Harris, I.

PersonType	Category:Authors of English Works Category:Professors
FirstName / namefirst	Ian
LastName / namelast	Harris
namemiddle	Charles
MainNamePhon	Ian Charles Harris
affiliation	Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at King’s College, London
IsInGyatsa	No
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Obituary

Professor Ian Charles Harris (June 17th 1952 to December 23rd 2014)

We are deeply saddened to share the news that Professor Ian Harris passed away on December 23rd. It was a peaceful end, surrounded by his wife, Gwen, and three children. Initially a student of Buddhist philosophy, his recent academic interests focused on the modern and contemporary history of the Cambodian monastic order, Buddhism and politics in Southeast Asia, Buddhist environmentalism, and landscape aesthetics (he was a keen organic gardener and hill-walker). Many people's understanding of Cambodian Buddhism, Buddhism and politics, and Buddhism and environmentalism, owe much to Ian. The UK Association for Buddhist Studies was founded by Ian together with Peter Harvey in 1996, after they met at a conference in Hawaii the year before. While there, it was Ian’s response to Peter’s suggestion that he was thinking of starting a local group of scholars of Buddhism in the north-east of the UK – 'Why not start a national group?' – that led to the development of UKABS. Ian was its first treasurer (1996 –2002), later its secretary (2002 –2008), and was its current president (2013 –2014) until having to bow out due to his deteriorating health. Even during his periods abroad, when not formally serving on the committee, he still found time to contribute to UKABS and help with some of the conference arrangements.

After his first degree from Cambridge University, Ian did a doctorate at Lancaster, with his first book, The Continuity of Madhyamaka and Yogācāra in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism (Brill, 1991), being based on his doctorate. He went on to develop an interest in Buddhism and environmentalism, on which he contributed a string of articles. Research on Buddhism and politics culminated in his edited volumes, Buddhism and Politics in Twentieth-century Asia (Continuum, 1999) and Buddhism, Power and Politics in Southeast Asia (Routledge, 2007). Working on these, Ian realised the need for more understanding of Buddhism in Cambodia. This then became the focus of his research, leading to his Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice (University of Hawaii Press, 2005). He then produced two pioneering volumes, Buddhism Under Pol Pot (Phnom Penh: Documentary Center of Cambodia, 2007) and Buddhism in a Dark Age: Cambodian Monks under Pol Pot (University of Hawaii Press, 2013). Ian also was editor of The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Buddhism: A Comprehensive Guide to Buddhist History and Philosophy, the Traditions and Practices (Lorenz, 2009).

Ian was Professor Emeritus at the University of Cumbria and had also held visiting positions at the University of Oxford, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, the National University of Singapore and Dongguk University, Seoul. From 2003 to 2007 he was a senior scholar at the Documentary Center of Cambodia in Phnom Penh leading a small team of researchers investigating the fate of Buddhist monks during the Pol Pot period. Some of this work has fed into the ongoing tribunal into alleged serious crimes committed by senior surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge. During 2011–12 he was the Tun Lin Kok Yuen Distinguished Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto. More recently he has been assisting in reviving the Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University, Cambodia's pre-eminent institution of monastic education. As of June 2013, he was visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at King’s College, London (http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/trs/people/staff/associates/visit/harris.aspx)

Ian was a fine man, who got on with things with a sense of humour and a wry smile. The UKABS conference in Lancaster this July will pay tribute to him. He will certainly be missed by many.

'Pip pip' to Ian – to use his favourite sign-off to messages. May he go well to the next life.

Peter Harvey and Cathy Cantwell.

Professor Peter Harvey, General Editor, Buddhist Studies Review (Journal of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies), since 2006; Co-Founder of UKABS, Secretary 1996–2002, and President 2002–2006. Dr Cathy Cantwell, President of UKABS (co-opted 2014); and Secretary 2008–2014.

List of works:

• Harris, Ian Charles. 1991. The continuity of madhyamaka and yogācāra in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. Brill's Indological library, v. 6. Leiden: Brill.
  ISBN 9004094482, ISBN 9789004094482
  191 pages
  

• Harris, Ian Charles. 1992. Contemporary religions: a world guide. Harlow, Essex, U.K.: Longman.
  Publisher: Harlow, Essex, U.K. : Longman ; Detroit, Mich. : Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Gale Research, ©1992.

• Harris, Ian Charles. 1994. Longman guide to living religions. New York, N.Y.: Stockton.
  ISBN 1561590894, ISBN 9781561590896
  

• Harris, Ian Charles. 1999. Buddhism and politics in twentieth-century Asia. London: Pinter.

• Keown, Damien. 2000. Contemporary Buddhist ethics. Curzon critical studies in Buddhism. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.

• Harris, Ian Charles. 2005. Cambodian Buddhism: history and practice. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.

• Harris, Ian Charles. 2006. "Varieties of Religious Ecology: A Typology of Buddhist Environmentalism" in Buddhism and Peace: Theory and Practice. Edited by Chanju Mun. Honolulu, Hawaii: Blue Pine Books.
  ISBN: 0977755312
  ISBN: 9780977755318

• Harris, Ian Charles. 2007. Buddhism under Pol Pot. Documentation series no. 13. Phnom Penh: Documentation Centre of Cambodia.

• Harris, Ian Charles. 2007. Buddhism, power and political order. Routledge critical studies in Buddhism. London: Routledge.
  Ian Harris: "Idealism and pragmatism : a dilemma in the current monastic education systems of Burma and Thailand"
  ISBN 0415410185, ISBN 9780415410182
  237 pages
  

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.