David Germano
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David Francis Germano is an American Tibetologist and professor of Tibetan and
Buddhist Studies 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 Bud ...
at 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 ...
(UVA), where he has dual appointments in its School of Nursing and Department of Religious Studies. Germano is a former board member of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for The Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies (JIATS), a journal of
Tibetology 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 ...
.


Career

In 2000, Germano founded the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, a digital initiative for collaborative knowledge-building about the Tibetan and Himalayan regions. He has also served as its director since its inception. Germano has also been the co-director of the UVA Tibet Center since 2008. At 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 ...
, he is the founding director of both SHANTI (Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts Network of Technological Initiatives) and the Contemplative Sciences Center.


Education

Germano received a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
(BA) degree from the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
and later pursued his
Doctor of Philosophy 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 Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
(
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 ...
) at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
, focusing on Buddhist Studies and Tibetan Studies. Germano lived and studied in various regions of
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
for over a decade. His experiences included time in areas with dense population of Tibetans and other Himalayan Buddhists spanning Tibet, China, Bhutan, India, and Nepal.


Research interests

Germano's research focuses on
philosophical 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 ...
and contemplative traditions in
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 ...
, with a particular emphasis on
Dzogchen Dzogchen ( 'Great Completion' or 'Great Perfection'), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. The goal ...
in the
Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...
and
Bön Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...
traditions and Tibetan historical literature. He also investigates the contemporary state of Tibetan religion and its dynamic relationship with China.


Publications

* * * Germano, David F. and Kevin Trainor, eds (2004). ''Embodying the Dharma: Buddhist Relic Veneration in Asia''. SUNY. * Germano, David F. with Eveline Yang and others. "Tibetan Furniture Making: Traditions and Innovations" (2004): a documentary produced and exhibited at the "Wooden Wonders" exhibition, Pacific Asian Art Museum in Los Angeles, November 2004. * Germano, David F. (2005). “The History of Funerary ''rDzogs chen''.” In the ''Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies'', vol. 1 , www.jiats.org. * Germano, David F. with Gregory Hillis (2005). "Klong chen rab ‘byams pa." In ''Encyclopedia of Religions'', Macmillan Reference USA. * Germano, David F. with Gregory Hillis (2005). "Tibetan Buddhist Meditation." In ''Encyclopedia of Religions'', Macmillan Reference USA. * Germano, David F. (2005). "Atiyoga/Great Perfection." In ''Encyclopedia of Religions'', Macmillan Reference USA. * Germano, David and William S. Waldron (2006). "The Arising of ''Ālaya'': History and Doctrine." In ''The Buddha’s Way: The Confluence of Buddhist Thought and Contemporary Psychology in the Post-Modern Age'', editor D. K. Nauriyal, Routledge Curzon Press. * Germano, David (2007). “The Shifting Terrain of the Tantric Bodies of Buddhas and Buddhists from an Atiyoga Perspective.” In ''The Pandita and the Siddha: Tibetan Studies in Honour of E. Gene Smith'', edited by Ramon Prats. Amnye Machen Institute. * Germano, David (2007). “Re-membering the Dismembered Body of Tibet: Contemporary Tibetan Visionary Movements in the People’s Republic of China.” An abridged version published in ''Defining Buddhisms: A Reader'', edited by Karen Derris and Natalie Gummer in the series “Critical Categories in the Study of Religion,” edited by Russell T. McCutcheon for Equinox Publishing.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Germano, David Fracncis Tibetologists Living people American male writers American translators University of Notre Dame alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni University of Virginia faculty Year of birth missing (living people) American Buddhist studies scholars