List of writers on Buddhism



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.


 * Y. Karunadasa
 * Hajime Nakamura
 * C. A. F. Rhys Davids
 * T. W. Rhys Davids
 * A. K. Warder

Other Theravada writers

 * Ajahn Amaro
 * Bhikkhu Analayo
 * Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan
 * Ananda Metteyya
 * Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero
 * B. R. Ambedkar
 * Sayagyi U Ba Khin
 * Samanera Bodhesako
 * Bhikkhu Bodhi
 * Ajahn Brahmavamso
 * Buddhādasa Bhikkhu
 * Acharya Buddharakkhita
 * Ajahn Candasiri
 * Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda
 * Anagarika Dharmapala
 * Ernest Reinhold Rost
 * Frank Lee Woodward
 * S. N. Goenka
 * Hammalawa Saddhatissa
 * Henepola Gunaratana
 * Henry Steel Olcott
 * Jack Kornfield
 * Ajahn Jayasāro
 * Joseph Goldstein
 * Katukurunde Nyanananda Thera
 * Ayya Khema
 * Ledi Sayadaw
 * Ajahn Lee
 * Mahasi Sayadaw
 * Matara Sri Nanarama Mahathera
 * Nanamoli Bhikkhu
 * Nanavira Thera
 * Narada Maha Thera
 * Nyanatiloka Mahathera
 * Nyanaponika Thera
 * Pa-Auk Sayadaw
 * Phra Paisal Visalo
 * Sayadaw U Pandita
 * Ajahn Pasanno
 * Paul Dahlke
 * Prayudh Payutto
 * Piyadassi Maha Thera
 * Rahul Sankrityayan
 * Rerukane Chandawimala Thero
 * Sayadaw U Rewata Dhamma
 * Sharon Salzberg
 * Sīlācāra
 * U Sīlānanda
 * Achan Sobin S. Namto
 * Soma Thera
 * Stephen T. Asma
 * Sylvia Boorstein
 * Ajahn Sucitto
 * Ajahn Sumedho
 * Bhante Sujato
 * Sujiva
 * Ajahn Sundara
 * Thanissaro Bhikkhu
 * Sayadaw U Thittila
 * Sister Vajirā
 * Bhante Vimalaramsi
 * Ajahn Viradhammo
 * Walpola Rahula
 * Webu Sayadaw
 * R. G. de S. Wettimuny

Politics

 * B. R. Ambedkar, religious Leader, jurist, political leader, Buddhist activist, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, 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

 * Ashin Nandamalabhivamsa
 * Benimadhab Barua
 * David Kalupahana
 * K.L. Dhammajoti
 * K.N. Jayatilleke
 * Karl Eugen Neumann
 * Isaline Blew Horner
 * L. S. Cousins
 * Mingun Sayadaw
 * P.D. Premasiri
 * Polwatte Buddhadatta Thera
 * Rajguru Aggavamsa Mahathera
 * Rerukane Chandawimala Thero
 * Richard Gombrich
 * Robert Chalmers, 1st Baron Chalmers
 * Rupert Gethin
 * List of Sāsana Azani recipients, Buddhist monks who have successfully passed the Tipiṭakadhara (oral) and Tipiṭakakovida (written) examinations in Myanmar and only fifteen monks have been recognized as "Sāsana Azani".

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

Teachers

 * Reb Anderson
 * Taisen Deshimaru
 * Norman Fischer
 * Gil Fronsdal
 * Steve Hagen
 * Hsuan Hua
 * Nan Huai-Chin
 * Philip Kapleau
 * Dainin Katagiri
 * Long Gen
 * Taizan Maezumi
 * Thich Nhat Hanh
 * Kitaro Nishida
 * Shohaku Okumura
 * Paul Reps
 * Seung Sahn
 * Seongcheol
 * Sheng-yen
 * Brad Warner
 * Alan Watts
 * Hsing Yun
 * Han Yong-un
 * Hakuun Yasutani
 * Peter Levitt
 * Gyomay Kubose
 * Marvin Harada
 * Kenryu Takashi Tsuji

Scholars

 * Alfred Bloom
 * Edward Conze
 * Nishitani Keiji, Japanese philosopher
 * Nishida Kitaro, Japanese philosopher
 * Kogen Mizuno, Japanese scholar
 * Red Pine
 * Theodore Stcherbatsky, Russian, wrote Buddhist Logic
 * D.T. Suzuki, Japanese scholar
 * Stephen F. Teiser

Other

 * Alan Watts, American philosopher and lecturer

Humanistic Buddhism (China)

 * Taixu
 * Yin Shun

Nichiren Buddhism (Japan)

 * Tanaka Chigaku
 * Daisaku Ikeda
 * Nikkyo Niwano

Vajrayana Buddhism
Vajrayana originated as Tantra in India.

Tibetan Buddhism


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

Religious writers

 * Pema Chödrön
 * Dalai Lama
 * Anagarika Govinda
 * Kelsang Gyatso
 * Khyentse Norbu
 * Namkhai Norbu
 * Thinley Norbu
 * Ole Nydahl
 * Matthieu Ricard
 * Sangharakshita
 * Sogyal Rinpoche
 * Surya Das
 * Thrangu Rinpoche
 * Chögyam Trungpa

Scholars

 * Alexander Berzin
 * Lokesh Chandra
 * Alexandra David-Néel
 * Walter Evans-Wentz
 * Christmas Humphreys
 * Robert Thurman
 * Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Navayana Buddhism

 * B. R. Ambedkar
 * Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi
 * Iyothee Thass
 * Shanti Swaroop Baudh

Western Buddhism

 * Gil Fronsdal
 * Stephen Batchelor
 * David Brazier
 * Mark Epstein
 * Vidyamala Burch

Writers of fiction and literature

 * Matsuo Bashō, Japanese poet and journalist
 * Jack Kerouac, US poet and novelist
 * Tom Lowenstein, English poet, cultural historian and translator
 * Peter Matthiessen, US novelist
 * Ruth Ozeki, US novelist
 * Jess Row, short story writer
 * Gary Snyder, US poet
 * Allen Ginsberg, US poet

Writing instructors

 * Natalie Goldberg