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Curriculum Vitae
Alexander von Rospatt
Education
University
1982-85 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London: Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies with History
1985-1988 University of Hamburg: Master of Arts in Indology with Religious Studies and Tibetology as minor subjects.
1988-1993 University of Hamburg: PhD with a thesis on The Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness (published in 1995).
April 2001 Completion of the post-doctoral habilitation thesis, submitted at the University of Hamburg, entitled The Periodic Renovations of the Thrice-Blessed SvayambhÚcaitya of Kathmandu.
Academic Appointments
Since January 2004 Professor in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Since January 2007 department chair.
August 2003 – December 2003 Research Stay in Kathmandu
February 2002 - July 2003 Visiting Professor for Buddhist Studies (standing in for Prof. Ernst Steinkellner) at the Institute for South Asian-, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna.
September 2001 - December 2001 Visiting Numata Professor in Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
April 2001 - July 2001 Visiting Numata Professor in Buddhist Studies at the University of Oxford, Balliol College.
April 1993 - March 2001 Assistant Professor (Hochschulassistent) at the Institute for Indology at Leipzig University, Germany. (March 1997 - February 2000:Three year leave as German Research Council fellow for pursuing a research project in Kathmandu on the Svayambhunath stupa.)
February 1988 - September 1990 Employment at Hamburg University, cataloguing manuscripts microfilmed by the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project.
Select Publications
Books
The Periodic Renovations of the Thrice-Blessed Svayambhucaitya of Kathmandu. Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute. (forthcoming)
The Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness. A Survey of the Origins and Early Phase of this Doctrine up to Vasubandhu. (Alt- und Neu-Indische Studien 47). Stuttgart: Steiner. 1995.
Articles
“The Sacred Origins of the Svayambhucaitya and the Nepal Valley: Foreign Speculation and Local Myth.” Forthcoming in Journal of the Nepal Research Centre vol. 13 (2007)
“Affirming Life and Negotiating Death. A preliminary appraisal of life-cycle rituals of old age among the Newars,.” Forthcoming in Buddhist Himalaya, vol. 12 (2007)
"Der indigene Buddhismus des Kathmandutals. Das Fortleben einer indischen Tradition am Rande des Himalayas“ (The indigenous Buddhist tradition of the Kathmandu Valley. The survival of an Indic tradition at the edge of the Himalaya). In Die Welt des tibetischen Buddhismus. (Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg. Neue Folge Band 36). Edited by Wulf Köke und Bernd Schmelz. Hamburg: Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg, 2005, pp. 333-356.
"The Transformation of the Monastic Ordination (pravrajya) into a Rite of Passage in Newar Buddhism." In Words and Deeds: Hindu and Buddhist Rituals in South Asia. (Ethno-Indology1). Edited by Jörg Gengnagel, Ute Hüsken and Srilata Raman. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz, 2005, pp. 199-234.
"Impermanence and Time. The Contemplation of Impermanence (anityata) in the Yogacara Tradition of Maitreya and Asanga." In: Walter Schweidler, ed.: Zeit: Anfang und Ende. Ergebnisse und Beiträge des Internationalen Symposiums der Hermann und Marianne Straniak Stiftung. Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag, 2004, pp.75-91.
"A Historical Overview of the Renovations of the Svayambhucaitya at Kathmandu." In Journal of the Nepal Research Centre 12 (2001), pp. 195-241.
"On the Conception of the Stupa in Vajrayana Buddhism: The Example of the Svayambhucaitya of Kathmandu." In Journal of the Nepal Research Centre 11 (1999), pp. 121-147.
"Einige Berührungspunkte zwischen der buddhistischen Augenblicklichkeitslehre und der Vorstellung von der Momentanheit der Akzidenzien (’arad, a’rad) in der islamischen Scholastik“ (Some Commanalities between the Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness and the Momentariness of the 'accidents' in Islamic scholasticism). In Annäherung an das Fremde: XXVI. Deutscher Orientalistentag vom 25. bis 29. 9. 1995 in Leipzig. Edited by H. Preissler and H. Stein, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag (ZDMG-Suppl. 11), 1999, pp. 523-530.
Review Article (co-authored with Maithrimurthi Mudagamuwa) in Indo Iranian Journal 41 (1998), pp.164-179, on Richard F. Gombrich: How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings. (Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion XVII) London and Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Athlone, 1996.
Review Article in Orientalische Literaturzeitschrift 91,1 (1996), pp. 79-89, on Ghiorgo Zafiropulo: L'Illumination du Buddha. De la Quête à l'Annonce de l'Eveil. Essais de chronologie relative et de stratigraphie textuelle. Enquête sur l'ensemble des textes canoniques bouddhistes se référant à titre principal ou accessoire à l'*AbhisaÞbodhi+ du fondateur et à quelques épisodes connexes: antérieurs ou postérieurs. Innsbruck: Verlag des Institus für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft. Sonderheft 87) 1993.
Grants, Awards and Honors
2006 Offer of the Chair for “Indology – Buddhist Studies” at the University of Hamburg (not accepted)
2006 Humanities Research Fellowship of the College of Letters and Science, University of California, Berkeley
2004 Second foreign scholar honoured for his contribution to the study of Newar Buddhism by the Yashodhara Mahavihara Asaha Sewa Samiti of Patan, Nepal
2004Faculty Research Grant (FRG) awarded by the Committee on Research (COR) of the Senate of the University of California, Berkeley
2002 Offer of the Chair of Indology at the University of Leipzig, Germany (not accepted)
2001 Grant of the Lumbini International Research Institute for publishing The Periodic Renovations of the Thrice-Blessed SvayambhÚcaitya of Kathmandu.
1997-2000 Post-doctoral habilitation fellowship granted by the German Research Council.
1995 Grant of the German Research Council (DFG) for publishing The Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness. A Survey of the Origins and Early Phase of this Doctrine up to Vasubandhu.
1994 Ernst Waldschmidt Prize for the best PhD thesis in the field of South Asian studies within the last five years.
1990-93 PhD scholarship granted again by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes.
1983 Prize for the year's best student in the Religious Studies Program at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University.
1978-80 Scholarship granted by the "Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes," a body of the federal government of Germany, for studying at the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales.
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