• Bachelor of Arts (BA), Reed College
• Master of Philosophy (MPHIL), Yale University
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Yale University

Current Research Projects

My writing has focused on several subjects. The first is Japanese Tendai, a tradition that gave rise to the schools of Buddhism that dominate Japan today. I have published monographs on the founder of the tradition and the leader who made it dominant; other research concerns doctrinal issues such as Tendai views on the realization of Buddhahood with this very body (sokushin jōbutsu). A second theme has been monastic discipline and ordinations. Articles on several revival movements that sought to revive monastic discipline and another on the ordination of nuns are the result of this research. Finally, I have translated a book on the history of Indian Buddhism in order to make Japanese research in this area available to western scholars.

Research Interests: 

Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, with a research focus on the the Japanese Tendai tradition, how precepts and practice affected doctrine, and the relationship between monastic and lay Buddhism in medieval Japan.