Karl Schmid

I am currently working on my PhD in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. I completed a Master’s in Tibetan
Buddhism at Maitripa College in 2011 and a Master’s in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Chicago in 2014. My dissertation research centers on Buddhist philosophical theories on meditation, and their relations to contemporary philosophy of mind and psychology. In particular, I am working on the triad of meditation manuals, the Bhāvanākramas, written by the 8th century Indian Buddhist philosopher Kamalaśīla. I am interested in how his depiction of vipaśyanā (insight meditation) and his arguments on conceptual meditation relate to contemporary discussions on meditation’s potential for ethical development.