Stefano Zacchetti (1968 – April 29, 2020) was an Italian academic specialising in

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 ...

. From 2012 until his death in 2020 he was Yehan Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

and a professorial fellow of

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

Career

Born in 1968, Zacchetti studied

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Ca' Foscari University of Venice Ca' Foscari University of Venice (), or simply Ca' Foscari, is a public research university and business school in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from which it takes ...

from 1986 to 1994, graduating with 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 ...

degree; this included two years of study abroad, at

Sichuan University Sichuan University (SCU) is a public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. I ...

(1990–92). He then carried out doctoral studies at Venice and spent time studying at the Sinologisch Instituut and the Kern Institute at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

. Ca' Foscari University of Venice awarded him a

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 ...

in Asian Studies in 1999.Stefano Zacchetti, ''In Praise of the Light: A Critical Synoptic Edition with an Annotated Translation of Chapters 1-3 of Dharmarakṣa’s Guang zan jing'' 光讚經'', Being the Earliest Chinese Translation of the Larger Prajñāpāramitā'', Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica VIII (Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, 2005), p. 459. Zacchetti taught Sinology at

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

for the 1999–2000 academic year. In 2001, he was appointed an associate professor at the

International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

Sōka University , abbreviated typically as or , is a Soka Gakkai-affiliated private university in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan. In 2014, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) designated Soka University as one of the 20 u ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. He returned to Ca' Foscari University of Venice in 2005 to take up a tenured lectureship in the Department of Asian and North African Studies. In the autumn of 2011 he was a visiting professor 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 ...

."Professor Stefano Zacchetti 1968–2020"
''Balliol College, Oxford'', 30 April 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2020. In 2012, he was appointed Yehan Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies at the

and a

professorial fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

. Zacchetti died on 29 April 2020.

Research

According to an obituary written by Balliol College, Zacchetti's specialisms were: "early Chinese Buddhist translations (2nd-5th centuries CE); Mahāyāna literature in Sanskrit and Chinese; the history of the Chinese Buddhist canon; and Chinese Buddhism (particularly early Chinese Buddhist commentaries)". Sociotechnical researcher Christine Borgman gave a detailed account of his data scholarship in one of her books. The obituary from the European Association for Chinese Studies considered him to rank as among the "most distinguished scholars and teachers in the field of Buddhist Studies."

Publications

* ''In Praise of the Light: A Critical Synoptic Edition with an Annotated Translation of Chapters 1-3 of Dharmarakṣa’s Guang zan jing'' 光讚經'', Being the Earliest Chinese Translation of the Larger Prajñāpāramitā'', Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica VIII (Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, 2005). * ‘Some remarks on Peṭaka passages in the Da Zhidu Lun and their relation to the Pāli Peṭakopadesa’, ''Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology'' at Soka University for the Academic Year 2001 (''ARIRIAB''), vol. 5: 67-86, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zacchetti, Stefano 1968 births 2020 deaths Buddhist studies scholars Italian sinologists Ca' Foscari University of Venice alumni Academic staff of Sōka University Academic staff of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford Academics of the University of Oxford Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England