Dr. Torsten Gerloff

Torsten began his academic studies in 2008 at the University of Hamburg where he studied Sanskrit (major) and Tibetan and Thai (minor). In 2012 he received his BA and then deepened his study of Tantric Buddhism (specifically the Hevajra cycle) and Sanskrit philology. In 2014 he submitted his MA thesis and three years later in 2017 his doctoral dissertation both concerning the Hevajra lineage associated with Saroruhavajra (Tib. mtsho skyes rdo rje). After three years of research and teaching at the International PhD Program in Buddhist Textual Studies Mahidol University Thailand Torsten returned to his alma mater to conduct a joint research project on Indrabhūti’s Jñānasiddhi, a tantric work from the transition phase of the predominance of the Yoga- and Mahāyogatantras to that of the later Yoginītantras. Although he primarily focuses on the Buddhist Tantric traditions with a special emphasis on the Hevajra and Guhyasamāja systemsTorsten has a general interest in the study of Mahāyāna Buddhism and Abhidharma literature in the cultural extents of IndiaTibetand beyondconsidering the close study of the surviving textual witnesses of major importance for a more complete and thorough understanding of the Buddhist traditions in the light of their own doctrinal positions and soteriological practices.