About
Dr. Greg Seton
Professor, Scholar, Translator
Greg Seton is a Senior Lecturer in the Religion Department at Dartmouth College, where he has taught courses in Tibetan Buddhism since 2016. Prior to that, he was a visiting professor of Buddhist Studies at Mahidol University in Thailand 2014–16, and a DAAD fellow at the University of Hamburg 2011–2013.
As a scholar, Greg’s research explores the history, philosophy, and practice of Buddhism in India and Tibet, focusing on lesser known texts extant only in Sanskrit or Tibetan. He has just completed a chapter for the Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy, called Ratnākaraśānti: The Illumination of False Forms, concerning perhaps the most important 11th century Indian philosopher. His forthcoming two-volume publication, Ratnākaraśānti’s Quintessential Commentary: An Annotated English Translation and Critical Edition based on 11th and 13th century Sanskrit Manuscripts, is set to be published by Manuscripta Buddhica.
As a translator of Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist texts, Greg has been working for the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project since 2011. He is currently finishing a 600-page translation of the Scripture on the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verse Lengths, one of the most central and important Mahayana Buddhist scriptures. The translation includes annotations from the scripture’s two main commentators, Haribhadra and Ratnakarashanti.
In his academic studies, Greg received his DPhil in Buddhist Studies from the University of Oxford in 2016, supervised by Harunaga Isaacson, Vesna Wallace, and Alexis Sanderson. He received an MA in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies from Naropa University in 2004 and an MA in Religious Studies from University of California Santa Barbara in 2008. He received an MFA equivalent from the American Film Institute in 1992 and a BA in Film Studies from Wesleyan University in 1990. He also studied Western Philosophy at both the undergraduate and graduate level. For a full academic CV, click here.
In his traditional studies, Greg has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhist meditation for over thirty years and has received extensive training in the philosophical texts and meditative practices of Nyingma and Karma Kagyu Lineages. In his academic teaching, he brings his personal experience together with his knowledge of history, philosophy, philology, and language to explain the traditional Buddhist teachings in contemporary terms.
Academic Scholarship
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Philological Scholarship Sample
The Manuscripta Buddhica series editors have not yet completed the proofreading or copy editing of this Sanskrit and Tibetan Critical edition of the first parivarta in the Sāratamā by Ratnākaraśānti. But for those Sanskritists who might be interested in perusing it, I have temporarily posted below the uncorrected edition as it presently stands.
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Philosophical Scholarship Sample
The seminal philosophy of one of the greaterst Indian Buddhist scholar Ratnākaraśānti (ca.975-1045) had a major impact on both Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, but his place within intellectual history was subsequently undervalued and his significance misunderstood. This chapter highlights his signature contribution, and will soon be published in the Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy.