Quick Facts
Biography
Alexander Berzin (born 1944) is a scholar, translator, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism.
Early years
Berzin was born in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. He received his B.A. degree in 1965 from the Department of Oriental Studies, Rutgers University; his M.A. in 1967; and, his Ph.D. in 1972 from the Departments of Far Eastern Languages (Chinese) and Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University.
Work
His main teacher was Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, an assistant tutor of the Dalai Lama. Berzin served as the Dalai Lama's archivist and occasionally his interpreter.
In 1998, Berzin moved back to the West and devotes most of his time to preparing his unpublished materials for his Study Buddhism website. The website was chosen in 2011 to be archived as part of the Bodleian Electronic Archives and Manuscripts collection of the University of Oxford.
Berzin is on the Board of Advisors of Tibet House Germany and the International Center for Buddhist-Muslim Understanding of the College of Religious Studies of Mahidol University, Thailand.
He currently lives in Berlin, Germany.
