David Seyfort Ruegg

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David Seyfort Ruegg, 2018.

David Seyfort Ruegg (1931 - 2021). David Seyfort Ruegg was an eminent Buddhologist with a career spanning from the 1950s to 2021. His specialty was Madhyamaka philosophy, a core doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism.[1] His work also focused on tathāgatagarbha, the relationship of Buddhism with Hinduism, Brahmanism, and the pre-Buddhist traditions of Tibet.[2]

Biography

From legacy.com:

Ruegg was born in Binghamton, NY on Aug. 1, 1931 to Aimee Seyfort and Erhart Ruegg. After his high school and early college years spent in Binghamton, then Santa Fe (where he and his mother befriended Georgia O'Keefe and her circle), then London and Zurich, he and his mother—an artist who first interested him in Eastern spirituality--traveled to and lived in India for years, where he did research with Indian, Tibetan, and Mongolian scholars, while also studying in Paris, receiving his doctorate (Doctorat d'Etat) from the University of Paris in 1968.
He held professorships at Leiden University, the Netherlands, the University of Washington, Seattle, then Hamburg, Germany, until retirement in 1993. He also taught as a visiting professor at Toronto, SUNY Stony Brook, the College de France, Vienna, and Harvard, as well as London. From 1993 on until his death, he resided at Cadogan Square, London, with his immense library, where he received many notable scholars from around the world and continued to publish, maintaining his research affiliation with the School of Oriental and African Studies.
He published twelve books and over eighty articles on Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. In these, as in his stimulating university lectures and seminars, he translated and analyzed, in pioneering fashion, key Buddhist philosophical writings, making them more accessible and meaningful to the modern Western world.[3]

Scholary achievements

Ruegg graduated from École des Hautes Etudes in 1957 with degrees in historical science and Sanskrit. He published his thesis "Contributions à l'histoire de la philosophie linguistique indienne" ("Contributions to the History of Indian Linguistic Philosophy") in 1959.

He received a second doctorate in linguistics from the University of Paris (a.k.a the Sorbonne) in 1968, where his thesis was "La théorie du tathâgatagarbha et du gotra: études sur la sotériologie et la gnoséologie du bouddhisme" ("The Theory of Gotra and Tathâgatagarbha: A Study of the Soteriology and Gnoseology of Buddhism"), with a second half thesis on Buton Rinchen Drub's approach to tathāgatagarbha.

In 1964 he joined the faculty of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient, where he researched the history, philology and philosophy of India, Tibet and Buddhism.[1]

From 1966-1972 Ruegg occupied the Chair of Languages and Cultures of India and Tibet at Leiden University. His predecessor was Jan Willem de Jong and his successor was Tilmann Vetter.[1]

He also maintained a research affiliation with the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

Ruegg was president of the International Association for Buddhist Studies (IABS) from 1991 to 1999.[1]

Selected publications

  • Contributions à l'histoire de la philosophie linguistique indienne, Paris, Éd. de Boccard (Public. de l'Institut de civilisation indienne, 7). 1959
  • The life of Bu ston Rin po che, Roma, Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente. 1966
  • The study of Indian and Tibetan thought: some problems and perspectives, Inaugural lecture, Chair of Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Studies and Tibetan, University of Leiden, E. J. Brill. 1967
  • La théorie du tathâgatagarbha et du gotra : études sur la sotériologie et la gnoséologie du bouddhisme, Paris, EFEO (PEFEO, 70). 1969
  • Le traité du tathâgatagarbha de Bu ston Rin chen grub, Paris, EFEO (PEFEO, 88). 1973
  • The literature of the Madhyamaka school of philosophy in India, Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz (History of Indian Literature, 7/1). 1981
  • Buddha-nature, Mind and the problem of Gradualism in a comparative perspective: On the transmission and reception of Buddhism in India and Tibet (Jordan Lectures 1987), London, SOAS, University of London. 1989
  • mChod yon, yon mchod and mchod gnas/yon gnas: On the historiography and semantics of a Tibetan religio-social and religio-political concept. 1991 PDF version
  • Ordre spirituel et ordre temporel dans la pensée bouddhique de l'Inde et du Tibet, Paris, Collège de France (Public. de l'Institut de civilisation indienne, 64). 1995

Further reading:

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 David Seyfort Ruegg, Buddha Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative
  2. ↑ An inverview with David Seyfort Ruegg, Oral History of Tibetan Studies
  3. ↑ David Seyfort Ruegg, legacy.com

Further reading

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