David Gardiner

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Institutional Affiliation

Colorado College
Department of Religious Studies

Education

Ph.D., Stanford University, 1995
M.A., University of Virginia, 1986
B.A., Amherst College, 1980

Regional and Thematic Interests

Religion in China and Japan, Buddhism

Profile

My teaching focuses on Buddhism, with a survey course every year as well as an advanced seminar. Other courses include East Asian Religions, focusing on China and Japan, and Religious Poetry of Asia. I have also taught courses on religion and science and on religious experience. My research interests are primarily in the early history of Japanese Buddhism, with particular focus on the life and writings of the 9th century founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism, Kukai. I'm presently working on two manuscripts related to him. I'm also interested in interreligious dialog and comparative religious thought. I've given professional talks in this area and expect to publish on it in the near future.

Selected Publications

Kūkai: Japan’s First Vajrayāna Visionary. Berkeley: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2024.

“Kūkai” in St. Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology. Edited by Brendan N. Wolfe et al. https://www.saet.ac.uk/Buddhism/Kukai, 2024

“Imagery in Tantric Buddhism'” in Richard K. Payne, and Glen A. Hayes (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Tantric Studies (online ed., Oxford Academic, 18 Aug. 2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197549889.013.49. Forthcoming in 2024 hardcover edition

"Tantric Buddhism in Japan: Shingon, Tendai and the Esotericization of Japanese Buddhism." In Oxford Encyclopedia of Buddhism (10,000 words) 2019

"Tantric Buddhism in Japan: Saichō and Kūkai." In Oxford Encyclopedia of Buddhism (10,000 words) 2019

"Kukai's Core Philosophy." In Dao: Companion To Japanese Buddhist Philosophy, edited by Gereon Kopf, Springer Press (2019)

"The Body." In The Buddhist World, edited by John Powers. London: Routledge Press, 2015, 248-261

"Paths across Borders: Comparative Reflections on Japanese and Indo-Tibetan Models of the Buddhist Path." Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Third Series, No. 12, Fall 2010: 127-145

Selected translations from Kûkai's Benkenmitsu nikyôron, Sokushin jôbutsugi, Jûjûshinron and Shôji jissôgi, in Sourcebook in Japanese Philosophy.University of Hawaii Press, 2011: 149-175

"Transcendence and Immanence in Kûkai's Thought." Proceedings of the International Conference on Esoteric Buddhist Studies, Koyasan University, 2008

"Metaphor and Mandala in Shingon Buddhist Theology." Sophia: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysical Theology and Ethics, 47/1:43-55 (April 2008)

"Saicho" and "Ennin" (two entries). Encyclopedia of Buddhism. New York: Macmillan, 2003

"Transmission Problems?: Kûkai and the Early Dissemination of Esoteric Buddhist Texts." Japanese Religions 28/1: 5-68 (January 2003).

"The Consecration of the Monastic Compound at Mt. Koya." In Tantra in Practice, ed. by David White, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000

"Buddhist Spirituality in the Heian and Kamakura Periods." In Buddhist Spirituality II: Later China, Korea, Japan and the Modern World. Crossroads Press, 1999

"Japan's First Shingon Ceremony." In Religions of Japan in Practice, ed. by George Tanabe, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999

"Mandala, Mandala on the Wall: Variations of Usage in the Shingon School." In Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 19:2, 1996: 245-79. (Reprinted in Volume 3 of Japanese Religions, ed. Lucia Dolce, 4 vols. London: Sage Publications, 2012)