Research Expertise and Interest

religion, ritual, Tibet, Buddhism, Tantra, Dunhuang

Research Description

Jacob Dalton, Khyentse Foundation Distinguished University Professor in Tibetan Buddhism, teaches in the Departments of East Asian Languages and Cultures and South and Southeast Asian Studies, as well as the Group in Buddhist Studies. His research interests include tantric Buddhist ritual, Nyingma religious history, and the Dunhuang manuscripts. He is co-author of Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library (Brill, 2006) and author of The Taming of the Demons: Violence and Liberation in Tibetan Buddhism (Yale University Press, 2011), Through the Eyes of the Compendium of Intentions: The History of a Tibetan Ritual Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2016), and mostly recently, Conjuring the Buddha: Ritual Manuals in Early Tantric Buddhism (Columbia University Press, 2023). His current research focuses on the early development of Tibet's Great Perfection (Rdzogs chen) tradition.