Biography
Zhaohua Yang received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. He specializes in tantric or esoteric Buddhism in middle-period China. His research interests also include indigenous scriptures, the interactions between Buddhism and Daoism, and religions on the Silk Road. In addition to his training in pre-modern Dunhuang and Japanese manuscripts, he has done extensive fieldwork in Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and the US. He is finishing his first book manuscript, Devouring Impurities: Code, Myth, Ritual and Talisman in the Cult of Ucchuṣma in Tang China (618-907), which explores Chinese responses to antinomian tantric practices as seen through a Dunhuang manuscript. He is also developing a second project on the transformations of Buddhist ritual in Late Imperial China (960-1450). He worked as a journalist prior to his graduate work.