David Seyfort Ruegg

David Seyfort Ruegg (August 1, 1931 – February 2, 2021) was an eminent American-British Buddhologist with a long career, extending from the 1950s to the present.

His specialty was Madhyamaka philosophy, a core doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism.

Ruegg graduated from École des Hautes Etudes in 1957, with degrees in historical science and Sanskrit.

He published his thesis "Contributions à l'histoire de la philosophie linguistique indienne" ("Contributions to the History of Indian Linguistic Philosophy") in 1959.

He received a second doctorate in linguistics from the Sorbonne in Paris, where his thesis was "La théorie du tathâgatagarbha et du gotra : études sur la sotériologie et la gnoséologie du bouddhisme" ("The Theory of Gotra and Tathâgatagarbha: A Study of the Soteriology and Gnoseology of Buddhism"), with a second half thesis on Buton Rinchen Drub's approach to tathâgatagarbha.

Ruegg joined the faculty of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient in 1964, where he researched the history, philology and philosophy of India, Tibet and Buddhism.

From 1966 to 1972, Ruegg occupied the Chair of Languages and Cultures of India and Tibet at Leiden University.

His predecessor was Jan Willem de Jong and his successor was Tilmann Vetter.

He then became associated with the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Ruegg was president of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS) from 1991 to 1999.

L. S. Cousins called Ruegg "certainly the leading scholar today" on the subject of tathâgatagarbha doctrine.

Ruegg died from complications of COVID-19 in London on February 2, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in England.

He was 89.