Steven D. Goodman

Professor Steven Goodman with members of the Rigpa Shedra, Lerab Ling, 2002

Professor Steven D. Goodman (1946-2020) was Program Director and Core Faculty for Asian Philosophies and Cultures Program in the Philosophy and Religion Department" at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He received his Ph.D. (1984) in Far Eastern Studies from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, specializing in Tibetan Buddhism under the guidance of Herbert V. Guenther. He lectured on Buddhist and comparative philosophy for over 25 years in the United States, Asia, and Europe. In 1994 he was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship for the study of Tibetan mystical poetry (Wyl. nyams mgur) at the Rice University Center for Cultural Studies.

Steven Goodman frequently served as a translator for Tibetan Buddhist teachers including Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Bhaka Tulku Rinpoche, Thinley Norbu Rinpoche and Lama Tharchin Rinpoche.

He served as a Board Advisor to the Khyentse Foundation, and was on the Working Committee for 84000 (formerly the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project).

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

• Lerab Ling, France, Rigpa Shedra, 25 May-5 June 2002, Abhidharma philosophy
• Rigpa centre, Levallois, France, 8-9 June 2002, The Hidden Treasures of Tibet—The Terma Tradition of Tibet
• Amsterdam, Holland, 15-16 June 2002, The Terma Tradition of Tibet—The Heart Essence of the Great Expanse

Publications

• Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation, co-editor with Ronald M. Davidson (SUNY, 1992)
• “Transforming the Causes of Suffering” in Mindfulness in Meaningful Work (Parallax Press, 1994)
• Buddhist Psychology of Awakening—An In-Depth Guide to Abhidharma (Shambhala Publications, 2020), based on his teachings at the Rigpa Shedra in 2002.