Donald S. Lopez Jr.

My publications fall into four main areas. The first is Indian Buddhist scholastic philosophy, especially of the Mahayana schools as preserved in Tibetan translation and as interpreted by Tibetan exegetes. Here, my books include A Study of Svātantrika, The Heart Sūtra Explained: Indian and Tibetan Commentaries, and Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sūtra. A second area is the history of the European encounter with Buddhism and the networks of influence that developed between Asia and the West to produce what some have called “Modern Buddhism.” Here my books include Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West, Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, and the edited volume Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism Under Colonialism. More recently, my work in this area has examined the period prior to the twentieth century. Here, my books include From Stone to Flesh: A Brief History of the Buddha, the translation from the French (with Katia Buffetrille) of Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism by Eugène Burnouf (1801-1852), The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography, and In Search of the Christian Buddha (with Peggy McCracken). A third focus is the Tibetan author Gendun Chopel (1903-1951), considered by many to be the most important Tibetan intellectual of the twentieth century, renowned as a poet, essayist, historian, philosopher, and painter. Here, my books include The Madman’s Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel, In the Forest of Faded Wisdom:104 Poems by Gendun Chopel, Gendun Chopel: Tibet’s First Modern Artist, and the translation (with Thupten Jinpa) Grains of Gold: Tales of a Cosmopolitan Traveler. A fourth focus has been an effort to bring the fruits of scholarship on Buddhism to a larger audience, especially to scholars and students in other disciplines, through translations, anthologies, and reference works. Here, my books include Buddhism in Practice and Religions of Tibet in Practice (both in the “Princeton Readings in Religions” series), Buddhist Scriptures (Penguin Classics), Critical Terms for the Study of Buddhism (in the University of Chicago Press series, “Buddhism and Modernity”), Buddhism (from the Norton Anthology of World Religions), and The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (with Robert Buswell).

Teaching interests:

In my graduate courses, I read a wide variety of Tibetan Buddhist works with students with advanced language skills. I also teach seminars open to all graduate students in Buddhist Studies (as well as other disciplines). Recent seminars have included “The History of Buddhist Studies,” “Buddhist Tantra,” and “The Life of the Buddha.” A future seminar will examine the notion of Buddhahood across the various Buddhist traditions.

Picture by Jerzy Drozd