Best, J.

Best, J. on the DRL

Authors of English Works • Professors

Jonathan Best

English Phonetics	Jonathan Best
Sort Name	Best, Jonathan

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Contact information

Website:	Faculty Page

About

Primary Affiliation (Workplace)

Wesleyan University

PhD University

Harvard University

Education

PhD in Fine Arts and East Asian Languages & Civilizations, Harvard University, 1976; MAA Wesleyan University; MA Harvard University; BA Earlham College

Biographical Information

Jonathan Best received his PhD from Harvard University in 1976; unusual for its time it was a joint degree from the Department of Fine Arts and the Department of East Asian Languages & Civilizations. Subsequently he has taught East Asian art history at the University of Virginia and Wesleyan University, but his research and publications—all focused on early Korea—have addressed religious history, diplomatic and political history, as well as art history. His current research project is an investigation of the manifold chronological problems in the earliest chronicles of Korea and Japan, the Samguk sagi and the Nihon shoki. Having retired from teaching at Wesleyan in July 2014, he is now happily focused on this intriguing and multidimensional historiographic puzzle. In part preparatory to the four-volume study projected as the culmination of this research program, he published A History of the Early Korean Kingdom of Paekche—together with an annotated translation of the Paekche Annals of the Samguk sagi (Harvard University East Asia Center, 2006). In addition to enjoying all the rights and privileges attendant to being an emeritus professor at Wesleyan, he is currently an Associate in Research at Yale, a member of the Steering Committee for the Early Korea Project at Harvard (now the Cambridge Institute for the Study of Korea or CISK), and a Member of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton. (Source Accessed Sept 10, 2020)

Links

Wiki Pages

• Best, J. on the DRL
• Best, J. on the LIB
• Best, J. on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
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All beings have Buddha-nature
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If "Qualified", explain:
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Which Wheel Turning
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
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Promotes how many vehicles?
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Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
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What is Buddha-nature?
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Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
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Causal nature of the vajrapāda
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Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

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).

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.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.