Project Members
Prof. Richard Salomon
Dr. Richard Salomon is Professor of Asian Languages (Sanskrit) in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington (Seattle, Washington, USA). He has a B.A. in Oriental Studies from Columbia University (1970) and Ph.D. in Sanskrit from the University of Pennsylvania (1975). He has specialized in the study of Sanskrit and Prakrit inscriptions, especially in Kharosthi inscriptions from Gandhara, and has published numerous articles on these and related subjects.
He is author of:
- The Bridge to the Three Holy Cities. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. 1985.
- Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages. New York: Oxford University Press. 1998.
- Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments. London/Seattle: British Library/University of Washington Press. 1999.
- A Gāndhārī Version of the Rhinoceros Sutra: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 5B. Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 1. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 2000. [See “Publications to Date”].
Prof. Collett Cox
Collett Cox is Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington. With a primary interest in early Indian Buddhist doctrine and text history, she specializes in the Abhidharma or scholastic treatises of the Sarvāstivādin sect. She received her B.A. (1972) in Religion from Carleton College, Northfield Minnesota, and her M.A. (1974) and Ph.D. (1983) in Religion from Columbia University, New York, New York. She spent 1978-1982 in Japan and India pursuing Ph.D. dissertation research on Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma, specifically Saṅghabhadra's Nyāyānusāra. From 1983–1985, she served as Visiting Assistant and Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. At the University of Washington, she has been honored with the Liberal Arts Professorship in the College of Arts and Sciences (1990–1991) and a University of Washington Arts/Humanities Research Professorship Award (1990).
Her publications include, in addition to articles and reviews:
- Chapter 3: “Kaśmīra: Vaibhāṣika Orthodoxy.” In Charles Willemen, Bart Dessein and Collett Cox, Sarvāstidvāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Handbuch der Orientalistik. Zweite Abteilung, Indien 11. Bd. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1997.
- Disputed Dharmas, Early Buddhist Theories on Existence: An Annotated Translation of the Section on Factors Dissociated from Thought from Saṅghabhadra's Nyāyānusāra. Studia Philologica Buddhica. Monograph Series 11. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies. 1995.
- Michael A. Williams, Collett Cox, and Martin S. Jaffee, eds., Innovation in Religious Traditions: Essays in the Interpretation of Religious Change. Religion and Society (Hague, Netherlands) 31. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Grutyer. 1992.
Dr. Mark Allon
Mark Allon is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, Australia (2002–2007). After completing a Diploma of Arts at the City Art Institute, Sydney (1981), he took a B.A. with Honours in Asian Studies at the Australian National University (1988). He gained a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at the University of Cambridge in 1995. He subsequently taught courses at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and King's College London, University of London, and worked as research assistant at SOAS on the publication of John Brough. Collected Papers (London: SOAS, 1996). In 1996, he took up a 6 month Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai Fellowship at the University of Kyoto, Japan. From 1997–2001 he was Senior Research Fellow with the EBMP at the University of Washington, Seattle. His specialized interest is in the formation, composition, and transmission of early Buddhist literature.
He is author of:
- Style and Function: A Study of the Dominant Stylistic Features of the Prose Portions of Pali Canonical Sutta Texts and their Mnemonic Function. Studia Philologica Buddhica. Monograph Series 12. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies. 1997.
- Three Gāndhārī Ekottarikāgama-Type Sūtras: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 12 and 14. Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 2. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 2001. [See “Publications to Date”]
A recent article is:
- Mark Allon and Richard Salomon. “Kharoṣṭhī fragments of a Gāndhārī version of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra.” In Jens Braarvig, ed., Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection I, Buddhist Manuscripts 1. Oslo: Hermes Publishing. 2000: 243–73.
Dr. Timothy Lenz
Timothy Lenz is currently a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington. His main research interests are in Sanskrit and Prakrit language, literature and philology. His master's thesis is entitled A study of the Raula-Vela Inscription from Dahr, Madhya Pradesh: Text, Translation, Phonology, Morphology, and an Examination of its Place Among Other Literary Inscriptions (University of Washington, 1994) and his dissertation is A New Version of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 16+25 (University of Washington, 1999).
He is author of:
- A New Version of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada and a Collection of Previous-Birth Stories: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 16+25. Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 3. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 2003. [See “Publications to Date”]
Dr. Jason Neelis
Jason Neelis is an Assistant Professor of South Asian Buddhism in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. He received a B.A. in Classics and South Asian Studies from Brown University (1990), an M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Texas at Austin (1992), and a Ph.D. in Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Washington (2001). His dissertation is entitled Long-distance Trade and the Transmission of Buddhism through Northern Pakistan, Primarily Based on Kharoṣṭhī and Brāhmī Inscriptions. He is primarily interested in the early transmission of Buddhism throughout and beyond South Asia, Kharoṣṭhī and Brāhmī inscriptions in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, and Buddhist manuscripts in Gāndhārī and Sanskrit.
Dr. Andrew Glass
Andrew Glass is currently the lead researcher on the Gāndhārī Dictionary Project, based at the University of Washington, Seattle. He graduated with a B.A.(Hons) in Sanskrit and Religious Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in 1996. He completed his M.A. (2000) and Ph.D. (2006) in Buddhist studies at the University of Washington. His master's thesis, A Preliminary Study of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscript Paleography, re-examines the development of the Kharoṣṭhī script from the point of view of the new manuscript discoveries. His Ph.D. dissertation, Connected Discourses in Gandhāra, is a study, edition, and translation of a Kharoṣṭhī manuscript containing four sūtras on meditation from the Saṃyuktāgama.
He is the author of:
- Four Gāndhārī Saṃyuktāgama Sūtras: Senior Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 5. Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 4. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 2007. [See “Publications to Date”]
Tien-chang Shih
Tien-chang Shih is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature. She graduated from National Taiwan University and in 1990 completed a program in the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies in Taiwan with concentrations in Chinese Buddhism and early Indian Buddhism. Her two theses were a textual study of the collection of Six Perfections (六度集研究 liu du ji yan jiu), and an examination of the meaning of the term vipassanā. She is currently studying philological issues in Chinese translations from Indic archetypes.
Stefan Baums
Stefan Baums is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington. He studied Indology, Tibetology and Linguistics at the Georg‐August‐Universität Göttingen from 1994 to 1998, and received his M.A. (with distinction) in Sanskrit Literature, History of Buddhism and Nepali from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in 1999. Beginning in 2000, he taught Sanskrit and Indology at the Asien‐Institut, Københavns Universitet, before joining the Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project in 2002. He also contributes to the Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection project. His research interests include Buddhist philology, narrative and kāvya literature, historical linguistics, epigraphy and palaeography.
His publications include:
- “Jyotiṣkāvadāna”. In Jens Braarvig, ed., Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection III, Buddhist Manuscripts 2. Oslo: Hermes Publishing. 2002: 287–302.