Lance Selwyn Cousins (7 April 194214 March 2015) was a British scholar who specialised in the field of

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 ...

Biography

Born in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, he studied history and

oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and took up a post in the Department of

Comparative Religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

and then senior lecturer. After early retirement in the 1990s he settled in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and continued to publish scholarly papers and reviews including a widely cited historical summary such as "The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A Review article," which was published in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. He was a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

at Wolfson College University of Oxford and part of the faculty at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. Prior to this, he was briefly President (2002/3) of the

Pali Text Society The Pāli Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts." Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...

(PTS). Professor

Richard Gombrich Richard Francis Gombrich (; born 17 July 1937) is a British Indologist and scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli, and Buddhist studies. He was the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford from 1976 to 2004. He is currently Founder-Preside ...

once described him as the leading authority in the West in the field of

abhidhamma The Theravada Abhidhamma tradition, also known as the Abhidhamma Method, refers to a scholastic systematization of the Theravāda school's understanding of the highest Buddhist teachings ( Abhidhamma). These teachings are traditionally believed ...

. Cousins helped establish the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

on the web and assisted many publications being involved with a breadth of translations from

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

to English himself. He had completed two books by the time of his death that are likely to be published soon. He received several awards including honorary professorships incorporating recognition of his contributions from among other places the Mahamakut Buddhist University,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

in 2013. In addition to his academic work, he was also a teacher of

Buddhist meditation Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are ''bhavana, bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and ''Dhyāna in Buddhism, jhāna/dhyāna'' (a state of me ...

in a Thai samatha tradition being a founder member of th
Samatha Trust
and the Samatha Association. He commenced samatha classes under Nai Boonman in 1963 at

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

. He was instrumental in founding the

Buddhist Society and its samatha class in the 1960s. When he moved to Manchester in 1967, he started the Manchester University Buddhist Society and the class there that lead to the beginning of several similar classes in the rest of the UK and the eventual establishment of the Manchester Centre for Buddhist Meditation in Chorlton. He was an influential teacher and conducted several retreats incorporating the UK, particularly at the Samatha Centre, Greenstreete farm in Wales, The USA, Ireland and Sri Lanka.Renowned Buddhist Scholar returns to hold meditation retreat: The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka, 15 Jan 201

/ref> He worked in the early 2000s with Somadeva Vasudeva, a visiting scholar from

Kyoto University , or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...

, on transliterating a number of ''sūtra''s of a newly discovered ''Dīrgha Āgama'', including a fragment on when the consumption of meat is not appropriate for a monk. At the time of his death, he was preparing for publication a collection of lectures relating to meditation, to be edited by Sarah Shaw, and a translation of the ''Yamaka'' commentary and, with Charles Shaw, of the ''Yamaka''. The first third of the latter has now been published: ''The Book of Pairs and its Commentary: A translation of the Yamaka and Yamakappakaraṇaṭṭhakathā, Vol I (2018), tr. C.M.M. Shaw and L.S. Cousins''. It includes Lance's translation of the relevant portion of the ancient commentary, the ''Pañcappakaraṇa-aṭṭhakathā'' and is intended as the first of a planned three-volume translation of the whole ''Yamaka'' and its commentary.

Publications

Book-length publications

* 1974. ''Buddhist Studies in Honour of

I.B. Horner Isaline Blew Horner Order of the British Empire, OBE (30 March 1896 – 25 April 1981), usually cited as I. B. Horner, was an English Indologist, a leading scholar of Pali literature and late president of the Pali Text Society (1959–1981). Lif ...

'', ed. L .Cousins, A. Kunst and K.R. Norman. Dordrecht, Holland, D. Reidel Publishing Co. * 1992. Special Issue in honour of K.R. Norman, ''Indo-Iranian Journal'', ed. Cousins et al., 35 (2 & 3). * 1995. ''Mahāniddesa Part III'' (index volume). Oxford, Pali Text Society. * 1996. ''The Dispeller of Delusion (Sammohavinodanī)'', 2 vols, trans. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, extensively revised for publication, with annotations and index, by L.S. Cousins,

Nyanaponika Nyanaponika Thera or Nyanaponika Mahathera (July 21, 1901 – 19 October 1994) was a German–Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar who, after Ordination, ordaining in Sri Lanka, later became the co-founder of the Buddhist Publication So ...

Mahāthera and C.M.M. Shaw. Oxford, Pali Text Society. * 1999. ''Reverse Index to the Mahāniddesa'', with Y. Ousaka and M. Yamazaki, digital edition: http://hirose.sendai-nct.ac.jp/~ousaka/EngH.html

External links

Lance Cousins: An Obituary, Appreciation and Bibliography
''Buddhist Studies Review'' vol.32, no.1, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, L. S. 1942 births 2015 deaths British scholars of Buddhism British Buddhist spiritual teachers Linguists of Pali Theravada Buddhism writers Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge