Specialization Tracks
Self-directed learners should select one or two tracks that align with their theoretical or practical interests rather than attempting to complete all tracks sequentially.
- Advanced Buddhist Philosophy: Dives into the technical ontological, epistemological, and phenomenological frameworks developed across classical Indian and East Asian Mahāyāna scholasticism.
- Regional Traditions in Depth: Explores the distinct monastic structures, contemplative taxonomies, and lineage-specific hermeneutics that characterize living traditions across Asia.
- Buddhism and Modernity: Investigates how Buddhist institutions, meditation practices, and doctrines have been reshaped by globalization, modern science, secularization, and social activism.
Advanced Buddhist Philosophy
An advanced investigation into the intricate logical, ontological, and epistemological systems developed by classical Indian and Mahāyāna scholastic traditions.
Madhyamaka and the Logic of Emptiness: Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Dialogue by Jay L. Garfield (Oxford University Press) - Unpacks Nāgārjuna’s and Candrakīrti’s deconstructive dialectic through rigorous cross-cultural analytic philosophy, analyzing the semantic status of conventional truth and non-conceptual awareness.
Yogācāra and Phenomenological Psychology: Buddhist Phenomenology: A Critical Investigation of Yogacara Philosophy and its Implications by Dan Lusthaus (Routledge) - A comprehensive analysis of Vasubandhu and Xuanzang, deconstructing standard idealist misreadings of Mind-Only and reframing the school as a rigorous epistemological critique of cognitive distortion.
Buddhist Epistemology and Logic (Pramāṇa): Foundations of Dharmakirti's Philosophy by John D. Dunne (Wisdom Publications) - A systematic exposition of Dharmakīrti’s theory of valid cognition, concept exclusion, and ontological nominalism, which formed the bedrock of late Indian and Tibetan debate.
Buddha-Nature and Tathāgatagarbha Ontology: When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra by Karl Brunnhölzl (Snow Lion) - Provides an in-depth translation and commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga, unpacking the third major pillar of Mahāyāna philosophy regarding innate awakening and luminous mind.
Regional Traditions in Depth
A deep dive into how core Buddhist doctrines were uniquely institutionalized, systematized, and practiced within specific regional and monastic environments across Asia.
Theravāda Abhidhamma and Meditation Phenomenology: A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma edited and translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Pariyatti Press) - The authoritative translation and explanatory guide to the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, mapping the exact micro-psychological taxonomy of consciousness, mental factors, and meditative absorption.
Tibetan Monastic Scholasticism and Epistemological Debate: The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk by Georges Dreyfus (University of California Press) - An unmatched institutional and intellectual ethnography by the first Westerner to earn a Geshe Lharampa degree, revealing how memorization, dialectical debate, and scholastic inquiry function in living Tibetan monasteries.
East Asian Tiantai and Huayan Metaphysics: Emptiness and Omnipresence: An Essential Introduction to Tiantai Buddhism by Brook Ziporyn (Indiana University Press) - A penetrating philosophical treatment of Zhiyi’s threefold truth and omnicentric holism, demonstrating how Chinese Buddhism reworked Indian emptiness into a radical ontology of immanence and mutual containment.
Indo-Tibetan Tantra and Esoteric Buddhism: Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement by Ronald M. Davidson (Columbia University Press) - The seminal historical monograph examining the sociopolitical genesis, feudal symbolism, ritual technologies, and monastic assimilation of Tantra in medieval India.
Buddhism and Modernity
An examination of how Buddhism has adapted to, and been fundamentally reshaped by, encounters with modernism, secularism, scientific psychology, and contemporary social movements.
Buddhist Modernism and Historical Reform: The Making of Buddhist Modernism by David L. McMahan (Oxford University Press) - The definitive historical study showing how interactions with Western colonial powers, romanticism, and scientific rationalism produced the modernized Buddhism recognized today.
The Mindfulness Movement and Secularization: De-Mystifying Mindfulness (Universiteit Leiden on Coursera) - A comprehensive, free university-level MOOC taught by Prof. Chris Goto-Jones that critically analyzes the historical roots, psychological claims, commodification, and cultural impacts of modern mindfulness.
The Mindfulness Movement and Secularization: Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters) by Robert H. Sharf (eScholarship) - A seminal open-access academic article complementing the course above by tracing how Buddhist meditation was reconstructed in late 19th-century Asia to appeal to Western scientific empiricism.
Socially Engaged Buddhism and Contemporary Ethics: Socially Engaged Buddhism by Sallie B. King (University of Hawaii Press) - Investigates the theological foundations, nonviolent activism, and ethical strategies of contemporary Buddhist movements confronting war, oppression, and ecological destruction.
Buddhism, Cognitive Science, and Philosophy of Mind: Why I Am Not a Buddhist by Evan Thompson (Yale University Press) - A critical philosophical inquiry by a leading cognitive scientist that deconstructs neural Buddhism and Buddhist exceptionalism while defending a cosmopolitan, embodied approach to the mind.