About

Tsadra Foundation

Advancing the combined study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism

Tsadra Foundation is a privately funded nonprofit trust established in New York City in 2000. Contributing to the ongoing development of wisdom and compassion, we provide vital funding for the combined study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

Tsadra Foundation recognizes the historic importance of preserving and disseminating the enormous corpus of Tibetan Buddhist literature. Since its inception in 2000, Tsadra has supported many monastery-based and independent Tibetan publishers in their crucial work of reproducing and distributing important texts from all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Over the years, this activity has produced hundreds of Tibetan texts in both print and digital form. The DharmaCloud library presents texts selected from the catalogs of our partner publishers and offers them for free download. Tsadra Foundation is delighted to present this collaborative project to the Tibetan community as well as to the international Buddhist world.

The DharmaCloud website was initially conceived as “Timeless Treasuries” in 2013, when Eric Colombel, Sean Price, and Rafael Ortet of Tsadra Foundation proposed an initiative to our partner publishers: a digital space for sharing Tibetan publications with a wide audience and promoting the activities of our partners. Their enthusiastic response inspired us. The first functional prototype was developed with the active involvement and support of Khenpo Sherab Gyaltsen and Acharya Choying Gyurme of the Jamgön Kongtrul Labrang in Nepal, who provided a wealth of advice for properly formatting, structuring, and styling the texts. The library rapidly expanded with the contributions of Shechen Monastery, Vajra Vidya Institute, and other publishers who also offered numerous suggestions to enhance the content of the site. The DharmaCloud website could not have seen the light of day without the participation of so many dedicated individuals.

This site is dedicated to the activity of the monasteries and publishers who, with tenacious altruism, are working to maintain the vitality of their traditions for the benefit of future generations. We invite you to explore the DharmaCloud library and download the texts—all available for free—and to stay tuned for the regular additions of forthcoming titles. We also invite you to learn more about the current projects of our Tibetan partners and to consider supporting their publishing activities with your donation.

Sean Price

Director of Tibetan Publications

Sean Price became a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in 1994 and has since studied at various monastic institutes in India and Nepal; he has resided at Shechen Monastery, Nepal, since 1999. He has translated numerous Mahamudra and Dzogchen texts and has worked at the Tsadra Foundation as Director of Tibetan Publications since 2009.

Tsadra Resources

Tsadra Bilingual Library

This app merges all the Tsadra Foundation apps into a single library bringing a new design and navigation. The app provides access to two collections of Tibetan texts: The Treasury of Knowledge, and The Five Treatises of Maitreya. It also includes a free edition of the Madhyantavibhanga Course, as well as a collection of free Tibetan texts beautifully crafted.

Buddha-Nature

The purpose of this multimedia website is to provide a resource hub for trustworthy information for learning about and teaching the “third turning” concept of buddha-nature, its associated texts, teachings, lineages, and relevant Buddhist ideas. This site includes educational materials, video and audio teachings and interviews, translations, articles, reviews, and suggested readings for those who wish to learn more about the traditional Tibetan teachings on buddha-nature.

Digital Catalogs

This catalog presents the eighteen volumes of Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of Precious Instructions: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet. Through this collection Jamgön Kongtrul and Khyentse Wangpo encouraged respect for the principal transmission lineages of practice that came from India. The catalog includes detailed information about each text such as size, location, lists of people associated with each text, lineage data, lists of translations available, and comparisons with previous catalogs.
This catalog presents information about each of the texts in the 72-volume Shechen Edition of the Rinchen Terdzö Chenmo, The Great Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings. This unique collection, the largest of the five treasuries that Jamgon Kongtrul the Great compiled throughout his life, is comprised of many Rediscovered Teachings (gter ma) from various traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

Advanced Tibetan Buddhist Scholarships

Advanced Buddhist Studies Scholarships

Providing Western Buddhists with an opportunity for in-depth study of Buddhist philosophical literature. The Foundation offers 3-year scholarships for those with an intermediate proficiency in Tibetan to study in Tibetan at Tibetan Buddhist institutes in India and Nepal.

Advanced Contemplative Scholarships

Offering Western practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism an opportunity to pursue long-term contemplative training. These scholarships are available to individuals who have been accepted into a traditional 3-year retreat and to three-year retreat graduates wishing to undertake solitary retreat for a year or longer.