Christopher Jones

Christopher V. Jones

Christopher V. Jones

Contact:

E-Mail: christopher.jones@univie.ac.at
Web: https://univie.academia.edu/ChristopherJones

Dr Christopher V. Jones received an undergraduate degree in theology and religious studies at the University of Cambridge (Corpus Christi), and subsequent graduate and doctoral training in Sanskrit and other Asian languages at the University of Oxford (St Anne’s, St Peter’s), where he taught for the faculties of Religious Studies and of Oriental Studies (2012-2019). He later taught at the University of Cambridge (2019-2023). His research is in classical Buddhist literature extant in various Asian languages (Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan), and particularly Mahāyāna Buddhist literature from the early centuries of the Common Era.

Research focus

A significant focus of Dr Jones’ research, and the focus of his first monograph (The Buddhist Self: On Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman), has been the Indian ‘Buddha-nature’ tradition as it has been preserved in South, Central and East Asian literatures, foremost in connection to literature associated with the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra/Dabanniepan jing 大般涅槃經. His other research interests include pre-modern Buddhist attitudes to non-Buddhist teaching and authority in India and elsewhere, and the evolving place of Buddhist reflection on liberation and liberated beings in South Asia in the early centuries CE.

Recent activities include a UK AHRC-funded project on narrative explorations of Buddhology in Indian literature (with Prof. Naomi Appleton, University of Edinburgh), editorial duties for Buddhist Studies Review (Assistant Editor) and Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Section Editor), and public engagement work for teachers of Buddhism in schools across the UK.

Selected online media

Webinar (UC Berkeley, in recognition of The Buddhist Self): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNruR-vobVk&t=6s

Book launch (SOAS, for The Buddhist Self): https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/Book_Launch:_Revisiti…

Lectures for teachers of Buddhism in UK schools: bit.ly/WhoistheBuddha

All activities

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Ass.-Prof. Christopher Jones, PhD

christopher.jones@univie.ac.at

Winter term 2025

142504 KO Colloquium in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies for Advanced Students

Winter term 2024

142207 PS Buddhist Attitudes Towards Other Religions

142220 SE Renarration in the Indian Mahayana: Reading the Angulimaliyasutra

Jones, C. (2025). First Among Equals? Sakyamuni among Other Buddhas in Mahayana Sutra Literature. Buddhist Studies Review, 41.1-2, 213. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.33100

Jones, C., & Appleton, N. (2025). Introduction. Buddhist Studies Review, 41.1-2, 1. https://journal.equinoxpub.com/BSR/article/view/33088/31151

Jones, C. (2025). The Nature of Things and the Nature of Beings: Dharmadhātu in Relation to Universal Buddhahood in Mahāyāna Sutra Literature. In F. Jun (Ed.), The Dynamic Non-Duality of Dharmadhātu: Elucidations of Buddhist Truth Expressions (pp. 1). projektverlag.

Jones, C. (2024). Reflections on Satyaka Nirgranthaputra: A Model Teacher of Non-Buddhist Religion (Eventually). In M. Barbato, M. Schneider, & F. Völker (Eds.), Beyond Boundaries: Essays on Theology, Dialogue, and Religion in Honor of Perry Schmidt-Leukel (pp. 275–286). Waxmann Verlag.

Jones, C. (2024). The Mahāmeghasūtra as a Source for Buddha-Nature Teaching. Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 47, 173. https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/secure/POJ/purchaseform.php?id=3294223&sid=

Jones, C. (2023). Interpolations and Idiosyncrasies in Dharmakṣema’s 曇無讖 Translation of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra (T.374 Da banniepan jing 大般涅槃經). Journal of the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies, 27, 203–257.

Jones, C., & Elverskog, J. (2023). Islam and Buddhism. In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism: History – Central and East Asia (Vol. IV-2, pp. 552–564). Brill.

Jones, C. (2022). Varieties of Early Buddha-nature Teaching in India. In K.-D. Mathes, & C. Kemp (Eds.), Buddha Nature across Asia (pp. 25-54). Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studie.

Jones, C. (Ed.) (2022). Buddhism and its Religious Others: Historical Encounters and Representations. Oxford University Press. Proceedings of the British Academy https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197266991.001.0001

Jones, C. (2022). Introduction: Buddhism and its Religious Others. In Buddhism and its Religious Others: Historical Encounters and Representations (pp. 1-26). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197266991.003.0001

Jones, C. (2022). Shepherds in Wolves’ Clothing: bodhisattvas, tīrthikas and ‘bodhisattva-tīrthikas. In C. Jones (Ed.), Buddhism and its Religious Others: Historical Encounters and Representations (pp. 89–110). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197266991.003.0005

Jones, C. (2021). How did Buddhism relate to the Brahmanism of the Buddha’s day, and later Hinduism? In E. J. Harris (Ed.), Buddhism in Five Minutes (pp. 182–187). Equinox.

Jones, C. (2021). How is the nature of buddhahood to be understood? In E. J. Harris (Ed.), Buddhism in Five Minutes (pp. 50-54). Equinox.

Jones, C. (2021). The Buddhist Self: On Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman. University of Hawai'i Press.

Jones, C. (2021). To what extent does Buddhism ‘deny the self’? The non-self teaching. In E. J. Harris (Ed.), Buddhism in Five Minutes (pp. 99–103). Equinox.

Jones, C. (2021). Translating the Tīrthika: Enduring ‘Heresy’ in Buddhist Studies. In A. Collett (Ed.), Translating Buddhism: Historical and Contextual Perspectives (pp. 195–226). State University of New York Press (SUNY Press).

Jones, C. (2021). What are the main contemporary divisions in Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana? In E. J. Harris (Ed.), Buddhism in Five Minutes (pp. 193–198). Equinox.

Jones, C. (2021). What are the meanings of ‘emptiness’ in Mahayana Buddhism? In E. J. Harris (Ed.), Buddhism in Five Minutes (pp. 223–227). Equinox.

Jones, C. (2021). What is Buddha-nature? In E. J. Harris (Ed.), Buddhism in Five Minutes (pp. 220-222). Equinox.

Jones, C. (2020). Reconsidering the ‘Essence’ of Indian Buddha-nature Literature. Acta Asiatica: Bulletin of the Institute of Eastern Culture, 118, 57–78.