Faculty

The Buddhist Studies Program’s strength comes from a combination of diverse and highly qualified faculty, and a very low student:faculty ratio. A combination of Western and Eastern instructors is utilized in order to ensure a continuity of American educational patterns, as well as access to the indigenous philosophies in their genuine form. Western faculty are responsible for the organization and evaluation of coursework, while the Asian teachers present perspectives of the traditions being studied. This variety of intellectual and cultural viewpoints creates a stimulating milieu in which genuine inquiry occurs.

Program Director

C. Robert Pryor (Professor of Buddhist Studies, Antioch University) received a BS from the University of Michigan, an MAT from Antioch University, and attended the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, where he studied Anthropology and South Asian religions.   He designed the Antioch Buddhist Studies Program, and since 1979 has taken groups of students to India as program director.   In 1987 he founded Insight Travel, offering pilgrimages to Buddhist and Hindu sites in northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.   He served as consultant for the BBC documentary, In the Footsteps of the Buddha, and collaborated on the book Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra.   His interests include: South Asian cultures, pilgrimage, the history of Indian Buddhism, meditation and Buddhism in the West.

The Program Director organizes the academic program, leads orientation sessions in London, Delhi, and Bodh Gaya, and teaches one to two program courses.

To receive further general information about this or any of our  AEA  programs or to contact Robert, you may email  aea@antioch.edu, call 800-874-7986. From February – August, Robert’s official office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-4pm, but he can be reached in the office most days, except Wednesdays.

Academic Faculty & On-Site Staff

Buddhist Philosophy

Dr. Arthur McKeown received a BA magna cum lauda, from Dartmouth College.   He received an MA and PhD from Harvard University where his dissertation was titled, From Bodhgaya to Lhasa to Beijing: The Life and Times of Sariputra (c.1335-1426), Last Abbot of Bodhgaya.   Dr. McKeown has received a Fulbright Fellowship, Reischauer Center Fellowship, as well as the Harvard Certificate of Distinction in Teaching.   He has research experience in South Asia and Tibet, and has presented papers at meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the International Association of Buddhist Studies.   Dr. McKeown has experience teaching Tibetan Language and Buddhist Studies as an Instructor and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University.   He served on the faculty of the Antioch Buddhist Studies program in 2010 and 2011.

Contemporary Buddhist Culture

Dr. David Geary received a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Simon Fraser University, an MA in Anthropology from Carleton University, and a PhD in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia.   His PhD dissertation was Destination Enlightenment: Buddhism and the Global Bazaar in Bodh Gaya, Bihar.   Dr. Geary has presented papers at the meetings of diverse professional organizations including the American Anthropological Association and the International Association of Buddhist Studies.   Recently he co-edited the volume, Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on a Contested Buddhist Site:   Bodh Gaya Jataka, published by Routledge, London.   From 2010 to 2012 he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Social & Cultural Anthropology, Wolfson College, Oxford, England.

History of South Asian Buddhism

Dr. Amelia Hall received a BA (Hons.) in World Art History from the University of East Anglia, an M.Phil in Buddhist Studies from Oxford University, England, and has recently completed her Doctorate at Oxford. Her thesis focused on an important twentieth century Tibetan figure and is titled, Revelations of a Modern Mystic: the Life and Legacy of Kun bZang bDe chen Gling pa, 1928-2006. She has taught Tibetan language at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, and at the Oxford University, Oriental Institute. She has also worked as a Retreat Co-ordinator at Tara Mandala retreat center in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and as a Program Director at Shambhala Mountain Center, Colorado. Her principal research interests lie in the evolution of Tibetan Buddhism in present day North America.

Tibetan Language

Punya Prasad Parajuli received a BA in Physics, an MA in Anthropology, and an MA in Nepalese History, Culture and Archeology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal.   He has also received an MA in Buddhist Studies from Magadh University, Bodh Gaya, India.   Punya is actively involved in translating Tibetan and Sanskrit texts into Nepali. He has been a Tibetan language instructor at the Center for Nepalese and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University and a Sanskrit language teacher at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling and Sechen Monasteries in Kathmandu.   Punya taught Tibetan language with the Antioch Buddhist Studies program in 2006, 2009, and 2011.   He has also been a Tibetan language and culture instructor as well as a research guide for Cornell University students studying Buddhist Culture in Nepal.

Hindi Language

Dr. Gaurav Agarwal received a BA in Hindi Literature, History and Political Science; an MA, MPhil, and   a PhD in Hindi Literature from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.   He leads the youth section in the Rajasthan chapter of “Sahitya Parishad” and is a regular participant in poetry seminars.   Dr. Agarwal was a member of the core organizing team for the second World Council of Elders of Ancient Traditions and Culture’s Interantional Summit held in Jaipur.   He is Head of Department and teaches Hindi at Poddar International College, Jaipur; and has also been an instructor in the Hindi Language Programs organized by the American Institute of Indian Studies for American university students in Jaipur.   Dr. Agarwal has taught Hindi language with the Antioch Buddhist Studies program since 2010.

Buddhist Meditation Traditions
Seminars in this course will be led by Robert Pryor, Program Director. Please refer to the above biography for his background.

Teaching Assistant and Dorm Advisor

Katie Fabac received a BA in Religious Studies from Wesleyan University.   While a student at Wesleyan she was a Teaching Assistant in the Religion Department, and participated in the 2006 Antioch Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya.   After 2008 she worked for the Lawrence Kansas Public Schools as a Special Education Paraprofessional and Job Coach.   During this time she developed a Vocational Training Program for students with special needs.   Katie is a Certified Nursing Assistant with skills in CPR and First Aid.   She was a Meditation leader with the Wesleyan University Buddhist Studies Group, and more recently a volunteer at Katog Rithrod Mountain Retreat Center, Parthenon, Arkansas.   In 2011 she was the Teaching Assistant and Dorm Advisor for the Antioch Buddhist Studies program.

Vihar Manager

Gwendolyn Ross received a BA, in Political Science from Antioch College.   She holds a TESOL Certificate from The School for International Training, and taught English in Japan with the Jet Programme from 2006 to 2011.   While living in Japan Gwendolyn studied Urasenke tea ceremony and received her advanced level certification in 2010.   Before teaching in Japan she was an assistant Language Teacher at the Georges-Imbert High School in Sarr-Union, Alsace, France.   Gwendolyn was a participant in the 2001 Antioch program in Bodh Gaya, and she has returned to India since then in order to follow her interests in Buddhism and South Asian studies.   In 2011 she was the Vihar Manager for the Antioch Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya.

Meditation Faculty

Vipassana

U Hla Myint was born and educated in Myanmar (Burma).   He became a novice monk at the age of ten and a fully ordained bhikkhu at twenty.   After completing the traditional academic training for monks in Burma he practiced Vipassana meditation at the Mahasi Thathana Meditation Center in Yangon (Rangoon).   He then taught Vipassana under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita at this center where he was especially helpful to foreign meditators.   After twenty-two years as a monk U Hla Myint became a householder, and now has a wife and two children.   He lives in Pyin Oo Lwin near Mandalay in the Shan Hills where he primarily works on translation projects for Sayadaw U Pandita.   U Hla Myint also spends some of his time assisting Sayadaw U Pandita at Panditarama Meditation Center near Rangoon.

Zen

Ekai Korematsu Osho was born and raised in Japan, but began his formal Zen practice while a university student in California where he was affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center.   In 1979 he returned to Japan for formal monastic training at Eiheiji the principal Soto Zen monastery.   Returning to America in 1983 he founded Kojin-an which later became the Oakland Zen Center.   At the request of his teacher Narasaki Roshi he returned to Japan in 1987 to become the director of an International Zen monastery, Shogoji, in Kyushu.   From 1994 to 1996 he was again at Eiheiji, and was also the Practice Director at Zuigakuin Temple in Yamanashi Prefecture.   At present he lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he is the founder and spiritual director of Jikishoan Zen Buddhist Community.

Vajrayana

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche is the abbot of Ka Nying Shedrup Ling Monastery and the founder of Rangjung Yeshe Institute, a college for Buddhist Studies in Boudhanath, Nepal.   Born in Tibet and educated at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim under the guidance of H.H. Karmapa, he is the holder of Drikung Kagyu and Nyingma lineages.   Rinpoche is a scholar and master of both Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice.   He has taught meditation and philosophy to many Western students, while also super ­vising a large shedra or traditional monastic training center in Nepal.   He regularly teaches in Europe and North America where he has meditation centers in Denmark, Germany, and California.   Rinpoche is the author of several books including The Union of Dzogchen and Mahamudra, Indisputable Truth and Present Fresh Wakefulness.