09/15/2026
50 Years, 50 Stories of East Asia
Building on the incredible momentum of our 50th-anniversary celebrations, the UVA East Asia Center is continuing our initiatives to highlight alumni-authored works that are actively shaping the field today.
Yaroslav Komarovski is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He earned his PhD in Religious Studies in 2007 from the University of Virginia. Drawing on a decade of study in Tibetan monastic institutions in India, Komarovski’s research explores the formation and transformation of Buddhist ideas across Asia, specializing in epistemology, philosophy, and contemplative practices.
In his recent book, Is Reality Beyond Good and Evil?: Tibetan Buddhist Inquiry into the Ultimate Virtue (University of Virginia Press), Komarovski illuminates historical debates on the fundamental nature of virtue and ultimate reality. By tracing origins back to Indian texts and early Tibetan thinkers, he demonstrates how divergent frameworks–specifically the conflicting yet complementary Yogācāra and Madhyamaka systems–affect how Buddhist leaders understand and approach ultimate virtue. By examining two key thinkers within the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Serdok Penchen Shakya Chokden (1428–1507) and Gowo Rapjampa Sönam Senggé (1429–1489), the book delivers a comprehensive overview of their past clashes and a new, modern perspective on the debate.
Learn more about the book & the author:
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10026/
https://classics.unl.edu/person/yaroslav-komarovski/
