Short bio
Ernest B. Brewster has been working at the IKGA since August 2024, doing research on the transmission of Madhyamaka Buddhist thought in China in affiliation with the project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) on Chinese Buddhist philosophy (ChinBuddhPhil). He has taught at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Iona University, and Rutgers University. He holds a BA from Princeton University in History and East Asian Studies; an MA in Religious Studies from National Chengchi University; and a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations (Religion/Philosophy) from Harvard University. His research interests include combining philology with a philosophical and doctrinal-historical approach to key ideological developments in early medieval Chinese Buddhism. His current research investigates the philosophical contributions of Sinitic Madhyamaka Buddhist thinkers to the explanation of the nature of truth.
Recent publications
“What Dies? Xuanzang (602?–664) on the Temporality of Physical and Mental Functionality.” International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture (December 2023) 33.2: 20–58.
“Beyond Conventional Existence and Fundamental Emptiness: Kuiji’s Logical Analysis of Bhāviveka’s Two Inferences for the Omnipresent Emptiness of All Dharmas.” Journal of the Oxford Center for Buddhist Studies (November 2023) 23: 90–117.
“Saṅghabhadra’s Arguments for the Existence of an Intermediate State (Antarābhava) between Biological Death and Rebirth as Translated by Xuanzang (602?–664 C.E.).” Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion (May 2023) 60.1: 1-16.