Gregory Schopen Interviewed

Gregory Schopen is, without a doubt, one of the great living scholars of Buddhism, and arguably one of the greatest in Western history.

Just turning to the references page of one recent book, Paul Williams’ “Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations” and you find Schopen referred to nearly 20 times. That’s way more than Tsong kha pa, way more than D.T. Suzuki, more than Paul’s colleague and also-great Buddhologist Rupert Gethin, and it’s even more than you’ll find to such massive historical figures as Shinran and Nagarjuna. I think that fella’ named Sakyamuni Buddha is the only person referred to more often.

In this delightful interview, Schopen discusses how he got into Indian Buddhism, and his overall philosophy of academia and life.

Providing a chuckle at the end of the interview is this gem:

“I have a very healthy respect for my own ignorance,” he said with characteristically Buddhist humility, adding that “we know so little about most of this stuff that it seems irresponsible to make large, sweeping statements in large, sweeping books.” Besides, he quipped, “I’m also deeply suspicious of intellectuals, which is a little bit ironic since I am one.”

Damn, ’cause I’m working on a big, sweeping book, filled with big, sweeping statements.

Update on my bad accounting practices, Jan Nattier, Maitreya, and surely some other names are referred to more than the great Mr. Schopen… (sorry).