Kapstein, M.

Kapstein, M. on the DRL

Matthew Kapstein

Name Prefix	Dr.

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:	http://home.uchicago.edu/~mkapstei/

About

Primary Language:	English
Translates from:	Tibetan
Translates to:	English

Primary Affiliation (Workplace)

University of Chicago

Secondary Affiliation

Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

PhD University

Brown University

Education

Ph.D., Brown University

Biographical Information

Matthew Kapstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and the Divinity School at The University of Chicago & Directeur d’études in the division of religious studies of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. Kapstein has worked primarily on the philosophical traditions of later Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, and on the relationship of these with the practical and experiential aspects of religious life, including art, ritual, meditation, and yoga. He has published a collaborative volume, Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity; a study of the transformation of religious ideas, The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, Contestation and Memory; a book devoted to Buddhist philosophy, Reason's Traces: Identity and Interpretation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Thought; and edited a volume devoted to the comparative study of religious experience, The Presence of Light: Divine Radiance and Religious Experience (University of Chicago Press, 2004). His most recent works are The Tibetans (Blackwell, 2006), an introduction to the cultural and political history of Tibet, and an edited volume, Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet (Brill, 2007). (Source: the University of Chicago Website:

Links

Wiki Pages

• Kapstein, M. on the DRL
• Kapstein, M. on the LIB
• Kapstein, M. 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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Other Information

• List of Publications up to 2013
  

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.