Sam Julius van Schaik is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

tibetologist Tibetology () refers to the study of things related to Tibet, including its history, religion, language, culture, politics and the collection of Tibetan articles of historical, cultural and religious significance. The last may mean a collection of ...

Education

He obtained a PhD in Tibetan Buddhist literature at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

in 2000, with a dissertation on the translations of Dzogchen texts by Jigme Lingpa.

Career

Since 1999 he has worked at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and is currently a project manager for the

International Dunhuang Project The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the Mogao caves at the Western Chinese city of Dunhuang and v ...

, specialising in the study of Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang. He has also taught occasional courses at

SOAS, University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

. From 2003 to 2005 van Schaik worked on a project to catalogue Tibetan Tantric manuscripts in the Stein Collection of the British Library, and from 2005 to 2008 he worked on a project to study the

palaeography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

of Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang, in an attempt to identify individual scribes. In February 2019 van Schaik was appointed as the head of the

Endangered Archives Programme The Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) is a funding programme and digital archive run by the British Library in London. It has the purpose of preserving cultural heritage where resources may be limited. Each year EAP awards grants to researchers ...

at the

Books

Van Schaik is the author or co-author of: * ''Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in the Longchen Nyingtig'' (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004). * ''Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library'', co-authored with Jacob Dalton (Leiden: Brill, 2006). * '' Tibet: A History'' (London: Yale University Press, 2011). * ''Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim'', coauthored with Imre Galambos (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012). * ''Tibetan Zen: Discovering a Lost Tradition'' (Boston & London: Snow Lion, 2015). *''The Spirit of Zen'' (Yale University Press, 2018), winner of the 2019 Tianzhu Book Prize for Excellence in Chan Studies * ''Buddhist Magic: Divination, Healing, and Enchantment Through the Ages'' (Boulder: Shambhala 2020) His

edited volume An edited volume or edited collection is a collection of scholarly or scientific chapters written by different authors. The chapters in an edited volume are original works (not republished works). Alternative terms for edited volume are ''contrib ...

s include: * ''Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang: Rites and Teachings for this Life and Beyond'', co-edited with

Matthew Kapstein Matthew T. Kapstein is a scholar of Tibetan religions, Buddhism, and the cultural effects of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He is Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and Director of Tibetan ...

(Leiden: Brill, 2010). Reviews of ''Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang'': * * He is also the translator of: *Dhongthog Rinpoche, ''The Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism: A History'', Translated by Sam van Schaik (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, Inc., 2016).

References

External links

Sam van Schaik's academic blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Schaik, Sam Employees of the British Library Living people Tibetologists Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the University of Manchester English historians