Biography
Born in Kuma, Japan, in 1965, Harunaga Isaacson studied philosophy and Indology at the University of Groningen (MA 1990), and was awarded a PhD in Sanskrit by the University of Leiden (1995). From Fall 1995 to Summer 2000 he was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Oriental Institute, Oxford University.
After holding teaching positions at Hamburg University and the University of Pennsylvania, he was appointed Professor of Classical Indology in the Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Asien-Afrika-Institut, Hamburg University, in April 2006.
His main research areas are: tantric traditions in pre-13th century South Asia, especially Vajrayāna Buddhism; classical Sanskrit poetry; classical Indian philosophy; and Purāṇic literature.
Prof. Isaacson is a member of the board of Indo-Iranian Journal (since 2003) and the Governing Committee of the INDOLOGY Discussion Forum. He is also presently Director of the Nepal Research Centre and General Director of the Nepalese-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project (both positions held since April 2006), funded by the Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft.
Ongoing Research in Tantric Studies
- The Hevajra Literature in India
- Early Tantra (co-director)
- Edition and Translation of the *Vajrayānāntadvayanirākaraṇa (participant)
- The Buddhakapālatantra and Abhayapaddhati (participant)
- Edition and Translation of the Sekanirdeśapañjikā (participant)
- Tāntrikābhidhānakośa (Hindu Tantric Dictionary) Project (participant)
Selected Publications
| 1993 | The Ramtek Inscriptions II: the Vākāṭaka inscription in the Kevala-Narasimha Temple. (With Hans Bakker.) In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies vol.lvi.1, 46–74. |
| 1993 | Yogic perception (yogipratyakṣa) in early Vaiśeṣika. In: Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 18 [appeared in 1994], 139–160. |
| 1994 | Towards a critical edition of the Skandapurāṇa. (With R. C. Adriaensen and Hans Bakker.) In: Indo-Iranian Journal 37 (1994), 325–331. |
| 1994 | Notes on the manuscript transmission of the Vaiśeṣikasutra and its earliest commentarieṣ In: Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques 48.2 (1994) [appeared in 1995], 749–779. |
| 1998 | Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200). In: Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Band II. Hamburg. pp.23–49. (Internal publication of Hamburg University.) [ PDF (revised edition) ] |
| 1998 | The Skandapurāṇa. Volume I. Adhyāyas 1–25. Critically Edited with Prolegomena and English Synopsis. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. Supplement to Groningen Oriental Studies. (with R. C. Adriaensen and H. T. Bakker). |
| 2001 | Citations from the Ratnāvalī and Bodhicittavivaraṇa in the Abhayapaddhati. In: Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 22 (1999) [appeared in 2001], pp. 51–54. |
| 2001 | The opening verses of Ratnākaraśānti’s Muktāvalī (Studies in Ratnākaraśānti’s tantric works II). In: Ryutaro Tsuchida and Albrecht Wezler (eds.): Harānandalaharī: Volume in Honour of Professor Minoru Hara on his Seventieth Birthday. Reinbek 2000 [appeared 2001]. pp.121–134. |
| 2002 | Ratnākaraśānti’s Hevajrasahajasadyoga (Studies in Ratnākaraśānti’s tantric works I). In: Raffaele Torella (ed.), Le Parole e i Marmi: studi in onore di Raniero Gnoli nel suo 70° compleanno. Serie Orientale Roma XCII. vol.1. Roma: Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente (IsIAO), 2001, pp.457–487. [ e-text (CTS) ] |
| 2002 | Ratnākaraśānti’s Bhramaharanāma Hevajrasādhana: Critical Edition (Studies in Ratnākaraśānti’s Tantric Works III). Journal of the International College for Advanced Buddhist Studies 『国際仏教学大学院大学研究紀要』 vol. 5 (2002), pp. 151(80)–176(55). [ PDF (via CiNii) / e-text (CTS) ] |
| 2003 | The Raghupañcikā of Vallabhadeva, being the earliest commentary on the Raghuvaṃśa of Kālidāsa. Critical edition with introduction and notes. Volume I. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. Groningen Oriental Studies 17. (With Dominic Goodall.) |
| 2004 | The Skandapurāṇa. Volume IIA. Adhyāyas 26–31.14: The Vārāṇasī Cycle. Critical Edition with an Introduction, English Synopsis & Philological and Historical Commentary. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. (With H. T. Bakker.) |
| 2007 | First Yoga: A commentary on the ādiyoga section of Ratnākaraśānti’s Bhramahara (Studies in Ratnākaraśānti’s tantric works IV). In: B. Kellner, H. Krasser, H. Lasic, M. T. Much, H. Tauscher (eds.): Pramāṇakīrtiḥ. Papers dedicated to Ernst Steinkellner on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Part 1. Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien, 2007. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 70.1. pp. 285–314. |
Harunaga.Isaacson
uni-hamburg.de