Kevin Vose

Kevin Vose studies the transmission of Sanskrit Buddhist philosophical traditions from India to Tibet and the formation of Tibetan Buddhist scholastic traditions. He is the author of Resurrecting Candrakīrti: Disputes in the Tibetan Creation of Prāsaṅgika (Wisdom Publications’ Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, 2009) and several research articles stemming from his translations of Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist texts. His articles have appeared in the Journal for the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Journal of Buddhist Philosophy, Journal of Indian Philosophy, Journal of South Asian Intellectual History, Critical Review for Buddhist Studies, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, and Wiley-Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion. His publications center around the development and interpretation of the “Middle Way” school of Buddhist philosophy, which came to be regarded as the highest expression of the Buddha’s teachings. Vose’s work examines the philosophical, historical, and social processes that led to the Middle Way school’s ascension. He is finishing up a book manuscript on this topic. His work focuses on a collection of 11th and 12th century Tibetan manuscripts that was discovered in one of the few libraries to survive the Cultural Revolution in Tibet and that provides a wealth of information on the formative period of Tibetan Buddhism. From this collection, he and Pascale Hugon are preparing an edition and translation of Gyamarwa’s Essence of the Middle Way, available as a work-in-progress on the website of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.


In Fall 2022, Prof. Vose is teaching RELG 214: Introduction to Buddhism and RELG 380: Buddhist Philosophy and conducting an independent study with Swastha Nepal members. In Spring 2023, he is teaching RELG 215: Religion in East Asia and RELG 382: Buddhism and Science. In Summer 2023, he will lead William & Mary’s summer study abroad program in Bhutan, working with faculty at the Royal University of Bhutan’s College of Language and Culture Studies to provide courses on Himalayan Buddhism and “Gross National Happiness,” Bhutan’s model of sustainable development.

Courses:

• RELG 214 Introduction to Buddhism
•  RELG 380 Buddhist Philosophy
• RELG 215 Religion in East Asia
• RELG 382 Buddhism and Science
• RELG 367 Tibetan Religion (Abroad)