Research Fellows
Dr. Achim Bayer
Professor Achim Bayer teaches Buddhism at Dongguk University, Seoul. His main fields of research are tantric Buddhism, Abhidharma systematics and Buddhist ethics.
E-Mail: bayer_achim(at)yahoo.com
Dr. Olaf Beuchling
Dr. Olaf Beuchling studied Religious Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Educational Science at the University of Hamburg. His Ph.D. thesis was based on an ethnographic field study of Vietnamese immigrants in Germany. He taught and researched at universities in Hamburg, Magdeburg, Leipzig and Barcelona; from 2011 to 2012 he has been directing the empirical research unit at the Academy of World Religions / University of Hamburg. Current research interests: Buddhism in the western world; contemporary Vietnamese Buddhism; religious socialization; Buddhist education; Buddhism in interreligious dialogue; Buddhism and popular culture; sociology of religion; qualitative research.
For further information
www.beuchling.de
Dr. Camillo Formigatti
Camillo Formigatti studied classical philology and Indology at the Università degli Studi di Milano. From 2000 to 2003 he studied Indology and Tibetology at the Philipps-Universität Marburg as an exchange student in the Socrates/Erasmus program. He is currently a PhD-student at the same university and works on his PhD-thesis, a new edition of the 5th decade of Ksemendras Bodhisattvavadanakalpalata (Sanskrit, Tibetan, German). At the moment he his working for the research project "Annotations in Northern Indian and Nepalese Manuscripts" at Hamburg University. His main fields of interest are classical Sanskrit poetry (mainly Buddhist poetic and narrative literature, metrics) and classical Tibetan (Tibetan "translation literature").
Publications:
- "A Description of the Ocean in Buddhist Poetic Literature: Aryasura's Suparagajataka and its Sources", in Pandanus '06, Prague 2006, 143-159.
- "Love as an example for ‘skill in means' in Buddhist poetic literature", in Cracow Indological Studies, vol. 7, ed. by Lidia Sudyka, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 2006, 155-173.
- Il poeta kasmiro Ksemendra. Le fonti, Aracne Editrice, Roma 2005.
Dr. Elisabeth Haderer
Dr. Haderer (born 1979) studied art history and media at Karl-Franzens University in Graz and specialised in Buddhist painting in Tibet and Mongolia. She holds a Ph.D. on the topic of the development of the Karmapa representation from the 13th to the 21st century from the University of Vienna. E-Mail: elisabethhaderer.ZfB(at)uni-hamburg.de More
Dr. Stephen Hodge
Undergraduate studies at SOAS University of London (1969-72), post-graduate studies Tōhoku Universty (1972-81) – formation of early tantric Buddhism, early Yogācāra. Ordained Shingon monk at Mt Koya (1974). Since returning to UK, apart from some teaching work, Hodge mainly engaged in translation work and also independent research into the textual formation of early Mahāyāna, especially focussing on the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra and related texts. He is currently working on a translation of the Tibetan and two Chinese versions of the Nirvāṇa-sūtra, to be accompanied by an exhaustive textual analysis demonstrating the compositional methods and stratification of this text and the relationship between the three versions. Hodge has recently embarked upon a parallel study of the development and texts of early 1st century CE Messianic Judaism and the Hebreo-Aramaic basis of the Gospels, as well as investigating possible ideological influences in Southern India.
Publications include:
An Introduction to Classical Tibetan (1990), The Illustrated Tibetan Book of the Dead (1998), The Dead Sea Scrolls (2001), The Mahā-Vairocana Tantra with Commentary by Buddhaguhya (2001), The Daodejing (2002), the following sections of the Yogācāra-bhūmi-ṣāstra: Vyakhyā-saṃgrahaṇī, Paryāya-saṃgrahaṇī, Vastu-saṃgrahaṇī, Śrāvaka-bhūmi (forthcoming with BDK). Hodge is also currently publishing a series of interim study papers on the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra: Paper I “The Textual Transmisssion of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra”, Paper II “Who Compiled the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, Where & When ?” (forthcoming), Paper III “The Development of the Conceptual Terminology of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra” (forthcoming).
Dr. Kenichi Kuranishi
Dr. Kuranishi was born in Fukuoka, Japan. Basically, he grew up in Nara, a famous city for Buddhist temples. He took both B.A. (1997) and M.A. (1999) at Taisho University. Then, he was awarded a doctorate from Tohoku University in 2008. Now, he studies at the University of Hamburg as a postdoctoral research fellow of the JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science). His main research subject is "A study on the Buddhist tantric manuscripts of medieval India: the literatures of the Yamāri cycle."
His doctoral thesis is entitled "A study on the literature of the Yamaari cycle" (in Japanese, 265 pages). The contents of this thesis are as follows: 1. Introduction, 2. Background of the formation of the Yamaari literature, 3. Commentators of the Yamaari literature, 4. Annotated translation of the Kṛṣṇayamāritantra, and are added as appendices to the critical Sanskrit editions of the Kṛṣṇayamāritantra, the Yamārimaṇḍalopāyikā and the Sahajāokapañjikā.
Dr. Hong Luo
Dr. Luo was born and educated in China. He was awarded a doctorate from Peking University in 2007 and invited as a visiting scholar at the Austria Academy of Sciences, Vienna, in 2008. He studies at the University of Hamburg as a postdoctoral research fellow.
Publications:
"On Status of the Vinayasutra," China Tibetology, Vol. 81 (2008), pp. 200-204.
"Some Remarks on Vinaya Master Gunaprabha," South Asian Studies, Vol. 86 (2008), pp. 69-74.
E-Mail: hongluo.ZfB(at)uni-hamburg.de; ratnapaala(at)gmail.com
Bill Mak, Ph.D.
Bill M. Mak was born in Hong Kong and studied linguistics in Montréal, Canada (B.A. Hons., McGill), specializing in generative linguistics, Sanskrit and Asian languages. He received his doctoral degree at Peking University for his dissertation on the narrative cycle of Sadāprarudita in the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra and its commentary based on Haribhadra's Abhisamayālaṅkārālokā. Currently, he is completing his second dissertation on Indian astronomy and astrology (Jyotiṣa) in Chinese Buddhist Canon at Kyoto University. His research interests include commentarial tradition in Mahāyāna Buddhism, translation of Buddhist texts, contemporary Buddhism in Asia and Indian astronomy. He is at present a visiting assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong and a part-time lecturer at Kyoto University.
Dr. Carmen Meinert
Dr. Carmen Meinert, Sinologin und Tibetologin, arbeitet zurzeit als Research Fellow am Kulturwissenschaftlichen Institut (KWI) in Essen. Sie ist auch assoziiertes Mitglied des Centre for Tantric Studies an der Universität Hamburg und Mitglied des redaktionellen Beirats der Reihe The Monograph Series in Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies. Carmen Meinert wurde 2001 mit einer vergleichenden Arbeit zum chinesischen Chan-Buddhismus und zur tibetischen rDzogs chen-Lehre an der Universität Bonn promoviert. Sie verbrachte vier Jahre zu Studien- und Forschungsaufenthalten an chinesischen Hochschulen (Peking-Universität, Sichuan-Universität) und auf Feldforschungen in Khams (Osttibet).
Zu ihren Forschungsschwerpunkten gehören: Begegnung des Buddhismus zwischen China und Tibet, chinesischer Meditationsbuddhismus, tibetischer rDzogs chen, frühe esoterische/tantrische Traditionen in China und Tibet, Dunhuang-Manuskripte und gegenwartsbezogene Themen wie Buddhismus und Menschenrechte. Eines ihrer gegenwärtigen Forschungsprojekte befasst ich mit Aspekten von Gewalt im esoterischen/tantrischen Buddhismus in China und Tibet.
E-Mail: Carmen_Meinert[at]web.de
Ayako Nakamura, M.A.
Doctoral dissertation:
The Nature of Enlightenment (bodhi) in the early Yogaacaara School: an analysis of the transition from a conservative interpretation of the nature of the Buddha to a fundamentally new, progressive understanding.
Dr. Eva Seegers
holds an MPhil degree in Art History from the Karl-Franzens-University in Graz, Austria and has been awarded a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies by the Canterbury Christ Church University, UK, funded by a University Research Scholarship. The topic of her dissertation deals with Tibetan Stūpas (mchod rten) of the Karma Kagyu Tradition in Europe. There she also taught BA and MA courses on "Tibetan Buddhism" and "Religion and Visual Culture". Her research interests lie in Buddhist Art in all its expressions, with special focus on Tibetan Stūpas and the corresponding rituals including modern developments. Her current research examines cultural and artistic exchange and circulation processes between Asia and Europe. She is involved in planning and conducting exhibitions of Buddhist Art in Germany and abroad.
Email: eseegers[at]gmx.de
Dr. Alexander Schiller
Studies in Tibetology, Indology and Japanology at Hamburg University.
His doctoral dissertation (2009) was on the Four Stages of Yoga in the Mahāmudrā-practice of the bKa’ brgyud School, which centers on the writings of the Tibetan scholar, Yogin Phag mo gru pa rDo rje rgyal po (12th century).
Contact:
Univ.-Ass. Dr. Alexander Schiller
Email: alexander.schiller[at]univie.ac.at
Tel.: 4277 43553
Mei Yang, M.A.
Mei Yang’s primary area of research are esoteric Buddhism and Śaivism. Her current project involves editing, translating and studying the Buddhakapālatantra and Abhayapaddhati, chapters 1-5.
List of publications
- 2002 Book Review on Deutsche Buddhisten——Geschichte und Gemeinschaft. In 《華林》 vol.2, 中華書局.
- 2007 A Sample of the Dviśatikālottara and the Dviśatikālottaravṛtti. In 《天問》 vol.1, 北京首都師範大學岀版社.
- 2008 A Note on the Buddhakapālatantra and Abhayapaddhati. In 《天問》 vol.2, 北京首都師範大學岀版社.
Dr. Hans-Bernd Zöllner
Hans-Bernd Zöllner, Jahrgang 1942, studierte Physik, Theologie und Soziologie in Hamburg, Heidelberg und Göttingen. Von 1970 bis 2002 arbeitete er als evangelischer Pfarrer, darunter von 1983 bis 1990 in der Evangelischen Gemeinde Deutscher Sprache in Thailand. Von 1996 bis 1998 absovierte er ein Promotionsstudium am Fachbereich Orientaslistik der Universität Hamburg, das er mit einer Arbeit über die Einschätzung der internationalen Welt durch die birmanischen Unabhängigkeitsbewegungen abschloss. Seitdem ist er als Lehrbeauftragter an verschiedenen deutschen Universitäten mit den Schwerpunkten Birma/Myanmar und Theradavda-Buddhismus tätig.