An interview with
Paul Williams
Position & Affiliation: Emeritus Professor of Indian and Tibetan Philosophy, University of Bristol
Date: March 4, 2019 in Bristol
Interviewed by: Anna Sehnalova & Rachael Griffiths
Cite this archive
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Oral History of Tibetan Studies project.
Timestamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:38 Could you begin sharing memories of your childhood? Where you come from?
- 2:35 Teenage years
- 6:19 First years at university
- 11:56 Doctorate at Oxford University
- 16:51 How did you get the idea? Why did you think it was important to organize such an event?
- 21:02 Studying Tibetan at Oxford
- 27:15 Appointment at Bristol University for Buddhist Studies
- 29:50 Moving into Tibetan studies
- 37:24 Could you say something about how you studied Indian philosophy at Sussex, and who was your teacher? Was there some influence on you?
- 50:02 Can you say something about how you studied Sanskrit with Richard Gombrich?
- 53:37 Do you think the atmosphere of the 1960s was somehow influential on you?
- 58:06 Could you say something about why you became Buddhist?
- 1:07:07 Why the Geluk school?
- 1:11:22 Did you meet Chogyam Trungpa?
- 1:19:47 What happened afterwards, after your PhD?
- 1:22:45 Development of Buddhist Studies at Bristol University
- 1:35:32 What did you enjoy about teaching?
- 1:45:33 You established a Buddhist centre in Bristol as well?
- 1:52:43 Have Buddhist studies in Bristol somehow influenced Buddhist studies in general?
- 1:55:19 Were you involved with the Association for Buddhist Studies in the UK as well as the IABS?
- 2:02:50 Could you say something about the beginnings of these two Associations for Buddhist Studies?
- 2:10:35 Do you have a favourite philosopher?
- 2:13:17 How do you remember the first IATS meeting?
- 2:18:26 Thoughts on the nature of academic work
- 2:24:06 Can you say something about your first travels to India?
- 2:37:04 And you kept returning to India?
- 2:49:38 How do you remember Michael and Anthony Aris?
- 2:56:52 Is there anything else you would remember about putting the Tibetan studies at Oxford together?
- 3:00:35 How would you say approaches, theoretical or other approaches to Buddhism have changed?
- 3:09:04 How has your conversion changed your view on Buddhism?
- 3:20:33 You said that one’s religion is tied to one’s behaviour and understanding in the world, how have these two aspects changed?
- 3:30:05 Can I ask you what has been your main religious experience?
- 3:35:12 Having a deep personal experience with two religions, what is your perception on the coexistence of different religions in the world?
- 3:46:01 What has your career in Buddhist studies or Tibetan studies given to you?
- 3:50:10 What did you find the most interesting and most challenging in your work?
- 3:53:43 What do you see as your most significant academic contributions and why?
- 3:58:44 Do you have some future plans?
- 4:00:40 We are conducting this project for contemporary and future scholars and students; would you have a message for them?
Additional info
Authored books
2012 Paul Williams (with Anthony Tribe and Alexander Wynne), Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition. Second Edition. London: Routledge. xi + 271 pp. Completely revised second edition, with additions. Forthcoming Spanish translation with Herder Editorial V Eulam.
2011 Paul Williams a Anthony Tribe, Buddhisticke Mysleni, Ex Oriente, Prague. Czech translation of the first edition of Buddhist Thought (below).
2009 Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism: The doctrinal foundations, completely revised Second Edition, London and New York: Routledge. xi + 438 pp. Forthcoming in Czech with Academia Publishers, Prague, and a Chinese translation with Guangxi Normal University Press is completed and due out in 2015. I believe there may be an Italian translation of this 2nd edition published already.
2006 Paul Williams, Mein Weg zu Buddha und Zurück, Munich: Pattloch. German translation of The Unexpected Way (below).
2005 Paul Williams, Nieoczekiwana Droga, Krakow: Wydawnictwo WAM. Polish translation of The Unexpected Way (below). There is also a Czech translation, although I do not have the details.
2004 Paul Williams, Songs of Love, Poems of Sadness: The erotic verse of the Sixth Dalai Lama, translated from the Tibetan, with an introductory essay and notes for appreciation by Paul Williams. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. 190 pp.
2002 Paul Williams, The Unexpected Way: On converting from Buddhism to Catholicism. Edinburgh: T+T Clark International. xxii + 240 pp. Reprinted 2003, 2004, 2005 (with additions), 2007. Review article (in German) by Johannes Schneider, ‘Buddhism’s most famous Roman Catholic’, Una Voce Korrespondenz, May/June 2003, 173–85. Contract signed for a Spanish translation with Ediciones Cristiandad, Madrid.
2002 Paul Williams, Buddhismo dell’India: Un’introduzione completa alla tradizione indiana. Rome: Astrolabio Ubaldini. Italian translation of Buddhist Thought below. Korean translation with Bestun Korea Literary Agency forthcoming 2009.
- Paul Williams (with Anthony Tribe), Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition. London: Routledge. xi + 323 pp. Responsible for putting the book together, and writing all the book except for the last chapter (pp. 192–244). Regular reprints.
2000 Paul Williams, Buddyzm Mahajana, przel. Henryk Smagacz, Wydawnictwo A, Krakow, 2000. Polish translation of Mahayana Buddhism.
2000 Korean translation of Mahayana Buddhism published with Sigongsa.
1998 Paul Williams (sole author), Altruism and Reality: Studies in the Philosophy of the Bodhicaryavatara. London: Curzon Press. xii + 272 pp.
1998 Paul Williams (sole author), The Reflexive Nature of Awareness: A Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence. London: Curzon Press. xix + 268 pp.
- Paul Williams, Il Buddhismo Mahayana. Rome: Astrolabio Ubaldini. Italian translation of below. Discussed at length by a professor in a studio interview on Italian radio in 1990. Described as ‘the best book on its subject in Italian’.
1989 Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism: The doctrinal foundations. London: Routledge. xii, 317 pp. pb/hb. 1991–2007 Thirteen reprints of the Routledge edition of Mahayana Buddhism. 1989 US edition of Mahayana Buddhism. New York: Routledge Chapman Hall.
Edited books
2012 Paul Williams and Patrice Ladwig (eds.) Buddhist Funeral Cultures of Southeast Asia and China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
2005 Paul Williams (ed.), Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Edited and with a new introduction (pp. xxix – xxxiv) by Paul Williams. London: Routledge. Eight volumes. Sole editor. Contains 110 articles, and 3200 pages. Volume 1: Buddhist Origins, and the Early History of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia; Volume 2: The Early Buddhist School and Doctrinal History; Theravada Doctrine; Volume 3: The Origins and Nature of Mahayana Buddhism; Some Mahayana religious Topics; Volume 4: Abhidharma and Madhyamaka; Volume 5: Yogacara, The Epistemological Tradition, and Tathagatagarbha; Volume 6: Tantric Buddhism (including China and Japan); Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet; Volume 7: Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia; Volume 8: Buddhism in China, East Asia, and Japan.
Short works
2006 Paul M. Williams, Buddhism from a Catholic Perspective. London: Catholic Truth Society. 80 pp.
1981 (Francis Clark and) Paul Williams, Introduction to the Study of Religion. Milton Keynes: The Open University Press. 103 pp. Pp. 61–100, ‘The Sense of the Holy’.
Chapters in books
2013 ‘Can we kill illusory people? Some philosophical reflections on Bodhi[sattva]caryāvatāra 9:11 – 13ab’, in Sarah F. Haynes and Michelle J. Sorensen (eds.) Wading into the Stream of Wisdom: Essays in honor of Leslie Kawamura, Berkeley, Cal.: Institute of Buddhist Studies and BDK America, Inc.: 3–34.
2011 ‘Catholicism and Buddhism’, in The Catholic Church and the World Religions. Edited by Gavin D’Costa (London: Continuum), pp. 141–177
2009 ‘Is Buddhist ethics virtue ethics? – Toward a dialogue with Śāntideva and a footnote to Keown’, in John Powers and Charles S. Prebish (eds.) Destroying Māra Forever: Buddhist Ethics Essays in Honor of Damien Keown, Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion: 113–37.
2009 ‘Some theological reflections on Buddhism and the unknowability and hiddenness of God’, in John Bowker (ed.) Knowing the Unknowable: Science and Religions on God and the Universe, London and New York: IB Tauris: 201–25.
2007 ‘Buddhism, God, Aquinas and morality: An only partially repentent reply to Perry Schmidt-Leukel and José Cabezón’, in John D’Arcy May (ed.) Converging Ways? Conversion and Belonging in Buddhism and Christianity, Sankt Ottilien, Bavaria: EOS-verlag: 117–54.
2005 ‘General Introduction’, to Paul Williams (ed.), Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, edited and with a new introduction by Paul Williams, London: Routledge. Volume 1, pp. xxix-xxxiv.
2004 ‘Aquinas meets the Buddhists: Prolegomenon to an authentically Thomas-ist basis for dialogue’, in Jim Fodor and Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt ed., Aquinas in Dialogue: Thomas for the Twenty-First Century, Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 87–117.
1998 Major entry on ‘Emptiness’, and a shorter entry on ‘Mi bskyod rdo rje’ for the multi-volume Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge.
1998 ‘Indian Philosophy’, in A. Grayling ed., Philosophy 2: Further Through the Subject, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 793–847.
1997 ‘Some Mahayana Buddhist perspectives on the body’, in Sarah Coakley ed., Religion and the Body, Cambridge University Press. Pp. 205–30.
1995 New edition of John R. Hinnells ed., The Penguin Dictionary of Religions, with the Buddhist entries revised and rewritten by Paul Williams and Rupert Gethin. Hardback as A New Dictionary of Religions (Blackwell); paperback with Penguin 1997. 25 newly written entries.
1995 ‘General Introduction — Santideva and his world’, in Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton trans., Santideva: The Bodhicaryavatara, Oxford: OUP World’s Classics series. Pp. vii-xxvi. Czech translation of the Introduction in Santideva: Uvdeni na cestu k probuzeni, Prague: Prameny Buddhismu, 2000.
1994 Entry ‘Buddhism: Tibetan’, in J.M.Y. Simpson ed., The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Oxford : Pergamon Press.
1994 ‘On altruism and rebirth: philosophical comments on Bodhicaryavatara 8:97–8’, Tadeusz Skorupski and Ulrich Pagel ed., The Buddhist Forum Volume 3: Papers in honour and appreciation of Professor David Seyfort Ruegg’s contribution to Indological, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Pp. 307–32. Reprinted in Altruism and Reality (above).
1994 ‘An argument for cittamatra: reflections on Bodhicaryavatara 9:28 (Tib. 27) cd’, Per Kvaerne ed., Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Sixth Conference of the International Association for Tibetan Studies. Oslo: Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning. Pp. 965–80. Reprinted in Altruism and Reality (above).
1993 Section editor’s introduction, plus ‘On minds and mind-transformation: The Buddhist perspective’, Clive Erricker et al. ed., Teaching World Religions: A teacher’s handbook. Oxford: Heinemann Educational. Pp. 45–9.
1992 ‘On prakrtinirvana/prakrtinirvrta in the Bodhicaryavatara: A study in the Indo-Tibetan commentarial tradition’, Johannes Bronkhorst, Katsumi Mimaki and Tom J.F. Tillemans ed., Études Bouddhiques offertes a Jacques May (Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques XLVI, 1, 1992). Bern: Peter Lang. Pp. 516–50. Reprinted in Altruism and Reality (above).
1992 ‘Non-conceptuality, critical reasoning and religious experience. Some Tibetan Buddhist discussions’, Michael McGhee ed., Philosophy, Religion and Spiritual Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 189–210.
1990 ‘Buddhism’, Ursula King ed., Turning Points in Religious Studies. Edinburgh: T+T Clark. Pp. 156–67.
1983 ‘On rang rig’, Ernst Steinkellner and Helmut Tauscher ed., Contributions on Tibetan and Buddhist Religion and Philosophy. Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddistische Studien Universität Wien. Pp. 321–32.
1980 ‘Tsong kha pa on kun rdzob bden pa’, Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi ed., Tibetan Studies in honour of Hugh Richardson. Warminster: Aris and Phillips. Pp. 325–34.
Academic journal papers (refereed)
2007 (published 2010) ‘Christina “the astonishing” meets the Tibetans returning from the beyond: A case of mutual recognition?’, Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Third series, number 9, 103–22.
2004 ‘Aquinas meets the Buddhists: Prolegomenon to an authentically Thomas-ist basis for dialogue’, Modern Theology 20:1, 91–121. Identical with book article with the same name, above.
- ‘Response to Mark Siderits’ review’, Philosophy East and West 50:3, 424–53. A reply to a review-article of my Altruism and Reality.
1999 ‘The selfless removal of pain — A critical glance at Santideva’s argument in Bodhicaryavatara 8: 101–3’, Indologica Taurinensia XXIII-XXIV, 321–350. Much shortened version of Altruism and Reality, chapter 5.
1999 ‘A response to John Pettit’, Journal of Buddhist Ethics 6. On-line reply article to a review article by John Pettit of Altruism and Reality.
1995 ‘Identifying the object of negation: on Bodhicaryavatara 9:140 (Tib. 139)’, in Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques XLIX 4, 969–85. Short version of chapter 4 in Altruism and Reality (above).
1991 ‘Some dimensions of the recent work of Raimundo Panikkar: a Buddhist perspective’, Religious Studies 27, 511–21.
1989 ‘Some Buddhist reflections on Hans Küng’s treatment of Mahayana Buddhism in Christianity and the World Religions’, World Faiths Insight n.s. 22, 13–26.
1989 ‘Introduction — some random reflections on the study of Tibetan Madhyamaka’, The Tibet Journal 14, 1–8. Editor’s introduction to a special edition.
1985 ‘rMa bya pa Byang chub brtson ’grus on Madhyamaka method’, Journal of Indian Philosophy 13, 205–25.
1983 ‘A note on some aspects of Mi bskyod rdo rje’s critique of dGe lugs pa Madhyamaka’, Journal of Indian Philosophy 11, 125–45.
1982 ‘Silence and truth — some aspects of the Madhyamaka philosophy in Tibet’, The Tibet Journal 7, 67–80.
1981 ‘On the Abhidharma ontology’, Journal of Indian Philosophy 9, 227–57. Reprinted in Volume 4 of Paul Williams (ed.), Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, edited and with a new introduction by Paul Williams. London: Routledge.
1980 ‘Some aspects of language and construction in the Madhyamaka’, Journal of Indian Philosophy 8, 1–45.
1977 ‘Buddhadeva and temporality’, Journal of Indian Philosophy 4, 279–94.
Popular journal papers
1992 ‘Madhyamaka for Midwives: part 2’, The Middle Way, no. 66:4, 227–34.
1992 ‘Adaptability and morality — on truth and belief in a Buddhist setting’, World Religions in Education 1992/1993: Religion and Truth, 18–23.
1991 ‘Madhyamaka for Midwives: part 1’, The Middle Way no. 66:3, 147–54.
1991 ‘Development of faith and the perception of truth — the use of the visual arts in Buddhism’, World Religions in Education, 7–9.
1991 ‘Buddhism and sexuality — some notes’, The Middle Way 66/2, 101–6.
1977 ‘Nagarjuna: selections from the Madhyamakakarika together with extracts from the commentaries’, The Middle Way 52, nos. 1–3 (serialised).
Review articles (refereed)
1991 ‘On the interpretation of Madhyamaka thought — a review article’, of C.W. Huntington Jr., The Emptiness of Emptiness: An Introduction to early Indian Madhyamika, in Journal of Indian Philosophy 19, 191–218.
1986 Robert A.F. Thurman, Tsong Khapa’s Speech of Gold in the Essence of True Eloquence, in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 49, part 2, 299–303.
1984 Chr. Lindtner, Nagarjuniana: Studies in the Writings and Philosophy of Nagarjuna, in Journal of Indian Philosophy 12, 73–104.
1980 Mervyn Sprung (trans.), Lucid Exposition of the Middle Way, in Buddhist Quarterly 12, nos. 1–2, 30–6.
1978 Karl Potter, Indian Metaphysics and Epistemology, in Journal of Indian Philosophy 6, 277–97.
Reviews
Well over 50 reviews of works on Buddhist and Hindu philosophy, as well as Tibetology, have been published.
PhD theses on Paul Williams’ work
Ernest Valea: A critical assessment of trends in Buddhist-Christian dialogue as reflected in two views of human perfection: the Buddhist perspective of Paul Williams and the Christian theology of Dumitru Staniloae (University of Wales, 2013). A revised version of this thesis has been published as Buddhist-Christian Dialogue as Theological Exchange: An Orthodox Contribution to Comparative Theology, Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2015.
In addition Paul Williams’ work has been the sole or specific subject of many published articles.