Earned doctorate at age 106

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by John Bear, Jan 5, 2006.

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  1. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    The San Francisco Chronicle this morning has an article about a new book of interviews of people with a well-documented age of 110 or more.*

    One of them is a Tibetan lama in Mongolia, Damchaagiin Gendendarjaa, about whom it says, "He had earned a doctorate in theology at age 106. He had all his teeth. He had never seen a doctor in his life..."

    This is probably the Tibet Buddhist "Geshe" degree, which many regard as at least equivalent to a western doctorate, but it would be intriguing to learn more, since this may be the greatest age at which anyone has earned any degree. Let us hope he didn't see an ad in USA Today and . . .
    ___________
    *Earth's Elders: the wisdom of the world's oldest people, Jerry Friedman
     
  2. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Wow! This even outdoes the guy with the rejected 1910 doctoral dissertation in history from Columbia that predicted the coming of World War I who later contacted you at age 94 and later finished up his doc.
     
  3. AdAstra

    AdAstra Member

    I have great admiration for anybody past the age of 50 who goes out and pursues higher learning.

    It shows they have higher standards than watching TV 24 hours a day while awaiting their 'rapture' to the great TV studio in the sky.

    It reminds me of a fellow student I met in my early years at uni. He was in his sixties, an ex-bomber pilot in WWII and who had great difficulties getting around campus due to the effects of a stroke. Nevertheless, he persisted with studying literature and getting involved in student life by joining various clubs, and when I last heard of him he was about to embark on a Masters by research.

    Learning is exercise for the brain. Use it or lose it.

    I would love to hear more stories about our elders pursuing academic goals and succeeding.
     
  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    More old college students

    There was a student at Keiser College in her eighties in the Physical Theraphy Assistant program. Her friends were getting feeble, but she was still spry, so she was trying to learn how best to help them out. Separately, there were a grandmother and her granddaughter who were students at the same time there, although I think the grandmother was only in her mid-fifties.

    There's also a seventy-year-old student here at Southeastern with mild dementia who is taking a few courses each term to try to keep her mind going and stave off deterioration. She's a somber reminder that sometimes success is measured in terms other than GPA.

    -=Steve=-
     
  5. Bill Hurd

    Bill Hurd New Member

    I whole heartedly agree that we must keep our brains active.

    I completed an MBA in 2000, and am currently in my 9th class at NCU in their PhD program.

    I just started my third year as an adjunct at a small Christian university in Oklahoma, teaching economics and statistics in an evening adult program.

    At 73 I don't feel old but I may when I finish the doctorate because I will be (who knows?) 75 or so.

    Bill Hurd
     
  6. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    106 years?? That sounds like the 'BA in 4 weeks' version of a Geshe degree to me. Maybe he CLEP'ed out of Madhyamika.

    Here's an interesting thing from the Tibet Office in London, explaining the Geshe degree and describing the grueling series of judged disputations that determined who earned degrees and what their ranks were.

    http://www.tibet.com/Buddhism/geshe.html
     
  7. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    As a Mongolophile I point out that the geezer geshe is a Mongol, not a Tibetan (judging by his naame).
     
  8. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I bet that 106 year old Geshe would agree with you. You've got 33 years to go yet.

    Seriously though, what you are doing is inspiring. I admire it.

    The rapidly rising crop of senior citizens (I'm an aging boomer myself) might be the next great frontier for DL, now that the MBA market seems totally saturated.
     
  9. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    What Bill said!
     
  10. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    The traditional religion in Mongolia is Tibetan-style Vajrayana Buddhism, generally of the Gelug school. (The Dalai Lama is the head of the Gelugpas.) Since the fall of communism in Mongolia, Buddhism has been enjoying a modest revival there.

    Here's the 2005 US State Dept. religious freedom report on Mongolia.

    http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51522.htm

    The State Dept. publishes reports on the religious situation in pretty much every country and they are often fascinating reading. Here's the list of reports:

    http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/

    I'd speculate that the explanation of the geezer geshe's advanced age can be found in the recent history of Buddhism in Mongolia.

    Here's a webpage for one of the reviving Mongolian monasteries:

    http://amarbayasgalant.org

    They say:

    In 1937-38 a fearsome repression covered Amarbayasgalant Monastery and all the highly trained knowledgeable monks were executed. Also huge numbers of rare religious relics, books, sutras, thangkas and Buddhas which had been collected for 200 years, were destroyed completely. This is how the holy temple of Amarbayasgalant became mere ruins and it was abandoned for 50 shady years.

    1990_ was the time when the circumstances came for Amarbayasgalant to be restored. Communism had fallen and the people were eager to revive their religious tradition. Under Geghen's monastery Amarbayasgalant was reestablished and nowadays stands strong on it's remarkable construction, as on it's 300 year history.

    Today about sixty novices and ordained monks, who followed precisely the rule of Vinaya, are in residence and practicing Dharma to create great benefit for all sentient beings...


    Perhaps the geezer geshe was kind of an underground monk during those dark years of Marxism-Leninism, trying to keep the dharma alive when religious practice was violently suppressed. He obviously wouldn't have had the opportunity to study in the traditional manner until the communists finally went into the trash can of history.

    Perhaps it was his dream, something that he always wanted to do.
     
  11. Tim D

    Tim D Member

    You are correct! He is a Mongol,My understanding is the lama Damchaagiin Gendendarjaa resides near Ulan Bator(Ulaanbaatar or Улаанбаатарor or if you perfer Ulaɣan Baɣatar).
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 6, 2006
  12. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    Thanks, Bill and Tim. Another great post, Bill. I have been following the religious renaissance in Mongolia--both the flowering of Buddhism after so many decades of vicious Communist repression and the sudden development (taking the very long perspective, I should say re-development) of the Christian church in Mongolia. You know how religiously distant I am from Buddhism, but I have been moved to tears by its recovery in free Mongolia and by the tenacity and courage of Buddhists in the long years of horror.

    I have seen books and articles by one Heisser on Mongolian Buddhism. Can you recommend anything in addition?


    I also just wanted to say "geezer Geshe". God help me.
     
  13. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Here's a man we saw at the huge Gandan Buddhist temple in Ulaan Bataar a couple of years ago. He was said to be in his 90s, and was doing prostrations with great energy.
     

    Attached Files:

  14. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    To stay forever young is perhaps the dream of every heart.
     
  15. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    Not the Confucian heart!

    Lerner, can you post a source or link for the quote you presented?
     
  16. fawcettbj

    fawcettbj New Member

    What a great thread to discover on a friday afternoon.

    Forum members might also be interested in the story of the UK's oldest student, Bernard Herzberg, who is in the middle of his second MA at the grand old age of 96. He's also a past DL student - BA German (University of London). There was a piece in one of the UK nationals about him late last year. In it he was saying that he decided to do a second Masters rather than a PhD as at the age of 96 he wasn't sure whether he'd be able to see it through.

    It all just goes to show - you're never too old to learn!

    All the best,

    Brendan
     
  17. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    The quotes (and practices) would seem to come from something called "Night-Thunder International Transformational System" --
    http://www.night-thunder.com/fivesecret.html -- based, it seems, in Las Vegas.

    The website says that "What we do at Night-Thunder International is ... difficult to explain, for the reason that the Language of the Universe does not translate wonderfully into the limited terms available in the languages of Earth today."

    It seems to be as Tibetan as Pringles potato chips.
     
  18. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    Dr. Bear I don't wish to spoil this beautiful tread,

    I have a book entitled The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth written by Peter Kelder, I got it in local book store in mid 90's.

    I never bodered to research if the info is real or someone made it up. i practiced the exercises for some time, the most noticeable
    to my friends changes in me were my posture and energy.
    Are you saying this is not Tibetain and the whole thing is a lie?

    If this is the case than if moderator can please remove my post.

    I didn't provide links because there are many sites on the web promoting this.

    there is also downloadable eVersion of Kelder's manuscript contains not only the original drawings but also the unedited and unexpurgated story of British Colonel Bradford, the man who searched for and found the long-hidden Tibetan monastery that housed the ageless monks who taught him the secret rejuvenation rites in the 1920's.

    Regards, Learner
    :confused:
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 7, 2006
  19. and the downfall of many a middle aged man...
     

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