Vajranatha

John Myrdhin Reynolds, whose initiated name is Vajranatha (or Rigdzin Dorje Gonpo), was born in 1942 and is a scholar, linguist, author, translator, mystic and initiated ngagpa of the Nyingma school.

Reynolds has made a special study of Dzogchen and the tantras of Buddhism, both in their own context and in comparison with Gnosticism and other Western mystical traditions. This has resulted in Reynolds translating many original Tibetan texts of the Nyingma and Kagyu into English. He has also studied the Bon traditions of Dzogchen and has translated some Bon literature as well.

Reynolds studied History of Religions, Anthropology, Arabic, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, at the University of California at Berkeley, and at the University of Washington at Seattle. At Columbia University Reynolds pursued Islamic Studies under Arthur Jeffrey along with Iranian Studies under J. Duchesne-Guillemin. Reynolds did his PhD research in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Buddhist Philosophy under Edward Conze, the lauded scholar of the Buddhist Prajnaparamita literature.

Post PhD, Reynolds spent circa ten years in India and Nepal doing fieldwork research at a number of Hindu ashrams in South India and at Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Darjeeling, Nepal and Kalimpong. At these monasteries, Reynolds studied and researched the rituals, literature and meditation practices of the Kagyupa and Nyingmapa. Reynolds' lama teachers included Dezhung Rinpoche, Kangyur Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (2nd Dudjom Rinpoche), Kalu Rinpoche, the Karmapa, C.R. Lama and Lama Gonpo Tseten, amongst others. In Nepal, Reynolds researched the techniques and folklore of Himalayan shamanism, including rites of soul retrieval and exorcism, employed and practiced among ngakpa lamas belonging to the Nyingma school. The mode of this research was experiential and participatory.

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