Dominic Sur

Biography

Dominic Di Zinno Sur is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies teaching courses in world religion, history of religion, and Buddhism. Sur's first book is a translation and introduction to an outstanding eleventh century masterpiece of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, entitled: Entering the Way of the Great Vehicle (ཐེག་ཆེན་ཚུལ་འཇུག): Dzogchen as the Culmination of the Mahāyāna (Shambhala Publications, 2017). Sur's second book, entitled The Early Tibetan Practice of Buddhist Philosophy: Metaphysics, Argumentation, and Identity in Rongzom's Dzokchen is forthcoming (April 2026) from The University of Virginia Press's Traditions and Transformations in Tibetan Buddhism series. In 2024, Sur received a translation grant from the  Tsadra Foundation to translate a classic treatise on Vajrayāna philosophy, entitled A Framework for Vehicles (ཐེག་པ་སྤྱི་བཅིངས་), for study and publication.

Sur's current research focuses on Tibetan innovations in Buddhist philosophy, especially those associated with tantric logic and visionary epistemology, i.e., the use of normative Indian logical epistemology (pramāṇa) in adjudicating the visionary experiences derivative of the liminal states penetrated through advanced Tibetan contemplative practices.