List of writers on Buddhism

Buddha's statue near Belum Caves Andhra Pradesh India

This is a list of writers on Buddhism. The list is intended to include only those writers who have written books about Buddhism, and about whom there is already a Wikipedia article. Each entry needs to indicate the writer's most well-known work. Multiple works should be listed only if each work already has a Wikipedia article.

Early Buddhism

Early Buddhism is the oldest Buddhism, before the split into several sects. The only surviving school is Theravada. Early Buddhism is still being studied by scholars.

Theravada Buddhism

Wat Chaiwatthanaram temple in the old city of Ayutthaya in Thailand.

Dalit Buddhist movement (India)

Other Theravada writers

Politics

• B. R. Ambedkar,Religious Leader, an Indian jurist, political leader, Buddhist activist, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, revolutionary and the revivalist of Buddhism in India. He was also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution.
• Aung San Suu Kyi, political activist

Scholars

• Richard Gombrich

Mahayana Buddhism

Although Mahayana Buddhism is virtually extinct in India, its philosophical systems, namely the Madhyamaka and Yogacara are still being studied.

Chán/Zen

Bodhidharma and Huike

Teachers

Scholars

• Edward Conze
• Nishitani Keiji, Japanese philosopher
• Nishida Kitaro, Japanese philosopher
• Red Pine
• D.T. Suzuki, Japanese scholar
• Theodore Stcherbatsky, Russian, Wrote Buddhist Logic et al.

Other

• Alan Watts, American philosopher and lecturer

Humanistic Buddhism (China)

• Yin Shun

Nichiren Buddhism (Japan)

• Tanaka Chigaku
• Daisaku Ikeda
• Nikkyo Niwano

Vajrayana Buddhism

Vajrayana originated as Tantra in India.

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhist monks at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim

Vajrayana was introduced in Tibet, preferring Indian Buddhism over Chinese Buddhism, where it still survives.

Religious writers

Scholars

Western Buddhism

Writers of fiction and literature

• Matsuo Bashō, Japanese poet and journalist
• Jack Kerouac, US poet and novelist
• Peter Matthiessen, US novelist
• Jess Row, short story writer
• Gary Snyder, US poet
• Allen Ginsberg, US poet

Writing instructors

• Natalie Goldberg

See also

• List of Buddhists