Dominic Sur

Advisors: David Germano and Kurtis Schaeffer
Year Entered Program: 2009
Currently Pursuing: PhD
Current Status: Field Research in South Asia
Educational Background: Sarah Lawrence (BA); Harvard Divinity School (MTS)

Research Interests

My work in the History of Religions centers on the 11th century Tibetan polymath, Rongzom Chözang, whose collected works comprise a rich survey of subjects ranging from animal husbandry to funerary rites, from Buddhist architecture to Sanskrit grammar,  from consecration to epistemology. My dissertation will translate and historically position this figure’s master work on Tibet’s unique Great Perfection (རྫོགས་ཆེན་) tradition, the Tek chen tsül juk (ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚུལ་འཇུག) – before the formation of the tradition that claims him. This study will compose the core of my doctoral research.