Pierre Arènes (1943–2012)

It is with great sorrow and sadness that I open the second obituary of this website. On the 17th of May 2012, our dearest friend and colleague Pierre Arènes passed away in Paris. He was born in 1943 and after a career as a teacher of French language in high school, he joined the team of French Tibetologists associated with the CNRS and EPHE.

I first met Pierre when I was working as a librarian assistant at the Centre d’Etudes Tibétaines in the offices of the Collège de France. Pierre came in one morning looking for bibliographical references in the large files of the Centre. He did not look like one of those academics, agitated and slightly pedantic. On the contrary, he was humble and warm, with a peculiar sense of humor. And he was Buddhist. At the time, making this “coming out” was seen as a really daring adventure in French academic circles. Times are changing though and Pierre unfortunately barely witnessed the beginning of these changes...

A few years later, we were both working on a joint seminary centered on doctrinal interpretations within the higher Tantras of the Geluk school (on his side) and those of the teachings of Dzogchen (on mine). When I had the idea of creating a free online tibetological magazine — the Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines — Pierre enthusiastically joined in and produced some of the finest works we ever published there.

After his retirement from academic duties, he was deeply involved in the teachings of Buddhism, the art of translation, and a gazillion of other projects associated with the various teaching activities of his master, the venerable Dagpo Rinpoche. He unfortunately fell ill during a recent stay in India and was diagnosed with cancer on his return.

Pierre was highly aware of the dangers Buddhism is facing in the West, a subject we often discussed for hours. He was conscious that the “new-age” interpretations and intentional wrong views of many westerners were, and unfortunately still are, corruptions that are affecting the actual teachings of the Buddha. In this respect he clearly realized that ethics (tshul khrims) were the only base on which a correct absorption (ting nge 'dzin) can be cultivated in order to lead to actual, liberating knowledge (shes rab). As we both concluded one day : « only a Buddha can change the teachings of a Buddha »; these reflections were very inspiring for all those who wanted to discuss the subject with him.

He has orphaned us prematurely and will be deeply missed.

Jean-Luc Achard
(CNRS, CRCAO)