In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala (also spelled Shambala or Shamballa; Tibetan: བདེ་འབྱུང་; Wylie: ''bde 'byung'', pron. De-jung) is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia. It is mentioned in various ancient texts, including the Kalachakra Tantra and the ancient texts of the Zhang Zhung culture which predated Tibetan Buddhism in western Tibet. The Bön scriptures speak of a closely related land called Olmolungring.

Whatever its historical basis, Shambhala gradually came to be seen as a Buddhist Pure Land, a fabulous kingdom whose reality is visionary or spiritual as much as physical or geographic. It was in this form that the Shambhala myth reached the West, where it influenced non-Buddhist as well as Buddhist spiritual seekers — and, to some extent, popular culture in general.

In the Buddhist Kalachakra teachings

Sambhala (this is the form found in the earliest Sanskrit manuscripts of Kalacakra texts; the Tibetans usually transliterated this as "Shambhala"; Tib. ''bde 'byung'') is a Sanskrit term of uncertain derivation. Commonly it is understood to be a "place of peace/tranquility/happiness". Shakyamuni Buddha is said to have taught the Kalachakra tantra on request of King Dawa Sangpo of Shambhala; the teachings are also said to be preserved there. Shambhala is believed to be a society where all the inhabitants are enlightened, actually a Buddhist Pure Land, centered by a capital city called Kalapa.

The Buddhist myth of Shambhala is adaptation of the earlier Hindu myth of Kalki of Sambhala found in the Mahabharata and the Puranas. The Buddhist version may be a mythologization of an actual culture, whose geographical location can be found either in Central or Far Eastern Asia (China).

Shambhala is ruled over by a line of Kings of Shambhala known as Kalki Kings (Tib. ''Rigden''), a monarch who upholds the integrity of the Kalachakra tantra. The Kalachakra prophesies that when the world declines into war and greed, and all is lost, the 25th Kalki king will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish "Dark Forces" and usher in a worldwide Golden Age. Using calculations from the Kalachakra Tantra, scholars such as Alex Berzin put this date at 2424 AD.

Manjushri Yashas (Tib. ''Rigdan Tagpa'') is said to have been born in 159 BC and ruled over a kingdom of 300,510 followers of the Mlechha (Yavana or "western") religion, some of whom worshiped the sun. He is said to have expelled all the heretics from his dominions but later, after hearing their petitions, allowed them to return. For their benefit, and the benefit of all living beings, he explained the Kalachakra teachings. In 59 BC he abdicated his throne to his son, Puṇdaŕika, and died soon afterwards, entering the Sambhoga-káya of Buddhahood.

As with many concepts in the Kalachakra Tantra, the idea of Shambhala is said to have "outer", "inner", and "alternative" meanings. The outer meaning understands Shambhala to exist as a physical place, although only individuals with the appropriate karma can reach it and experience it as such. As the 14th Dalai Lama noted during the 1985 Kalachakra initiation in Bodhgaya, Shambhala is not an ordinary country:

There are various ideas about where this society is located, but it is often placed in central Asia, north or west of Tibet. Ancient Zhang Zhung texts identify Shambhala with the Sutlej Valley in punjab. Mongolians identify Shambala with certain valleys of southern Siberia. In Altai folklore Mount Belukha is believed to be the gateway to Shambhala.. Modern Buddhist scholars seem to now conclude that Shamballa is located in the higher reaches of the Himalayas in what is now called the Dhauladhar mountains around Mcleodganj. The current Dalai Lama manages the Tibetan government in exile from Mcleodganj.

The inner and alternative meanings refer to more subtle understandings of what Shambhala represents in terms of one's own body and mind (inner), and the meditation practice (alternative). These two types of symbolic explanations are generally passed on orally from teacher to student.

The first Kalachakra masters of the tradition disguised themselves with pseudonyms, so the Indian oral traditions recorded by the Tibetans contain a mass of contradictions with regard to chronology.

Western receptions

The Western fascination with the idea of Shambhala is surprisingly great, and has often been based upon fragmented accounts from the Kalachakra tradition. Tibet was largely closed to Westerners until the twentieth century, and so what information was available about the tradition of Shambhala was haphazard at best.

The first information that reached western civilization about Shambhala came from the Portuguese Catholic missionary Estêvão Cacella, who had heard about Shambhala (which they transcribed as "Xembala"), and thought it was another name for Cathay or China. In 1627 they headed to Tashilhunpo, the seat of the Panchen Lama and, discovering their mistake, returned to India.

The Hungarian scholar Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, writing in 1833, provided the first geographic account of "a fabulous country in the north...situated between 45' and 50' north latitude". Interestingly enough, due north from India to between these latitudes is eastern Kazakhstan, which is characterized by green hills, low mountains, rivers, and lakes. This is in contrast to the landscape of the provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang in eastern China, which are high mountains and arid.

The concept of Shangri-La, as first described in James Hilton's 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'', is claimed to have been inspired by the Shambhala myth (as well as then-current National Geographic articles on Eastern Tibet).

During the 19th century, Theosophical Society founder HP Blavatsky alluded to the Shambhala myth, giving it currency for Western occult enthusiasts. Madame Blavatsky, who claimed to be in contact with a Great White Lodge of Himalayan Adepts, mentions Shambhala in several places without giving it especially great emphasis. (The Mahatmas, we are told, are also active around Shigatse and Luxor.)

Later esoteric writers further emphasized and elaborated on the concept of a hidden land inhabited by a hidden mystic brotherhood whose members labor for the good of humanity. Alice A. Bailey claims Shamballa (her spelling) is an extra-dimensional or spiritual reality on the etheric plane, a spiritual centre where the governing deity of Earth, Sanat Kumara, dwells as the highest Avatar of the Planetary Logos of Earth, and is said to be an expression of the Will of God. Nicholas and Helena Roerich led a 1924-1928 expedition aimed at Shambhala.

Inspired by Theosophical lore and several visiting Mongol lamas, Gleb Bokii, the chief Bolshevik cryptographer and one of the bosses of the Soviet secret police, along with his writer friend Alexander Barchenko, embarked on a quest for Shambhala, in an attempt to merge Kalachakra-tantra and ideas of Communism in the 1920s. They contemplated a special expedition to Inner Asia to retrieve the wisdom of Shambhala - the project fell through as a result of intrigues within the Soviet intelligence service, as well as rival efforts of the Soviet Foreign Commissariat that sent its own expedition to Tibet in 1924.

Among other things, in a secret laboratory affiliated with the secret police, Bokii and Barchenko also experimented with Buddhist spiritual techniques, trying to find a key to engineer perfect communist human beings Similarly, Heinrich Himmler and Rudolf Hess sent a German expedition to Tibet in 1930, and then again in 1934-35, and in 1938-39. Some later occultists, noting the Nazi link, view Shambhala (or the closely related underground realm of Aghartha) as a source of negative manipulation by an evil (or amoral) conspiracy.

Chögyam Trungpa, a Tibetan Buddhist lama, used the "Shambhala" name for certain of his teachings, practices, and organizations (e.g. Shambhala Training, Shambhala International, Shambhala Publications), referring to the root of human goodness and aspiration. In Trungpa's view, Shambhala has its own independent basis in human wisdom that does not belong to East or West, or to any one culture or religion.

The French Buddhist Alexandra David-Neel associated Shambhala with Balkh in present-day Afghanistan.

The 2009 video game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is largely based around the protagonist's hunt for the Cintamani Stone, a treasured jewel taken from Shambhala.

See also

Beyul

"Shambala" (song)

Footnotes

References

Berzin, Alexander (2003). The Berzin Archives. ''Mistaken Foreign Myths about Shambhala''.

Martin, Dean. (1999). "'Ol-mo-lung-ring, the Original Holy Place." In: ''Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places In Tibetan Culture: A Collection of Essays''. (1999) Edited by Toni Huber, pp. 125–153. The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, H.P., India. ISBN 81-86470-22-0.

Meyer, Karl Ernest and Brysac, Shareen Blair (2006) ''Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game And the Race for Empire in Central Asia'' ISBN 0-46504-576-6

Bernbaum, Edwin. (1980). ''The Way to Shambhala: A Search for the Mythical Kingdom Beyond the Himalayas''. Reprint: (1989) St. Martin's Press, New York. ISBN 0-87477-518-3.

Jeffrey, Jason. Mystery of Shambhala in ''New Dawn'', No. 72 (May–June 2002).

Trungpa, Chogyam. ''Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior''. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0-87773-264-7

Le Page, Victoria. ''Shambhala: The Fascinating Truth behind the Myth of Shangri-La.'' Quest ISBN 0-8356-0750-X

Znamenski, Andrei. (2011). Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia. Quest Books, Wheaton, IL (2011) ISBN 978-0-8356-0891-6.

Further reading

Allen, Charles. (1999). ''The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey into Tibetan History''. Little, Brown and Company. Reprint: Abacus, London. 2000. ISBN 0-349-111421.

Znamenski, Andrei. Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0-8356-0891-6

Martin, Dan. (1999). "'Ol-mo-lung-ring, the Original Holy Place." In: ''Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places In Tibetan Culture: A Collection of Essays''. (1999) Edited by Toni Huber, pp. 125–153. The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, H.P., India. ISBN 81-86470-22-0.

Symmes, Patrick. (2007). "The Kingdom of the Lotus" in "Outside", 30th Anniversary Special Edition, pp. 148–187. Mariah Media, Inc., Red Oak, Iowa.

Jongbloed, Dominique. (2011) "Civilisations antédiluviennes" ed. Alphée, France

External links

Shambhala page on International Kalachakra Network

The Legend of Shambhala

Category:Buddhist mythology Category:Mythological kingdoms, empires, and countries Category:Tibetan Buddhism Category:Theosophy Category:Sanskrit words and phrases Category:Shambhala Vision Category:Fictional populated places

bs:Shambhala bg:Шамбала de:Shambhala (Königreich) es:Shambhala fr:Shambhala (mythe) hr:Shambala it:Shambhala ka:შამბალა nl:Shambhala ja:シャンバラ (チベット) no:Shamballa pt:Shambhala ru:Шамбала fi:Shambhala sv:Shambhala uk:Шамбала (міфологія) zh:香巴拉

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Flux Pavilion
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Joshua Steele
alias	Bubbles
death date
genre	Dubstep
occupation	Producer, DJ
years active	2008-Present
label	Circus Records
associated acts	Doctor P
website
notable instruments	}}

Joshua Steele, known professionally as Flux Pavilion, is an English dubstep producer and DJ. He is the co-founder of Circus Records, along with Doctor P and DJ Swan-E. He is best known for his 2011 single "Bass Cannon", which peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart, and was placed on the Radio 1 A-List. Along with Doctor P, Flux Pavilion presented the 2011 compilation album ''Circus One'', to which he contributed four tracks. In August 2011 his track "I Can't Stop" was sampled by producer Shama “Sak Pase” Joseph for hip-hop album, ''Watch the Throne'' by Jay-Z and Kanye West.

== Discography ==

Singles and EPs

Cheap Crisps / How Dare You (Junction 11 Digital, 2008) Boom EP (with Excision and Datsik)(Rottun Recordings, 2009) Fucking Noise / Kontroller (XS Dubz, 2009) Family Fortunes (With Trolley snatcha)(Dubmented Beats, 2009) Lines in Wax EP (Circus Records, 2010) Voscillate / Night Goes On (Circus Records, 2010)

Excuse Me (Circus Records, 2010)

Meathead (Circus Records 2010)

Stinkfinger (with Doctor P)(XS Dubz, 2010) How Rude 12" (with The Widdler)(Shift Recordings, 2010)

Cracks-Freestylers (Flux Pavilion remix)

Gold Dust-DJ Fresh (Flux Pavilion remix)

Bass Cannon (Circus Records, 2011)

Louder (Flux Pavillon & Doctor P remix, 2011)

Compilations

Doctor P and Flux Pavilion - Circus One

References

External links

Category:Living people Category:English record producers Category:English DJs Category:Dubstep musicians

hu:Flux Pavilion

Steven Halpern is a New Age musician.

Early career

Halpern played trumpet and guitar in the New York City jazz scene of the 1960s, but became disenchanted with it and moved to California. There he began exploring the idea of creating music entirely for the purpose of relaxation, which he called "anti-frantic alternative" music. He began creating music which did not adhere to traditional Western tonality, but which instead consisted of static, minimalist pieces for electric piano inspired by Eastern music. He is a proponent of theories which emphasize the healing properties of music.

Since his first record of new age music was released in 1975, he has recorded more than 50 albums. The most commercially successful of these was 2000's ''Deja-Blues'', which reached #18 on the U.S. Billboard Top New Age Albums chart. He is also the author of two books, ''Tuning the Human Instrument'' and ''Sound Health''.

Halpern was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.

Discography

''Spectrum Suite'' (1975)

''"I" A Cosmic Attunement'' (1977)

''Peruvian Whistling Vessels'' (1978)

''Starborn Suite'' (1979)

''Zodiac Suite'' (1979)

''Hear to Eternity'' (1979)

''Rings of Saturn'' (1979)

''Comfort Zone'' (1980) ''Dawn'' (1983)

''Recollections (avec Daniel Kobialka)'' (1983)

''Connections'' (1984)

''Threshold'' (1986)

''Crystal Suite'' (1987)

''Gaia's Groove'' (1989)

''Islands in Time'' (1990)

''Effortless Relaxation'' (1991)

''Enhancing Self-Esteem'' (1991)

''Health and Well-Being'' (1991)

''Higher Ground'' (1991)

''Nurturing Your Inner Child'' (1991)

''Radiant Health and Well-Being'' (1991)

''Ancient Echoes'' (1993)

''Creating Love'' (1993)

''Eastern Peace'' (1993)

''Enhancing Sensual Pleasure'' (1993)

''Art of Sexual Ecstasy'' (1994)

''Jonah's Journey'' (1994)

''Letting Go of Stress'' (1994)

''Natural Light'' (1994)

''Overcoming Substance Abuse'' (1994)

''Radiance'' (1994)

''Recollections'' (1994)

''Recovering from Co-Dependency'' (1994)

''Safe Driving'' (1994)

''Starting the Day'' (1994)

''Enhancing Intimacy'' (1994)

''Enhancing Massage'' (1994)

''Enhancing Success'' (1994)

''Inner Peace'' (1994)

''Lullabies for Your Inner Child'' (1994)

''Lullaby Suite'' (1994)

''Self-Healing'' (1994)

''Sleep Soundly'' (1994)

''Gifts of the Angels'' (1995)

''Trance-Zendance: Ambient Entracement'' (1995)

''Accelerating Learning'' (1996)

''Enhancing Creativity'' (1996)

''Music for Your PC'' (1996)

''Afro-Desia'' (1996)

''In the Key of Healing'' (1996)

''Relaxation Spontanee'' (1996)

''Attracting Prosperity'' (1997)

''Music for Lovers'' (1997)

''Stop Smoking'' (1997)

''Workstation Wellness'' (1997)

''Achieving Your Ideal Weight'' (1997)

''The Sacred Chorde'', with Fabien Maman on modern monochord (1998)

''Prophecies'' (1998)

''Music for Accelerated Learning'' (1999)

''Music for Sound Healing'' (1999)

''Serenity Suite:Music & Nature'' (1999)

''Divine Intervention'' (1999)

''Sound Chi'' (1999)

''Deja-Blues'' (2000)

''Chants to Awaken the Buddhist Heart'' (2000)

''Cruise Control'' (2001)

''Chakra Suite'' (2001)

''Transitions'' (2002)

''Music for Massage'' (2002)

''Perfect Alignment'' (2002)

''Sound Medicine:Music for Healing'' (2002)

''Crystal Bowl Healing'' (2003)

''Ocean Suite'' (2003)

''Healing Songs of Earth & Sky'' (2004)

''Tonal Alchemy'' (2005)

''Music for Healing & Unwinding'' (2006)

''Lake Suite'' (2006)

''Music for Babies'' (2006)

''Initiation Inside the Great Pyramid'' (2007)

''Music for Lovers, Vol. 2'' (2007)

''In the Om Zone'' (2007)

''Drum Spirit'' (2007)

''Peace of Mind'' (2007)

''Corridors of Time''

''Creativity''

''Lifetide''

''Peak Performance''

''Radiance:Love Songs Without Words''

''Recovering from Alcoholism''

''Rhythms of Vision''

''Shared Vision''

''Soundwave 2000 Series''

External links

- Steven Halpern's website

References

Category:New Age musicians Category:Living people

es:Steven Halpern hr:Steven Halpern

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as PhD, Ph.D., DPhil or D.Phil. (for the Latin ''philosophiae doctor'' or ''doctor philosophiae''), in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities. The academic level of degrees known as doctorates of philosophy varies considerably according to the country, institution and time period, from entry-level research degrees to higher doctorates.

The term "philosophy" does not refer solely to the modern field of philosophy, but is used in a broader sense in accordance with its original Greek meaning, which is "love of wisdom". In most of Europe, all fields other than theology, law and medicine were traditionally known as philosophy.

The doctorate of philosophy as it exists today originated as a doctorate in the liberal arts at the Humboldt University, and was eventually adopted by American universities, becoming common in large parts of the world in the 20th century. In many countries, the doctorate of philosophy is still awarded only in the liberal arts (known as "philosophy" in continental Europe, hence the name of the degree).

History

In the universities of Medieval Europe, study was organized in four faculties: the basic faculty of arts, and the three higher faculties of theology, (canonical and civil) law and medicine. All of these faculties awarded intermediate degrees (bachelor of arts, of theology, of laws, of medicine) and final degrees. Initially the titles of master and doctor were used interchangeably for the final degrees, but by the late middle ages the terms master of arts and doctor of theology/divinity, doctor of laws and doctor of medicine had largely become standard. The doctorates in the higher faculties were quite different from the current Ph.D. degree in that they were awarded for advanced scholarship, not original research. No dissertation or original work was required, only lengthy residency requirements and examinations .

This situation changed in the early nineteenth century through the educational reforms in Germany, most strongly embodied in the model of the Humboldt University. The arts faculty, which in Germany was labelled the faculty of philosophy, started demanding contributions to research, attested by a dissertation, for the award of their final degree, which was labelled Doctor of Philosophy (abbreviated as Ph.D.). Whereas in the middle ages the arts faculty had a set curriculum, based upon the trivium and the quadrivium, by the nineteenth century it had come to house all the courses of study in subjects now commently referred to as sciences and humanities..

These reforms proved extremely successful, and fairly quickly the German universities started attracting foreign students, notable from the United States. The American students would go to Germany to obtain a Ph.D. after having studied for a bachelor's degrees at an American college. So influential was this practice that it was imported to the United States, where in 1861 Yale University started granting the Ph.D. degree to younger students who, after having obtained the bachelor's degree, had completed a prescribed course of graduate study and successfully defended a thesis/dissertation containing original research in science or in the humanities.. The current triple structure of bachelor-master-doctor degrees in one discipline was therefore created on American soil by fusing two different European traditions - the medieval B.A. and M.A. degrees, awarded after a course of study and inherited from the British Universities, and the research based Ph.D. taken over from the early nineteenth century German educational reforms.

From the United States, the degree spread to Canada in 1900, and then to the United Kingdom in 1917. This displaced the existing Doctor of Philosophy degree in some universities; for instance, the DPhil (higher doctorate in the faculty of philosophy) at the University of St Andrews was discontinued and replaced with the Ph.D., (research doctorate). Oxford retained the DPhil abbreviation for their research degrees. Some newer UK universities, for example Buckingham (est. 1976), Sussex (est. 1961), and, until a few years ago, York (est. 1963), chose to adopt the DPhil, as did some universities in New Zealand.

Requirements

The detailed requirements for award of a Ph.D. degree vary throughout the world and even from school to school. In some schools in the US, Canada and Denmark, for example, many universities require coursework in addition to research for Ph.D. degrees. In other countries (such as the UK) there is generally no such condition. It is not uncommon, however, for individual universities or departments to specify additional requirements for students not already in possession of a bachelor's degree or equivalent or higher.

In schools requiring coursework there is sometimes a prescribed minimum amount of study — typically two to three years full time, or a set number of credit hours — which must take place before submission of a thesis. This requirement is sometimes waived for those submitting a portfolio of peer-reviewed published work. The candidate may also be required to successfully complete a certain number of additional, advanced courses relevant to his or her area of specialization.

A candidate must submit a project or thesis or dissertation often consisting of a body of original academic research, which is in principle worthy of publication in a peer-refereed context. In many countries a candidate must defend this work before a panel of expert examiners appointed by the university; in other countries, the dissertation is examined by a panel of expert examiners who stipulate whether the dissertation is in principle passable and the issues that need to be addressed before the dissertation can be passed.

Some universities in the non-English-speaking world have begun adopting similar standards to those of the Anglophone PhD degree for their research doctorates (see the Bologna process).

A Ph.D. student or candidate (abbreviated to Ph.D.c) is conventionally required to study on campus under close supervision. With the popularity of distance education and e-learning technologies, some universities now accept students enrolled into a distance education part-time mode.

Value and criticism

PhD students are often motivated to pursue the PhD by the desire for further education beyond the undergraduate level, scientific and humanistic curiosity, the desire to contribute to the academic community, service to others, or personal development. The motivation may include increased salary, but in many cases this is not the result. Research by Casey suggests that, over all subjects, PhDs provide an earnings premium of 26%, but notes that masters degrees provide a premium of 23% already. Whilst this is a small return to the individual (or even an overall deficit when lost earnings during training are accounted for), he claims there are significant benefits to society for the extra research training.. Some research suggests that overqualified workers are often less satisfied and less productive at their jobs. These difficulties are increasingly being felt by graduates of professional degrees, such as law school, looking to find employment. PhD students do not often have to take on debt to undertake their degree .

The Economist published an article citing various criticisms against the state of PhDs. Richard B. Freeman explains that, based on pre-2000 data, at most only 20% of life science PhD students end up getting jobs specifically in research. In Canada, where the overflow of PhD degree holders is not as severe, 80% of postdoctoral research fellows end up earning less than or equal to the average construction worker (roughly $38,000 a year). Only in the fastest developing countries (e.g. China or Brazil) is there a shortage of PhDs. Higher education systems often offer little incentive to move students through PhD programs quickly (and may even provide incentive to slow them down). Germany is one of the few nations engaging these issues, and it has been doing so by reconceptualizing PhD programs to be training for careers, outside of academia, but still at high-level positions. To a lesser extent, the UK research councils have tackled the issue by introducing, since 1992, the EngD. Mark C. Taylor opines that total reform of PhD programs in almost every field is necessary in the U.S., and that pressure to make the necessary changes will need to come from many sources (students, administrators, public and private sectors, etc.). These issues and others are discussed in an April 2011 issue of the journal ''Nature''..

Doctor of Philosophy degrees across the globe

Argentina

Admission

In Argentina, the admission to a PhD program at an Argentine University requires the full completion of a Master's degree or a Licentiate's degree. Non-Argentinian Master's titles are generally accepted into a PhD program when the degree comes from a recognized university.

Funding

While a significant portion of postgraduate students finance their tuition and living costs with teaching or research work at private and state-run institutions, international institutions, such as the Fullbright Program and the Organization of American States (OAS), have been known to grant full scholarships for tuition with apportions for housing.

Requirements for completion

Upon completion of at least two years' research and course work as a graduate student, a candidate must demonstrate truthful and original contributions to his or her specific field of knowledge within a frame of academic excellence. The doctoral candidate's work should be presented in a dissertation or thesis prepared under the supervision of a tutor or director, and reviewed by a Doctoral Committee. This Committee should be composed of examiners that are external to the program, and at least one of them should also be external to the institution. The academic degree of Doctor, respective to the correspondent field of science that the candidate has contributed with original and rigorous research, is received after a successful defense of the candidate’s dissertation.

Australia

Admission

Admission to a PhD program within Australia requires a Masters degree or a Bachelors honours degree (first or second class, upper division), or equivalent, and demonstrated capacity to undertake significant research in the proposed doctoral field.

Framework for Best Practice in Doctoral Research Education in Australia

Scholarships

PhD students are sometimes offered a scholarship to study for their PhD degree. The most common of these in Australia is the government-funded Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), which provides a living stipend to students of approximately A$ 22,500 a year (tax free). APAs are paid for a duration of 3 years, while a 6 month extension is usually possible upon citing delays out of the control of the student. Some universities also fund a similar scholarship that matches the APA amount. In recent years, with the tightening of research funding in Australia, these scholarships have become increasingly hard to obtain. However, APAs have become less competitive as the number of scholarships were to be doubled by 2012. Due to a continual increase in living costs, many PhD students are forced to live under the poverty line. In addition to the more common APA and University scholarships, Australian students have other sources of scholarship funding, with options listed on the JASON Postgraduate Scholarship Database.

Fees

Australian citizens and other eligible PhD and Research Masters students in Australia are generally not charged course fees as these are paid for by the Australian Government under the Research Training Scheme International students and Coursework Masters students must pay course fees, unless they receive a scholarship to cover them.

Requirements for completion

Completion requirements vary. Most Australian PhD programs do not have a required coursework component. The 72 credit points attached to the degree are all in the product of the research, which has to make a significant new contribution to the field. The PhD research product is sent to external examiners, experts in the field of research, who have not been involved in the work. In Australia a formal oral defense is generally not part of the doctoral examination (largely because of the distances that would need to be traveled by the overseas examiners). Examiners are nominated by the candidate's University (often by the Head of Department or Research Office), and their identities are often not officially revealed to the candidate until the examination is complete. Many New Zealand Universities have retained the oral examination requirement, but often external examiner's report is presented by one of the internal examiners. The Australasian Digital Theses Program provided access to PhDs produced recently, as there are generally automatically digitalised and added to this database available from http://adt.caul.edu.au/. As of March 2011, the site is being decommissioned.

Canada

Admission

Admission to a PhD program at a Canadian university usually requires completion of a Master's degree in a related field, with sufficiently high grades and proven research ability. In some cases, a student may progress directly from an Honours Bachelor's degree to a PhD program; other programs allow a student to fast-track to a doctoral program after one year of outstanding work in a Master's program (without having to complete the Master's).

An application package typically includes a research proposal, letters of reference, transcripts, and in some cases, a writing sample or GRE scores. A common criterion for prospective PhD students is the comprehensive or qualifying examination, a process that often commences in the second year of a graduate program. Generally, successful completion of the qualifying exam permits continuance in the graduate program. Formats for this examination include oral examination by the student's faculty committee (or a separate qualifying committee), or written tests designed to demonstrate the student's knowledge in a specialized area (see below) or both.

At English-speaking universities, a student may also be required to demonstrate English language abilities, usually by achieving an acceptable score on a standard examination (e.g., Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)). Depending on the field, the student may also be required to demonstrate ability in one or more additional languages. A prospective student applying to French-speaking universities may also have to demonstrate some English language ability.

Funding

While some students work outside the university (or at student jobs within the university), in some programs students are advised (or must agree) not to devote more than ten hours per week to activities (e.g., employment) outside of their studies, particularly if they have been given funding. For large and prestigious scholarships, such as those from NSERC, this is an absolute requirement.

At some Canadian universities, most PhD students receive an award equivalent to the tuition amount for the first four years (this is sometimes called a tuition deferral or tuition waiver). Other sources of funding include teaching assistantships and research assistantships; experience as a teaching assistant is encouraged but not requisite in many programs. Some programs may require all PhD candidates to teach, which may be done under the supervision of their supervisor or regular faculty. Besides these sources of funding, there are also various competitive scholarships, bursaries, and awards available, such as those offered by the federal government via NSERC, CIHR, or SSHRC.

Requirements for completion

In general, the first two years of study are devoted to completion of coursework and the comprehensive examinations. At this stage, the student is known as a "PhD student" or "doctoral student". It is usually expected that the student will have completed most of his or her required coursework by the end of this stage. Furthermore, it is usually required that by the end of eighteen to thirty-six months after the first registration, the student will have successfully completed the comprehensive exams.

Upon successful completion of the comprehensive exams, the student becomes known as a "PhD candidate". From this stage on, the bulk of the student's time will be devoted to his or her own research, culminating in the completion of a PhD thesis or dissertation. The final requirement is an oral defense of the thesis, which is open to the public in some, but not all, universities. At most Canadian universities, the time needed to complete a PhD degree typically ranges from four to six years. It is, however, not uncommon for students to be unable to complete all the requirements within six years, particularly given that funding packages often support students for only two to four years; many departments will allow program extensions at the discretion of the thesis supervisor and/or department chair. Alternate arrangements exist whereby a student is allowed to let their registration in the program lapse at the end of six years and re-register once the thesis is completed in draft form. The general rule is that graduate students are obligated to pay tuition until the initial thesis submission has been received by the thesis office. In other words, if a PhD student defers or delays the initial submission of their thesis they remain obligated to pay fees until such time that the thesis has been received in good standing.

Denmark and Norway

Denmark and Norway were some of the first countries to introduce the Doctor of Philosophy degree, inspired by the German university system, in 1824. The degree was written as ''Doctor Philosophiae'', abbreviated ''dr. Phil.'' or ''dr. philos.'' The two countries' systems of higher education were more or less identical at that time; following the dissolution of Denmark-Norway in 1814, the only university of Norway (the Royal Frederick University) nonetheless followed the regulations of the only university of Denmark (and for centuries the only university of both countries), the University of Copenhagen, for several years.

The dr. phil. degree was used for all other fields than theology, law and medicine, which had separate degrees: ''doctor theologiae'', ''doctor juris'' and ''doctor medicinae''. In the 20th century new degrees were created in the fields of natural sciences, humanities and social sciences, but it was still possible to obtain the dr. phil. degree in any field. Most people who started at a doctoral degree had already studied for six or seven years and obtained a Candidate degree (six years) or a Magister degree (seven years), sometimes a Licentiate (a "smaller doctorate"). The former were considered entry-level degrees required before finding permanent employment as a researcher, while the dr. phil. degree was often obtained by people who were already well established academics, sometimes even full professors.

Following reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s, both countries introduced a new Doctor of Philosophy degree, based upon the American PhD and written as Philosophiae Doctor (PhD). In Norway the PhD replaced all other doctoral degrees except dr. philos., while in Denmark, the traditional doctorates are still awarded. In Norway the new PhD and the dr. philos. are equivalent. In Denmark, the original dr. phil. degree is today considered a higher doctorate, as opposed to the PhD, which is considered a "smaller doctorate" at the same level as the former Licentiate. Unlike the PhD, the dr. phil. degree is not a supervised degree, does not include any coursework and requires a much larger degree of independent research in both countries.

France

Admission

Students pursuing the PhD degree must first complete a Master's degree program, which takes two years after graduation with a Bachelor's degree (five years in total). The candidate must find funding and a formal doctoral advisor (Directeur de thèse) with an habilitation throughout the doctoral program.

In France, the Masters program is divided into two branches: "master professionnel", which orientates the students towards the working world, and Master of Research (Master-recherche), which is oriented towards research. The PhD admission is granted by a graduate school (in French, "école doctorale"). A PhD Student has to follow some courses offered by the graduate school while continuing his/her research at laboratory. His/her research may be carried out in a laboratory, at a university, or in a company. In the last case, the company hires the student as an engineer and the student is supervised by both the company's tutor and a labs' professor. The validation of the PhD degree requires generally 3 to 4 years after the Master degree. Consequently, the PhD degree is considered in France as a "Bac +8" diploma. "Bac" stands for Baccalauréat which is the French High-school diploma.

Funding

The financing of PhD studies comes mainly from funds for research of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. The most common procedure is a short-term employment contract called doctoral contract : the institution of higher education is the employer and the PhD candidate the employee. However, the student can apply for funds from a company who can host him/her at its premise (as in the case where PhD students do their research in a company). Many other resources come from some regional/city projects, some associations, etc.

India

Admission

In India, a Masters degree is required to gain admission to a doctoral program. In some subjects, doing a Masters in Philosophy (M.Phil) is a prerequisite to start PhD. For some prestigious universities it is required to qualify the all India level examination such as ‘National Eligibility Test for Lectureship (NET) conducted by ‘University Grants Commission' .

In last few years, there have been many changes in the rules related to PhD in India. According to the new rules, most universities conduct entrance exams in general ability and the selected subject. After clearing these tests, the short-listed candidates need to appear for interview by the available supervisor / guide. The students are required to give presentations of the proposal at the beginning, need to submit progress reports, give pre-submission presentation and finally defend the thesis in an open defence viva voce.

Germany

Admission

In Germany an advanced degree (Master, Diploma, Magister or Staatsexamen) and above-average grades are often required to gain admission to a doctoral program. The degree should usually be in a related field. The candidate must also find a tenured professor or Privatdozent to serve as the formal advisor and supervisor (''Betreuer'') of the dissertation throughout the doctoral program. This supervisor is informally referred to as ''Doktorvater/Doktormutter'' (literally 'doctor's father/mother').

Doctoral programs in Germany generally take one to four years – usually three, up to five in engineering – to complete, strongly depending on the subject. There are usually no formal classes or lectures to attend, and the doctoral candidate (''Doktorand/-in'') mainly conducts independent research under the tutelage of a single professor or advisory committee.

Many doctoral candidates work as teaching or research assistants and are thus actually doing most of the research and teaching activities at their home institutions, but are not paid a reasonably competitive salary for that (in most cases, only a half position is granted). However, external funding by research organisations and foundations is also common. Furthermore, many universities have established research-intensive ''Graduiertenkollegs'', which are graduate schools that provide funding for doctoral theses.

Other countries

In German-speaking countries, most Eastern European countries, the former Soviet Union, most parts of Africa, Asia, and many Spanish-speaking countries the corresponding degree is simply called "doctor" (''Doktor''), and is distinguished by subject area with a Latin suffix (e.g. "Dr. med." for , "Dr. rer. nat." for — Doctor of Natural Science, "Dr. phil." for , "Dr. iur." for , etc.).

In the former Soviet Union, the Doctor of Sciences is the higher of two sequential post-graduate degrees, with Candidate of Sciences (Russian – кандидат наук) being universally accepted as the equivalent of the PhD, while the Doctorate is a (Full) Professors' or Academicians' separate and subsequent degree, indicating that the holder is a distinguished, honoured, and outstanding member of the scientific community. It is rarely awarded to those younger than late middle age or lacking in achievement and is a symbol of success in an academic career.

Italy

The Dottorato di ricerca (research doctorate), abbreviated to "Dott. Ric." or "Ph.D.", is an academic title awarded at the end of a course of not less than three years, admission to which is based on entrance examinations. In case of MD/PhD the Ph.D. programme may last only two years.

Doctorate courses are open, without age or citizenship limits, to all those who already hold a "laurea magistrale" (master degree) or similar academic title awarded abroad which has been recognised as equivalent to an Italian degree by the Committee responsible for the entrance examinations.

The number of places on offer each year and details of the entrance examinations are set out in the examination announcement.

Poland

A doctor's degree (pl. Doktor), abbreviated to Phd (pl. dr) is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities in most fields as well as by the Polish Academy of Sciences, regulated by the Polish parliament acts and the government orders, in particular by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland. Commonly, students with a master's degree or equivalent are accepted to a doctoral entrance exam. The title of Phd is awarded to a scientist who 1) completed a minimum of 3 years of Phd studies (pl. studia doktoranckie), 2) finished his/her theoretical and/or laboratory’s scientific work, 3) passed all Phd examinations, 4) submitted his/her dissertation- a document presenting the author's research and findings, 5) successfully defended his/her doctoral thesis. Typically, upon completion, the candidate undergoes an oral examination, always public, by his/her supervisory committee with expertise in the given discipline.

Scandinavia

The doctorate was introduced in Denmark-Norway in 1479 and awarded in theology, law and medicine, while the Magister's degree was the highest degree at the Faculty of Philosophy, equivalent to the doctorate.

Scandinavian countries were among the early adopters of a modern style doctorate of philosophy, based upon the German model. Denmark and Norway both introduced the dr. phil(os). degree in 1824, replacing the Magister's degree as the highest degree, while Uppsala University of Sweden renamed its Magister's degree ''Filosofie Doktor'' (Fil.Dr.) in 1863. These degrees, however, became comparable to the German Habilitation rather than the doctorate, as Scandinavian countries did not have a separate Habilitation. The degrees were uncommon and not a prerequisite for employment as a professor; rather, they were seen as distinctions similar to the British (higher) doctorates (D.Litt., D.Sc.). Denmark introduced an American-style PhD in 1989; it formally replaced the Licentiate degree, and is considered a lower degree than the dr. phil. degree; officially, the PhD is not considered a doctorate, but unofficially, it is referred to as "the smaller doctorate", as opposed to the dr. phil., "the grand doctorate". Currently Denmark and Norway are both awarding the traditional (higher) dr. phil(os). degree, and American-style PhDs. Sweden is only awarding the Fil.Dr. degree.

Spain

Doctor Degrees are regulated by Royal Decree (R.D. 778/1998), ''Real Decreto'' (in Spanish). They are granted by the University on behalf of the King, and its Diploma has the force of a public document. The Ministry of Science keeps a National Registry of Theses called TESEO.

All doctoral programs are of a research nature. A minimum of 4 years of study are required, divided into 2 stages:

# A 2-year-long period of studies, which concludes with a public dissertation presented to a panel of 3 Professors. If the projects receives approval from the university, he/she will receive a "Diploma de Estudios Avanzados" (part qualified doctor, ''Literally: Diploma of Advanced Studies''). # A 2-year (or longer) period of research. Extensions may be requested for up to 10 years. The student must write his thesis presenting a new discovery or original contribution to Science. If approved by his "thesis director", the study will be presented to a panel of 5 distinguished scholars. Any Doctor attending the public presentations is allowed to challenge the candidate with questions on his research. If approved, he will receive the doctorate. Four marks can be granted (Unsatisfactory, Pass, "Cum laude", and "Summa cum laude"). Those Doctors granted their degree "Summa Cum Laude" are allowed to apply for an "Extraordinary Award".

A Doctor Degree is required to apply to a teaching position at the University.

The social standing of Doctors in Spain is evidenced by the fact that only PhD holders, Grandees and Dukes can take seat and cover their heads in the presence of the King. All Doctor Degree holders are reciprocally recognized as equivalent in Germany and Spain ("Bonn Agreement of November 14, 1994").

United Kingdom

Further information: Doctorate#United Kingdom

The top ten UK universities ranked by research quality according to the Times Good University Guide with their designatory letters:

PhD PhD PhD PhD

University !! Letters !! University !! Letters
University of Oxford	Oxford	DPhil	Durham University>Durham
University of Cambridge	Cambridge	|	University of St Andrews>St Andrews	PhD
London School of Economics	LSE	|	University of Warwick>Warwick	PhD
Imperial College London	Imperial	|	Lancaster University>Lancaster	PhD
University College London	UCL	|	University of Exeter>Exeter	PhD

Admission

Universities admit applicants to PhD programmes on a case-by-case basis; depending on the university, admission is typically conditional on the prospective student having successfully completed an undergraduate degree with at least upper second-class honours, or a postgraduate master's degree, but requirements can vary.

In the case of the University of Oxford, for example, "The one essential condition of being accepted...is evidence of previous academic excellence, and of future potential." Commonly, students are first accepted on to an MPhil programme and may transfer to PhD regulations upon satisfactory progress and is referred to as APG (Advanced Postgraduate) status. This is typically done after one or two years, and the research work done may count towards the PhD degree. If a student fails to make satisfactory progress, he or she may be offered the opportunity to write up and submit for an MPhil degree.

In addition, PhD students from countries outside the EU/EFTA area are required to comply with the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS), which involves undergoing a security clearance process with the Foreign Office for certain courses in medicine, mathematics, engineering and material sciences. This requirement was introduced in 2007 due to concerns about terrorism and weapons proliferation.

Funding

In the United Kingdom, funding for PhD students is sometimes provided by government-funded Research Councils or the European Social Fund, usually in the form of a tax-free bursary which consists of tuition fees together with a stipend of around £13,000 per year for three years (higher in London), whether or not the degree continues for longer. Scientific studentships are usually paid at a higher rate, for example, in London, Cancer Research UK, the ICR and the Wellcome Trust stipend rates start at around £19,000 and progress annually to around £23,000 a year; an amount that is tax and national insurance free. Research Council funding is sometimes 'earmarked' for a particular department or research group, who then allocate it to a chosen student, although in doing so they are generally expected to abide by the usual minimum entry requirements (typically a first degree with upper second class honours, although successful completion of a postgraduate master's degree is usually counted as raising the class of the first degree by one division for these purposes). However, the availability of funding in many disciplines (especially humanities, social studies, and pure science subjects) means that in practice only those with the best research proposals, references and backgrounds are likely to be awarded a studentship. The ESRC (Economic and Social Science Research Council) explicitly state that a 2.1 minimum (or 2.2 plus additional masters degree) is required – no additional marks are given for students with a first class honours or a distinction at masters level.

Since 2002, there has been a move by research councils to fund interdisciplinary doctoral training centres such as MOAC which concentrate on communication between traditional disciplines and an emphasis on transferable skills in addition to research training.

Many students who are not in receipt of external funding may choose to undertake the degree part time, thus reducing the tuition fees, as well as creating free time in which to earn money for subsistence.

Students may also take part in tutoring, work as research assistants, or (occasionally) deliver lectures, at a rate of typically £25–30 per hour, either to supplement existing low income or as a sole means of funding.

Completion

There is usually a preliminary assessment to remain in the programme and the thesis is submitted at the end of a 3- to 4-year program. These periods are usually extended pro rata for part-time students. With special dispensation, the final date for the thesis can be extended for up to four additional years, for a total of seven, but this is rare. Since the early 1990s, the UK funding councils have adopted a policy of penalising departments where large proportions of students fail to submit their theses in four years after achieving PhD-student status (or pro rata equivalent) by reducing the number of funded places in subsequent years.

There has recently been an increase in the number of Integrated PhD programs available, such as at the University of Southampton. These courses include a Masters of Research (MRes) in the first year, which consists of a taught component as well as laboratory rotation projects. The PhD must then be completed within the next 3 years. As this includes the MRes all deadlines and timeframes are brought forward to encourage completion of both MRes and PhD within 4 years from commencement. These programs are designed to provide students with a greater range of skills than a standard PhD.

Other doctorates

In the United Kingdom PhD degrees are distinct from other doctorates, most notably the higher doctorates such as D.Litt. (Doctor of Letters) or D.Sc. (Doctor of Science), which may be granted on the recommendation of a committee of examiners on the basis of a substantial portfolio of submitted (and usually published) research. However, most UK universities still maintain the option of submitting a thesis for the award of a higher doctorate.

Recent years have seen the introduction of professional doctorates, which are the same level as PhDs but more specific in their field. These tend not to be solely academic, but combine academic research, a taught component and a professional qualification. These are most notably in the fields of engineering (Eng.D.), education (Ed.D.), occupational psychology (D.Occ Psych.) clinical psychology (D.Clin.Psych.), public administration (D.P.A.), business administration (D.B.A.), and music (D.M.A.). These typically have a more formal taught component consisting of smaller research projects, as well as a 40,000–60,000 word thesis component, which collectively is equivalent to that of a PhD degree.

United States

Overview

In the United States, the Ph.D. degree is the highest academic degree awarded by universities in most fields of study. American students typically undergo a series of three phases in the course of their work toward the Ph.D. degree. The first phase consists of coursework in the student's field of study and requires one to three years to complete. This often is followed by a preliminary, a comprehensive examination, or a series of cumulative examinations where the emphasis is on breadth rather than depth of knowledge. The student is often later required to pass oral and written examinations in the field of specialization within the discipline, and here, depth is emphasized. Some Ph.D. programs require the candidate to successfully complete requirements in pedagogy (taking courses on higher level teaching and teaching undergraduate courses) or applied science (e.g., clinical practice and predoctoral clinical internship in Ph.D. programs in clinical or counseling psychology).

Another two to four years are usually required for the composition of a substantial and original contribution to human knowledge in the form of a written dissertation, which in the social sciences and humanities typically ranges from 50 to 450 pages in length. In many cases, depending on the discipline, a dissertation consists of (i) a comprehensive literature review, (ii) an outline of methodology, and (iii) several chapters of scientific, social, historical, philosophical, or literary analysis. Typically, upon completion, the candidate undergoes an oral examination, sometimes public, by his or her supervisory committee with expertise in the given discipline.

As the Ph.D. degree is often a preliminary step toward a career as a professor, throughout the whole period of study and dissertation research the student, depending on the university and degree, may be required or offered the opportunity to teach undergraduate and occasionally graduate courses in relevant subjects.

Admission

There are 282 universities in the United States that award the PhD degree, and those universities vary widely in their criteria for admission, as well as the rigor of their academic programs. Typically, PhD programs require applicants to have a Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (and, in many cases in the humanities, a master's degree), reasonably high grades, several letters of recommendation, relevant academic coursework, a cogent statement of interest in the field of study, and satisfactory performance on a graduate-level exam specified by the respective program (e.g., GRE, GMAT). Specific admissions criteria differ substantially according to university admissions policies and fields of study. Some programs in well-regarded research universities may have very low acceptance rates and require excellent performances on the GRE and in undergraduate work, strong support in letters of recommendation, substantial research experience, and academically sophisticated samples of their writing.

Master's degree "en route"

As applicants to many Ph.D. programs are not required to have master's degrees, many programs award a Master of Arts or Master of Science degree "en route", "in passing", or "in course" based on the graduate work done in the course of achieving the Ph.D. Students who receive such master's degrees are usually required to complete a certain amount of coursework and a master's thesis or field examination. Not all Ph.D. programs require additional work to obtain a master's en route to the Ph.D. (e.g., a master's thesis). Depending on the specific program, masters-in-passing degrees can be either mandatory or optional. Not all Ph.D. students choose to complete the additional requirements necessary for the MA or MS if such requirements are not mandated by their programs. Those students will simply obtain the Ph.D. degree at the end of their graduate study.

Time

Depending on the specific field of study, completion of a PhD program usually takes four to eight years of study after the Bachelor's Degree; those students who begin a PhD program with a master's degree may complete their PhD degree a year or two sooner. As PhD programs typically lack the formal structure of undergraduate education, there are significant individual differences in the time taken to complete the degree. Many U.S. universities have set a ten-year limit for students in PhD programs, or refuse to consider graduate credit older than ten years as counting towards a PhD degree. Similarly, students may be required to re-take the comprehensive exam if they do not defend their dissertations within five years after submitting it to their self-chosen dissertation advisors. Overall, 57% of students who begin a PhD program in the US will complete their degree within ten years, approximately 30% will drop out or be dismissed, and the remaining 13% of students will continue on past ten years.

Funding

PhD students are usually discouraged from engaging in external employment during the course of their graduate training. As a result, PhD students at U.S. universities typically receive a tuition waiver and some form of annual stipend. The source and amount of funding varies from field to field and university to university. Many U.S. PhD students work as teaching assistants or research assistants. Graduate schools increasingly encourage their students to seek outside funding; many are supported by fellowships they obtain for themselves or by their advisers' research grants from government agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Many Ivy League and other well-endowed universities provide funding for the entire duration of the degree program (if it is short) or for most of it.

PhD candidacy

A PhD program candidate, or PhDc (sometimes called Candidate of Philosophy), is a postgraduate student at the doctoral level who has successfully satisfied the requirements for doctoral studies, except for the final thesis or dissertation. As such, a PhDc is sometimes called an "ABD" (All But Dissertation or All But Defended). Although a minor distinction in postgraduate study, achieving PhD Candidacy is not without benefit. For example, PhDc status may coincide with an increase in the student's monthly stipend and may make the student eligible for additional employment opportunities.

Some programs also include a Master of Philosophy degree as part of the PhD program. The MPhil, in those universities that offer it, is usually awarded after the appropriate MA or MS (as above) is awarded, and the degree candidate has completed all further requirements for the PhD degree (which may include additional language requirements, course credits, teaching experiences, and comprehensive exams) aside from the writing and defense of the dissertation itself. This formalizes the "all but dissertation" (ABD) status used informally by some students, and represents that the student has achieved a higher level of scholarship than the MA/MS would indicate – as such, the MPhil is sometimes a helpful credential for those applying for teaching or research posts while completing their dissertation work for the PhD degree itself.

PhDc is not to be confused with Candidate of Sciences, an academic degree that has been used in certain countries in place of PhD.

Models of supervision

At some universities, there may be training for those wishing to supervise PhD studies. There is now a lot of literature published for academics who wish to do this, such as Delamont, Atkinson and Parry (1997). Indeed, Dinham and Scott (2001) have argued that the worldwide growth in research students has been matched by increase in a number of what they term "how-to" texts for both students and supervisors, citing examples such as Pugh and Phillips (1987). These authors report empirical data on the benefits that a PhDc may gain if he or she publishes work, and note that PhD students are more likely to do this with adequate encouragement from their supervisors.

Wisker (2005) has noticed how research into this field has distinguished between two models of supervision: The technical-rationality model of supervision, emphasising technique; The negotiated order model, being less mechanistic and emphasising fluid and dynamic change in the PhD process. These two models were first distinguished by Acker, Hill and Black (1994; cited in Wisker, 2005). Considerable literature exists on the expectations that supervisors may have of their students (Phillips & Pugh, 1987) and the expectations that students may have of their supervisors (Phillips & Pugh, 1987; Wilkinson, 2005) in the course of PhD supervision. Similar expectations are implied by the Quality Assurance Agency's Code for Supervision (Quality Assurance Agency, 1999; cited in Wilkinson, 2005).

International PhD equivalent degrees

Belgium (Dutch-speaking): Doctor

Belgium (French-speaking): Doctorat

Brazil: Doutorado

Bulgaria: Доктор

China: 博士

Colombia: Doctorado

Croatia: Doktor

Czech Republic: CSc. was used till 1998, since 1998 PhD written as Ph.D. is used

Ecuador: Doctorado

Egypt: Doctorat

Estonia: Doktor

Finland: Tohtori

France: Doctorat

Germany: Doktor

Greece: Διδακτορικό

Hong Kong: 博士Doctor

Indonesia: Doktor

Iran: دکترا(Doktora)

Iraq: دكتوراه (Duktorah)

Israel: דוקטורט ("doctorat")

Italy: Dottorato di ricerca

Japan: 博士

Korea: 박사

Latin America: Doctorado/Doctorate

Latvia: Zinātņu doktors

Lithuania: Daktaras

Macau: 博士Doutoramento

Malaysia: Doktor Falsafah

Mexico: Doctorado

Mongolia: Эрдэмтэн

Netherlands: Doctor

Norway: :no: Doktorgrad

Peru: Doctorado

Philippines: Doktor

Poland: Doktor

Portugal: Doutoramento

Romania: Doctorat

Russia: Кандидат наук (Candidate of Sciences)

Singapore: Doctor

Serbia: Доктор

Spain: Doctorado

Syria: دكتوراه (doktorah)

Taiwan： 博士

Thailand: ดุษฎีบัณฑิต

Turkey: Doktor

Ukraine: Кандидат наук

Vietnam: Tiến sĩ

See also

Related terminology:

Doctor of Education – Preparation for academic, administrative, clinical or research positions in education.

PhD in Management – A program designed for students interested in becoming professors in Business.

Doctorate – A general term describing a set of degrees analogous to the PhD.

Terminal degree – The highest degree awarded in a field, usually a PhD.

Graduate student – A student pursuing education past the bachelor's degree, such as Masters Degree or a PhD.

C.Phil. (also ABD) – Term, usually used unofficially, for a graduate student who has completed all PhD coursework but has yet to defend his or her dissertation.

Доктор наук – Degree awarded by USSR and post-Soviet states (for example Russia, Ukraine).

Licentiate – Degree awarded in various countries, including Portugal, Belgium, the UK, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Poland.

Sandwich PhD Programme

PhD in popular culture:

Piled Higher and Deeper – Life (or the lack thereof) in Academia, a comic strip by Jorge Cham

Notes

References

Delamont, S., Atkinson, P. & Parry, O. (1997). Supervising the Ph.D.: A guide to success. Buckingham: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-19516-4

Dinham, S. & Scott, C. (2001). The experience of the results of disseminating the results of doctoral research. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 25 (1) 45–55. ISSN: 1469-9486

Drury, V., Francis, K., & Chapman, Y. (2006). Walking the void – being a rural PhD student. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 14, p233.

MacGillivray, Alex; Potts, Gareth; Raymond, Polly. ''Secrets of Their Success'' (London: New Economics Foundation, 2002).

Phillips, E. & Pugh, D.S. (1987). How to get a PhD : managing the peaks and troughs of research / Estelle M. Phillips and D.S. Pugh. Milton Keynes: Open University Press ISBN 0-335-15537-5

Simpson, Renate. ''How the PhD came to Britain: A century of struggle for postgraduate education'', Society for Research into Higher Education, Guildford (1983).

Wellington, J. Bathmaker, A._M., Hunt, C., McCullough, G. & Sikes, P. (2005). Succeeding with your doctorate. London: Sage. ISBN 1-4129-0116-2

Wilkinson, D. (2005) The essential guide to postgraduate study. London : SAGE ISBN 1-4129-0062-X (hbk.)

Wisker, G. (2005) The Good Supervisor: Supervising Postgraduate and Undergraduate Research for Doctoral Theses and Dissertations. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-0395-6.

Philosophy, Doctor of

bn:পিএইচডি cs:Ph.D. da:Ph.d. de:Ph.D. eo:Doktoro de filozofio fa:پی‌اچ‌دی fr:Philosophiæ doctor hi:पीएचडी is:Philosophiae Doctor it:Doctor of Philosophy nl:Doctor of Philosophy ja:Ph.D. no:Filosofisk doktorgrad ru:Доктор философии si:දර්ශන ආචාර්ය fi:Filosofian tohtori sv:Filosofie doktor uk:Доктор філософії ur:علامۂِ فلسفہ yi:דאקטאר (פילאסאפיע) zh:哲學博士

|thdl=Ju Mipam Namgyel Gyamtso|e=Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyamtso|tc=米龐仁波切|s=米庞仁波切|p=Mǐpáng Rénbōqiē}} Jamgön Ju Mipham, or Mipham Jamyang Namgyal Gyamtso (1846–1912) (also known as "Mipham the Great") was a master of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the leading figures in the Ri-me (non-sectarian) movement in Tibet.

Derivation of name

"Ju" ("holding") was Mipham's family name as his paternal clan is said to have originated as clear light deities who came to the human world holding a rope. "Jamgön" or "Jamyang" indicates that he was considered to be an emanation of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. His maternal uncle, Minister-Lama Drupchok Pema Tarjay, named him Mipham Gyamtso ("Invincible Ocean" or "Unconquerable Ocean").

Biography

Early life

Mipham the Great was born to an aristocratic family in 1846 in the Derge Principality of Kham or Eastern Tibet. He was recognized as an exceptional child from a young age, memorizing texts as early as age six. By the age of ten he had already composed many texts. At twelve, he entered the monastery as an ordinary monk of the Ogmin Urgyen Mindrolling lineage at a branch monastery of the great Nyingma seat Shechen.

When he was fifteen or sixteen, after studying the very difficult Mindrolling system of chanting for only a few days and praying to Manjushri, he is said to have completely mastered it. In an 18-month retreat he accomplished the form of Manjushri known as 'Lion of Philosophers' (Tibetan: smra ba'i seng ge), using a liturgy composed by the fifteenth Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje. He made many medicinal pills blessed with Manjushri's mantra, and many miraculous signs were said to have been manifest. After this, it was said that he could accomplish any sutra or tantra without any effort, and no text was unknown to him. He went to many lamas to obtain the necessary lungs (oral transmissions), but he needed no study or teachings for any texts.

Teachers

Mipham was "a luminary of the nineteenth century Nyingma renaissance and Rime movement ecumenical movement, which started in the Kham region of eastern Tibet". As such he received teachings from masters of all lineages Nyingma and Sarma alike. His root gurus were Dza Patrul Rinpoche, from whom he received instruction on Shantideva's ''Bodhicharyavatara'' and Dzogchen and the renowned master Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, from whom he received transmission of the orally transmitted or Kama and revealed or Terma lineages, and many other teachings. His other teachers included Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye; Dzogchen Khenpo Padma Vajra; Lab Kyabgon Wangchen Gyerab Dorje; Jubon Jigme Dorje; Bumsar Geshe Ngawang Jungne and Ngor Ponlop Jamyang Loter Wangpo.

Work and legacy

As scholar Robet Mayer remarks, Mipham "completely revolutionised rNying ma pa scholasticism in the late 19th century, raising its status after many centuries as a comparative intellectual backwater, to arguably the most dynamic and expansive of philosophical traditions in all of Tibetan Buddhism, with an influence and impact far beyond the rNying ma pa themselves."

Scope

In the Introduction to his critical study of the ontological debates between Mipham and his Gelugpa opponents (''Mipham's Dialectics and the Debates on Emptiness'') Lopon Karma Phuntsho defines Mipham as a polymath and gives this assessment of the scope of Mipham's work:

Mipham's works on both the exoteric or Sutrayana teachings and the esoteric or Vajrayāna teachings have become core texts within the Nyingma tradition. These works now hold a central position in the curriculum of all Nyingma monasteries and monastic colleges — occupying a place of esteem similar the works of Sakya Pandita and Gorampa in the Sakya tradition; those of Tsongkhapa in the Gelug tradition and of Kunkhyen Padma Karpo in the Drukpa Kagyu. Together with Rongzompa and Longchenpa, Mipham is considered to be one of the three "omnscient" writers of the Nyingma tradition.

Commentaries on Buddhist Śāstra

Although Mipham wrote on a wide range of subjects, Prof. David Germano identifies the most influential aspect of Mipham's career in that he "was the single most important author in the efflorescence of Nyingma exoteric literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Grounding himself theoretically in the writings of Longchenpa and other great Nyingma authors, Mipham produced brilliant exegetical commentaries on the great Indian philosophical systems and texts with a Nyingma orientation.".

E. Gene Smith also judged that Mipham's greatest contribution was "in his brilliant and strikingly original commentaries on the Indian treatises." Prior to Mipham, Nyingmapa scholars "had seldom written detailed pedagogical commentaries on the ''śāstras'' of exoteric Buddhism." Until his time the colleges or shedra associated with the great Nyingma monasteries of Kham, such as Dzogchen, Shechen, Kathog, Palyul and Tarthang lacked their own exegetical commentaries on these exoteric Mahayana ''śāstras'', and students commonly studied Gelug commentaries on these fundamental texts. Grounding himself in the writings of Śāntarakṣita, Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo, and Longchenpa, Mipham produced a whole array of brilliant exegetical commentaries on the great Indian philosophical systems and texts that clearly articulated a Nyingma orientation or view.

The texts include his commentaries on the ''Mulamadhyamakakarika'' or ''Fundamental Stanzas on Wisdom'' by Nagarjuna; the ''Introduction to the Middle Way'' (Sanskrit: Madhyamakāvatāra) of Chandrakirti; the ''Quintessence of all Courses of Ultimate Wisdom'' (Jnanasarasamuccaya) of Aryadeva; commentaries on the major works of the Indian Buddhist logicians Dharmakirti and Dignaga; commentaries on the ''Five Treatises of Maitreya'' most notably, the ''Abhisamayalamkara''; commentaries on several works of Vasubandhu including the ''Abhidharmakosha''. Miphams commentary on the ninth chapter of Shantideva's ''Bodhicaryavatara, '' the ''Shertik Norbu Ketaka (), "threw Tibetan scholarly circles into several decades of heated controversy," but "it was not the only tempest Mipham's new expositions raised." His commentary on the ''Madhyamakalamkara'' of Śāntarakṣita was also considered highly controversial.

Vajrayana works

Manjusri

As a scholar and meditator Mipham was so accomplished that he was enthroned as an emanation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom. Most of the Fifth volume of his collected works consists of works related to Manjusri.

Guhyagarbha Tantra

Mipham's commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra is entitled ''The Essence of Clear Light'' or ''Nucleus of Inner Radiance'' ()— it is based on Longchenpa's commentary,'' Dispelling Darkness in the Ten Directions'' which explains the Guhyagarbha from the Dzogchen point of view.

Kalacakra

Mipham showed particular interest in the Kalachakra and the kingdom of Shambhala, and one of his last and most extensive of his esoteric works are his two volumes of commentary, initiation and sadhana related to the Kalachakra Tantra, the esoteric teaching from Shambhala. Before he died in 1912, he said to his students that now he was going to Shambhala.

Dzogchen

It may appear that Mipham did not write extensively on Dzogchen (The Great Perfection) however there are many references to it throughout his original compositions. One volume of his writings comprises short, pithy instructions on the view, meditation and practice of Great Perfection. Volume 24 contains his commentary on Jigme Lingpa's Yonten Dzöd and a three-part original exposition of Great Perfection, the Trilogy of Fundamental Mind. Only some parts of the first section of this may be by Mipham Rinpoche's own hand. Much or all of that section, as well as second and third are based on notes and recollections of Mipham's closest disciple, Shechen Gyaltsab, who in turn was one of the principle teachers of the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Mipham Rinpoche regretted the incompleteness of the Trilogy but nevertheless it is a mine of profound commentary on Great Perfection, especially in defending those teachings against its critics, and clearing up misconceptions and misinterpretations of Dzogchen, such as confusing it with certain aspects of teachings of the New Tantras as was common in Mipham's day.

Besides his texts explicitly concerned with Dzogchen, many of Mipham Rinpoche's other works are written with Dzogchen in mind—if not as the subject, then as an overriding theme. Among those are the "Five Lotuses" and "Five Swords", short and intermediate-length commentaries on the essence of wisdom and language; the Beacon of Certainty which is perhaps the most essential of Mipham's original writings; and in many of Mipham's liturgies (such as those of Gesar), his essays of practical advice (gtams-tshogs), his verses of praise to Manjushri, Sarasvati and other persons, historical or otherwise (bstod-tshogs), and in one of his most famous compositions which is an 'aspiration' (smon-lam), Mipham makes clear—either explicitly or using coded language—the centrality of Dzogchen/Great Perfection to his view, meditation, practice and experiential realization.

Mipham and Gesar

Throughout his life, Mipham showed a particular interest in the legend of the warrior king Gesar of Ling, a 12th century figure whose epic is well-known and widely celebrated in eastern Tibet, and about whom Mipham wrote extensively.

The Gesar practice, known as "The Swift Accomplishment of Enlightened Activity Through Invocation and Offering" () arose in the mind of Mipham as a gong-ter and was written down over the course of 3 years from the age of 31 to 34. This practice invokes Gesar and his retinue and requests him to assist practitioners.

Medicine

Mipham's medical works continue to be highly regarded to this day.

Astrology and divination

Mipham also wrote extensively about astrology which was, in his words, a "delightful game" that he mastered in his teens but later applied to more serious topics such as medicine; these two topics, with various texts on more or less related topics of divination, occupy perhaps 2,000 pages of his writing. An entire volume of Mipham's is devoted to Ju-thig or divination using knots, a method that might be termed "Bon" in origin, for want of a more accurate term; this may have been the legacy of his family, who were doctors for several generations. Throughout his writings there are many resources for divination, in addition to astrology, including several rituals for looking in mirrors (pra-mo), one using dice (mo), pulling different-length 'arrows' (Wylie: da dar) out of a quiver and so on, compelling a non-human "bird" to whisper future news in one's ear, and so on. In one short text he prescribes various methods of divination (all drawn, Mipham emphasizes, from Tantric scriptures and commentaries) that make use of unusual sources of augury such as: the vicariously overheard chatter of women; sudden appearance of various animals, especially birds; weather phenomena; the shape, size and color of flames in the agnihotra or fire puja; the quality of burning butter lamps, especially the size of the flame, the amount and shape of smoke that arises; and the size and shape of the carbon deposit on the wick.

When some of his scholarly rivals thought it inappropriate for a monk to devote so much time to matters of future events, Mipham wrote a short essay explaining the purpose of divination, citing sources in the Sutras and Tantras where the utility and value of divination are explained.

Works on grammar and poetry

Other topics

Students

Mipham’s most important students were Dodrub Rinpoche, Terton Sogyal, the Fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Gemang Kyab Gon, Khenpo Padmavajra, Katog Situ Rinpoche, Sechen Rabjam, Gyaltsab Tulku, Palyul Gyaltrul, Karma Yangtrul, Palpung Situ Rinpoche, Ling Jetrung, Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924), Tokden Shakya Shri, Ngor Ponlob, and others. The great tulkus of Sechen, Dzogchen, Katog, Palyul, Palpung, Dege Gonchen, Repkong and others of all lineages, Sakya, Gelug, Kagyu, and Nyingma, all became his disciples.

Emanations of Ju Mipham

According to one account shortly before he died, Mipham told his attendant:

This may be interpreted as a statement that his mindstream would have no further 'emanations' (Wylie: ''sprul pa'' (tulpa); ''sprul sku'' (tulku)). Conversely, according to another account in which he mentions the mindstream in passing and prophesies the shortly before his death to his student Khenpo Kunphel:

In the above account, shortly after the departure of Khenpo Kunphel he stated publicly, "Now, soon I shall depart. I shall not be reborn again in Tibet, therefore do not search for me. I have reason to go to Shambhala in the north."

Subsequently a number of emanations have been recognized.

According to E. Gene Smith "At least three rebirths were recognized in the decade following his death: 1) Zhe chen Mi pham (a grandnephew of Mi pham rgya mtsho); 2) Tshe dbang bdud 'dul (1915/16-42) the last prince of Sde dge; 3. Khyung po Mi pham, an incarnation recognized by Rdzong gsar Mkhyen brtse 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros."

The next (third) Mipham in the line of the Dege Prince who died in 1942 was apparently born in Tibet in 1949 and recognised by Tengye Rinpoche of Lab i 1959 At that time he was enthroned and given responsibility for all monasteries previously held by the first and second incarnations. This third incarnation was also confirmed by Patrul Rinpoche who gave him relics of the previous incarnations and by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who he had recognized in a previous incarnation. This Mipham incarnate is the father of Thaye Dorje, one of two candidates to be recognized as the 17th Karmapa, and of 14th Sonam Tsemo Rinpoche, an important Gelug/Sakya tulku.

In 1995, Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo (b. 1962), the eldest son of renowned dharma master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Ani Könchok Palden, was recognized as a reincarnation of Mipham Rinpoche by HH Drubwang Padma Norbu Rinpoche, at the time the head of the Nyingma lineage. He is now known as Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and is the spiritual head of Shambhala International.

Alternate names

Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso ''(ʼJam-mgon ʼJu Mi-pham rgya-mtsho)''

Jamgön Mipham ''(ʼJam-mgon Mi-pham)''

Ju Mipham ''(ʼJu Mi-pham)''

Mipham Gyatso ''(mi pham rgya mtsho)''

Ju Mipham Namgyal Gyatso ''(ʼju mi pham rnam rgyal rgya mtsho)''

Mipham Namgyal Gyatso ''(mi pham rnam rgyal rgya mtsho)''

Jamgon Mipham Gyatso ''(ʼjam mgon mi pham rgya mtsho)''

Works of Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso translated into English

Kunsang, Erik Pema (''trans.'') ''Gateway to Knowledge''. Rangjung Yeshe Publications.

* Vol 1 (1997) ISBN 9627341290

* Vol 2 (2002) ISBN 9627341428

* Vol 3 (2002) ISBN 9627341460

* Vol 4 (Forthcoming)

Dharmachakra Translation Committee (''trans.'') Ju Mipham, ''Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham''. Snow Lion Publications (2007)

Doctor, Thomas H. (''trans.'') '' Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary of Shantarakshita's Ornament of the Middle Way''. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publicaions (2004). ISBN 1559392177

Padmakara Translation Group (''trans.'') Shantarakshita & Jamgon Mipham ''The Adornment Of The Middle Way''. Shambhala Publications (June 2005) ISBN 1-59030-241-9

Padmakara Translation Group (''trans.'') Introduction to the Middle Way: Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara with Commentary by Jamgön Mipham. Shambhala Publications 2002. ISBN 1570629420

Padmakara Translation Group (''trans.'') ''White Lotus: An Explanation of the Seven-line Prayer to Guru Padmasambhava'' by Jamgön Mipham. Shambhala Publications (2008)

Petit, John Whitney. ''Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzochen, the Great Perfection''. Boston: Wisdom Publications (1999). ISBN 0861711572

Tulku, Tarthang (translator) ''Calm and Clear'' by Lama Mipham. Emeryville, CA: Dharma Publishing (1973) ISBN 091354602X (illustrations by Arthur Okamura)

Hopkins, Jeffery (''trans. & ed.'') ''Fundamental Mind: The Nyingma View of the Great Completeness'' by Mi-pam-gya-tso, comm. by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay. Snow Lion Publications (2006) ISBN 1559392509

Rinpoche, Thrangu. ''Middle-way Meditation Instructions of Mipham Rinpoche''. Namo Buddha Publications (2001). ISBN 0962802662

Scott, J. ''Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being with Commentary by Mipham''. Snow Lion Publications

Yeshe Gyamtso ''Garland of Jewels: The Eight Great Bodhisattvas''. KTD Publications

Translations available online

Mipham's "Sword of Wisdom: For Thoroughly Ascertaining Reality' (DRG) (don rnam nges shes rab ral gri)

Notes

Sources

Primary sources

"Sherdrel Ketaka" The commentary of 9 Chapter of Bodhisattavacharya (shes rab le'u'i tshig don go sla bar rnam par bshad pa nor bu ke ta ka) (accessed: Sunday November 8, 2009)

Mipham's don rnam nges shes rab ral gri "The Sword of Prajna (DRG) & the translation of this text in English is also freely available from Lotsawa House Online

Root text of "Umajen" or "Madhyamakalamkara" by Shanta Rakshita. Commentary ("Jamyang Gyepai Zhalung") by Mipham Rinpoche.

Further reading

;Studies of Mipham's thought

Phuntsho, Karma. ''Mipham's Dialectics and Debates on Emptiness: To Be, Not to Be or Neither''. (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism series).London: RoutledgeCurzon (2005) ISBN 0415352525

Duckworth, Douglas S. ''Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition.'' SUNY Press (2008) ISBN 9780791475218

External links

'Jam-mgon 'Ju Mi-pham rgya-mtsho - Open Library

Jamgon Ju Mipham Rinpoche

Mipham Rinpoche - Rigpa Wiki

Mipham Rinpoche Timeline

Mipham Rinpoche - Rangjung Yeshe Wiki

TBRC P252 mi pham rgya mtsho at TBRC

The Life and Works of Mipham Rinpoche - from Petit, John Whitney. ''Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzochen, the Great Perfection''. Boston: Wisdom Publications (1999). ISBN 0861711572 p. 19-39

Lotsawa House - Translations of several texts by Mipham Rinpoche.

The Life of Mipham Jamyang Namgyal (1846–1912)

Table of Contents for the 27 volumes of the Collected Works of Mipham - in Tibetan

H.E. 2nd Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche

H.E. 3rd Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche

Ju Mohar Monastery - Mipham Rinpoche's monastery, where he accomplished Manjushri whilst on retreat

Category:Buddhist philosophers Category:Nyingma Lamas Category:19th-century Lamas Category:Lamas from Tibet Category:Rinpoches Category:Tibetan philosophers

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