College:
Wadham College
Course:
DPhil Candidate in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Indo-Tibetan)
Thesis Title:
“Nectar, Water, or Blood? A Buddhist History of Perceptual Relativism”
Educational background:
2020-2021 MSt in Oriental Studies (Tibetan) at the University of Oxford.
Thesis title: “Luminosity as the basis, pramāṇa as the path, and infinite potential as the result: rGyal tshab and Mi pham on Dharmakīrti’s thought.”
2008-2015 Masters Programme in Buddhist Studies of Sutra and Tantra, Instituto Lama Tsongkhapa Italy.
Work experience:
Sept – Dec 2024 Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies, Tergar Institute, Osel Ling Monastery, Kathmandu
Sept 2021 – Present Sub Dean, Wadham College, University of Oxford.
Apr - Jun 2024 Tibetan Language Instructor, AMES Faculty, University of Oxford
Oct – Dec 2021 & Jan – Mar 2023 Tutor, Wadham College, & Lady Margaret Hall College, University of Oxford
2016-2020 Philosophy Tutor for the Masters Programme in Buddhist Studies of Sutra and Tantra (a full-time traditionally orientated study programme based on the Tibetan Geshe degree) Nalanda Monastery, France.
Research interests:
Perceptual relativism, the relationship between Buddhist meditative theory and philosophy, Indian and Tibetan Buddhist history, Tibetan systems of epistemology, digital humanities.
Publications:
Fisher, Jacob. 2023.“Different moon same finger? Tsong-kha-pa and Mi-pham’s application of Dharmakīrti’s pramāṇa theory for meditating on emptiness” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 46, 177-207.
Fisher, Jacob. 2024. Review of “Per Kværne and Dan Martin. Drenpa’s Proclamation: The Rise and Decline of the Bön Religion in Tibet”, Zentralasiatische Studien (ZAS), 52: 489-492.
Fisher, Jacob. 2025. “The Tibetan Traditions of Guides to the Madhyamaka View (dbu ma’i lta khrid) and the Schooling of View by Meditation”, Journal of Indian Philosophy, 53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-025-09600-3
(Forthcoming, in press) Fisher, Jacob. 2025. “Who’s Right About Being Wrong? Dharmakīrti and Candrakīrti on Reliable Cognition, Memory, and the Certification of Mistakes”. Journal of Buddhist Philosophy.
(Forthcoming). Fisher, Jacob, et al (Eds.). 2025. Proceedings of the 7th International Seminar of Young Tibetologists, Oxford 2024.
Conference presentations and invited lectures:
(June 2022 & 2023). Conference presentations of “Tsong-kha-pa and Mi-pham’s Application of Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇa Theory for Meditating on Emptiness” for Journeys: Spiritual and Physical Experiences in East Asian Buddhism conference (Cambridge University), and for the French Society for Tibetan Studies (SFEMT Paris) conference.
(February 2024). Invited lecture on “Who’s Right About Being Wrong? Dharmakīrti and Candrakīrti on Reliable Cognition, Memory, and the Certification of Mistakes” Indian Religions Seminar (University of Cambridge).
(August 2024). Conference presentation of "The Tibetan Traditions of Guides to the Madhyamaka View (dbu ma’i lta khrid) and the Schooling of View by Meditation” at the Madhyamaka in South Asia and Beyond conference, Vienna.
