Short bio
Daisy Sze Yui Cheung studied Architecture (BA 2002, MA 2005) and Buddhist Studies (MA 2011) at the University of Hong Kong and holds a PhD in Indology from the University of Hamburg (2021). She joined the IKGA in 2024 as a postdoctoral research fellow and the principal investigator of the FWF-funded project “Rationalising Tantra in Late Indian Buddhism: Ratnākaraśānti on maṇḍala Rituals and Tantric Spiritual Practices.”
Cheung has developed a wide range of interests and research topics over her academic and research career, including the history of tantric Buddhism in India, Tibet and China; tantric Buddhist rituals; possession; omens in tantric texts; Buddhist philosophy; Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts; Tibetan and Chinese translations of Buddhist texts; tantric Buddhist art and architecture; and cross-cultural exchanges between South and East Asia. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on the abhiṣeka section of the eleventh-century Indian Buddhist master Ratnākaraśānti’s commentary on the ninth-century tantric Buddhist ritual work *Guhyasamājamaṇḍalavidhi. She has also published articles and given talks on Kambala’s Ālokamālā and Navaślokī at a number of universities and research institutions. Her current research focus is the relationship between Buddhist philosophy and tantric practices, specifically the rational justification of maṇḍala rituals by Ratnākaraśānti and scholars from the Jñānapāda school of Guhyasamāja exegesis.
Recent publications
“Preliminary observations on newly available Sanskrit manuscripts of Kambala’s Ālokamālā and Ālokamālāpañjikā with a new critical edition and English translation of verses 269–274 of the Ālokamālā.” In Sanskrit manuscripts in China IV. Beijing Seminar on Tibetan Studies, edited by Horst Lasic and Francesco Sferra. Beijing. 2024 Forthcoming.
“Madhyamakanising” Tantric Yogācāra: The Reuse of Ratnākaraśānti’s Explanation of maṇḍala Visualisation in the Works of Śūnyasamādhivajra, Abhayākaragupta and Tsong Kha Pa. Journal of Indian Philosophy 51(5, November 2023), 611–643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-023-09548-2.
“On Kambala’s Navaślokī and its Chinese Translation.” In Production and Preservation of Buddhist Manuscripts in Central and East Asia, edited by Ru Zhan, Jinhua Chen, Yun Ji, pp. 158–198. Hualin Series on Buddhist Studies I. Singapore: World Scholastic Publishers, 2020. https://glorisunglobalnetwork.org/first-volume-of-hualin-series-on-buddhist-studies/.