Paul Williams (born 1950) is Emeritus Professor of

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n and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

an Philosophy at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

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. Until his retirement in 2011 he was also director for the University's Centre for Buddhist Studies, and is a former president of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies.

Biography

Williams studied at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

's School of

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n Studies where he graduated with a first class BA in 1972. He then went on to study

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Philosophy at

Wadham College Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

, where he was awarded his

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1978. His main research interests are

Madhyamaka Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddh ...

Buddhist philosophy,

Mahayana ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...

Buddhism, and Medieval philosophical and mystical thought. Williams was a Buddhist himself for many years but has since converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, an experience he wrote about in his book ''The Unexpected Way''Paul J. Griffiths
"On honeymoon"
''

Commonweal Commonweal or common weal may refer to: * Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community * Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group * ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...

'', 17 January 2003. and in an article, "On converting from Buddhism to Catholicism – One convert's story."Paul Williams, ''On converting from Buddhism to Catholicism – One convert's story''
/ref> He is now a professed lay member of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of C ...

. Williams married Sharon in 1971. They have three children: Myrddin, Tiernan and Tara, and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Select bibliography

*''Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations'' (London: Routledge, 1989; Completely revised Second Edition, 2009). . Translations of First Edition in Italian, Polish and Korean. *''The Reflexive Nature of Awareness: A Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence'' (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1998). *''Altruism and Reality: Studies in the Philosophy of the Bodhicaryavatara'' (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1998). * (with Anthony Tribe) ''Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition'' (London: Routledge, 2000; completely revised Second Edition, with Anthony Tribe and Alexander Wynne, 2011). . Translations of First Edition in Italian, Korean and Czech. *''The Unexpected Way: On Converting from Buddhism to Catholicism'' (London: Continuum/T & T Clark, 2002). . Translations in German and Polish. *''Songs of Love, Poems of Sadness: The Erotic Verse of the 6th Dalai Lama'' (I.B. Tauris, 2004). *''Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies'' Edited and with a new introduction by Paul Williams (London: Routledge, 2005). Eight volumes. *''Buddhism from a Catholic Perspective'' (London: Catholic Truth Society, 2006). *'Catholicism and Buddhism', in ''The Catholic Church and the World Religions'' Edited by Gavin D'Costa (London: Continuum, 2011), pp. 141–177. *''Buddhist Funeral Cultures of Southeast Asia and China'' Edited by Paul Williams and Patrice Ladwig (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).

References

External links

Paul Williams
at

Department of Theology and Religious Studies {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Paul Academics of the University of Bristol Converts to Roman Catholicism from Buddhism Lay Dominicans English Roman Catholics 1950 births Living people British scholars of Buddhism