Jan Nattier is an American scholar of Mahāyana Buddhism.
Early life and education
She earned her PhD in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
(1988), and subsequently taught at the University of Hawaii (1988-1990),
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
(1990-1992), and
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
(1992–2005). She then worked as a research professor at the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology,
Soka University (2006–2010) before retiring from her position there and beginning a series of visiting professorships at various universities in the U.S.
[Academia.edu profile. https://berkeley.academia.edu/JanNattier]
Career
Nattier is one of a group of scholars who have substantially revised views of the early development of Mahāyana Buddhism in the last 20 years. They have in common their attention to and re-evaluation of early Chinese translations of texts.
Her first notable contribution was a book based on her PhD thesis which looked at the Chinese
Doctrine of the Three Ages with a focus on the third i.e. ''Mofa'' () or ''Age of Dharma Decline''. She showed that the latter was a Chinese development with no India parallel. The translation and study of the ''
Ugraparipṛcca'' published as ''A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā)'' in 2003 also contained an extended essay on working with ancient Buddhist texts, particularly in Chinese.
Nattier's notable articles include a study of the ''Akṣobhyavūhya'' Pure Land texts, which asserts the early importance of this strand of Mahāyāna ideology; an evaluation of early Chinese Translations of Buddhist texts and the issue of attribution (which summarises several earlier articles on the subject); and a detailed re-examination of the origins of the ''
Heart Sutra
The ''Heart Sūtra'', ) is a popular sutra in Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the title ' translates as "The Heart of the Prajnaparamita, Perfection of Wisdom".
The Sutra famously states, "Form is emptiness (''śūnyatā''), em ...
'' (1992), which demonstrates that the text was likely compiled in China.
Private life
Nattier was married to John R. McRae (1947-2011), a professor and researcher who specialized in the study of Chinese
Chan Buddhism
Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit '' dhyāna'' (meaning " meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song ...
and was the author of ''The Northern School and the Formation of Early Chan Buddhism'' (University of Hawai`i Press, 1986) and ''Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism'' (University of California Press, 2003).
Select bibliography
Works in addition to those mentioned below in the "Sources" section.
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References
Sources
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External links
Jan Nattierat
Academia.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nattier, Jan
American Buddhist studies scholars
Harvard University alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty
Stanford University faculty
Indiana University Bloomington faculty