Peter F. Barth

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{{Infobox religious biography

| name = Peter F. Barth

| image = Peter F. Barth (Lama Thapkhay).jpg

| caption = Barth in Colorado in 2007

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| dharma name = Lama Thapkhay

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1956}}

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| religion = Tibetan Buddhism

| school = Drukpa Kagyu
Karma Kagyu

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| occupation = engineer, physicist, educator and author

| teacher = Thrangu Rinpoche

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Peter Felix Barth (also known as Lama Thapkhay) (born 1956) is an American writer specializing in the mind teachings of Tibetan Buddhism.{{cite news |last= Schnitzer |first= Lynn |date=1993-07-13 |title= Traveling the path to enlightenment |work= Petaluma Argus Courier |location= Petaluma |volume= 138 |issue= 246 |page=8A |via= California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC) |access-date=2023-07-02 |url= https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=PAC19930713.1.8&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-Peter+Barth+Petaluma+------- |ref=none}} In statistical mechanics, he was responsible for an exact solution to the Ising model for highly-branched, closed-Cayley trees, an area of interest in neurophysics and neural networks.{{cite news |last=Fuerst |first=Kevin Morgenstein |date=2024-09-10 |title= A Journey Through Neurophysics and Mindfulness |url= https://go.uvm.edu/barth |work= University of Vermont Foundation: Class Notes Extended |access-date= 2024-09-21 }}

He has a background in neurophysics, engineering and education, having served as adjunct professor in Information Systems Management (ISM) at the University of San Francisco.

As a Buddhist educator and writer, he has written and published comprehensive guides to the meditation disciplines of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, the pinnacle of the practices of the Kagyu{{cite book |last1=Namgyal |first1=Dakpo Tashi |last2=Lhalungpa |first2=Lobsang | year=2006| title=Mahamudra - The Moonlight: Quintessence of Mind and Meditation |page=XXVII| publisher= Wisdom Publications, Inc.|location= Boston |isbn=978-0861712991 }} and Nyingma{{cite book |last1=Lama |first1=H. H. the Dalai |title=Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection |publisher=Shambhala Publications, Inc. |year= 2000 | pages = 119–120 |isbn=978-1559392198 }} lineages, respectively, including one recommended for seminary and public libraries by the Library Journal.{{cite journal |title= Book Review - Piercing the Autumn Sky: A Guide to Discovering the Natural Freedom of Mind | date= June 1, 1993 |journal=Library Journal |volume=118 |issue=10 |publisher=A Cahners/R.R. Bowker Publication |pages=138–139 |issn=0363-0277 }}

Early life and education

Peter Felix Barth was born in 1956 in New York, New York, United States.{{cite magazine|last=Tun |first=Han Nuang |year=2024 |issue=95 Fall 2024 |title=Life Beyond Graduation:Class Notes 81 |page=52 |journal=The Universe of Vermont (UVM) Magazine |location=Burlington, VT |publisher=University of Vermont }}

In 1974 he traveled to India to study meditation under Tibetan Buddhist lamas of the Nyingma and Kagyu schools. While in India he took ordination as a lay Buddhist and completed preliminary Mahamudra studies in Darjeeling. He then returned to the United States to study physics.

In 1976 Barth received his B.S. degree from the Department of Physics, State University of New York in Oneonta, New York;{{cite magazine |date=21 May 1977 |title=Commencement and Closing Events |magazine=Annual Commencement (Eighty-Eighth) |publisher=State University of New York College at Oneonta |location=Oneonta |page=6 |via=Milne Library (Special Collections Center), Box 47, Folder 1, State University College, Oneonta, New York}} and in 1981 an M.S. degree in Physics from the University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington.{{cite web |title=Barth, Peter F. |website=Scopus |url=https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=24498495800 |access-date=2024-01-23}} His thesis, Cooperativity and the Transition Behavior of Large Neural Nets, presented a solution to the generalized closed-tree Ising model for {{pslink|Ising model|Cayley tree topologies and large neural networks|nopage=y}}.{{cite thesis |degree=MSc |first=Peter F. |last=Barth | year=1981 |title=Cooperativity and the Transition Behavior of Large Neural Nets | pages=iii, 1–118 |publisher= University of Vermont | location= Burlington |oclc=8231704 }}

In 1982 he published the solution to his theoretical model collaboratively with John E. Krizan, his thesis advisor, and M. L. Glasser.{{cite journal| last1=Krizan | first1=J. E. |last2=Barth | first2=P. F. | last3=Glasser | first3=M. L.| year=1983 | title= Phase Transitions for the Ising Model on the Closed Cayley Tree| journal=Physica | volume=119A | issue=1–2 | page=230 | publisher= North-Holland Publishing Co. |doi=10.1016/0378-4371(83)90157-7| bibcode=1983PhyA..119..230K }}Presented by P. F. Barth and J. E. Krizan at the "50th Statistical Mechanics Conference" at Rutgers University, on December 14, 1983, under the title, "Ising Model on a Closed Cayley Tree as a Model Neural Network," as cited in "Network Modeling in Statistical Mechanics," a University of Vermont, Department of Physics, research collaboration proposal presented to The Neurosciences Institute in January, 1984. Subsequent investigations into the closed-Cayley tree models proposed by Jellito{{cite journal| last1=Jelitto | first1=Rainer J. | year=1979 | title=The Ising Model on a Closed Cayley Tree| journal=Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications | volume=99 | issue=1–2 |pages=268–280 | publisher= North-Holland Publishing Co. | doi=10.1016/0378-4371(79)90134-1 | bibcode=1979PhyA...99..268J }} and Barth, eventually yielded a number of additional exact solutions for Ising model topologies with similar underlying symmetries.{{cite journal| last1=Berger | first1=Toby |last2=Ye | first2=Zhongxing | year=1990 | title=Cardinality of phase transition of Ising models on closed cayley trees | journal=Physica A | volume=166 | issue=3 |pages=549–574 | publisher= North-Holland Publishing Co. | doi=10.1016/0378-4371(90)90073-2 | doi-access=free | bibcode=1990PhyA..166..549B }}

Academic career

From 1997 to 2008, Barth served as adjunct professor in Information Systems Management (ISM) at the University of San Francisco.

Religious career

While in India, Barth had studied Mahamudra under a number of Drukpa Kagyu lamas, including Dukchen Thuksey Rinpoche in Darjeeling, who personally played a role in the preservation of Dakpo Tashi Namgyal's text, Moonbeams of Mahamudra, when he requested Lobsang P. Lhalungpa translate it into English and noted that, "This is the most important sacred text!"{{cite book |last1=Samdup |first1=Tashi |year=2024 | title=A Modern Teacher of Ancient Wisdom: Khenchen Könchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche |pages=139-144| publisher= Vajra Publications |location= Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin |isbn=978-0-9962411-7-5 }}{{cite book |first=Lobsang P.|last=Lhalungpa | year=2006| title=Mahamudra – The Moonlight: Quintessence of Mind and Meditation |pages=XXI–XXII| publisher= Wisdom Publications, Inc. | location= Boston}} Barth's first book, Piercing the Autumn Sky: Discovering the Natural Freedom of Mind, was inspired by this work and the oral instructions on it by Thrangu Rinpoche in 1989, as translated "on the fly" by Ken McLeod. From 1989 to 1995, Barth served as a transcriber and editor for the draft publication of a complete three-cycle set of Thrangu Rinpoche's oral instructions under the direction of managing editor Clark Johnson,{{cite book |last1=Rinpoche |first1=Thrangu |title= Moonlight of Mahamudra: A Commentary on Tashi Namgyal's Classic Text on Meditation, Volumes 1–5 |publisher=Namo Buddha Seminar |year=1989–1995 |asin=B01LZ11KXQ }} published in part, in 2001, as Looking Directly at Mind: The Moonlight of Mahamudra and, with further editing, in 2004, as Essentials of Mahamudra.{{cite book |last1=Rinpoche |first1=Thrangu |title=Essentials of Mahamudra: Looking Directly at the Mind|publisher=Wisdom Publications |page=IX |year= 2004 |isbn=0861713710 }}

After rejection of the first draft of his own book by HarperCollins, with the support of his wife, Barth elected to self-publish. Soon after it was released, it was picked up by a major publisher in Rome, Italy,See "astrolabio-ubaldini.it". Founded in the 1950's, "La prestigiosa casa editrice Astrolabio-Ubaldini è la più importante d’Italia per quanto attiene a testi psicologici, con particolare riguardo alla relazione corpo-mente." who had it professionally translated into Italian by Giampaolo Fiorentini. The forewords to both of these editions were written by Thrangu Rinpoche and Könchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche, two of Tibetan Buddhism's highest scholar-monks (Tibetan: mkhan chen, literally "great Khenpos") from the Karma Kagyu and Drikung Kagyu lineages, respectively.{{cite magazine | year=1993 | title= Book Reviews | magazine= SPEX | volume=12 | issue= 4 | page=5| publisher= Small Publishers Exchange |issn=0730-2223}}

File:Thuksey Rinpoche, Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpoche, two Khenpos and two Sons of Apho Rinpoche.jpg

Upon its publication, the Library Journal called it, "perhaps the most accessible book of the Tibetan tradition."{{cite journal |date=June 1, 1993 |title=Book Review - Piercing the Autumn Sky: A Guide to Discovering the Natural Freedom of Mind |journal=Library Journal |publisher=A Cahners/R.R. Bowker Publication |volume=118 |issue=10 |pages=138–139 |issn=0363-0277}} Soon thereafter, Snow Lion Publications showcased it, stating it offers "clear and precise instructions on discovering the natural freedom of mind through mahamudra practice"{{cite magazine | year=1997 | title= Mahamudra | magazine= Snow Lion Newsletter & Catalog | volume=12 | issue= 2 | page=41 | publisher= Snow Lion Publications |issn=1059-3691 }} and, in 2004, it became the only book written by a Westerner to be included on the recommended reading list of Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche in his first published book on Mahamudra.{{cite book |last1=Kyabgon |first1=Traleg |title=Mind at Ease: Self-Liberation through Mahamudra Meditation |publisher=Shambhala Publications, Inc. |year= 2004 | isbn=978-1590301562 }}

Barth subsequently produced two more detailed meditation manuals, A Meditation Guide For Mahamudra and The Meditations of Longchen Rabjam, for the advanced practices of the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions. These were written to serve as detailed guides to the Kagyu classic phyag chen zla ba'i 'od zer (translated as Moonbeams of Mahamudra) written by Dagpo Tashi Namgyal (1512–1587) and the Nyingma classic chos dbyings mdzod (translated as The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena) written by Longchenpa (1308–1364), respectively. In addition, he served as the editor of Mahamudra Teachings by Garchen Rinpoche.{{cite book |last1=Rinpoche |first1= Garchen |title=Mahamudra Teachings (Drikung Kagyu Teachings Book 1) |publisher= Drikung Kagyu Teachings |year= 1997 |isbn= 0615578314 }} Garchen Rinpoche's teachings are a presentation of the mind teachings found and maintained within the Drikung Kagyu lineage.

In 1990, at the encouragement of Thrangu Rinpoche he founded a study and practice group called "Mahamudra Meditation Center",{{Cite web|title=Mahamudra Meditation Center |url=http://www.mahamudracenter.org/ |access-date=2023-07-01 |website= mahamudracenter.org |language=en}} which operated as a nonprofit religious corporation in the State of California,State of California Corporate Number : 1681373, searchable at 'https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business '. from 1991 to 2011, under his direction and remains dedicated to the instruction and practice of Mahamudra and Dzogchen in order "to cultivate an understanding of mind-as-it-is."From Article 2 of the Bylaws of Mahamudra Meditation Center, dated 12/22/1990, as submitted to the State of California.

On July 14, 1990, Barth received Zen precepts (Jukai) and lineage papers from Jakusho Kwong Roshi at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center.{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Chris |title=Receiving the precepts |publisher= Sonoma Mountain Zen Center (Newsletter) |volume= September–October (1990) |page=7 |location= Santa Rosa, California, USA }}

Since 1998, he has been listed as "Lama Thapkhay" (at Mahamudra Meditation Center, Petaluma, California){{cite news |last1=Hale |first1=Keith |title=Moonlight of Mahamudra |publisher= Mahamudra Meditation Center (Newsletter) |volume= Summer 1998 |page=1 |location= Petaluma, California, USA }} on the official website of the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.{{Cite web|title=North-American-Dharma-Centers |url=https://kagyuoffice.org/dharma-centers/north-american-dharma-centers/ |access-date=2023-06-26|website= kagyuoffice.org |language=en}}