Department of Religious Studies

Douglas Duckworth, Visiting Assistant Professor

Ph.D. Buddhist Studies, University of Virginia 2005

dsduckwo@uncg.edu

Areas of Academic Interest:

• Buddhist Studies
• Nyingma Tantric and Philosophical Systems
• Oral Traditions of Tibetan Doctrine and Practice
• Tibetan Sectarian Doctrines from the Fourteenth Century to the Present
• Monastic Education
• Comparative Philosophy

Personal Statement:

I teach Asian religions with a specialty in Buddhism. I am presently teaching a course on Non-Western Religions and on the Dalai Lama. My main research interests involve the relationship between metaphysical presence and absence (emptiness) in Buddhist doctrine, particularly as it is articulated within the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. I am primarily interested in what are fundamentally hermeneutical issues: specifically, those which pertain to the existence of an ontological ground (gzhi), or Buddha-nature, within the textual traditions of Yogacara, Madhyamaka, and tantra. My research explores the relationship between these discourses, and in particular, the way that "deconstructive" discourses of negative dialectics are synthesized with the foundationalist assumptions of Buddhist epistemology. I have found that the synthesis of negative dialectics and foundational truth is a key to understanding Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. Although my research is primarily textual, I have spent over six years living and studying in Asia: four years in Nepal, over a year in India, and an additional year in China and Tibet. This exposure has been an impetus for me to develop an ethnographic sensibility and appreciate the multivocality of the religious traditions of Asia.

Current/Planned Research/Projects:

• Presently working to finish a translation of Delineating the Views and Philosophies (lta grub shan 'byed) by an early twentieth-century Tibetan scholar, Pod-pa Tulku (bod pa sprul sku). The text situates the doctrinal positions of the Nyingma tradition in relation to the other sectarian Buddhist traditions of Tibet.
• Currently revising dissertation, "Buddha-Nature and a Dialectic of Presence and Absence in the Works of Mi-pham," for publication.

Courses Taught:

• The Buddhist Tradition
• Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy
• Elementary Sanskrit
• Chinese Religions
• Tibetan Literature

Teaching Specializations:

• Asian Religions
• Buddhism
• Literary and Spoken Tibetan
• Sanskrit
• Methodology of Religious Studies