Jonathan Alan Silk (born 1960) is an American academic specialising in Buddhism. Since 2007, he has been

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of Buddhist Studies at Leiden University.

Career

Born in 1960, Silk studied at Oberlin College (BA 1983) and then spent five years studying with a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship. He then attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

(MA 1988), where he completed doctoral studies; in 1989, he received a one-year Fulbright Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, and then received fellowships to study Buddhism in Japan between 1991 and 1993. Michigan awarded him a PhD in 1994 for his

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

"The Origins and Early History of the Mahāratnakūţa Tradition of

Mahāyāna Buddhism ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...

, with a Study of the '' Ratnarāśisūtra'' and Related Materials"."Jonathan Silk"
''Leiden University''. Retrieved 1 May 2020."Silk, Jonathan Alan"
''Dutch Studies on South Asia, Tibet and classical Southeast Asia''. Retrieved 1 May 2020. From 1994 to 1995, Silk was an assistant professor of religious studies at

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...

; in 1995, he moved to the Department of Comparative Religion in Western the University of Michigan. He was then an assistant professor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

between 1998 and 2002, when he moved to the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

. In 2007, he moved to Leiden University to take up the chair in Buddhist studies. Since 2008, he has been co-chair of the editorial board of the journal ''

Indo-Iranian Studies Indo-Iranian may refer to: * Indo-Iranian languages * Indo-Iranians, the various peoples speaking these languages * India–Iran relations * '' Indo-Iranian Journal'' See also *Aryan *Proto-Indo-Iranian language *Indo-Iranian languages *Indo-Europ ...

''. In 2016, Silk was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with State (polity), state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but ...

for science and literature in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Publications

* (Co-editor with L. O. Gomez) ''Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahāyāna Buddhist Texts (''Ann Arbor: Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature and Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, The University of Michigan, 1989). * ''Wisdom, Compassion, and the Search for Understanding: The Buddhist Studies Legacy of Gadjin M. Nagao'' (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2000). * ''Body Language: Indic Śarīra and Chinese shèlì in the'' Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra ''and'' Saddharma-puṇḍarīka (Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2006). * ''Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). *
Forbidden Women: A Peculiar Buddhist Reference
' (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008). *''Riven by Lust: Incest and Schism in Indian Buddhist Legend and Historiography'' (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2009). * (Editor) ''Buddhism in China: Collected Papers of Erik Zürcher'' (Leiden: Brill, 2013). * ''Buddhist Cosmic Unity: An Edition, Translation and Study of the'' Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa–parivarta, Hamburg Buddhist Studies, no. 4 (Hamburg: Hamburg University Press, 2015). * (Editor)
Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism
', vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2015). * ''Materials Toward the Study of Vasubandhu’s Viṁśikā (I): Sanskrit and Tibetan Critical Editions of the Verses and Autocommentary; An English Translation and Annotations'', Harvard Oriental Series, no. 81 (Cambridge, MA: Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University, 2016).

References

1960 births Buddhist studies scholars Leiden University faculty Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Living people {{Authority control