Khyentse Foundation is pleased to announce that Eng Jin Ooi has been appointed the new Palyul-Khyentse Chair in Buddhist Textual Studies at the International Buddhist College (IBC), Sadao Campus, Thailand. KF established the chair—the first the foundation has supported in Asia—in 2022 with a generous matching fund from the Buddhist foundation Yayasan Pema Norbu Vihara, an official Palyul center of Malaysia. Eng Jin takes over from the previous chair, Maria Vasylieva.
A lecturer in the College of Religious Studies at Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, since December 2022, Eng Jin was the recipient of KF’s award for an Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies, Asia, in 2022 for his thesis “Transmission of the Milindapañha with a Comparative Analysis of the Siamese Recensions.” From April 2022 to February 2023, he was also a postdoctoral research fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. His main interests are Buddhist manuscripts/textual criticism, inscriptions, and archaeology (arts and epigraphy), especially in South and Southeast Asia.
Eng Jin has numerous publications to his name. Among the most recent are: “Clay sealings from Perlis, Malaysia, and the wider world of the Bodhigarbhālaṅkāralakṣa-Dhāraṇī” (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, September 2024); “Defining a Meṇḍaka Question in the Questions of Milinda and Its Commentarial Texts” (Journal of Indian Philosophy, July 2023); and “Transmission of the Milindapañha” (Buddhist Studies Review, September 2022).
“The first time I heard about Eng Jin must have been 2 decades ago. His students at the time told me what a good teacher he was. Over the years, I have witnessed Eng Jin expand his interests from the Siamese transmissions of key Buddhist texts to Sanskrit epigraphy in peninsular Malaysia—and beyond. His areas of expertise are a fitting complement to what we already have at IBC. A scholar who is well trained in textual studies and sympathetic to all Buddhist traditions, Eng Jin is precisely what we need.” — Ajahn Mattia Salvini, rector and dean of liberal arts, IBC
A non-sectarian Buddhist university, IBC offers classes in all four major Buddhist languages—Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, and classical Chinese. In addition to reflecting the historical heritage of the local area, its courses highlight textual and philosophical traditions that are relevant to all living Buddhist lineages.
The chair supports IBC’s ongoing efforts to preserve the life force of Buddhist learning—reading Buddhist primary sources in their original languages and training new generations of Buddhist scholars in being able to do so. This is the meeting point of traditional modes of transmission of the dharma and contemporary academic didactics, and may in the long run help preserve both, retaining their relevance and depth.
“It is indeed an honor to be appointed to this chair. I thank Khyentse Foundation, Yayasan Pema Norbu Vihara, and the International Buddhist College for giving me the opportunity to contribute. This position is also instrumental in advancing my research in textual criticism, manuscript transmission, and epigraphy. I look forward to training the next generation of young scholars in these fields at IBC.”— Eng Jin Ooi
Eng Jin assumed his new role in January 2025.
Featured image above: Eng Jin Ooi, Bangkok, June 2024. Photo courtesy Eng Jin Ooi.
