Matthew Kapstein
Matthew T. Kapstein specializes in the history of Buddhist philosophy in India and Tibet, as well as in the cultural history of Tibetan Buddhism more generally. He regularly teaches Contemporary Theories in the Study of Religion in the History of Religions program, and Introduction to the Philosophies of India in Philosophy of Religions. His seminars in recent years have focused on particular topics in the history of Buddhist thought, such as Buddha Nature, idealism, and epistemology (pramāṇa), or on broad themes in the study of religion including the problem of evil, death, and the imagination. Kapstein has published over a dozen books and numerous articles, among the most recent of which are a general introduction to Tibetan cultural history, The Tibetans (Oxford 2006), an edited volume on Sino-Tibetan religious relations, Buddhism Between Tibet and China (Boston 2009), and a translation of an eleventh-century philosophical allegory in the acclaimed Clay Sanskrit Series, The Rise of Wisdom Moon (New York 2009). With Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia) and Gray Tuttle (Columbia), he has completed Sources of Tibetan Traditions, published in the Columbia University Press Sources of Asian Traditions series in 2013. Kapstein is additionally Professor Emeritus of Tibetan Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris. In 2018 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (Source Accessed Sep 17, 2019)
Library Items
The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism
Written by a great modern Nyingma master, Dudjom Rinpoche’s The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism covers in detail and depth both the fundamental teachings and the history of Tibetan Buddhism’s oldest school. This, the first English translation of His Holiness’ masterwork, constitutes the most complete work of its type in the West.
Dorje, Gyurme, and Matthew Kapstein, trans. and ed. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History. By Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje (bdud 'joms 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje). Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991.
Dorje, Gyurme, and Matthew Kapstein, trans. and ed. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History. By Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje (bdud 'joms 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje). Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991.;The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism;Nyingma;History;Great Madhyamaka;Dudjom Jikdral Yeshe Dorje;བདུད་འཇོམས་འཇིགས་བྲལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་;bdud 'joms 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje;bdud 'joms rin po che;'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje;བདུད་འཇོམས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;འཇིགས་བྲལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་;Dudjom Rinpoche; Gyurme Dorje;Matthew Kapstein;The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History;Dudjom Rinpoche
The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet
This book brings together perspectives of leading international Tibetan studies scholars on the subject of zhentong or “other-emptiness.” Defined as the emptiness of everything other than the continuous luminous awareness that is one’s own enlightened nature, this distinctive philosophical and contemplative presentation of emptiness is quite different from rangtong—emptiness that lacks independent existence, which has had a strong influence on the dissemination of Buddhist philosophy in the West. Important topics are addressed, including the history, literature, and philosophy of emptiness that have contributed to zhentong thinking in Tibet from the thirteenth century until today. The contributors examine a wide range of views on zhentong from each of the major orders of Tibetan Buddhism, highlighting the key Tibetan thinkers in the zhentong philosophical tradition. Also discussed are the early formulations of buddhanature, interpretations of cosmic time, polemical debates about emptiness in Tibet, the zhentong view of contemplation, and creative innovations of thought in Tibetan Buddhism. Highly accessible and informative, this book can be used as a scholarly resource as well as a textbook for teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on Buddhist philosophy. (Source: SUNY Press)
Sheehy, Michael R., and Klaus-Dieter Mathes, eds. The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2019.
Sheehy, Michael R., and Klaus-Dieter Mathes, eds. The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2019.;The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet;Doctrine;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;gzhan stong;Dzogchen;Jonang;Great Madhyamaka;Mi pham rgya mtsho;Dol po pa;TA ra nA tha;ShAkya mchog ldan;Karma Kagyu;Bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri;bodhigarbha;Klaus-Dieter Mathes; Michael Sheehy;The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet
The Strange Death of Pema the Demon Tamer
[Matthew Kapstein] discusses Tibetan esoteric traditions in which experiences of light and obscuration play prominent roles. The focal point here is the Great Perfection (rdzogs-chen) tradition of meditation, above all its teaching that some adepts who achieve the highest realization attain a "rainbow body" at death. When this takes place, the adept's physical remains dissolve into light and so make manifest the thoroughgoing transformation of the person that had been catalyzed by prior spiritual discipline. (Kapstein, preface, xii)
Kapstein, Matthew T. "The Strange Death of Pema the Demon Tamer." In The Presence of Light: Divine Radiance and Religious Experience, edited by Matthew T. Kapstein, 119–156. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
Kapstein, Matthew T. "The Strange Death of Pema the Demon Tamer." In The Presence of Light: Divine Radiance and Religious Experience, edited by Matthew T. Kapstein, 119–156. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.;The Strange Death of Pema the Demon Tamer;Consciousness;Dzogchen;prabhāsvaracitta;prabhāsvara;Matthew Kapstein; 
We Are All Gzhan stong pas: Reflections on the Reflexive Nature of Awareness: A Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence by Paul Williams
The present review article discusses aspects of Paul Williams' excellent and highly recommended book, which focuses on the question of "reflexive awareness" (Tib. reng rig), Skt. svasaṃvittiḥ, svasaṃvedana) in Tibetan Mādhyamika thought. In particular, I am concerned with his characterization of so so rang rig ye shes and its relation to Rdzogs-chen teaching, and his notions of the gzhan stong doctrine and its place in the intellectual life of Far-eastern Tibet. My critical remarks on these topics are in many respects tentative, and I would welcome correspondence about them.
Kapstein, Matthew. "We Are All Gzhan stong pas: Reflections on The Reflexive Nature of Awareness: A Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence by Paul Williams." Journal of Buddhist Ethics 7 (2000): 105–25.
Kapstein, Matthew. "We Are All Gzhan stong pas: Reflections on The Reflexive Nature of Awareness: A Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence by Paul Williams." Journal of Buddhist Ethics 7 (2000): 105–25.;We Are All Gzhan stong pas: Reflections on the Reflexive Nature of Awareness-Review by Kapstein;Madhyamaka;svasaṃvedana;gzhan stong;Matthew Kapstein; 
Affiliations & relations
- University of Chicago · workplace affiliation
- Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes · secondary affiliation
- http://home.uchicago.edu/~mkapstei/ · websites
