Prof. Bart Dessein

Bart Dessein studied Classical and Modern Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit at Ghent University (Belgium), and obtained his MA from Ghent University in 1987 with a dissertation entitled “Nāgārjuna’s Traktaat van de Twaalf Poorten (Dvādaśamukhaśāstra, T.Vol.30, Nr.1568)” (Nāgārjuna’s Twelve Gates Treatise (Dvādaśamukhaśāstra, T.Vol.30, Nr.1568).

Portret Barta Desseina/Bart Dessein portraitAfter two years of study at Liaoning University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China, funded by a scholarship of the Flemish Community (1987-1989), he returned to Ghent University where, in 1990, he obtained the Qualification Degree for Teaching in Oriental Philology. In 1991, he became researcher with the Belgian National Funds for Scientific Research (FWO). As a researcher, Bart Dessein obtained his Ph.D. in Oriental Languages and Cultures with a dissertation entitled “Allerlei betreffende de Kern der Scholastiek (Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdayaśāstra – T.Vol.28, Nr.1552)” (1994). The English version of this dissertation was published in 1999 with Motilal Banarsidass in Delhi. Equally in 1994, Bart Dessein became assistent at the Department of Languages and Cultures of South and East-Asia at Ghent University. In 1999, he was appointed associate professor at the same department.
His research area focuses on Buddhist philosophy (mainly Sarvāstivāda) and the history of Buddhism in China. His ongoing research refers to Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma – research of philosophical developments, based on analysis of Chinese versions (Taishō edition) of Sarvāstivāda texts.
His most recent texts are Abhidharma / Abhidhamma. In S. Goetz & C. Taliaferro (Eds.), The encyclopedia of philosophy of religion. Wiley 2021; Laozi. Dao De Jing. Illustrated by C. C. Tsai. Foreword by Pico Iyer. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2020.