John Powers

C. John Powers (born 1 October 1957) is an American-born Australian scholar of Asian Studies and Buddhism, with particular expertise in Tibetan Buddhism. Much of his teaching career has been at the Australian National University in Canberra. he is at the University of Melbourne.

Early life and education Powers was born on 1 October 1957. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in philosophy and religious studies in 1979. and in 1995 was published in hardback and paperback by Dharma Publishing in 1995, titled Wisdom of Buddha: The Samdhinirmochana Sutra.

Career In 1987 Powers was appointed adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. From summer 1989 until the northern summer of 1995, he spent periods of varying lengths as research assistant, lecturer, visiting professor at various universities in the United States. He was briefly Kiriyama Chair of Pacific Rim Studies at the University of San Francisco in 1995.

Writing and research interests A practising Buddhist, he has special expertise in Buddhism in Tibet.

Other activities Powers has sat on a large number of committees, often as chair.

In 2013 Powers was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Personal life Powers' personal interests include photography, reading, and watching ice hockey.

Publications As author

As co-editor Scriptures of world religions. McGraw Hill, 1998 (with James Fieser)

As translator Wisdom of Buddha: the Saṁdhinirmocana Sūtra. Tibetan translation series, Vol. 16, (Translator), Dharma Publications, 1995 Jñānagarbha's Commentary on just the Maitreya chapter from the Saṃdhinirmocana-Sūtra: study, translation and Tibetan text. Indian Council of Philosophical Research, 1998