Dan Hirshberg
Executive Director, Lead Instructor
dan@soteric.org
About
Dan Hirshberg, PhD is an award-winning educator and scholar who completed his doctorate in Tibetan Studies at Harvard University. Having practiced and studied Buddhist contemplative traditions for nearly three decades, he has accumulated thousands of hours of formal meditation practice and traveled extensively throughout Asia. He serves as a Karunika ("compassionate" teacher) for the Nalandabodhi Tibetan Buddhist community.
After a year of research leave as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center, Dan left his tenured professorship at a liberal arts college in Virginia to found SŌTERIC. During his time as a professor, he designed and directed one of the first Contemplative Studies programs for undergraduates, led study abroad programs to Nepal and Japan, established and fostered a Japanese-style garden, and incorporated it into his classes.
Dan has offered numerous professional presentations and publications in Tibetan and Contemplative Studies. He also serves as Visiting Faculty for the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies Program at Naropa University and the Tibet Himalaya Initiative at University of Colorado, Boulder. He serves on the Executive Board of the North American Japanese Garden Association and in 2022 was appointed Editor and Chair of its peer-reviewed Journal of the North American Japanese Garden Association.
In addition to contemplative practice, study, and teaching, Dan delights in spending time with his wife, daughter, and English setter, and enjoys snowboarding, downhill mountain biking, bonsai tree cultivation, Japanese-style dry garden raking, and letter arts (calligraphy and street).
SŌTERIC Contemplative Training
Founder and Executive Director
2021–present
Visiting Scholar, 2020–21
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Director, Contemplative Studies Program
Assoc. Director, Leidecker Center for Asian Studies
2014–21
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
2013–2014
University of California, Santa Barbara
Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow
2012–13
Harvard University
PhD, Inner Asian and Altaic Studies
Tibetan Buddhism and History
2012
MA, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with
Tibetan & Sanskrit Languages,
Monastic Curriculum (Shedra)
2005
BA, Religion
1998
Antioch Buddhist Studies
Bodh Gaya, India
Research in Nepal & Sikkim
Fall 1996 (student)
Fall 2008 (faculty)
UMW Alumni Association
Outstanding Young Faculty Award
Nominee, 2017–19
Association for Asian Studies
E. Gene Smith Book Prize
Remembering the Lotus-Born:
Padmasambhava in the History
of Tibet's Golden Age
Honorable Mention/Second Place, 2018
UMW Innovative Pedagogy Award
Ethics of Religion and Violence, 2017
Harvard University
Bok Center for Teaching and Learning
Teagle Foundation Award, 2011
Harvard College
Certificate of Distinction for Excellence
in the Teaching of Undergraduates
2009
Select Publications
Click an image for the full publication
Contemplating the Smartphone Dis/Connect
Introduces contemplative pedagogy as a means to explore the subtle effects of tech on our psychology and behavior, with a scripted exercise to investigate FOMO.
Fostering the New Interdiscipline of Contemplative Studies
On the use of Japanese-style gardens in classroom assignments, with Dan's original Covid-19 raking pattern as the cover photo.
Effects of a Meditation and Contemplative Practice Course on College Students’ Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Mental Health
The title covers it! Co-authored with UMW colleagues on our course.
Maintaining the Path to Nirvana
Discusses suffering, impermanence and selflessness in Buddhism to explore the contemplative practice of garden cleaning, maintenance and fostering.
Language Scattered, Treasures Revealed
Popular introduction to the discovery of Tibet's oldest surviving manuscripts, as well as the tradition of scriptural and relic revelation known as "treasure" (terma).
Remembering the Lotus-Born
Anlayzes the construction of Tibet's cultural hero, Padmasambhava, the narrative of Tibet's 8th ce. establishment of Buddhism, and their architect, Nyangrel.
The Guru Beyond Time
Explores the art, iconography, history and philosophy of Guru Rinpoche's eight names or aspects and three buddha bodies. For the Second Buddha exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art, NYC.
Inheritance at the Dawn of Catenate Reincarnation
Editor of the volume; author of article exploring early tensions between patrilineal and reincarnate inheritance models in the Tibetan renaissance.