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Elio Guarisco
Elio was born in Italy in Varese on 5th August 1954 and grew up
in Como. He studied Arts and received the degree of Master of Arts
before traveling to India to study Buddhism. In India in 1974 he
studied Buddhism with Satya Narayan Goenka (1924-2013), the most
exponent of the Vipassana Meditation Tradition, disciple of Sayagyi
U Ba Khin (1899-1971).
Satya Narayan Goenka and his disciples during a Vipassana
retreat in 1974.
Elio Guarisco is the fifth person from the right in the last
(fourth) row. After his return from India he deepened the practice
of Vipassana Meditation with western teachers trained at Sayagyi U
Ba Khin School (1899-1971), including John Earl Coleman
(1930-2012), Robert Harry Hover (1920-2008) and Ruth Denison
(1922-2015). He became an authorized instructor of Vipassana and in
1976 he organized J. E. Coleman's first retreat in Pavia.
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The first Vipassana retreat with John E. Coleman in Italy,
Torrazzetta (Pavia), November 1976.
Elio Guarisco is the third person to the left in the first row
(sitting), next to John E. Coleman. Then he entered the Tharpa
Choeling Monastery in Switzerland, which was founded in 1977 by
Kyabje Geshe Tamdrin Rabten Rinpoche (later named after him “Rabten
Choeling - Centre for Higher Tibetan Studies”). Elio remained there
until 1986. In this time, he learned the spoken and classic Tibetan
language and deepened his knowledge of Buddhist philosophy and
meditation by studying with a dozen authoritarian Tibetan teachers,
especially Geshe Tamdrin Rabten (1921-1986), philosophical advisor
of the Dalai Lama.
Kyabje Geshe Tamdrin Rabten Rinpoche with monks of Tharpa
Choeling, 1978.
Elio Guarisco is the second person on the right in the second
row. At that time Elio Guarisco was one of the co-founders of the
Tibetan Buddhist Centers Ghepel Ling (with Geshe Tamdrin Rabten
among the founders) and Terra delle Dakini in Milan. Elio joined
the Dzogchen community in 1986, when he received teachings from
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu for the first time. Invited by H.E. Kyabje
Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989), one of the most eminent meditation
masters of Karma Kagyu School and Shangpa Kagyu, and one of the
first Tibetan masters to teach in the West, Elio Guarisco moved to
Darjeeling, India, where he worked
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on the translation of a large encyclopedia of Indo-Tibetan
knowledge, known as Sheja Kunkyab, written by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö
Tayé (an exceptional and eclectic erudite, protagonist of the
non-sectarian movement in East Tibet at the end of the ninetieth
century, of which H.H. XVI Karmapa recognized H.E. Kyabje Kalu
Rinpoche as the Emanation of Action) for more than twenty years. In
this project he was the main translator of the following volumes,
which were all published by the American publisher Snow Lion, now
Shambala Publications:
- Myriad Worlds (1995), - Buddhist Ethics (1997), - Systems of
Buddhist Tantra (2005), - The Elements of Tantric Practice
(2008)
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche.
Elio sits next to Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. During his time in
India, Elio kept an active collaboration with the Dzogchen
Community and especially with the Shang Shung Institute in Italy.
He was also one of the founding members of the Shang Shung
Institute in Italy.
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Elio Guarsisco
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Elio – the Translator and Teacher of Meditation Since 2003, Elio
Guarisco has been – besides Adriano Clemente and Jim Valby - one of
the three main translators of the Ka-Ter Translation Project,
founded by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in 2002. Until 2006 he offered his
knowledge as a teacher for future translators in the Ka-Ter
Project, organized by the Shang Shung Institute Austria. Fluent in
colloquial and classic Tibetan, Elio Guarisco, who was one of the
world's most important translators of ancient Tibetan texts,
curated various translations from Tibetan. Here is a list of books
as a result of the Ka-Ter Translation Project that Elio translated
and annotated, all published by Shang Shung Publications:
• The Manifestation of the Clear Light by Paltrul Rinpoche with
Oral Commentary of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu
• The Marvelous Primordial State: Mejung Tantra • Chögyal
Namkhai Norbu: Longchenpa’s Advice from the Heart • Awakening upon
Dying: The Tibetan Book of the Dead • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu:
Healing with Fire: A Practical Manual of Tibetan Moxibustion •
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Birth, Life and Death according to Tibetan
Medicine and the
Dzogchen Teachings • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: The Practice of
Tibetan Kunye Massage • Healing with YANTRA YOGA: from Tibetan
Medicine to the Subtle Body, co-written by
Phuntsog Wangmo • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Chang Chog Ritual of
Purification for the Deceased • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Teachings on
the Healing Mantra called Dorjei Kotrab • Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö
Thaye: Creative Vision and Inner Reality • Kathog Situ Chökyi
Gyatso: Togden Shakya Shri – The Life and Liberation of a
Tibetan
Yogin • Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: The Longsal Divination of Dorje
Yudrönma • Gyalwa Yangönpa: Secret Map of the Body • Chögyal
Namkhai Norbu: Outer Rushen: Going Beyond Limitations • Chögyal
Namkhai Norbu: The Long Life Practice of Amitayus and the Chulen of
the Three
Kayas • Yang dGon pa and His Text on the Vajra Body in Sharro,
Festschrift for Chögyal Namkhai
Norbu • The Tantric Mystic of Ancient India: The Miraculous
Deeds of the Eighty-Four
Mahasiddhas Other translations or original texts include:
• Life and Teaching of a Tibetan Master, Ghepeling Editions •
The Foundations of Tibetan Medicine, Ghepeling Editions • Elements
for the Study of Tibetan Medicine written by Dr. Thubten Phuntsog,
basic text used
for studying Tibetan Medicine at Shang Shung Institute in Italy
• Preface to a flash of vacuity. The Heart of Wisdom Sutra.
For many years Elio Guarisco also served as a translator for
eminent Tibetan doctors and spiritual teachers, including His
Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama. For his activity as a translator for
many Tibetan masters and organizer of congresses, events, seminars
and meditation courses, Elio Guarisco contributed greatly to the
introduction of Buddhism in the West, especially in Italy.
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Elio was not only a very gifted translator, but also a very
special and highly qualified teacher of meditation. He followed all
the Santi Maha Sangha trainings and became an authorized teacher of
the Base Level, the First Level and the Second Level by Chogyal
Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. He traveled to various countries around the
world in order to give public talks, courses and seminars. Among
Elio’s teachers were: Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche His Holiness
the 14th Dalai Lama His Eminence Kyabje Chatral Sangye Dorje
Rinpoche His Eminence Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche His Eminence Kyabje
Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche His Eminence Kyabje the First Kalu Rinpoche
His Eminence Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse
Rinpoche His Holiness Sakya Trizin His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling
Rinpoche Lama Wangdor Geshe Yeshe Tobden Jamgon Kongtrul Gomo Tulku
John E. Coleman
Elio and Geshe Yeshe Tobden
Elio and Gomo Tulku
This biography is mainly based on the words of Elio Guarisco,
and are compiled by Paolo Roberti di Sarsina with the supervision
and authorization of Elio. Oliver Leick has actualized the parts on
the Ka-Ter Translation Project, edited the text and did the
lay-out. December 2020