AARON P. PROFFITT, PH.D.

AARON P. PROFFITT, PH.D. Humanities 241 1400 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12222 (518) 442-4122 aproffitt@albany.edu EMPLOYMENT Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies University at Albany, SUNY 2015 to the Present EDUCATION Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 2015 M.A. in Religious Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder 2008 B.A. in Religious Studies, Japanese Language and Culture, and Asian Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder 2005 TEACHING EXPERIENCE University at Albany, SUNY EAS 357 Zen Buddhism EAS 450 Readings in Buddhist Texts: The Lotus Sutra EAS 265 Introduction to Buddhism EAS 261 Introduction to the Religions of Japan REL 100 Introduction to the Study of Religions EAS 357 Zen Buddhism EAS 389 Pure Land Buddhism EAS 450 Readings in Buddhist Texts: The Lotus Sutra EAS 265 Introduction to Buddhism EAS 266 Buddhism in East Asia Spring 2017 2017 Spring 2017 Summer 1

EAS 357 Zen Buddhism EAS 450 Readings in Buddhist Texts: Mahayana Buddhism EAS 261 Introduction to the Religions of Japan EAS 266 Buddhism in East Asia Spring 2015 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Sex, Power, and Violence in Tantric Buddhism Summer Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism Teaching Assistant to Professor Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Introduction to Japanese Civilization Teaching Assistant to Professor Micah L. Auerback 2012 Introduction to Japanese Civilization Teaching Assistant to Professor Micah L. Auerback 2012 Introduction to Buddhism Teaching Assistant to Professor Juhn Ahn 2011 Great Books of Japan Teaching Assistant to Professor Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen 2011 Zen: History, Culture, & Critique Teaching Assistant to Professor Benjamin Brose 2010 University of Colorado-Boulder East Asian Traditions Teaching Assistant to Professor Rodney Taylor 2007 Christian Traditions Teaching Assistant to Professor David Valeta 2006 GEOS Language Academy, Tamana, Japan English Instructor 2005-2006 AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE Fulbright Foundation International Dissertation Research Fellowship 2014-2015 Research Fellow, Shin Buddhist Comprehensive Research Institute Ōtani University-Kyoto, Japan Researcher, Esoteric Buddhist Research Institute Kōyasan University-Kōyasan, Japan 2

Researcher, Department of Buddhist Studies Ryūkoku University-Kyoto, Japan Japan Foundation (Declined) 2014 International Dissertation Fellowship Ito Foundation (Declined) 2014 International Dissertation Research Scholarship Summer International Research Grants 2009- University of Michigan Department of Asian Language and Cultures, Center for Japanese Studies, and the International Institute 12-month Japanese Language Intensive, Inter-University Center for Japanese Studies (IUC), Yokohama, Japan University of Michigan International Institute, Center for Japanese Studies, and Department of Asian Languages and Cultures 2009-2010 Foreign Languages and Area Studies Grant (FLAS) 2007-2008 Summer and Academic Year (Beginner and Intermediate Chinese) University of Colorado PUBLICATIONS Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism in Early Medieval Japan: A Translation and Analysis of Dōhan s Himitsu nenbutsu shō Book manuscript proposal and sample chapter accepted by the Pure Land Buddhist Studies Series, University of Hawaii Press Religious Diversity and Change: Tiantai, Tendai, and the Lotus Sutra (In Press) Dharma World Magazine 2020* An Encounter with Kōbō Daishi Kūkai (In Press) Tricycle: The Buddhist Review Kenmitsu bunka to Mikkyō Jōdokyō: Dōhan no himitsu nenbutsu shisō [Exo-Esoteric Culture and Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism: Dōhan s Esoteric Pure Land Thought] (Under Review) Journal of World Buddhist Cultures, Ryūkoku University Himitsu nenbutsu to Tendai shisō [Esoteric Nenbutsu and Tendai Thought] (Under Review) International Tendai Studies Conference Proceedings, Taishō University Riding the Vajrayana to the Pure Land: Rethinking the Study of Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism (Draft to be submitted Dec., 2017) Following peer review, to be published by the Institute for Buddhist Studies as part of a Festschrift for Richard K. Payne; Manuscript proposal accepted by Bloomsbury Press 3

Dōhan (In Press) Brill Encyclopedia of Buddhism, eds. Richard Bowring and Lucia Dolce Dōhan s Compendium on the Secret Nenbutsu: Fascicle 1 (In Press) Pure Lands in Asian Texts and Contexts: An Anthology, edited by Georgios T. Halkias and Richard K. Payne, University of Hawaii Press. Book Review: Multiple Logics and Multiple Paths in Medieval Japanese Deathbed Practice, Review of Stone, Jacqueline Ilyse, Right Thoughts at the Last Moment: Buddhism and Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan (Under Review) H-Net Reviews, www.h-net.org Mysteries of Speech and Breath: Dohan's (1179-1252) Himitsu nenbutsu shō and Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism PhD diss., University of Michigan Dictionary Entries: Bashō, Dōhan, Godenshō, Higashi Honganji: Ōtani-ha, Ichinengi, Kakuban, Kakukai, Kūkai, Kōyasan, Nishi Honganji: Honganji-ha, Tanengi, Sanmitsu, Shingonshū The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, eds. Robert Buswell, Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Nenbutsu Mandala Visualization in Dōhan s Himitsu nenbutsu shō: An Investigation into Medieval Japanese Vajayāna Pure Land Pacific World Journal 15 ( ): 153-169. 2017 2015 2014 Dōhan 2010 Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, ed. Charles Muller http://buddhism-dict.net/ddb PRESENTATIONS AND INVITED LECTURES Esoteric Pure Land Thought and the Tendai Tradition Nov. 2017 American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Boston, MA Normativity and Heterogeneity: Rethinking Medieval Japanese Pure Land Buddhism American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Boston, MA Nov. 2017 Pure Land Buddhism Oct. 2017 Karuna Tendai Dharma Center, Tendai Buddhist Institute, East Chatham, NY Dhāraṇī, Spells, The Power of Speech, and Kōmitsu Approaches to Pure Land Rebirth in the Nara Period The Pure Land in the Nara Schools Conference, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Oct. 2017 Tantric Buddhism July 2017 Karuna Tendai Dharma Center, Tendai Buddhist Institute, East Chatham, NY 4

Bukkyōgaku to Mikkyō no kindaika [Buddhist Studies and the Modernization of Esoteric Buddhism] Early-Modern Japanese Buddhism Conference, Sendai University, Sendai, Japan (in Japanese) Kenmitsu Bukkyō to himitsu nenbutsu [Exo-Esoteric Buddhism and the Esoteric Nenbutsu] Research Center for World Buddhist Cultures, Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan (in Japanese) Chūsei Nihon Tendai shisō to himitsu nenbutsu [Medieval Japanese Tendai Buddhist Thought and the Esoteric Nenbutsu] International Tendai Studies Conference, Taisho University, Tokyo, Japan (in Japanese) Kōyasan and the Shingon Tradition University of Pennsylvania, Religious Studies Colloquium, Philadelphia, PA June 2017 May 2017 May 2017 Nov. Pure Land Buddhism in the Tendai Tradition Sept. Karuna Tendai Dharma Center, Tendai Buddhist Institute, East Chatham, NY The Secret History of Kōyasan Mar. Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA Beyond Syncretism and Sectarianism: Conceiving Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism Paper presented as part of a panel, Conceiving Esoteric Buddhism, which I organized, the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA Nov. 2015 Mysteries of Speech and Breath: Dohan s (1179-1252) Secret Nenbutsu Dec. 2014 Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies, Dōshisha University, Kyoto, Japan Chūsei Bukkyō ni okeru himitsu nenbutsu shisō: Ajari Dōhan to mikkyō jōdokyo bunka [ Secret Buddha Contemplation within Medieval Japanese Buddhism: Ācārya Dōhan and Vajrayāna Pure Land Buddhist Culture] Ōtani University, Kyoto, Japan (in Japanese) Higashi Ajia no himitsuzō ni okeru Jōdokyō [The Pure Land Teachings within the Secret Piṭaka of East Asia] Kōyasan University, Kōyasan, Japan (in Japanese) Nenbutsu Mandala Visualization in Dōhan s Himitsu nenbutsu shō: An Investigation into Medieval Japanese Vajayāna Pure Land Institute for Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, CA This World and/or/as the Pure Land: An Investigation into Tantric Nenbutsu Practice in Medieval Japanese Buddhism International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies Conference, University of British Columbia in Vancouver, CA Oct. 2014 Oct. 2014 5

The Dragon and the Pure Land: Ritual Performance and Hagiography 2009 North American Graduate Student Conference in Buddhist Studies, University of California-Berkeley, CA Kōen the Dragon Bodhisattva: History and Hagiography, Translation and Analysis of the Fusō-Ryūjinden American Academy of Religion Regional Conference at Denver Theological Seminary, Denver, CO 2008 Shin Buddhist History: Pure Land Buddhism in Japan and the West 2008 Longmont Buddhist Temple, Longmont, CO The Fluidity of Sectarian Boundaries in One Japanese Buddhist Community: The Veneration of Saint Kōen American Academy of Religion Regional Conference at Creighton University, Omaha, NE 2007 LANGUAGES Modern Japanese Professional proficiency Classical Japanese (Bungo and Kanbun) Specializing in 11th to 13th century Mandarin Chinese Reading and writing Classical Chinese Specializing in sūtra literature and ritual manuals Siddham script Functional knowledge of scripts for reading Sanskrit mantras MEMBERSHIPS American Academy of Religion Association for Asian Studies Institute for Esoteric Buddhist Culture (Kōyasan University) Board Member: Sidney and Beatrice Albert Interfaith Lecture Series 6