I've been a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order since 2005. At my ordination I was given the name Jayarava (जयरव) "roar of victory", which I use in most circumstances. I have written and self-published books on mantra (based on my website Visible Mantra), Buddhist names, and the History of Karma. My peer reviewed publications have appeared in Buddhist Studies Review, Contemporary Buddhism, International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, and Pacific World.
I'm the world's leading Heart Sutra scholar at present. My groundbreaking work on the Heart Sutra covers the history, philology, and philosophy of the text. My work is notable for having discovered and corrected errors in Conze's edition, presenting the first English language study of the Fangshan stele (the oldest dated Heart Sutra artefact), tracing the origins of the phrase "form is emptiness", and for developing a phenomenological reading of the Heart Sutra. I am the leading advocate of the Chinese origins conjecture, first proposed by Jan Nattier in 1992, and have published the definitive study of this issue (2021, JIABS)
- (2015). ‘Heart Murmurs: Some Problems with Conze’s Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya.’ Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 8: 28-48.
- (2017). ‘Epithets of the Mantra in the Heart Sutra.’ Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 12: 26–57.
- (2017). ‘Form is (Not) Emptiness: The Enigma at the Heart of the Heart Sutra.’ Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 13: 52–80.
- (2018). ‘A Note on Niṣṭhānirvāṇa in the Heart Sutra.’ Journal of the Oxford Centre For Buddhist Studies 14: 10-17.
- (2018). ‘The Buddhas of the Three Times and the Chinese Origins of the Heart Sutra.’ Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 15: 9-27.
- (2019). ‘Xuanzang’s Relationship to the Heart Sūtra in Light of the Fangshan Stele.’ Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies 32: 1–30.
- (2020). "Ungarbling Section VI of the Sanskrit Heart Sutra." Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 18, 11-41.
- (2020). "Edward Conze: A Re-evaluation of the Man and his Contribution to Prajñāpāramitā Studies." Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 19, 22-51.
- (2020). "The History of the Heart Sutra as a Palimpsest." Pacific World, Series 4, no.1, 155-182.
- (2020). "Studying The Heart Sutra: Basic Sources And Methods (A Response To Ng And Ānando)." Buddhist Studies Review, 37 (1-2), 199–217.
- (2021). "Preliminary Notes on the Extended Heart Sutra in Chinese." Asian Literature and Translation 8(1): 63–85.
- (2021): "The Chinese Origins of the Heart Sutra Revisited: A Comparative Analysis of the Chinese and Sanskrit Texts." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. 44: 13-52.
- (2022) "The Cessation of Sensory Experience and Prajñāpāramitā Philosophy". International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture 32(1):111-148.
- (2022). "The Heart Sutra Revisited." [Review article]. Buddhist Studies Review. 39(2): 229-254. [A review of five articles in a special issue of Acta Asiatica (2019; vol 121) by senior Japanese scholars].
Despite publishing in reputable mainstream scholarly journals my work on the Heart Sutra is not covered in the Wikipedia article because the people who edit it refuse to acknowledge my contribution.
I have written over 600 essays for my blog on topics relates to Buddhism. I have various other interests related to Indology, linguistics, art, calligraphy, and music.
I used to edit as Mahābāla.