Dr. Gareth Sparham holds a BA in English (Hons) from McGill University and a PhD in Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia. Between 1974 and 1982 he trained formally at the Rigs lam slob grwa ("Buddhist Dialectic Institute") in Dharamshala, India, maintaining a close association with the Institute through 1998. He went on to teach Tibetan language and Sanskrit at the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley, over a period of twelve years, before leaving academia to devote himself to translating Indian and Tibetan Perfection of Wisdom sūtras and commentaries from Tibetan and Sanskrit into English. His recent publications have been supported by 84000, the UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies, and the Institute of Tibetan Classics.