Vehicles of the Dharma: Buddhist Manuscripts

Dr. Jann Ronis is the Executive Director at Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeking out, preserving, documenting, and disseminating Buddhist literature. BDRC provide scholars, translators, Buddhist practitioners, and the general public with access to an unparalleled collection of Buddhist texts. Joining digital technology with scholarship, BDRC ensures that the cultural treasures of the Buddhist literary tradition are secure and accessible for generations to come. Please visit https://www.bdrc.io/ to learn more!

Jann is a college professor with 8 years teaching experience at top tier universities. He has a broad-based skill set that includes research, writing, translation, public speaking, academic advising, and curricular development. Jann is a noted specialist in Asian Religions, contemporary Asian culture and society, and historical research. He spent over 5 years living in Asia, including 4 years in China for research and the study of Mandarin. Jann is passionately interested in applying insights about culture and society gained through my academic work to the endeavors of change-making organizations.

Jann's love for the study of Buddhism began with the Antioch Buddhist Studies study abroad program in Bodh Gaya in the Fall of 1995. He began learning spoken and literary Tibetan the following year in Kathmandu while a student with the University of Wisconsin's College Year in Nepal program. He took his first trip to Tibet during the summer of 2000, traveling alone in Kham. In 2001, he spent the summer in Lhasa with a team from the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (now known as the Tibetan and Himalayan Library), which kicked off his long involvement with digital humanities initiatives.

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