abbey in Newport, Washington, will be hosting an online series featuring prominent Buddhist scholars to honor the legacy of Jeffrey Hopkins, renowned Tibetologist and former interpreter for the Dalai Lama, who died on July 1.

Hopkins was a pioneering American scholar who significantly shaped Western understanding of Tibetan Buddhism – from an academic and philosophical standpoint – explained Gloria Chien, associate professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University. Chien met Hopkins numerous times before she moved to Spokane in 2017.

Hopkins served as the Dalai Lama’s chief English interpreter from 1979 to 1989, playing a crucial role in introducing the religious leader’s teachings to Western audiences. He authored more than 25 books, including the influential “Meditation on Emptiness,” and translated numerous works by key Tibetan Buddhist figures. He also served as professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, where he taught for more than three decades and founded programs in Buddhist and Tibetan studies.

Ven. Thubten Chonyi of Sravasti said despite this, Hopkins’ name may not be familiar to many.

“Unless you’re an academic, or unless you’re really into the ancient text of Tibetan Buddhism, his name may not mean much; but if you study even a little, you see how prominent he is. And regardless of whether you study very much, if anybody has studied at all, they are teaching in part because of what Jeffrey has brought to us,” she said.

The online event, “The Jeffrey Hopkins Legacy Series,” will run weekly on Sundays Sept. 15-Nov. 24. The lineup includes 11 speakers, all who are published authors and editors, and many who are translators. Many, Chonyi said, were students of Hopkins.

“It’s a good lecture series for people very into Tibetan philosophy,” Chien said.

According to Tricycle Magazine, some of the speakers are “the most esteemed academics in the field today,” including Donald Lopez of the University of Michigan, Anne C. Klein of Rice University and Georges Dreyfus of Williams College.

Sravasti founder Ven. Thubten Chodron will also deliver a talk for the series.

“I do think the biggest audience is going to be not just academics, but long-term students who are really interested in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, because that’s the major scene here,” Chonyi said. “But there’s much to be learned, I think, from dropping in.”

Many of the speakers have visited Sravasti before, either in person or virtually.

Chonyi said that Hopkins had a long history with the abbey, having visited the monastery twice in person, and also teaching the monastics privately via virtual sessions.

“It was a very personal, rich time of teaching,” she said. “You could see a practitioner who brought his whole life into his practice, his whole body into his practice, and he taught us actually how to read a text in a very slow and deep way, to evaluate and weigh the words much differently than we have in our western education. So he was a very, very precious teacher for us.”

Chien said she heard about Sravasti Abbey for the first time from Hopkins, when she dined with him once in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Chien also cited Hopkins as a profound influence.

“One day I hope I can be a Tibetan Buddhist scholar like him,” she said. “He set a high bar.”

Teachings will be offered on Zoom, allowing for limited interaction with the teachers. Teachings will also be streamed live on the Sravasti Abbey YouTube channel. For the Zoom link, visit the Sravasti Abbey website.