Nomination Window

Trent Walker is assistant professor of Southeast Asian studies and Thai Professor of Theravada Buddhism in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. A specialist in Southeast Asian Buddhist music, literature, and manuscripts, he has published widely on Khmer, Lao, Pali, Thai, and Vietnamese Buddhist texts and recitation practices. He has trained in Cambodian Buddhist chant since 2005 and is a regular speaker at temples, retreat centers, and universities.

Until Nirvana’s Time—the first collection of traditional Khmer Buddhist poetry available in English—presents translations of 45 Khmer dharma songs whose soaring melodies have inspired Cambodian Buddhist communities for generations. Grounded in 15 years of research on oral and written traditions in Cambodia, the book centers on a corpus of poems from the 16th to 20th centuries that are still chanted today in daily prayers or all-night rituals. Many of these texts were transcribed by the translator from cassette tapes or bark-paper manuscripts and appear in print for the first time in this volume. Essays and notes that situate these local compositions within a broader Buddhist context accompany the translations.

KF’s five-member selection committee unanimously approved Professor Natalie Gummer’s nomination of Until Nirvana’s Time for this year’s award. Of her choice, Dr. Gummer writes: “Until Nirvana’s Time is a groundbreaking translation. Not only does it make a fascinating part of Cambodian Buddhist literature widely available for the first time in English, but it also renders the vocal qualities of these songs, in consonance with their composition and use, and offers rich context for their Buddhist background and their ritual recitation. Trent Walker sets a new standard for translations that aim to capture the power of performative texts.”

The book was the focus of a Khyentse Foundation Goodman Lecture in 2023.

Shiri’s dissertation focuses on stories that are transmitted in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya (MSV), composed between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE. The Mūlasarvāstivāda nikāya, which was one of the most influential Buddhist school in ancient India, disappeared from its native land in the 13th century. Its vinaya, which is an enormous and unwieldy text, is not available in its entirety in any Western language. By analysing such accounts, using narratological and philological methods, and in light of visual materials, Shiri aims to shed new light on the way in which these accounts reflect the historical circumstances of their authors and compilers. As her dissertation demonstrates, these monastic authors were in constant dialogue with other religious communities, predominantly brāhmaṇas. Rather than actual historical entities, the brāhmaṇas reflected in these stories are a Buddhist caricature of a group preoccupied mainly with issues of high birth and the aspiration for male heirs.

Although the dissertation focuses primarily on the cycle of birth-stories in the Saṅghabhedavastu of the MSV, it also draws on other parts of this vinaya as well as different Buddhist genres such as abhidharma treatises, sūtra literature, and the writings of other Buddhist schools. Because this dissertation addresses the religious “other,” it occasionally draws also from non-Buddhist sources such as the so-called Brahmanical dharma literature and the Indian Epics.

The award committee wrote that “The doctoral dissertation of Yael Shiri examines the emergence and transformation of narrative traditions regarding the Śākya clan (the clan of the ‘historical’ Buddha Śākyamuni), especially in the Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Shiri argues that these traditions can be interpreted as reflecting understandings of the nature of the Buddha; his relation to the monastic community (the Saṅgha) and modes in which the authority of the Saṅgha is legitimated or buttressed; the motif and symbolism of royalty in application to the person and nature of the Buddha; relations of contestation and problems of legitimation in relation to Brahmanism as an important religious ‘Other’; and elements of the social and political realities that served as backdrop for the formation of the texts, especially in the Northwest under the Kuṣāṇas.”

The committee was impressed by this work in several respects: “The selection of topic and materials shows acumen and addresses several weighty issues in the history of Buddhist traditions. The central argument is cogent. The argument also reflects substantive, no-nonsense engagement with important basic themes that are intelligible and pertinent across disciplinary boundaries beyond philology, as far afield as anthropology; for example, such as authority, power, and negotiation with religious others. The author demonstrates a broad knowledge and penetrating understanding of an impressive range of the most excellent secondary scholarship, and uses it to good effect. In methodological terms, the work demonstrates excellent philological acumen and sound control of primary texts and fine method; and it also reaches beyond philology and achieves interdisciplinary scope, especially in its perceptive and solid use of art-historical evidence complementing the textual record.”

In his letter of recommendation, Associate Professor Pagorn Singsuriya, head of the Department of Humanities, wrote, “Eng Jin’s thesis is a product of original research in the Pāli language and it significantly advances the understanding of scriptures. This is also the first time such comparative studies have been done on any particular Pāli text. The work has contributed immensely to the history of Pāli literature, codicology, and ethics.”

The KF Dissertation Award Asia Committee echoes Dr. Singsuriya with this excerpt from a reviewer’s report. “This extensive and well-researched article certainly merits publication after some revisions. The author has provided an original, meticulously presented analysis of the Siamese textual tradition of the Milindapañha, along with its broader context in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, India, and China. The result is [the] first substantial piece of research to not only describe in detail the ways in which printed Siamese recension of the Milindapañha differs so stridently from the Pali Text Society’s Romanised edition, but also to provide a well-evidenced account of how this recension developed through the combination of various textual lineages found in manuscript form between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.”

Eng Jin shared with us his thoughts on receiving the award. “I am indeed honored and grateful to be selected as the recipient of this year’s Khyentse Foundation Dissertation Award. It’s a pleasure to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Peter Skilling, whose vast expertise and selfless efforts have helped me navigate the intricate terrain of South East Asia Buddhism, manuscripts traditions, and textual studies. I am indebted to him for his patience in encouraging me in academic research. I am deeply indebted to my primary supervisor Dr. Giuliano Giustarini and my secondary supervisor Assistant Professor Kengo Harimoto for their invaluable support and advice, to the academic team at Mahidol University who has supported me along my journey, to the selection committee for recognizing my work, to my family and friends, and to Khyentse Foundation for making this possible. This award encourages and inspires me to continue my efforts to understand and contribute to the field of Buddhist textual transmission and history.”

As an expression of our gratitude for Ven. Wei Wu’s unceasing work and his dedication and devotion to preserving and promoting the Buddha’s teachings and their applications in the world, Khyentse Foundation offers him an award of US$30,000. In expressing his gratitude for the award, Ven. Wei Wu said, "I feel very honored and humbled to receive this fellowship from Khyentse Foundation. I share this honor with the members of Than Hsiang Temple/Foundation and International Buddhist College. They also rejoice in the great contribution of Khyentse Foundation for the promotion of buddhadharma." At a time when the entire world is going through all kinds of health, climate, economic, and political upheavals, we need bodhisattvas like Venerable Wei Wu more than ever before. We take this opportunity to officially acknowledge him for all his hard work, and we pray for his valuable efforts to continue and to flourish for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Professor Luis Gómez (1943–2017)

A distinguished scholar of Buddhism, Luis Gómez passed away in Mexico City on September 3, 2017. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. He had retired from the faculty on January 1, 2009.

Luis’s scholarship on Buddhism covered a remarkable range of important topics over his career, including Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, and pan-Asian Buddhism, with a particular emphasis on the literature and religious vision of the Mahayana. He wrote a number of groundbreaking articles devoted to the “sudden vs. gradual” dichotomy both in early Chinese Chan and at the Samye Debate in Tibet. Among his books, The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996) is considered the definitive study of the highly influential Buddhist scripture, the Sukhavativyuha Sutra. He also published extensively in Spanish.

Professor Paul Harrison

Paul Harrison is George Edwin Burnell Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, where he has taught since 2006. Educated in his native New Zealand and in Australia, he specializes in Buddhist literature and history, particularly of the Mahayana, and in the study of Buddhist manuscripts in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. He has edited and translated several Mahayana sutras, and has published numerous journal articles on Buddhist sacred texts and their interpretation. He is also one of the editors of the series “Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection.”

Paul’s current projects include editions, translations, and studies of Mahayana and Mainstream Buddhist sutras and shastras, including the Vajracchedika (Diamond Sutra), Lokanuvartana (Sutra of Conformity with the World), and Shikshasamucchaya (Compendium of Training).

Paul serves as co-director of the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford.

“When word of the discovery of a Sanskrit manuscript of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa began to circulate in the early 2000s, it sent shock waves throughout the Buddhist Studies world. Long known only in its Chinese and Tibetan translations, leaving scholars to guess what its original Indian terminology might have been, this highly influential text could now be consulted in an original Indic-language version.

“The news that Paul Harrison and the late Luis Gómez had embarked on a project to translate the newly discovered Sanskrit text was thus greeted with widespread enthusiasm. These two scholars, both leading figures in the field of Mahayana sutra literature, were uniquely qualified to produce a translation of this important text. The two worked on the translation over a period of several years, discussing and debating the rendition of every term. After Luis’s passing, Paul brought the project to completion, and the fruits of their joint labors are now available in print.” — Dr. Jan Nattier, an eminent scholar of Buddhist studies, served as this year’s nominating member on the KF Prize for Outstanding Translation committee.

Martin’s dissertation, “The Wanla Group of Monuments: 14th-Century Tibetan Buddhist Murals in Ladakh,” prepared at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) in Paris and defended in March 2022, is a masterful contribution to the history of art and of Buddhism in the Western Himalayas. It further provides a model of interdisciplinary research on painted monuments, combining an excellent command of iconography and stylistic conventions with archaeometric analysis, epigraphy, and a firsthand assessment of literary sources in classical Tibetan. As such, it represents an outstanding contribution to Buddhist studies. “I am extremely honored and grateful to receive this award from the distinguished Khyentse Foundation. I would like to express my special thanks to the members of the jury for carefully examining my application and eventually selecting my dissertation, even more so since it lies outside the historic field of textual studies. “This award comes as a significant recognition of research developed over a decade under the patient, insightful guidance of my supervisor Charles Ramble and my co-advisor Christian Luczanits, and along with the continuous support of my colleagues, friends, and family. It will contribute to publishing it in a form that can be more easily accessed by everyone, including the caretakers of the monuments it considers. At a threshold in my life, it also gives me confidence to pursue my career in academia.” — Nils Martin Read more.

A prolific translator, Erik has put together numerous dharma books. Notable examples include The Light of Wisdom, volumes 1 to 5, by Padmasambhava and Jamgön Kongtrül; Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche; and Mirror of Mindfulness, a commentary on the bardo states by Tsele Natsok Rangdröl. We are grateful for his invaluable translation of these precious dharma texts and for his other contributions to the field, such as his editorial work for 84000 and lately, mentoring the translators for Khyentse Vision Project.

Mingyuan Gao of the Buddha Dharma Center of Hong Kong received 2020 KF Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies. Mingyuan‘s PhD dissertation, The Buddhist Concept of Vāsanā: From Abhidharma to Early Yogācāra, meticulously presents an in-depth and critical exposition of the development of various connotations of the term vāsanā. “Since there has not been any monograph that studies comprehensively the issue of vāsanā, and only a very few studies have so far paid attention to this concept, Mingyuan’s dissertation is undoubtedly a significant contribution,“ said Venerable Professor Dhammajoti in his nomination letter. “The dissertation is well documented, based on solid primary Sanskrit, Tibetan, Classical Chinese, and Pāli sources. Some important passages in the dissertation are translated for the first time into English, with considerable annotation. It also critically examines a large number of secondary sources by modern scholars in English, Japanese, French, and Chinese.”

Richard Salomon is Emeritus Professor of Asian Languages and Literature (Sanskrit) and William P. and Ruth Gerberding University Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington (Seattle WA, USA). He has taught at the University of Washington since 1978, and continues to teach there on a post-retirement part-time basis. He is the former president of the International Association of Buddhist Studies and of the American Oriental Society. Since 1996 he has been the director of the University of Washington’s Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project, leading the ongoing international project of editing, translating, and publishing the earliest surviving Buddhist manuscripts. Professor Salomon’s specialties include Sanskrit language and literature, Indian Buddhist literature and textual studies, Indian epigraphy and paleography, early Indian history, Gāndhārī language and Gandhāran studies, and the world history of writing. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Ducher’s dissertation is a veritable tour de force of a record of a little-known and now defunct Tibetan lineage, the rediscovery of which sheds more light on the bKa’ brgyud (Kagyu) tradition as a whole and reveals the lineage’s numerous vestiges and influences within the larger Tibetan religious sphere. The dissertation has a clear conceptual framework and offers an interesting assessment of a relatively under-researched area. The work makes a valuable and original contribution to the field, is critical, detailed and meticulous, and includes careful reflection on terminology. It also presents a richly diverse methodology, drawing from the fields of history, sociology, and historical anthropology, and situating itself within wider theoretical frameworks. Ducher’s grasp of her materials is impressive, and although the scope of the project is vast, ranging from the origins of the bKa’ brgyud tradition in India in the tenth century up to the present situation in Tibet’s gZhung Valley, she manages to document the genesis, development, flourishing, and dissolution of the Mar rNgog lineage, as well as its influences on other traditions and later attempts to preserve and revive its practices. Her discussions on hagiography as a valid source of information about religious and social forces and on the concept of lineage are enlightening, and the excursion into Bourdieu’s theories about “capital” is stimulating. “It is a great honor for me to have been awarded this year’s Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies by Khyentse Foundation. I feel much gratitude and joy that my work on the history of the Mar rNgog bKa’ brgyud lineage is recognized by such a distinguished foundation and can in this way contribute to shedding some light on this central yet relatively forgotten tradition that constitute the core of the bKa’ brgyud tantric wealth,”

Dr. Brunnhölzl is a teacher, interpreter, and translator in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Originally trained as a medical doctor, he studied Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy at the Marpa Institute for Translators in Kathmandu, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. He also studied Tibetology, Sanskrit, and Buddhology at Hamburg University. Since 1989, he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan, English, and Sanskrit. He is presently involved with Nalandabodhi and the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator. Dr. Brunnhölzl said, “I feel very honored and privileged to receive this award. More importantly though, the prize highlights the major significance of the entire Yogācāra tradition in general, as well as Asanga’s Mahāyānasaṃgrahaand its commentarial tradition in specific, as being a major Indian Buddhist system of thought and practice that has been vastly influential over many hundreds of years in numerous countries. It is my wish that these volumes may be a small contribution toward Yogācāra receiving the attention and appreciation in the English-speaking world that it deserves.”

Gao, whose birth name is Friedrich Grohmann, is a German who has lived in Taiwan for more than 40 years. He is an expert in Chinese Buddhist scripture who teaches primarily, and publishes exclusively, in Chinese. Gao’s work is primarily related to Buddhist scripture, including recent translations from Pali to Chinese. At the same time, he teaches on Buddhist texts and classic Buddhist languages in various institutions in Taiwan. He is well known as Gao Laoshi (Lao Shi means teacher) to his students and colleagues in Taiwan." "Let me briefly explain what I mean by this and why these thoughts are so dear to my heart. When I began to learn Chinese half a century ago, it was the classical language I tried to study. Some time later I had the good fortune to be tutored by two Buddhist monks. One was ordained in the Pali tradition, the other in the Tibetan, and both helped me to read Chinese Buddhist texts. But neither of them was Chinese. The bhikkhu was German, the gelong was Hungarian, and all of this started at a small Mongolian temple. That was my first taste of Rimé, Buddhist nonsectarianism, and it has stayed with me all my life.   The second point I wanted to make in the dedication is that I strongly feel that what we generally call “Buddhism” refers to a culture which has its outer and inner aspects. The outer being stupas and steles, images and ideas, scriptures, schools, and so on, while the inner refers to the culture of the heart, of the mind. None of these aspects, it seems to me, should be missing when we try to study dharma, also–or maybe especially–in an academic context."--Friedrich Grohmann

Wenli Fan of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was unanimously selected by the KF Dissertation Award Committee for her dissertation, Action and Its Results: A Study Based on Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla. Wenli’s dissertation presents the views of the orthodox Indian schools that endorse the existence of causal activity and examines how Śāntarakṣita establishes the idea of non-activity by discussing his objection to causal activity. In addition, she briefly investigates the history of the concept of non-activity in Buddhist philosophy, showing that Śāntarakṣita contributed to this view by explicitly spelling it out and providing a detailed argument for it.  

​​For the last 25 years, Andy Rotman has engaged in textual and ethnographic work on the role of narratives, images, and markets in South Asia and the religious, social, and political functions that they serve. This focus is apparent in his research on early Indian Buddhism, South Asian media, and the modern economies of the North Indian bazaar. He currently serves as professor of Religion, Buddhist Studies, and South Asia Studies at Smith College. “This award is incredibly gratifying. I worked for decades, literally, on this material, and I’m thrilled to receive this kind of recognition,” said Rotman, who is currently traveling in India for research on his next work. 

Canti and Fletcher are two of the original founders of Padmakara Translation Group, based in the Dordogne, France. Padmakara has earned a distinguished reputation for its clear and accurate literary style in its translations of seminal Tibetan Buddhist texts into English, French, German, and Spanish. As a medical doctor and a former Benedictine monk, respectively, Canti and Fletcher have travelled a colorful path to becoming highly respected translators. Padmakara's list includes Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend, Treasury of Precious Qualities, The Excellent Path to Enlightenment, The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones, Lady of the Lotus-Born, and the two books read by nearly every Tibetan Buddhist, The Way of the Bodhisattva and The Words of My Perfect Teacher. "What makes their translations so special is that Wulstan and John are practitioners first, translators second," said Cangioli Che, Khyentse Foundation's executive director.

Dr. MacDonald is a researcher at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria. Her primary focus is the development of Madhyamaka thought in India and Tibet. Her research on Chandrakirti’s Prasannapada and Madhyamakavatarabhaṣya is based on newly available manuscripts of these works. “Although the title suggests clarity, the text is actually quite challenging,” said Dr. MacDonald in an article published in Der Standard, a Viennese newspaper. The Prasannapada, written in Sanskrit by the 7th century scholar Chandrakirti, is a commentary on Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika. “I would like to sincerely thank Khyentse Foundation for having selected my book for their Prize for Outstanding Translation…I am sure that Chandrakirti would be thrilled were he alive today to see his work acknowledged by such a remarkable foundation, and by extension, by its exceptional founder and head, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, held by the Tibetan tradition to be an emanation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva associated with prajna, insight, who is repeatedly mentioned and praised by Chandrakirti in his works.

Venerable Dhammajoti is an international figure, known for his publications, teaching, and lectures and seminars in English and in Chinese. In addition to his long activity in Sri Lanka, he has lectured in India, Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Canada, and Europe. In 2013 he delivered the keynote address, “Samghabhadra’s Contribution to our Understanding of Abhidharma,” at the International Conference on Abhidharma at the University of Ghent in Belgium. Born in Malaysia in 1949, Venerable Dhammajoti is sometimes known as “Kuala Lumpur Dhammajoti” or “KL Dhammajoti.” He became a monk in the Theravadin tradition and studied at Kelaniya University in Sri Lanka, where he earned his MA in 1970 for a study of Skandhila's Abhidharmaavatara and his PhD in 1990 for a thesis on the Chinese versions of the Dhammapada. His research has been especially devoted to the study of the Sarvastivada Abhidharma, and his book on this topic is now in its third edition. Venerable Dhammajoti has also studied the Pali-Theravadin tradition, and he encourages the comparative study of the Pali and other traditions. He maintains his links with Sri Lanka, and since moving to Hong Kong has invited noted Sri Lankan academics to join hands in the training of a new generation of scholars of Buddhism.

Dr. Chao’s dissertation is on the Chinese Yogācāra School of Buddhism, entitled “A Study of Fundamental Transformation in the Cheng Weishi Lun and Kuiji’s Commentaries.” It focuses primarily on “the basis to be transformed,” which is basis, and “the path that operates transformation,” which is non-discriminating wisdom. He delves into Dharmapala’s view of the four aspects theory of cognition. It is a rigorous and in-depth analysis that appeals greatly to Buddhist academics. Professor Liu Kuo-Wei, one of the selection committee members, said that “Mr. Chao’s dissertation provides in-depth philosophical analysis on the thoughts of the Chinese Yogācāra.” Professor Saerji, another selection committee member, remarked that Dr. Chao’s dissertation is “a good study, with deep textual analysis and convincing arguments, that increases our understanding of Sino-Indian Buddhism.”

Professor Mark Siderits and Professor Shōryū Katsura were awarded the 2014 Prize for Outstanding Translation at the International Association for Buddhist Studies 17th Congress at the University of Vienna in July. Professor Peter Skilling, KF Fellow and founder and president of the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation, presented the award to Katsura and Siderits for their new translation of Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Professor Skilling said, “Professor Katsura was a board member of the IABS for many years, so this is a particular honor and pleasure for us at the IABS to give this prize here.” Professor Siderits gave a short speech thanking KF and Wisdom Publications. He also thanked Professor Katsura for making the project so much fun. KF Academic Development Committee member Greg Forgues and others from the KF team were present for the ceremony.

Professor Peter Skilling is a Buddhist scholar, historian, researcher, translator, poet, and lecturer on a wide range of subjects, from history and philosophy to Buddhist art, archaeology, epigraphy, and related areas. At present he is a researcher with the French School of Asian Studies, based in Bangkok. His fields of research include the early history of Mahayana Buddhism, the history of Pali in Southeast Asia, the history of the Buddhist orders of nuns, and the archaeology and literature of South and Southeast Asia. His research is conducted in numerous languages, including English, French, Tibetan, Pali, Sanskrit, and Thai. He is president of the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation, a nonsectarian organization that supports the preservation and study of the Buddhist literature of Southeast Asia. The Foundation preserves a large collection of palm-leaf manuscripts in Pali and Southeast Asian languages. Professor Skilling has served as an adviser to Khyentse Foundation since 2007 and has provided wise guidance in the Foundation’s growth, especially in the development of ideas relating to academia, scholarship, and translation projects. He has initiated many successful KF projects, including the KF Award for Excellence in Buddhist Studies, the KF Outstanding Translation Award, and the KF Best Dissertation Award, now in the formative stage. Some of Prof. Skilling’s publications include Mahasutras: the Great Discourses of the Buddha, Wat Si Chum, and How Theravada is Theravada?

Professor Todd Lewis of College of the Holy Cross (Worchester, Massachusetts) and Subarna Man Tuladar of Nepal Bhasa Institute received the first Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation for his translation from Newari into English of Sugata Saurabha: An Epic Poem from Nepal on the Life of the Buddha by the Nepali poet Chittadhar Hridaya (Oxford University Press, 2010). Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Professor Peter Skilling presented the award in Bodhgaya, India. The Sugata Saurabha tells the life of the Buddha in nineteen cantos of Newari verse. Chittadhar Hridaya (1906-1982), a prominent literary figure, composed much of the work while serving a five-year prison sentence for publishing a poem in his native language, and completed it after his release from prison. It was originally published in Kolkata in 1949. In addition to the clear and elegant translation of the poem itself, the book offers background information about the literary, cultural, and religious context of the text. The translated poem is not simply a window into another culture; it is an aesthetic experience that moves the reader to an enhanced understanding of the life of the Buddha. The spirit of the translation lives up to the request of the poet, who shortly before his death in 1982 expressed his desire that the poem should “read well in English, so that the reader can understand the beauty [of] the original.”