My name is Georg Fischer (04.01.1940), born in Vienna, Austria.
This is a short story on how this web-site came into life.
All this began with a book. Aged seventeen (1957) I bought my first book about Buddhism. "Buddhist Texts through the Ages" by J.B.Horner, Edward Conze, D.Snellgrove and A.Waley. And it was Edward Conze's commentaries of the Mahayana which convinced me to follow a new way to look at life.
In my philosophical studies in the mid-seventies it was Geshe Rabten Rinpoche (Gelugpa lineage) and his teachings in Rikon and later in the Tharpa Choeling Center several transmissions of empowerments that influenced me. Readings by Lama Thubten Yeshe (Gelugpa lineage) had been very useful for the intensity of my spiritual development.
In my practical buddhist praxis in Mahamudra teachings I tried to emphasise on the Drikung lineage by H.H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche (Drikung lineage) and Drupön Lama Sönam Jorphel Rinpoche (Drikung lineage) who gave me the Buddhist name "Yeshe Dorje" and the nickname "Makala" (Mahakala). Since 2000 I receive the Dzogchen transmission of the profound Yangzab Three Roots from Ven. Ontul Rinpoche (Drikung Lineage).
Since 1983, then aged forty-three and as a freelance merchant, I studied beside my normal life at the University of Vienna Tibetology and Indology till 1988. It was then that I found a book "The Grammar of the Tibetan Language" by A. Csoma de Körös with three little pages of the Lantsha characters.
That was the beginning of a journey to collected all I could find about Lantsha in scripts, fotos, pictures, books sadhanas etc. everywhere on my trips to Tibetan and Indian monasteries. I asked for lamas who could read, understand and write these scripts and it was possible for me to learn the calligraphy of all the characters you can find in this web-site.
The publication of this web-site exists for two reasons. It is the first web-site for the whole extent of old indian scripts Lantsha, Vartu, Smar and Zhang-zhung scripts that has been - to my knowledge - published in its completeness, demonstrating the importance of this tradition which has survived intact from the 11th century. Secondly it is for the fist time a complete compendium concerning Indian scripts in Tibet that has been made available for western students.
Starting with studying Lantsha and all the other scripts here should be a genuine wish to learn the basics of this unusual writing of the characters, the history and all the elements that compose them. It needs many years of endurance, concentration and learning the art of handwriting and the calligraphy of all the scripts - but I found it all the time worth the effort.
e-mail: mailto:georg.fischer@chello.at
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