Appendix C: Brief Biographies of Key Scholars
The scholars listed below have shaped our understanding of Buddhist canonical formation through diverse methodological approaches, from traditional philology to material archaeology, from gender studies to digital humanities. Chapter references indicate where their work is particularly relevant to this book's themes.
Jan Nattier (Philological Analysis)
Jan Nattier is an independent scholar and former professor of Buddhist Studies at Indiana University. Her work focuses on the transmission of Buddhist texts, especially into Chinese. She is best known for her groundbreaking article arguing that the Heart Sutra was a Chinese composition rather than an Indian translation, and her broader studies on Mahāyāna textual history and apocrypha. Nattier emphasizes the complex processes of translation, adaptation, and invention in Buddhist textual formation. Key chapters: 6, 8, 11
Suggested Works: A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path According to the Inquiry of Ugra; "The Heart Sutra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?"
Étienne Lamotte (1903–1983) (Classical Philology)
Étienne Lamotte was a Belgian Indologist and professor at the Université catholique de Louvain. A leading scholar of Indian Buddhism, he produced authoritative French translations of major Mahāyāna texts such as the Śūraṃgamasamādhi Sūtra. His monumental History of Indian Buddhism remains a foundational work in the field. Lamotte was a pioneer in integrating philology, doctrinal analysis, and manuscript studies, establishing methods still used in Buddhist textual criticism today. Key chapters: 2, 6, 7
Suggested Works: History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Śaka Era; The Teaching of Vimalakīrti
Gregory Schopen (Archaeological/Material Approach)
Gregory Schopen is Professor of Buddhist Studies at UCLA and a MacArthur Fellow. His groundbreaking work on inscriptions and material culture challenged textual assumptions about early Indian Buddhism. He argues that actual monastic practice often diverged from canonical ideals and that archaeology is essential for understanding Buddhist history. His essays have fundamentally reshaped modern scholarship on Buddhist institutions and textual authority. Key chapters: 3, 11, 12, 13
Suggested Works: Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks; Figments and Fragments of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India
Paul Harrison (Manuscript Studies)
Paul Harrison is Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University and co-director of the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies. He specializes in Mahāyāna sūtras and their transmission in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. Harrison's work on the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra and the Gāndhārī manuscripts has illuminated the evolution of early Mahāyāna thought and the multivocal nature of Buddhist canon formation. Key chapters: 6, 7, 9
Suggested Works: The Pratyutpanna Buddha Saṃmukhāvasthita Samādhi Sūtra; studies on Gāndhārī manuscripts
Jonathan Silk (Sectarian Studies)
Jonathan Silk is Professor of Buddhist Studies at Leiden University. His research spans Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese Buddhist texts, with particular attention to canon history, sūtra transmission, and sectarian development. He has contributed significantly to understanding the Tibetan Tengyur, the politics of scriptural inclusion, and the historiography of Buddhist textual scholarship. Key chapters: 7, 8, 11
Suggested Works: Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism
Lance Cousins (1942–2015) (Theravāda Specialization)
L.S. Cousins was a British scholar and Theravāda specialist who taught at the University of Manchester. He was known for his expertise in Pāli literature, Abhidhamma, and meditation traditions. A founding figure in the Pali Text Society's editorial work, Cousins emphasized the importance of oral tradition and doctrinal precision in early Theravāda texts. Key chapters: 1, 3, 8
Suggested Works: "The Dating of the Historical Buddha"; studies on Pāli Abhidhamma
Bhikkhu Bodhi (Practitioner-Scholar Translation)
Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Theravāda monk and translator of the Pāli Canon. His editions of the Majjhima Nikāya, Saṃyutta Nikāya, and Aṅguttara Nikāya, with detailed notes and introductions, are standard references for modern students of Buddhism. He is known for combining doctrinal clarity with deep ethical concern, especially in his public writings on social justice and Buddhist engagement. Key chapters: 17, 19, 20
Suggested Works: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha; In the Buddha's Words
Peter Skilling (Regional Manuscript Traditions)
Peter Skilling is a scholar of early South and Southeast Asian Buddhism, affiliated with the École française d'Extrême-Orient and Chulalongkorn University. His extensive work on Southeast Asian manuscript traditions and Pāli literature has deepened understanding of regional canons and textual fluidity. Skilling advocates for a pan-Asian view of Buddhist textual history that includes lesser-known local sources. Key chapters: 7, 9, 14
Suggested Works: Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia; Questioning the Buddha
Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Gender and Textual Studies)
Karma Lekshe Tsomo is Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego and a prominent scholar-monk-activist. Her work addresses gender and textual authority in Buddhist traditions. She has published extensively on Buddhist women's roles, translated Tibetan teachings, and supported the revival of full ordination for women in various Buddhist lineages. Key chapters: 4, 14, 19
Suggested Works: Buddhist Women Across Cultures; Into the Jaws of Yama, Lord of Death
Ann Gleig (Contemporary Buddhism Studies)
Ann Gleig is Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Central Florida. Her research focuses on contemporary forms of Buddhism, particularly in North America, with attention to issues of race, gender, and cultural adaptation. Her work examines how traditional canonical authority transforms in modern, multicultural contexts. Key chapters: 17, 19, 20
Suggested Works: American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity
Rita M. Gross (1943–2015) (Feminist Buddhist Studies)
Rita Gross was Professor of Comparative Studies in Religion at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. A pioneering figure in feminist Buddhist studies, she challenged traditional interpretations of canonical texts regarding gender and advocated for more inclusive approaches to Buddhist authority. Her work demonstrates how canonical interpretation reflects contemporary values and social structures. Key chapters: 2, 14, 15
Suggested Works: Buddhism After Patriarchy; Soaring and Settling
Donald S. Lopez Jr. (Cultural Studies Approach)
Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan. A prolific author and editor, he has written widely on Tibetan Buddhism, Mahāyāna doctrine, and the reception of Buddhism in the West. His Prisoners of Shangri-La critiques orientalist portrayals of Tibetan Buddhism and highlights how canon and culture intertwine. Key chapters: 13, 16, 20
Suggested Works: Prisoners of Shangri-La; The Story of Buddhism
Rupert Gethin (Early Buddhism Synthesis)
Rupert Gethin is Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol and co-director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. He specializes in early Buddhism and the Pāli Canon. His textbook The Foundations of Buddhism is widely used in university courses. Gethin's scholarship combines doctrinal analysis with attention to lived practice and canonical development. Key chapters: 1, 3, 5
Suggested Works: The Foundations of Buddhism; The Buddhist Path to Awakening
Anne Blackburn (Colonial and Postcolonial Studies)
Anne M. Blackburn is Professor of South Asian and Buddhist Studies at Cornell University. Her work explores how Buddhist texts shaped social and political authority, especially in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Her research emphasizes the role of vernacular transmission and the impact of mobility on textual adaptation and canon formation. Key chapters: 13, 16, 17
Suggested Works: Locations of Buddhism: Colonialism and Modernity in Sri Lanka; Buddhist Learning and Textual Practice in Eighteenth-Century Lankan Monastic Culture
Luis Gómez (1943–2017) (Hermeneutics)
Luis Gómez was Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan and later at the University of California, Berkeley. He was known for his work on Mahāyāna thought and Buddhist hermeneutics. Gómez emphasized the role of scriptural imagination and interpretive communities in shaping how texts were understood and authorized. Key chapters: 2, 8, 12
Suggested Works: The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light
Charles S. Prebish (Buddhism in the West)
Charles S. Prebish is Professor Emeritus at Penn State University and Utah State University. He pioneered the academic study of Buddhism in the West, particularly the emergence of Buddhist communities and new textual interpretations in American and European contexts. He coined the term "Two Buddhisms" to explore the divide between ethnic and convert traditions. Key chapters: 17, 19, 20
Suggested Works: Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America; American Buddhism
José Cabezón (Tibetan Scholasticism)
José Ignacio Cabezón is Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara. A former Tibetan Buddhist monk, he specializes in Tibetan scholasticism and Buddhist philosophy. His work emphasizes how Tibetan exegetes constructed canonicity through commentary, classification, and debate. Cabezón bridges philology, theology, and cultural studies. Key chapters: 7, 8, 18
Suggested Works: Buddhism and Language; Scholasticism: Cross-Cultural and Comparative Perspectives
Richard Salomon (Gāndhārī Studies)
Richard Salomon is Professor Emeritus of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington. His groundbreaking work on Gāndhārī manuscripts has revolutionized understanding of early Buddhist textual transmission. His discoveries have revealed the diversity of early Buddhist literature and challenged assumptions about canonical formation. Key chapters: 2, 3, 9
Suggested Works: Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra; The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhāra
Marcus Bingenheimer (Digital Humanities)
Marcus Bingenheimer is Associate Professor at Temple University, specializing in Chinese Buddhism and digital humanities approaches to Buddhist texts. His work on digital databases and computational analysis of Buddhist literature represents new methodologies for canonical study. Key chapters: 18, 20
Suggested Works: Studies on CBETA and digital Buddhist text analysis
Bhikkhu Sujato (Digital Canonical Access)
Bhikkhu Sujato is an Australian-born Theravāda monk and co-founder of SuttaCentral. He combines traditional monastic training with innovative approaches to making early Buddhist texts accessible through digital platforms. His work represents the democratization of canonical access through technology. Key chapters: 18, 20
Suggested Works: A History of Mindfulness; SuttaCentral platform development
Note on Methodology: These scholars represent diverse approaches to Buddhist canonical studies—from traditional philology (Lamotte, Cousins) to material archaeology (Schopen), gender studies (Gross, Tsomo), postcolonial analysis (Blackburn, Lopez), and digital humanities (Bingenheimer, Sujato). Their varied methodologies demonstrate how different scholarly lenses reveal different aspects of canonical formation and authority.