Daniel McNamara

I am an assistant professor of Buddhist Studies at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute, aka Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies. My major research interests include (a) the transition of tantric Buddhism and late Indian Buddhist philosophy into Tibet, (b) historical relations between Islamic and Buddhist cultures, and more recently (c) theory and practice of translation—primarily from Sanskrit into Tibetan, Tibetan into English, and Sanskrit into English—I am particularly interested in Tibetan translations from Sanskrit and the role of Sanskrit in indigenous Tibetan works.

I earned a BA from Hampshire College in 2003 (primary advisor: Jay Garfield), an MA in Religion from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 2009 (primary advisor: Dan Arnold), and a PhD from Emory University in 2019 (primary advisors: Sara McClintock and John Dunne). My dissertation explores the relationship between philosophy and yogic praxis as articulated by the eleventh-century Indian scholar-saint Ratnākaraśānti, and is specifically focused on Ratnākaraśānti's critiques of Madhyamaka thought (as he calls it, "pseudo-Madhyamaka"—dbu ma ltar snang, *madhyamakābhāsa).

At RYI I primarily teach courses in translation theory, madhyamaka, Indian Buddhist philosophy in general, and Pramāṇa Theory
Supervisors: Sara L. McClintock, Emory University and John Dunne, University of Wisconsin-Madison