About the Rubin
Treasury of Lives
About Us
The Treasury of Lives is a bibliographical encyclopedia of all known masters of Himalayan religion, both Buddhist and Bon. The site does not include biographies of living masters. Along with the biographies, Treasury of Lives site makes available the most extensive bibliographies presently available, and a growing platform for peer review and scholarly discourse.
The Treasury of Lives Project is linked with the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC), an online library of Tibetan literature, and Himalayan Art Resources (HAR), a virtual museum of Himalayan art. Treasury of Lives is a project of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.
The Treasury of Lives is a growing site that depends on contributions of biographies from scholars and practitioners. Presently, over 40 scholars and practitioners have contributed to the project, providing biographies and lineage information. Individuals are welcome to submit biographies, and can do so through contacting Treasury of Lives via the Contact page. All content is subjected to review.
Staff
Alexander Gardner is the Associate Director of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, and the Director and Chief Editor of the Treasury of Lives. Alex completed his PhD in Buddhist Studies at the University of Michigan in 2007 and is now based in New York.
Trevor Conn is the principle programmer for Treasury of Lives and is based out of Denver, Colorado. He has also worked for TBRC and the Rubin Museum of Art.
Asha Kaufman now serves as Outreach and Development Manager, creating new institutional partnerships, expanding audience participation and assisting to progress the accessibility of the site. Asha is based out of New York and received her Masters in Tibetan and South Asian Religion from Harvard Divinity School.
History
The Treasury of Lives began in 2006 under the leadership of Vivian Kurz of the Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship / Shechen, and Moke Mokotoff. Vivian served as general editor and created a prototype Nyingma website, with content created by Matthieu Ricard and others. Moke hired Dan Martin, Cyrus Stearns, and Miranda Adams to write material for the Kagyu, Jonang, and Gelug traditions.
In 2008 Alex Gardner took on the task of expanding the website to incorporate all traditions of Tibetan religion. Since this shift, all traditions are presented on the site, with dynamic search and browse capability to allow users to access the biographies using a variety of categories.
TBRC, under the leadership of Gene Smith, and Jeff Wallman, was instrumental in preserving the momentum of the project. TBRC provided the initial population of the database using biographical information from the TBRC Library. Jeff Wallman assembled the excellent technical team the Foundation employed to create the new site: Theresa Reed as the information architect, Sean O’Dwyer as the designer and usability expert, and Trevor Conn as the principal software developer. The creative teams at TBRC and the Treasury now regularly consult with each other on ongoing improvements and enhancements and the ways that the two sites can be linked together. Jeff Watt, director of Himalayan Art Resources, has also assisted significantly in the redevelopment and the extension of links between the Treasury and HAR.
