Schaeffer, K.

Schaeffer, K. on the DRL

Professors • Translators

Kurtis R. Schaeffer

English Phonetics	Kurtis Schaeffer
Sort Name	Schaeffer, Kurtis

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:	https://religiousstudies.as.virginia.edu/kurtis-r-schaeffer

About

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

Primary Affiliation (Workplace)

University of Virginia

Teachers

Kuijp, L.

PhD University

Harvard University

Education

2000 Ph.D. Tibetan and South Asian Religions
Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies
Harvard University, Cambridge MA
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp

1995 M.A. Asian Languages and Literatures
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Advisor: Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp

BA, The Evergreen State College. Area of Emphasis: Buddhist Studies

1988 B.A. Religious Studies
Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR

Biographical Information

Kurtis R. Schaeffer received an M.A. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Washington in 1995, a Ph.D. in Tibetan and South Asian Religions from Harvard in 2000 and is now is the Frances Myers Ball Professor of Religion and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. He is a student of Buddhist history and culture, with a special interest in the spiritual literature of Tibet and the Himalayas. He is the author or editor of nine books, including the largest anthology of Tibetan literature in English and, most recently, a translation of the life of the Buddha. Schaeffer co-directs the half-century old Tibetan Buddhist studies graduate program at the University of Virginia and, with Martien Halvorson-Taylor, directs the Global Religion Lab at UVA. His books include The Life of the Buddha (2015), Sources of Tibetan Tradition (2013), The Tibetan History Reader (2013), The Culture of the Book in Tibet (2009), An Early Tibetan Catalogue of Buddhist Literature (2009), Dreaming the Great Brahmin, and Himalayan Hermitess (2004). (Source Accessed April 12, 2023)

You can watch Kurtis talk about Jigmé Lingpa's notes from a cave here and learn more about Kavya literature and translation here.

He is also an editor and contributor to The Lives of the Masters Series at Shambhala Publications and you can watch him speak more about Jigme Lingpa here.

Kurtis also contributed to the amazing Life of the Buddha project online with Andrew Quintman.

• Schaeffer on Academia.edu
• Learn more about The UVA Tibet Center
  

Curriculum Vitae

Employment

Associate Professor 2005 to Present
Department of Religious Studies
University of Virginia

Associate Professor 2000 to 2005
Department of Religious Studies
University of Alabama

Education

2000
Ph.D. Tibetan and South Asian Religions
Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies
Harvard University, Cambridge MA
Advisor: Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp
Dissertation:

1995
M.A. Asian Languages and Literatures
Department of Asian Languages and Literature
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Advisor: Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp
M. A. Thesis:

1988
B.A. Religious Studies
Department of Religious Studies
Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR

Recent Fellowships

2007 through 2009. Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH), The University of Virginia. Project: Mapping the Dalai Lamas.

Publications

Books

• The Life of the Buddha by Tenzin Chögyel. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Kurtis R. Schaeffer. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2015

• Sources of Tibetan Tradition. Ed. by Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Gray Tuttle, and Matthew T. Kapstein. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2013. A volume in the Sources of Asian Civilization series.

• The Tibetan History Reader. Ed. by Kurtis R. Schaeffer and Gray Tuttle. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2013.

• The Culture of the Book in Tibet. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2009.

• An Early Tibetan Catalogue of Buddhist Literature: The Bstan pa rgyas pa nyi ma’i ‘od zer of Bcom ldan ral gri. Kurtis R. Schaeffer and Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Oriental Series, 2009. HOS64.

• Dreaming the Great Brahmin: Tibetan Traditions of the Buddhist Poet-Saint Saraha. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

• Himalayan Hermitess: The Life of a Tibetan Buddhist Nun. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Edited Books

• E. Gene Smith. Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Tibetan Plateau. Kurtis R. Schaeffer, editor. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001.

• Power, Politics and the Reinvention of Tradition in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Tibet: Proceedings of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Xth Seminar, Oxford University, 2003. Kurtis R. Schaeffer and Bryan J. Cuevas, Editors. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2006.

Articles

• "Dying Like Milarepa: Death Accounts in a Tibetan Hagiographic Tradition. In The Buddhist Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations. Bryan J. Cuevas and Jaqueline I. Stone, Eds. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Kuroda Studies in East Asian Buddhism No. 20. pp. 208-233.

• "Death, Prognosis, and the Physician's Reputation in Tibet." In Heroes and Saints: The Moment of Death in Cross-cultural Perspectives. Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara, Eds. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007. pp. 159-172.

• "Ritual, Festival, and Authority under the Fifth Dalai Lama." Power, Politics and the Reinvention of Tradition in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Tibet: Proceedings of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Xth Seminar, Oxford University, 2003. Kurtis R. Schaeffer and Bryan J. Cuevas, Editors. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2006. pp. 187-202.

• "Future Directions in Modern Tibetan Studies: Religion/History." The CSSR (Council of Societies for the Study of Religion) Bulletin 35/1 (2006): 17-19.

• “The Autobiography of a Medieval Tibetan Hermitess.” In Women in Tibet: Past and Present. Janet Gyatso and Hanna Havnevik, Eds. Columbia University Press, New York. 2005.

• "The Fifth Dalai Lama." In The Dalai Lamas: A Visual History. Martin Brauen, Ed. Chicago, Serindia Publications, 2005. pp. 64-91.

• “A Letter to Editors of the Buddhist Canon in 14th Century Tibet.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 124/2 (2004): 1-17.

• "Professing Buddhism in Alabama." The CSSR (Council of Societies for the Study of Religion) Bulletin 33/2 (2004): 43-46.

• “Textual Scholarship, Medical Tradition, and Mahayana Buddhist Ideals in Tibet.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 31/5-6 (2003): 621-641.

• “The Attainment of Immortality: From Nathas in India to Buddhists in Tibet." Journal of Indian Philosophy 30/6 (2003). pp. 515-533.

• “The Religious Career of Vairocanavajra—A Twelfth-Century Indian Buddhist Master from Daksina Kosala.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 28/4 (2000). pp. 361-384.

• “Printing the Words of the Master: Tibetan Editorial Practice in the Collected Works of 'Jam dbyangs bzhad pa'i rdo rje I (1648-1721).” Acta Orientalia 60 (1999). pp. 159-177.

Links

Wiki Pages

• Schaeffer, K. on the DRL
• Schaeffer, K. on the LIB
• Schaeffer, K. 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?
Position:
Notes:
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position:
If "Qualified", explain:
Notes:
Which Wheel Turning
Position:
Notes:
Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position:
Notes:
Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position:
Notes:
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:
Notes:
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:
Notes:
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position:
Notes:
Causal nature of the vajrapāda
Position:

The Blue Annals

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.