It is with deep regret that the fellows at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia announce the death of their former colleague and friend Dr. Ritsu Akahane 赤羽律, who passed away on September 17, 2016, after a serious illness. He was 44 years old.
Akahane received his PhD from Kyoto University in 2003. Before coming to Vienna, he was a research fellow at the 21st Century Center of Excellence Program at the Graduate School of Literature, Kyoto University, doing research on the two truths theory of the Madhyamaka School (especially Jñānagarbha's Satyadvayavibhaṅgavṛtti and its Tibetan commentaries).
A respected and distinguished scholar, Akahane was a research fellow at the IKGA from 2011 to 2016. His focus was the development of Madhyamaka thought, especially the two truths theory in India, Tibet, and China. In a research project on Bhāviveka's Prajñāpradīpa, he worked primarily on historical questions pertaining to the lost original Sanskrit text by comparing its Tibetan and Chinese translations and analysing their divergencies.
Akahane is survived by his wife and two children.
See also Mitarbeiter/Akahane.