David Drewes
Biographic Data
| ID | 1447433 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David Drewes |
| GIVEN NAMES | David |
| FAMILY NAME | Drewes |
| SIGNATURE | DREWES D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manitoba |
| ORCID | 0009-0003-3850-5223 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Benjamin Clough and the birth of Buddhist studies
This article surveys the life and work of Benjamin Clough (1791–1853), Wesleyan Methodist missionary to Ceylon, focusing on his contributions to the study of Pali and Buddhism. It attempts to show that he inaugurated the Western study of Pali and that he should be recognised as one of the most important early scholars of Buddhism
The Return of the Bodhisattvas and Other Possible Explanations for the Appearance of Mahāyāna Sūtras
This article looks at passages in Mahāyāna sūtras that make claims about where these texts came from, or could potentially come from. It focuses mainly on a large body of passages that depict the revealers of these texts as great bodhisattvas appointed by the Buddha to return to this world to reveal them at the time of the disappearance of the true Dharma. It also considers two other possible explanations for the origin of these texts discussed b…
Vimalakirtinirdesa
Vimalakirtinirdesa: The Teaching of Vimalakirti, translated by Luis Gómez and Paul Harrison. Mangalam, 2022. 262pp. Pb. $24.95. ISBN-13: 9781732220911
The Problem of Becoming a Bodhisattva and the Emergence of Mahāyāna
This essay examines how nikāya traditions and early Mahāyānists understood the bodhisattva path. It makes the point that these traditions shared the understanding that it is only possible to enter the path in the presence of a living Buddha and that it is thus impossible for any person now living to do so. It argues that while Buddhists following nikāya traditions found a few ways to work around this problem, the authors of early Mahāyāna sūtras …
Oral Texts in Indian Mahāyāna
This paper reconsiders the idea that Indian Mahāyāna was specially involved with or indebted to the use of writing. Focusing on an analysis of the words ud √ grah , √ dhṛ , and pari ava √ āp , it argues that like the texts of other pre-modern Indian religious traditions, Mahāyāna sūtras were primarily used orally and mnemically, though like epics, purāṇas, and non-Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, they were also written and venerated in written form
Dharmabhāṇakas in Early Mahāyāna
Bodhisattvas Of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahāyāna
Early Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism II
Part 1 of this article surveyed and appraised recent developments in the study of early Indian Mahāyāna. Part 2 continues by presenting a number of new perspectives on the nature of this movement, the practices it advocated, and the preachers, known as , that seem to have been its primary agents. An appendix discusses the use of terms such as Mahāyāna, Theravāda, Hīnayāna, and Mainstream Buddhism
Early Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism I
A good deal of important scholarship on early Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism has been done in recent years. Well established theories, such as the theory that the Mahāyāna arose as a lay reaction to the arhat ideal and the theory that it arose from the monastic lineage, have been rejected, and a number of new theories, perhaps most notably theories linking Mahāyāna to forest ascetics and to a ‘cult of the book,’ have been put forward. Part 1 of this ar…
Revisiting the phrase “sa prthivīpradeśaś caityabhūto bhavet” and the Mahāyāna cult of the book
Dharmabhāṇakas in Early Mahāyāna
Early Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism II
Part 1 of this article surveyed and appraised recent developments in the study of early Indian Mahāyāna. Part 2 continues by presenting a number of new perspectives on the nature of this movement, the practices it advocated, and the preachers, known as , that seem to have been its primary agents. An appendix discusses the use of terms such as Mahāyāna, Theravāda, Hīnayāna, and Mainstream Buddhism
Oral Texts in Indian Mahāyāna
This paper reconsiders the idea that Indian Mahāyāna was specially involved with or indebted to the use of writing. Focusing on an analysis of the words ud √ grah , √ dhṛ , and pari ava √ āp , it argues that like the texts of other pre-modern Indian religious traditions, Mahāyāna sūtras were primarily used orally and mnemically, though like epics, purāṇas, and non-Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, they were also written and venerated in written form
Revisiting the phrase “sa prthivīpradeśaś caityabhūto bhavet” and the Mahāyāna cult of the book
The Problem of Becoming a Bodhisattva and the Emergence of Mahāyāna
This essay examines how nikāya traditions and early Mahāyānists understood the bodhisattva path. It makes the point that these traditions shared the understanding that it is only possible to enter the path in the presence of a living Buddha and that it is thus impossible for any person now living to do so. It argues that while Buddhists following nikāya traditions found a few ways to work around this problem, the authors of early Mahāyāna sūtras …
Revisiting the phrase “sa prthivīpradeśaś caityabhūto bhavet” and the Mahāyāna cult of the book
Early Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism I
A good deal of important scholarship on early Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism has been done in recent years. Well established theories, such as the theory that the Mahāyāna arose as a lay reaction to the arhat ideal and the theory that it arose from the monastic lineage, have been rejected, and a number of new theories, perhaps most notably theories linking Mahāyāna to forest ascetics and to a ‘cult of the book,’ have been put forward. Part 1 of this ar…
Bodhisattvas Of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahāyāna
Early Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism II
Part 1 of this article surveyed and appraised recent developments in the study of early Indian Mahāyāna. Part 2 continues by presenting a number of new perspectives on the nature of this movement, the practices it advocated, and the preachers, known as , that seem to have been its primary agents. An appendix discusses the use of terms such as Mahāyāna, Theravāda, Hīnayāna, and Mainstream Buddhism
Dharmabhāṇakas in Early Mahāyāna
Oral Texts in Indian Mahāyāna
This paper reconsiders the idea that Indian Mahāyāna was specially involved with or indebted to the use of writing. Focusing on an analysis of the words ud √ grah , √ dhṛ , and pari ava √ āp , it argues that like the texts of other pre-modern Indian religious traditions, Mahāyāna sūtras were primarily used orally and mnemically, though like epics, purāṇas, and non-Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, they were also written and venerated in written form
The Problem of Becoming a Bodhisattva and the Emergence of Mahāyāna
This essay examines how nikāya traditions and early Mahāyānists understood the bodhisattva path. It makes the point that these traditions shared the understanding that it is only possible to enter the path in the presence of a living Buddha and that it is thus impossible for any person now living to do so. It argues that while Buddhists following nikāya traditions found a few ways to work around this problem, the authors of early Mahāyāna sūtras …
Vimalakirtinirdesa
Vimalakirtinirdesa: The Teaching of Vimalakirti, translated by Luis Gómez and Paul Harrison. Mangalam, 2022. 262pp. Pb. $24.95. ISBN-13: 9781732220911
Benjamin Clough and the birth of Buddhist studies
This article surveys the life and work of Benjamin Clough (1791–1853), Wesleyan Methodist missionary to Ceylon, focusing on his contributions to the study of Pali and Buddhism. It attempts to show that he inaugurated the Western study of Pali and that he should be recognised as one of the most important early scholars of Buddhism
The Return of the Bodhisattvas and Other Possible Explanations for the Appearance of Mahāyāna Sūtras
This article looks at passages in Mahāyāna sūtras that make claims about where these texts came from, or could potentially come from. It focuses mainly on a large body of passages that depict the revealers of these texts as great bodhisattvas appointed by the Buddha to return to this world to reveal them at the time of the disappearance of the true Dharma. It also considers two other possible explanations for the origin of these texts discussed b…
Indian and Buddhist Studies (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Theology (7 works) · Buddhism (5 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (4 works) · History (4 works) · History (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Psychology (3 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (2 works)