Mingyuan Gao
Mingyuan Gao
Mingyuan Gao
- Academic Development CommitteeCommittee Member
Mingyuan joined the KF Academic Development Committee in 2021. In addition to evaluating proposals about academic projects, he mainly concentrates on KF’s cooperation with the institutions in relation to Buddhist Studies in China and individual applications from Chinese students for KF scholarships. He also participates in designing the KF Goodman lectures, particularly in Chinese media.
Mingyuan had been obsessed with western philosophical questions. In 2009 he encountered Buddhadharma when he read Khyentse Rinpoche’s What Makes You Not a Buddhist, which sparked his interest in studying Buddhist doctrines. With financial support from KF, Mingyuan got his PhD under the supervision of Ven. Prof. KL Dhammajoti, the recipient of the 2015 Khyentse Foundation Fellowship. His PhD thesis won the 2020 Khyentse Foundation Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies. His research is mainly based on Abhidharma and early Yogācāra texts in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Classical Chinese.
When being funded by KF while doing my doctorate, I was deeply impressed by KF’s genuine sincerity in helping applicants and promoting Buddhist scholarship. The nonsectarian and nonbureaucratic way that KF evaluates applications on a case-by-case basis without emphasis on requiting or cult of personality concretizes the true teachings of the Buddha. I feel truly honored to work with KF to help those who are devoted to seeking the Buddhadharma.