Hirakawa Akira is professor emeritus of Indian philosophy at Tokyo
University. In 1983 he was elected president of the Japanese Association
of Indian and Buddhist Studies, the most important academic organiza-
tion for Buddhist studies in Japan. Hirakawa is the author or editor of
over 20 books and 240 scholarly articles and reviews on Buddhism. He
is current directing the compilation of a Chinese-Sanskirt dictionary
of Buddhist terms.

Paul Groner holds a doctorate in buddhist studies from Yale Univer-
sity. He studied under Hirakawa Akira for several years in Japan and
has worked with him on a number of projects. Professor Groner is on
the faculty of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of
Virginia. Among his publications is Saichō: The Establistment of the Japa-
nese Tendai School.

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