Shayne Clarke

Associate Professor, Religious Studies

My research interests focus on Indian Buddhist monasticism, with particular reference to Buddhist monastic law codes (vinaya) preserved in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, and Chinese. I am primarily concerned with trying to understand what it meant to be a Buddhist monk/nun in India. My first in-depth attempt at tackling this issue, Family Matters in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms (2014), used epigraphical and literary sources (Sanskrit drama, etc.) in addition to canonical Buddhist law codes to reconsider the role of the family in monastic Buddhism: relationships between monks and nuns, their families, children, marriages, and celibacy.

I am currently conducting a survey of Tibetan Dunhuang manuscripts preserved in the Stein and Pelliot collections. In particular, I am interested in correctly identifying the vinaya manuscripts, with the goal of making the collections more usable to vinaya specialists.

I am also working on an edition of the Vinayakārikā on the basis of its extant Sanskrit (unpublished mss.), Tibetan, and Chinese translations.