Gómez, L.

PersonType	Category:Authors of English Works Category:Authors of Spanish Works Category:Professors Emeritus Category:Translators
FirstName / namefirst	Luis
LastName / namelast	Gómez
namemiddle	Óscar
MainNamePhon	Luis Óscar Gómez
SortName	Gómez, Luis
bio	The son of a physician, Luis Gómez was born in Puerto Rico on April 7 1943, growing up in the town of Guayanilla. He received his B.A. degree in 1963 from Universidad de Puerto Rico, enrolling there at age sixteen. He received his Ph.D. degree in Buddhist Studies, Indic Philology, and Japanese Language and Literature from Yale University in 1967. His first academic position was at the University of Washington. After that, he returned to Puerto Rico for four years, serving as chair of the Department of Philosophy at the Universidad de Puerto Rico. He joined the University of Michigan faculty as an Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies in 1973 and was promoted to full professor in 1979. In 1986, he was named a “Collegiate Professor,” the highest faculty rank in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at Michigan, naming his professorship after his former colleague and mentor, the distinguished Chinese historian Charles Hucker. Luis Gómez’s contributions to Buddhist Studies during his thirty-five years at Michigan spanned the areas of graduate training, undergraduate teaching, and scholarship. He founded Michigan’s highly regarded Ph.D. program in Buddhist Studies, which has produced several generations of outstanding scholars. That his students specialized in Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Indian, Thai, and Burmese Buddhism testifies to his wide-ranging knowledge, as well as his high level of proficiency in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese, as well as Latin, French, German, and Italian (in addition to his native Spanish). His work as a graduate mentor was honored in 1995, when he received the John H. D’Arms Award for Distinguished Graduate Mentoring in the Humanities. In recognition of his outstanding undergraduate teaching, he was named Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in 1997. A dedicated administrator, he chaired the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures for a decade. (Source Accessed May 20, 2020)
YearBirth	1943/04/07
YearDeath	2017/09/03
BornIn	Guayanilla, Puerto Rico
affiliation	University of Michigan
phduniversity	Yale University
education	Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies, Indic Philology, and Japanese Language and Literature, Yale University, 1967 Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1998 (Psychology) M.A. University of Michigan, 1991 (Psychology) B.A. Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1963
IsInGyatsa	No
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Full Name

Luis Oscar Gómez Rodríguez

Affiliation

University of Michigan - Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus, professor emeritus of Asian languages and cultures, and professor emeritus of psychology and religious studies.
Previous Post: Charles O. Hucker Professor of Buddhist Studies, Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures, and Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Dept. of Psychology.

Education

• B.A. University of Puerto Rico, 1963 (Philosophy)
• Ph.D. Yale University, 1967 (Buddhist Studies)
• M.A. University of Michigan, 1991 (Psychology)
• Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1998 (Psychology) (Source)

Professor Gomez completed his doctorate in Buddhist Studies at Yale University in 1967, and joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1973. He specializes in Mahayana Buddhism and in the history of early Chan. Professor Gomez also works on the "Pure Land" and Zen traditions of East Asia. He completed a second doctorate in Psychology at the University of Michigan and hold a joint appointment with the UM Department of Psychology. Source

Other Information

University of Michigan Biography

Luis Oscar Gómez Rodríguez is the Charles O. Hucker Collegiate Professor of Buddhist Studies, Professor of Religious Studies, and Professor of Psychology—Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Gómez’s scholarly achievement have received international recognition, having served as the key-note speaker in a number of international symposia in Japan, India, Mexico, and the United States, and invited lectures in the same countries plus Spain, Canada, Taiwan, and Germany. His research interests include Indian Mahayana Buddhism, the early spread of Buddhism in Tibet, and Buddhist theories of self-cultivation. He is also interested in the Psychology of Religion and in the interface between psychotherapy, psychodynamic theory, and religious behaviors and experiences. Gómez has been described as "the only specialist on Buddhism in this country who has command of the Middle Indic background of Buddhist Sanskrit (the language of most Mahayana scriptural material). During a career spanning more than thirty years, Gómez has been continuously active in undergraduate and interdisciplinary teaching, and has guest-lectured in a variety of undergraduate courses taught by colleagues, he has also taught in both English and Spanish, and to audiences in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Spain, Japan, and the United States. And his commitment to graduate education is confirmed by his membership in the Rackham Executive Board and by the John D'Arms Graduate Mentorship Award he won in 1995. Source

About the Translator

Luis O. Gómez was born in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, and received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Puerto Rico. He holds a Ph.D. in East and South Asian languages and literatures from Yale University and an M.A. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. He is currently Charles O. Hucker Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Michigan in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and the Program on Studies in Religion. His publications focus primarily on Buddhism in India and on early Chan in China and Tibet. (Source: Land of Bliss page 359)

Retirement Memoir

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Regents Communication
ACTION REQUEST
Subject: Report of Faculty Retirement
Action Requested: Adoption of Retirement Memoir

Luis O. Gomez, Ph.D., Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, professor of Asian languages and cultures, and professor of psychology and religious studies in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, will retire from active faculty status on December 31,2008.

Professor Gómez received his B.A. degree from the University of Puerto Rico in 1963 and his Ph.D. degree in Buddhist Studies from Yale University in 1967. He joined the University of Michigan faculty as an associate professor in 1973 and was promoted to professor in 1979. In 1997 he completed a second Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. He was appointed professor of psychology and religious studies in 1999.

Professor Gómez founded Michigan's highly regarded Ph.D. program in Buddhist studies and served as chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures from 1981-89 and as acting chair from 2002-03. That his students specialized in Chinese, Japanese, Indo-Tibetan, Indian, Thai, and Burmese Buddhism testifies to his wide-ranging knowledge and to his high level of proficiency in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese, as well as several European languages (in addition to his native Spanish). Professor Gómez's scholarship on Buddhism covered a remarkable range of important topics, including Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, and pan-Asian Buddhism, with a particular emphasis on the literature and religious vision of the Mahayana. He wrote a number of ground breaking articles devoted to the "sudden vs. gradual" dichotomy in both early Chinese Chan and at the Samye Debate in Tibet. His book, Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light (1996) is considered the definitive study of a highly influential Buddhist scripture. Professor Gómez was named the Charles O. Hucker Professor of Buddhist Shldies in 1986 and in recognition of his outstanding undergraduate teaching, was named Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in 1997. His work as a graduate mentor was honored in 1995, when he received the John H. D' Arms Award for Distinguished Graduate Mentoring in the Humanities.

The Regents now salute this distinguished teacher and researcher by naming Luis O. Gomez Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus, professor emeritus of Asian languages and cultures, and professor emeritus of psychology and religious studies.

Requested by:
Sally J. Churchill, J.D.
Vice President and Secretary of the University December 2008