Respected and cherished scholar of Buddhist Studies, Indology, and Philology and creator of the Buddhist Studies program at University of Michigan passed away on September 3, 2017.
In June 2017, knowing that he had just a few months to live, he decided to give his final lecture at the Translation & Transmission Conference. The lecture was delivered in the plenary session, Approaches to Translation and Transmission, which also included the esteemed scholars Susan Bassnett, David Bellos, and Jonathan Gold. Professor Gómez pondered translation as a multi-layered social communication act which considers philological analysis, the significance of meaning, and the needs of both audience and publishers. He reminded us that “Words seldom mean one thing–they are naturally elastic,” and the beauty and practicality of translation rely on the plasticity of meaning and interpretation. Watch Professor Gómez’s final lecture here.
Read the obituary composed by Donald Lopez, Jr. on the Translation & Transmission Conference website.
To honor his memory, the University of Michigan is seeking to raise an endowment to establish the Luis Gómez Memorial Lecture Fund, which would support an annual lecture in Luis’s honor, bringing a major scholar of Buddhism to campus. Generous donations from students of Luis and from Buddhist organizations from around the world have helped raise more than half of the fundraising goal. To help reach the goal, please consider making a donation here.
Publications and Contributions of Note
- The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Buddhism (Norton, 2015)
- Buddhist Studies – The Legacy of Gadjin M. Nagao (Motilal Banarsidass, 2008)
- The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light (University of Hawai’i Press, 1996)
- Buddhism in Practice (Princeton University Press, 1995)
- Sudden and Gradual (Motilal Banarsidass, 1991)
- Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle (Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature, Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, 1989)
- Studies in Ch’an and Hua-yen (University of Hawai’i Press, 1985)
- Barabudur: History and Significance of a Buddhist Monument (Asian Humanities Press, 1981)
- Prajñāpāramitā and Related Systems (University of California and The Institute of Buddhist Studies, 1977)
