80- Brian Cutillo

Brian A. Cutillo (1945–2006) was a scholar and translator in the field of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also an accomplished neuro-cognitive scientist, musician, anthropologist and textile weaver.

Cutillo was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology majoring in physics (1967).

While at MIT, Brian wrote the music for An Evening of One Act Plays presented October 14–15, 1966:^[1]

At the Hawk’s Well -- By William Butler Yeats; Directed by Ralph Sawyer ’67; Music - Brian Cutillo ’67

Brian provided the cultural background and translations for the recording "The Music of Tibet". The recordings were made by Prof. Huston Smith, then Professor of Philosophy at MIT, in 1964. Dr. Smith provided an interpretation. The recording was reviewed in the journal Ethnomusicology in 1972.^[2]

Brian Cutillo was introduced to Ngawang Wangyal while a student at MIT. He became one of his earliest American students. Ngawang Wangyal wrote the book The Door of Liberation published by Maurice Girodias Associates, Inc., (1973). 

Cutillo's best known work includes two books of Milarepa poems translated with Kunga Rinpoche, Drinking the Mountain Stream and Miraculous Journey.^[6]