People/Mathes, K.

Klaus-Dieter Mathes

Klaus-Dieter Mathes is a professor of Buddhist studies at the University of Hong Kong. His current research deals with exclusivism, inclusivism, and tolerance in Mahāyāna Buddhism. He obtained his Ph.D. from Marburg University in 1994 with a study of the Yogācāra text Dharmadharmatāvibhāga (published in 1996 in the series Indica et Tibetica). From 1993 to 2001 he served as the director of the Nepal Research Centre and the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project in Kathmandu. Before joining the University of Hong Kong in August 2023 he was the head of the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna, where with his team he hosted the 2014 conference of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. He has organized and given presentations at many other conferences and symposiums, and has served as the chairman of the board of trustees of the Numata Professional Chair for Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna.

His major publications include A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga (Wisdom, 2008), A Fine Blend of Mahāmudrā and Madhyamaka: Maitrīpa's Collection of Texts on Non-conceptual Realization (Amanasikāra) (Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2015), and Maitrīpa: India's Yogi of Nondual Bliss (Shambhala, 2021). He is also a regular contributor to the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and is the co-editor of the Vienna Series for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies.

About this person

Recent Writing of Interest from Doctor Mathes:

• "The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Edited with Michael Sheehy. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2019.
• "Introduction: The Philosophical Grounds and Literary History of Zhentong.’” The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Discourse in Tibet. Albany: SUNY Press, 1-27 , 2019.
• "Liberation through Realizing the Emptiness of Dependent Origination: A Modern Interpretation of the Buddhist “Beyond” in the Light of Quantum Physics." Experiencing the Beyond: Intercultural Approaches. Ed. by Gert Melville and Carlos Ruta (Challenges of Life: Essays on Philosophical and Cultural Anthropology 4). Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 198-211, 2018.
• "The Eighth Karmapa Mi bskyod rdo rje (1507-1554) on the Relation between Buddha Nature and its Adventitious Stains." Critical Review for Buddhist Studies 22 (2017. 12), 63-104.
• "Did ‘Gos Lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal (1392-1481) Espouse a gZhan sTong View?" In: Fifteenth Century Tibet: Cultural Blossoming and Political Unrest. LIRI Seminar Proceedings Series 8. Lumbini 2017, 291-311.
• "Introduction: The History of the Rang stong/Gzhan stong Distinction from Its Beginning through the Ris-med Movement". Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2 (2016), 4-8.
• "Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory Way: Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po's (1925-1958/59?) Inclusion of Gzhan Stong ("Emptiness of Other") within Prāsaṅgika". Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2 (2016), 114-131.

Affiliations & relations

• University of Hong Kong · workplace affiliation
• Universität Wien · secondary affiliation
• Universität Hamburg · secondary affiliation
• Rangjung Yeshe Institute · secondary affiliation
• CIRDIS · secondary affiliation
• IABS · secondary affiliation
• IATS · secondary affiliation
• http://www.tantric-studies.uni-hamburg.de/people/klaus-dieter-mathes/ · websites

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

Go to the page with the definition of 'Mahāyāna'

Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

Go to the page with the definition of 'Yogācāra'

Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

Go to the page with the definition of 'Mahāmudrā'

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ratnagotravibhāga'

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

Go to the page with the definition of 'Madhyamaka'

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Zhentong'

SUNY - State University of New York

Go to the page with the definition of 'SUNY'

IATS - International Association for Tibetan Studies

Go to the page with the definition of 'IATS'