UCSB Scholar to Give First Lecture as Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism, Cultural Studies

Jose Cabezon will give his inaugural lecture as UC Santa Barbara's Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural Studies Thursday, Nov. 8 at 5 p.m. in the campus Multicultural Center. Cabezon, an internationally respected expert on Tibet, joined the UCSB faculty this fall in the Department of Religious Studies.

In his talk, titled "Tibetan Intelligent Agency," Cabezon will discuss his approach to Tibetan studies and methodological problems he sees within the field. The talk is free and open to the public. Cabezon comes to UCSB from Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colo., where he was a professor of the philosophy of religion and taught courses in world religions, Buddhist philosophy, and comparative religion.

He has a Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and spent 10 years as a monk in the Tibetan tradition. As a monk, he lived for six years at the Sera Monastery in India where undertook a traditional curriculum of Buddhist philosophical studies.

He also studied at the Tibetan Institute in Sarnath and at the Sampurnananda Sanskrit University in Benares, both in India. While a monk, he served as a translator for the Dalai Lama in India and on trips to the United States, Spain, Mexico and Costa Rica. As an academic, Cabezon has written extensively on Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, particularly on the philosophy of emptiness.

He also pursues research in gender studies, Tibetan religions and popular culture.