Web Site Top Page

A. Charles Muller

Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Tōyō Gakuen University

Originally from Long Island, New York, I am a Professor in the Humanities Department at Tōyō Gakuen University in Tokyo, Japan, where I have been living and working since 1994. My main field is Buddhist Studies, but I am also a student of the broader area of East Asian philosophy and religion (Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism). During graduate school and the first few years after finishing my doctorate, I worked primarily with Korean Seon (Zen) Buddhism. For the past several years, my work has been been focused on the writings of the Korean scholar-monk Wonhyo, and this has in turn involved me in the study of East Asian Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha thought.

I am especially interested in translating classical East Asian works for the modern-Western audience. I have published two translations in book form: (1) the seminal Chan Buddhist scripture, the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment, which includes a superb commentary by the 15th century Korean monk Gihwa, and (2) a translation of the Daode jing (pub. by Barnes and Noble). I have done a number of other translations that are in digital format (available through this web site) and I have a few others in progress that will eventually appear in book form.

I have been, since the birth of the WWWeb, quite taken with the possibilities inherent in the digital domain for the development of and sharing of information related to the area East Asian religious/philosophical thought. The exciting challenges and opportunities that are presently available have stimulated me to initiate a few digital-web projects, most important of which at present are the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism and Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese-English Dictionary, as well as the rest of the glossaries, indexes, translations, and other guides contained on this site. I am also the founder and managing editor of H-Buddhism, a network for communication among academic specialists in Buddhist studies.

Hobbies, etc.

The extent to which my work deals with computers leads me to spend a good deal of time with them. Especially through my XML publication experiences, I have come to be aware of the importance of the maintenance of open standards, and the value of open code-oriented computing such as that developed in and around Linux. Thus, for me Linux has become somewhat of a hobby in itself.

In the athletic area, I have been a rather serious practitioner of the martial arts since the age of sixteen, with most of my martial arts time spent with Shotokan Karate as taught by the Japan Karate Association (JKA), which I have practiced and taught for over 35 years. I also hold a black belt in Aikido, and have practiced Tai chi chuan for a number of years.

Publications, etc.