Volker Helmut Manfred Zotz (born 28 October 1956) is an eminent

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, religious studies scholar,

Buddhologist Buddhist studies, also known as Buddhology, is the academic study of Buddhism. The term ''Buddhology'' was coined in the early 20th century by the Unitarian minister Joseph Estlin Carpenter to mean the "study of Buddhahood, the nature of the Budd ...

and a prolific author.

Early life

The Zotz family originated in

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

and spread to Germany. Volker Zotz was born in

Landau in der Pfalz Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...

, Germany, where he attended elementary school and high school. His interest in

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

led him to an early study of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

as well as of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and

Chinese religions The People's Republic of China is officially an atheist state, but the government formally recognizes five religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism are recognised separately), and Islam. In the early 21st ce ...

. What impressed him most was Buddhist philosophy and meditation. When Zotz was sixteen he became a major disciple of

Lama Anagarika Govinda Anagarika Govinda (born Ernst Lothar Hoffmann, 17 May 1898 – 14 January 1985) was the founder of the order of the Arya Maitreya Mandala and an expositor of Tibetan Buddhism, Abhidharma, and Buddhist meditation as well as other aspects of B ...

, with whom he was close until his death in 1985. During his high school days, Zotz also met the author

Oscar Kiss Maerth ''The Beginning Was the End'' is a 1971 pseudo-scientific book written by Oscar Kiss Maerth (October 8, 1914 – August 26, 1990) which claims humankind evolved from cannibalistic apes. The book has been criticized in relation to racialist and ...

, whose ideas he did not completely agree with, but with whom he had an intense exchange of ideas. After graduating from

Max Slevogt Max Slevogt (8 October 1868 – 20 September 1932) was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of th ...

High School in Landau in the 1970s, he published his first poems in two volumes and a novel. As a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

Zotz had to perform eighteen months of

alternative civilian service Alternative civilian service, also called alternative services, civilian service, non-military service, and substitute service, is a form of national service performed in lieu of military conscription for various reasons, such as conscientious ...

in a nursing home. From 1978 he studied Buddhism under Ernst Steinkellner and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

under

Kurt Rudolf Fischer Kurt Rudolf Fischer (February 26, 1922 – March 22, 2014) was a Jewish-Austrian philosopher who emigrated to Brno, Czechoslovakia, in 1938 and to Shanghai in 1940. He was born in Vienna. He became Chinese boxing champion and started studying philo ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. He repeatedly interrupted his studies in Vienna to conduct research and fieldwork in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and to receive spiritual training from Lama Anagarika Govinda.

Career

In 1986 Zotz received a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna for his

doctoral 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: ...

''Zur Rezeption, Interpretation und Kritik des Buddhismus im deutschen Sprachraum.'' This dissertation investigates the influence of Buddhism on German philosophy, literature and culture during the

Fin de siècle () is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context ...

. Zotz has been a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

of Buddhist philosophy at the University of Vienna. 1989 he moved to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

where he was a

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

and researcher at

Ryukoku University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as a school for Buddhist priests of the Nishi Hongan-ji denomination in 1639, and became a secularized university in 1876. The university's professors and students founded the literary m ...

and Otani University in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

and at

Rissho University , one of the oldest universities in Japan, was founded in 1580, when a seminary was established as a learning center for young monks of the Nichiren shu. The university's name came from the Rissho Ankoku Ron, a thesis written by Nichiren, a prom ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

for ten years. During the period in Japan he was influenced considerably by the Buddhologist

Takamaro Shigaraki Takamaro Shigaraki (, 1926 – 26 September 2014) was a Japanese Buddhist philosopher and priest within the Honganji-ha branch of Jōdo Shinshū. Shigaraki is widely regarded as one of the most influential Buddhologists of the Jōdo Shinshū in the ...

. In 1999 Zotz was appointed

of philosophy at the

University of Luxembourg The University of Luxembourg ( French: ''Université du Luxembourg''; German: ''Universität Luxemburg''; Luxembourgish: ''Universitéit Lëtzebuerg'') is a public research university in Luxembourg. History The University of Luxembourg was foun ...

. At that time he was also teaching at

Saarland University Saarland University (german: Universität des Saarlandes, ) is a public research university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in si ...

. Besides his scholarly work, Volker Zotz's European audience knows him as author and publicist. The volume, ''Buddha'', is the most popular book on its topic in German language, regularly reprinted and translated into several languages. Zotz is a leading member of the

Arya Maitreya Mandala Arya Maitreya Mandala is a tantric and Buddhist order founded 1933 by Lama Anagarika Govinda. History Lama Anagarika Govinda founded the Arya Maitreya Mandala order on 14 October 1933 and made fourteen Indian scholars members. The order's acti ...

, founded by Lama Anagarika Govinda in 1933. In the early 1990s Zotz initiated a study centre called ''Komyoji'' in Austria which is an attempt at describing a cross-cultural philosophy of religion. Since 1994 Zotz has been the driving force behind many of Komyoji's educational programs,Komyoji Website
/ref> such as workshops explaining various philosophical and theological topics. Volker Zotz is married to the Austrian writer and anthropologist

Birgit Zotz Birgit Zotz (born 7 August 1979) is an Austrian writer, cultural anthropologist and an expert on the subject of hospitality management studies. Life Born in Waidhofen an der Thaya, Lower Austria, Zotz grew up in the Waldviertel and in Vienna. ...

Select bibliography

* ''Maitreya. Kontemplationen über den Buddha der Zukunft''. Mit einem Vorwort von

. Hannoversch Münden 1984 () * ''Zur Rezeption, Interpretation und Kritik des Buddhismus im deutschen Sprachraum vom Fin-de-Siècle bis 1930. Historische Skizze und Hauptmotive.'' Wien: Phil. Diss., 1986. * ''Maitréja. Elmélkedések a jövö Buddhájáról.'' Körösi Csoma Sandor Buddhológiai Intézet, Budapest 1986 * ''Freiheit und Glück. Buddhas Lehren für das tägliche Leben.'' München 1987 (). * ''André Breton.'' Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1990 () * ''Erleuchtung im Alltag.'' München 1990, () * ''Buddha.'' Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1991, 6. Auflage 2001 () * ''André Breton.'' Préface de José Pierre. Paris: Édition d'art Somogy, 1991 () * ''Der Buddha im Reinen Land. Shin-Buddhismus in Japan.'' Diederichs, München 1991 () * ''Buddha.'' Votobia, Olomouc 1995 () * ''Geschichte der buddhistischen Philosophie.'' Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1996 () * ''Buddha.'' Hangilsa, Seoul 1997 () * ''Mit Buddha das Leben meistern. Buddhismus für Praktiker.'' Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1999, 4. Auflage 2003 () * ''Konfuzius.'' Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2000 () * ''Auf den glückseligen Inseln. Buddhismus in der deutschen Kultur.'' Theseus, Berlin 2000 () * ''Totus tuus. Marianisches Lesebuch zur Luxemburger Muttergottes-Oktave.'', ed. with Friederike Migneco, Kairos, Luxembourg 2004, . * ''Die neue Wirtschaftsmacht am Ganges.'' Redline, Heidelberg 2006, * ''Buda, Maestro de Vida.'' Ellago Ediciones 2006, * ''Konfuzius für den Westen. Neue Sehnsucht nach alten Werten.'' O.W. Barth 2007,

References

External links

official website
*
Volker Zotz
in National Library of Luxemburg catalogue
Volker Zotz: ''Konfuzius'' (article)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zotz, Volker 1956 births Living people People from Landau 20th-century Austrian philosophers Continental philosophers Buddhist writers Academics of the University of Luxembourg Religious studies scholars