Dorji Wangchuk (born 1967)
is a Bhutanese-German professor for Tibetan (Buddhist) Studies at the Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies in the
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...
's Asien-Afrika-Institute and is a contemporary
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 ...
and a
Buddhologist. He is also the founder and director of the Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship (KC-TBTS), a research center within the Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies at the University of Hamburg's Asien-Afrika-Institute.
His main teaching and research interests lie in Tibetan
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...
, Tibetan intellectual history and history of ideas, and Tibetan Buddhist intellectual, literary, and
textual
In literary theory, textuality comprises all of the attributes that distinguish the communicative content under analysis as an object of study. It is associated with structuralism and post-structuralism.
Explanation
Textuality is not just abou ...
culture.
Currently, he is working on the perception and reception of
Yogācāra
Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...
in Tibet and on the identity, superiority, and authenticity issues of the ''Vidhyādharapiṭaka'' in Tibetan Buddhism.
Career
After completing a nine-year course in the study of
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...
from the
monastic
Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...
seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...
of India's
Ngagyur Nyingma Institute in
Bylakuppe
Bylakuppe (བྷ་ཡ་ལ་ཀུཔེ།) is a region in Karnataka which is home to the Indian town Bylakuppe and several Tibetan settlements, established by Lugsum Samdupling (in 1961) and Dickyi Larsoe (in 1969). Bylakuppe is the l ...
,
Mysore
Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
, Dorji Wangchuk majored in both Classical
Indology
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...
and Tibetology at the University of Hamburg, graduating with a
Masters of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
in 2002.
He wrote his doctoral
dissertation on "The Resolve to Become a ''Buddha'': A Study of the ''
Bodhicitta
In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta ("aspiration to enlightenment" or "the thought of awakening") is the mind ( citta) that is aimed at awakening (bodhi) through wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.Dayal, Har (1970). ''T ...
'' Concept in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism" and received his
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
from the same university in 2005.
Between 1992 and 1996, he taught Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns in monastic seminaries in India. Since 1998, he has been teaching and researching at the University of Hamburg in various capacities. He also taught a term each at the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University.
...
,
McGill University
McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
, and
Renmin University of China
The Renmin University of China (RUC) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. The university is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The ...
.
On January 6, 2011, Wangchuk founded the Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship.
The research center focuses on the preservation and distribution of Buddhist texts.
In May 2012, the research center launched a bilingual version of its website, available in English and German.
In 2015, Wangchuk co-founded BuddhaNexus, a
digital library
A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital resources that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital ...
developed for the purposes of matching text with Tibetan works, with professors Orna Almogi and Sebastian Nehrdich.
In 2018, BuddhaNexus collaborated with the International Institute for Digital Humanities in
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
to create charts of various matches within Tibetan Buddhist texts.
Works
Monographs
*
Chapters
In English
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
In German
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk's profile at the University of HamburgThe Resolve to Become a ''Buddha'': A Study of the ''Bodhicitta'' Concept in Indo-Tibetan BuddhismThe Goodman Lectures: When Can Buddhism Be Considered Dead and When Living? by Prof. Dorji WangchukBuddhaNexus HomepageKhyentse Foundation HomepageDorji Wangchuk's profileat
ORCID
The ORCID (; Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a nonproprietary alphanumeric code to uniquely identify authors and contributors of scholarly communication.
This addresses the problem that a particular author's contributions to the scien ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wangchuk, Dorji
1967 births
Living people
Bhutanese expatriates in Germany
Tibetologists
Academic staff of the University of Hamburg