Santa Clara University

Faculty and Staff » Regular Faculty » David Gray

David B. Gray

Assistant Professor

Dr. Gray was born in Princeton, NJ. He received a B.A. in Religious Studies from Wesleyan University, and a Ph.D. in the History of Religion from Columbia University. His dissertation was a study of the Cakrasamvara Tantra, an important Indian Buddhist scripture that became popular in several traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Dr. Gray's research focuses on the dissemination of Tantric Buddhist traditions from South to East Asia, and his teaching interests include Asian Religions as well as the comparative study of religious traditions. He joined Santa Clara University faculty in 2005.

Dr. Gray joined the Santa Clara University faculty in 2005 and teaches courses on Asian Religions and the comparative study of religious traditions.

Courses

Research

Activities

Courses

Courses taught at Santa Clara University

	RSOC 9	Ways of Understanding Religion
	RSOC 85	Hinduism
	RSOC 86	Buddhism
	RSOC 88	Chinese Religions
	RSOC 115	Tibetan Buddhism
	RSOC 130	East Asian Buddhism

Academic Appointments

Assistant Professor, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University	2005–present
Lecturer, Religious Studies Department, Rice University	2003–2005
Woodrow Wilson Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Study of Cultures, Rice University	2001–2003

Research

Research Interests; In my work I have been exploring the trajectory of a single Tantric Buddhist tradition, that surrounding the Cakrasamvara Tantra. I have explored its development in India, and have been particularly interested in the light it sheds on the connections between Buddhist and Hindu Tantric traditions. I have also been exploring its transmission to Tibet, and the transformations it underwent there in adaptation to a new cultural environment. I am also interested in the institutionalization of Tantric studies in Tibet, and the early modern and modern disseminations of the tradition in China and among Chinese communities in Diaspora.; Publications
Books: The Cakrasamvara Tantra: A Study and Annotated Translation . New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies/Columbia University Press, 2007.
Selected Articles: "Eating the Heart of the Brahmin: Representations of Alterity and the Formations of Identity in Tantric Buddhist Discourse." History of Religions 45 (1 2005) 45-69.; "Disclosing the Empty Secret: Textuality and Embodiment in the Cakrasamvara Tantra." Numen 52 (4 2005) 417-444..; "Mandala of the Self: Embodiment, Practice and Identity Construction in the Cakrasamvara Tradition." Journal of Religious History 30.3 (2006): 294-310.; "Skull Imagery and Skull Magic in the Yoginitantras." Pacific World, forthcoming.

Chapters in Books: "Tsongkhapa on the Stages of Insight Meditation" (co-authored with Robert A. F. Thurman), in Jonathan Shear, ed. The Experience of Meditation (St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 2006), 145-169.; "Dakinis and Yoginis: On the Origin and Development of an Early Medieval Indian Buddhist Goddess Tradition" in Deepak Shimkhada and Phyllis Herman, ed. Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: The Goddess Traditions of Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press), forthcoming.
: Presentations; "The Vedas in the Tantras: Late Buddhist Reflections on the Vedic Tradition." Presented at The Fourth International Vedic Workshop at the University of Texas, Austin, TX, May 2007.; "'Resistance to Sanskrit? Reflectins on the Development of Buddhist Sanskrit Literature." Presented at the American Oriental Society Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, March 2007.; "Facing Mahabhairava: On the Appropriation of Shaiva Material in a Buddhist Tantra." Invited presentation in the Sanskrit and Indian Studies Lecture Series, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, October 2006.; "The Illumination of the Hidden Meaning: Tsong Khapa and the Art of Interpretation." Invited presentation in the Buddhist Studies Seminar, Columbia University, New York, NY, October 2006.; "Religious Fault Lines: Buddhism, Peacemaking, and Violence in Contemporary South Asia." Presented at the United States Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Annual Meeting in Santa Clara, CA, October 2006.; "Burning with Anger? The abhicarahoma rite in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist literature." Presented at the International Conference on Esoteric Buddhist Studies, Koyasan University in Koyasan, Japan, September 2006.; "Tracing Texts and Reading Boundaries: Recent Trends in Buddhist Studies." Invited keynote address at the Young Scholars' Conference on Buddhist Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, in Hong Kong, China, July 2006.; "The Politics of Secrecy: On the Translation and Dissemination of the Buddhist Tantras." Invited prsentation in the South Asian Program Seminar, Cornell University, March 2006.; "Revelation, Loss and Recovery: The Myth of Textual Loss and the Development of Tantric Buddhist Traditions." Presented at the American Oriental Society Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA, March 2006.; "The Illumination of the Hidden Meaning: Tsongkhapa and the Art of Interpretation." Invited presentation in the Tibet Lecture Series, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, February 2006.