About Roger R. Jackson

Roger Jackson is professor emeritus of Asian studies and religion at Carleton College and a visiting professor of Buddhism at Maitripa College. His research interests include Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and ritual; Buddhist religious poetry; and modern Buddhist thought. Trained by Geshe Sopa in Madison, he is a long-time practitioner and a scholar of Mahamudra; his most recent book, Mind Seeing Mind, is a study of Mahamudra in the Geluk tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

How Do We Make Sense of Rebirth?

by Roger R. Jackson| June 24, 2022

Questions around rebirth—from how it works to whether it’s even real—have energized and divided Buddhists for millennia. In this excerpt from his book “Rebirth,” Roger R. Jackson unpacks the complexity of it all and offers four basic approaches to incorporating it (or not) into our own practice.

Empty, Pure, Luminous: Mind in Dzogchen and Mahamudra

by Roger R. Jackson| March 11, 2021

Roger R. Jackson explains how different Tibetan schools approach the nature of mind, and why it matters.

Think Again Before You Dismiss Magic

by Roger R. Jackson| August 11, 2020

Roger R. Jackson reviews “Buddhist Magic: Divination, Healing, and Enchantment Through the Ages” by Sam van Schaik.

Dare We Update the Dharma?

by Roger R. Jackson| November 25, 2019

Buddhist teachings have been changing and evolving from the beginning, says scholar Roger R. Jackson. He suggests some ways they can be updated to reflect modern values and knowledge.

What the Animals Taught

by Roger R. Jackson| November 14, 2017

Roger Jackson reviews “Unfortunate Destiny: Animals in the Indian Buddhist Imagination” by Reiko Ohnuma.

Dzogchen Explained

by Roger R. Jackson| April 13, 2017

Roger Jackson reviews “Heart of the Great Perfection: Dudjom Lingpa’s Visions of the Great Perfection,” Vol. 1 by B. Alan Wallace.

Review: Stephen Batchelor’s “After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age”

by Roger R. Jackson| January 29, 2016

In his latest and most ambitious work, “After Buddhism,” Stephen Batchelor makes a sustained and serious attempt to argue for his vision of Buddhism.

Was the Buddha Ecumenical?

by Roger R. Jackson| August 12, 2014

Roger R. Jackson reviews “The Buddha and Religious Diversity” by J. Abraham Vélez de Cea.

The Tibetan Leonardo

by Roger R. Jackson| November 8, 2012

Kongtrul’s works have deeply influenced modern Kagyu and Nyingma thought and practice, and The Treasury of Knowledge is the most influential of all.

Whose Book of the Dead?

by Roger R. Jackson| May 16, 2011

A review of “The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography” by Donald S. Lopez Jr.