# Reginald Ray > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Reginald_Ray > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Reginald_Ray.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Ray > Source revision: 1225784466 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American Buddhist academic and teacher (born 1942)}} {{distinguish|text=the French footballer [Réginald Ray](/source/R%C3%A9ginald_Ray)}} '''Reginald Ray''' (born 1942) is an [American Buddhist](/source/Buddhism_in_the_United_States) academic and teacher. Ray studied [Tibetan Buddhism](/source/Tibetan_Buddhism), traditional [shamanic](/source/Shamanism) wisdom, and yogic-contemplative practices with the [Tibetan](/source/Tibetan_people) refugee and recognized [Vajrayana](/source/Vajrayana) traditional-wisdom holder [Chögyam Trungpa](/source/Ch%C3%B6gyam_Trungpa); and later studied under the tutelage of traditional [Dagara](/source/Dagaaba_people) teacher from [Burkina Faso](/source/Burkina_Faso), [Malidoma Somé](/source/Malidoma_Patrice_Som%C3%A9). A founding academic member of [Naropa University](/source/Naropa_University), Ray was a longtime senior teacher in [Vajradhatu](/source/Vajradhatu) (renamed [Shambhala International](/source/Shambhala_International) in 2000) and from 1996 to 2004 was teacher-in-residence at the [Rocky Mountain Shambhala Center](/source/Rocky_Mountain_Shambhala_Center) (which became [Shambhala Mountain Center](/source/Shambhala_Mountain_Center) in February 2000).{{cite news|last=Joiner|first=Whitney|date=20 February 2008|title=Dive-bar dharma|newspaper=[Salon.com](/source/Salon.com)|url=http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2008/02/20/dharma_in_dive_bars|access-date=3 December 2014}} He left the Shambhala organization to found his own teaching center in 2005, Dharma Ocean. Dhama Ocean, in addition to teaching meditation programs and hosting intensive retreats, is a non-profit foundation "dedicated to the practice, study and preservation of the teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche."{{cite quote}} ==Academic training== Ray has a BA in religion from [Williams College](/source/Williams_College) (1965), and received an M.A. (1967) and Ph.D. (1973) in History of Religions from the [University of Chicago Divinity School](/source/University_of_Chicago_Divinity_School), where he focused on Buddhism and Indian religions. Among his mentors at Chicago was [Mircea Eliade](/source/Mircea_Eliade), a Romanian historian of religion.Prebish, Charles. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XsHv_5VCzmMC&q=%22reggie+ray%22+&pg=PA170 ''Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America''.] University of California Press, 1999, p. 170.{{cite web |url=https://www.dharmaocean.org/meditation/teachers/reginald-a-ray/ |title=Reginald A. Ray @ Dharma Ocean |website=www.dharmaocean.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709195145/http://www.dharmaocean.org/meditation/teachers/reginald-a-ray/ |archive-date=2014-07-09}} ==Teaching career== Ray first encountered his main Buddhist teacher, [Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche](/source/Ch%C3%B6gyam_Trungpa_Rinpoche), in 1970, and studied with him until Rinpoche's death in 1987. In 1974, at the invitation of Trungpa Rinpoche, Ray left a tenure-track position at [Indiana University](/source/Indiana_University) and relocated to [Boulder, Colorado](/source/Boulder%2C_Colorado)—then the center of Trungpa Rinpoche's community–to become the first full-time faculty member and chair of the Buddhist Studies Department at Naropa University, where he taught until his retirement in July 2009.{{cite book | last=Prebish | first=C.S. | title=Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America | publisher=University of California Press | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-520-92225-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsHv_5VCzmMC&pg=PA170 | access-date=2020-12-14 | page=170}}{{cite web | title=Reginald Ray | website=Naropa University | url=http://www.naropa.edu/presidents-office/past-presidents/Reginald%20Ray.php | access-date=2020-12-14}} Ray also served on the Nalanda Translation Committee{{cite web | title=Members | website=Nālandā Translation Committee | date=2016-10-25 | url=https://www.nalandatranslation.org/who-we-are/members/ | access-date=2020-12-14}} and held a half-time appointment in the Religious Studies department at the [University of Colorado](/source/University_of_Colorado).{{cite web | title=Chogyam Trungpa: The Early Years | website=Shambhala Times Community News Magazine | date=2014-09-08 | url=http://shambhalatimes.org/2014/09/08/chogyam-trungpa-the-early-years/ | access-date=2020-12-14}} From 1996 to 2004, Ray was teacher-in-residence at the [Rocky Mountain Dharma Center](/source/Rocky_Mountain_Dharma_Center),{{cite news|last=Radner|first=Rebecca|title=Review: 'Indestructible Truth' by Reginald A. Ray|url=http://www.tricycle.com/node/32909|access-date=3 December 2014|newspaper=[Tricycle: The Buddhist Review](/source/Tricycle%3A_The_Buddhist_Review)|date=Spring 2001}} which became the [Shambhala Mountain Center](/source/Shambhala_Mountain_Center) in February 2000. Ray is the director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation.{{cite journal | last=Hamilton | first=Erica Shane | journal=Biofeedback | title=The Gifts of Illness: A Buddhist Perspective | volume=39 | issue=2 | date=Summer 2011 | pages=71–73 | doi=10.5298/1081-5937-39.2.05 | id={{ProQuest|893884557}}}} ==Publications== '''Published books:''' *''Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values & Orientations''. (1994 Oxford University Press US) ({{ISBN|0195134834}}) *''Indestructible Truth'', which describes the exoteric traditions of [Tibetan Buddhism](/source/Tibetan_Buddhism). (2000 Shambhala Publications) ({{ISBN|1570621667}}) *''Secret of the Vajra World'' explores the esoteric and tantric aspects of Tibetan Buddhism, focusing on the [Vajrayana](/source/Vajrayana). (2001 Shambhala Publications) ({{ISBN|157062917X}}) *''In the Presence of Masters: Wisdom from 30 Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers''. (2004 Shambhala Publications) ({{ISBN|1570628491}}) *''Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body''. (2008 Sounds True) ({{ISBN|1591796180}}) *''Tibetan Buddhism Reader,'' editor. (2010 Shambhala Publications) ({{ISBN|9781590308349}}) * ''The Awakening Body: Somatic Meditation for Discovering our Deepest Life.'' (2016 Shambhala Publications) ({{ISBN|1611803713}}) * ''The Wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism.'' (2017 Shambhala Publications) ({{ISBN|1611804752}}) '''Audio recordings:''' *''Meditating With The Body: Six Tibetan Buddhist Meditations for Touching Enlightenment With the Body'' (2003 [Sounds True](/source/Sounds_True)) ({{ISBN|1591790387}}) *''Buddhist Tantra: Teachings and Practices for Touching Enlightenment With the Body'' (2003 Sounds True) ({{ISBN|1591790174}}) *''Your Breathing Body: Beginning Practices for Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Fulfillment, Volume 1'' (2008 [Sounds True](/source/Sounds_True)) ({{ISBN|1591796598}}) *''Your Breathing Body, Volume 2'' (2008 [Sounds True](/source/Sounds_True)) ({{ISBN|1591796628}}) *''Mahamudra for the Modern World'' (2012 [Sounds True](/source/Sounds_True)) ({{ISBN|1604075694}}) *''The Practice of Pure Awareness: Somatic Meditation for Touching Infinity''. (2015 Sounds True) (ASIN: B0176O6IDU) *''Somatic Descent: Experiencing the Ultimate Intelligence of the Body.'' (2016 Sounds True) (ASIN: B01M24YBVS) *''Awakening the Heart: A Somatic Training in Bodhicitta'' (2017 Sounds True) ({{ISBN|1604078693}}) == References == {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} *[http://www.dharmaocean.org/meditation/teachers/reginald-a-ray Biography of Reginald A. Ray on Dharma Ocean Foundation site] {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Reginald}} Category:1942 births Category:20th-century American Buddhists Category:21st-century Buddhists Category:Living people Category:American scholars of Buddhism Category:Tibetan Buddhism writers Category:Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teachers Category:Tibetan Buddhists from the United States Category:Williams College alumni Category:Shambhala vision Category:Naropa University faculty Category:University of Chicago Divinity School alumni Category:Indiana University faculty Category:American religious writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Reginald Ray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Ray) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Ray?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.