David Seyfort Ruegg

David Seyfort Ruegg (New York, 1931) is an eminent Buddhologist with a long career, extending from the 1950s to the present. His specialty has been Madhyamaka philosophy, a core doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism.

Ruegg graduated from Ecole des Hautes Etudes in 1957 with degrees in historical science and Sanskrit. He published his thesis "Contributions a l'histoire de la philosophie linguistique indienne" ("Contributions to the History of Indian Linguistic Philosophy") in 1959. He received a second doctorate in linguistics from the Sorbonne in Paris, where his thesis was "La theorie du tathagatagarbha et du gotra : etudes sur la soteriologie et la gnoseologie du bouddhisme" ("The Theory of Gotra and Tathagatagarbha: A Study of the Soteriology and Gnoseology of Buddhism"), with a second half thesis on Bu Rin chen grub's approach to tathagatagarbha. In 1964 he joined the faculty of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient, where he researched the history, philology and philosophy of India, Tibet and Buddhism.

From 1966-1972 Ruegg occupied the Chair of Languages and Cultures of India and Tibet at Leiden University. His predecessor was Jan Willem de Jong and his successor was Tilmann Vetter. He has since become associated with the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Ruegg was president of the International Association for Buddhist Studies (IABS) from 1991 to 1999.

L.S. Cousins called Ruegg "certainly the leading scholar today" on the subject of tathagatagarbha doctrine.