I am based at the British Library, where I am currently running a research project on Tibetan Chan (or Zen), as part of the International Dunhuang Project. Previous research projects include a 3-year project on the earliest TIbetan tantric manuscripts, and a 5-year project on Tibetan paleography. I also occasionally lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies on Tibet and Central Asia.
My research has focused mainly on the impact of social and historical factors on key issues in Tibetan culture. These include the contemplative tradition of the Great Perfection, the tantric ritual system and its social contexts, and the development of mythical narratives of imperial Tibet. I’ve also written on the intersection between orality and literacy, and on the social and historical context for the creation and development of the Tibetan writing system.
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Books
Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-century Buddhist Pilgrim (with Imre Galambos). Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012.
Tibet: A History. London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
Download PDF of the preface
Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang, (edited with Matthew T. Kapstein). Leiden: EJ Brill, 2010.
Flyer
Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang. (with Jacob Dalton). Leiden: EJ Brill, 2006.
Online catalogue version
Approaching the Great Perfection. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004.
View it on Google Books
Articles
“Towards a Tibetan Paleography: A Preliminary Typology of Writing Styles in Early Tibet.” Manuscript Cultures: Mapping the Field, edited by Jörg Quenzer and Jan-Ulrich Sobisch. Berlin: de Gruyter. Forthcoming in 2012.
“The Origin of the Headless Style (dbu med) in Tibet.” Tibeto-Burman Languages IV, edited by Nathan Hill. Leiden: EJ Brill. Forthcoming in 2012.
“The Stone Maitreya of Leh: The Rediscovery and Recovery of an Early Tibetan Monument” (with André Alexander). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 21.4 (2011): 421–439.
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“A New Look at the Invention of the Tibetan Script.” Old Tibetan Documents Monograph Series, vol.III, edited by Yoshiro Imaeda, Matthew Kapstein and Tsuguhito Takeuchi. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2011. 45–96.
“The Limits of Transgression: The Samaya Vows of Mahāyoga” in Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang, eds. Matthew T. Kapstein and Sam van Schaik. Leiden: EJ Brill, 2010. 61-83.
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“The Prayer, the Priest and the Tsenpo: An Early Buddhist Narrative from Dunhuang” (with Lewis Doney) in the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 30.1–2 (2007 [2009]): 175–217.
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“Fragments of the Testament of Ba from Dunhuang” (with Kazushi Iwao) in the Journal of the American Oriental Society 128.3 (2008): 477-488.
“The Sweet Sage and the Four Yogas: A Lost Mahāyoga Treatise from Dunhuang” in Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 4 (2008): 1-67. http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5564
“A Definition of Mahāyoga: Sources from the Dunhuang Manuscripts.” Tantric Studies 1 (2008): 45-88.
“Oral Teachings and Written Texts: Transmission and Transformation in Dunhuang” in Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet, ed. Matthew T. Kapstein & Brandon Dotson. Leiden: EJ Brill, 2007. 183–208.
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“Beyond Anonymity: Palaeographic Analyses of the Dunhuang Manuscripts” (with Tom Davis and Jacob Dalton) in Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (2007). http://www.thlib.org?tid=T3106
“The Tibetan Avalokitesvara Cult in the Tenth Century: Evidence from the Dunhuang Manuscripts” in Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis (Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the IATS, 2003, Volume 4), ed. Ronald M. Davidson and Christian Wedemeyer. Leiden: EJ Brill, 2006. 55–72.
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“The Early Days of the Great Perfection” in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 27/1 (2004): 165–206.
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“Where Chan and Tantra Meet: Buddhist Syncretism in Dunhuang” (with Jacob Dalton) in Susan Whitfield (ed), The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith. London: British Library Press, 2004. 61–71.
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“Lighting the Lamp: the Structure of the Bsam gtan mig sgron” (with Jacob Dalton) in Acta Orientalia 64 (2003): 153–175.
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“The Great Perfection and the Chinese Monk: rNying-ma-pa defences of Hwa-shang Mahāyāna in the Eighteenth Century” in Buddhist Studies Review 20.2 (2003): 189–204.
Updated online version
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“Tibetan Dunhuang Manuscripts in China” in The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 65.1 (2002): 129–139.
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“The Resolution of the Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to the Great Perfection in the Klong chen snying thig” in Religion and Secular Culture in Tibet (Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000), ed. Henk Blezer. Leiden: EJ Brill, 2002: 309–320.
“Sun and Moon Earrings: the Teachings Received by ‘Jigs med gling pa” in The Tibet Journal 25.4 (2000): 3–32.
Online version
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“A Catalogue of the First Volume of The Waddell Manuscript rNying ma rgyud ‘bum” in The Tibet Journal 25.1 (2000): 27–50
