Bryan J. Cuevas (born 1967) is an American

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 historian of religion. He is John F. Priest Professor of Religion and Director of

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an Studies at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, where he specializes in Tibetan Buddhist history, literature, and culture. His research focuses on Tibetan history and

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

and

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

literature, Buddhist

popular religion Folk religion, traditional religion, or vernacular religion comprises, according to religious studies and folkloristics, various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. ...

, the literary history of death narratives and death-related practices, and the politics of

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

and

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

power in premodern Tibetan societies, from roughly the eleventh through the early eighteenth centuries.

Education

Cuevas was born in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He received his B.A. degree in

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in 1989 from

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

, and his M.A. (1993) and Ph.D. (2000) degrees in

History of Religions The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The prehistory of religion involves the st ...

and Buddhist and Tibetan Studies from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Academic career

In addition to his current position at FSU, Cuevas has been a Member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

and has held visiting appointments at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He has served on the editorial board of the ''

Journal of the American Academy of Religion The ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', formerly the ''Journal of Bible and Religion'', is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The ''JAAR'' was es ...

'' and has been book review editor for the ''

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies The ''Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies'' (''JIATS'') is a freely available online, peer-reviewed English language academic journal focusing on Tibetan studies. ''JIATS'' is an official publication of the International ...

''. His work has received fellowship support from the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

, the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, th
Center for the Study of Religion
at Princeton University, and the

American Institute of Indian Studies The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), founded in 1961, is a consortium of 90 universities and colleges in the United States that promotes the advancement of knowledge about India in the U.S. It carries out this purpose by: awarding fell ...

Select bibliography

*
The Rwa pod and Other ‘Lost’ Works of Rwa lo tsā ba’s Vajrabhairava Tradition: A Catalogue of Recently Acquired Tibetan Manuscripts from Mongolia and Khams and Their Significance
'. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 101. Arbeitkreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 2021. *
The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat: The Life of Ra Lotsawa
'. Translation with introduction and notes. New York: Penguin Classics, 2015. *
Travels in the Netherworld: Buddhist Popular Narratives of Death and the Afterlife in Tibet
'. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008 (Paperback edition, 2011). *
The Buddhist Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations
'. Co-edited with Jacqueline I. Stone. Kuroda Studies in East Asian Buddhism Series 20. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2007 (Paperback edition, 2011). *
Power, Politics, and the Reinvention of Tradition: Tibet in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
'. Co-edited with Kurtis R. Schaeffer. Leiden: Brill, 2006. *
The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead
'. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003 (Paperback edition, 2006).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuevas, Bryan J. Living people American historians of religion Tibetologists Florida State University faculty 1967 births