Dan McNamara

Dan McNamara is a senior student in Younge Drodul Ling. He first connected with Younge Khachab Rinpoche in 2003 and has been engaged in sustained study and practice within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for many years.

Professionally, Dan is a researcher at Rangjung Yeshe Institute. He holds an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a PhD in West and South Asian Religions from Emory University. His doctoral work examined the philosophy of the Indian Buddhist scholar Ratnākaraśānti and his engagement with Nāgārjuna and the Madhyamaka tradition.

Dan has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Buddhist philosophy, including Madhyamaka, Pramāṇa theory, Sanskrit, and classical Tibetan, at Emory University, Candler School of Theology, and the Carleton–Antioch Buddhist Studies Program in Bodh Gaya. His current research focuses on Ratnākaraśānti’s influence in Tibet and the development of other-emptiness thought.

In this course, he brings together careful textual study and long familiarity with the tradition to help make these classical arguments accessible and relevant for contemporary practice.