Associate Professor at Lumbini Buddhist University, excels in Buddhist studies with a strong academic and research background. Her dedication to advancing scholarly resources and fostering academic growth enriches the university’s educational environment.
Dr. Sharada Poudel is an Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Central Campus of Lumbini Buddhist University, Nepal, where she has been a member of the faculty since 2014. Her academic work spans Sanskrit Buddhist textual scholarship, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna philosophy, Buddhist epistemology and ethics, comparative religion, and the study of gender in Buddhist thought and history. She has authored, edited, or translated twelve books and has published over more than twelve peer-reviewed articles in national and international journals. She is a long-standing editorial collaborator on the Śatasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā project and has presented her research at scholarly forums in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, China, and the United Kingdom.
Education
Dr. Poudel received her Doctor of Philosophy from Lumbini Buddhist University in 2013. Her doctoral dissertation, titled “An Analytical Study of Ācārya Kamalaśīla’s Commentary on the Ārya Prajñāpāramitā Vajracchedikā,” offered a sustained philological and philosophical examination of Kamalaśīla’s eighth-century commentary on the Diamond Sutra, situating the text within the broader Madhyamaka and Prajñāpāramitā traditions. Prior to her doctoral studies, she completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Buddhist Studies at Tribhuvan University (2009–2010) and a Master’s degree (Kalācārya) from Tribhuvan University with a specialization in Rural Development. She has also undertaken sustained study of Sanskrit grammar and Indian philosophical traditions under senior scholars.
Academic Appointments and Institutional Service
Dr. Poudel joined Lumbini Buddhist University as a Teaching Assistant in 2014 and was appointed Assistant Professor in 2016. She was promoted to Associate Professor in March 2024. In addition to her teaching and research responsibilities, she has served in significant administrative capacities within the university: as Assistant Campus Chief of the Central Campus (2021–2023) and as Library Chief of the Central Library (2023–2025). She is a member of the University Senate (2024–2026), the Academic Council (2020–2026), and served on the Executive Council from 2016 to 2025. She also served as Secretary of the Subject Committee of the BARD program from 2021 to 2024.
Research
Dr. Poudel’s primary research is in Sanskrit Buddhist textual studies, with a focus on the Prajñāpāramitā literature, the canonical corpus of Mahāyāna sūtras and their commentarial traditions dealing with the perfection of wisdom. Her work involves the critical editing of Sanskrit manuscripts, their translation into Hindi, Nepali, and English, and their philosophical interpretation within the context of Indian Buddhist thought. She engages closely with Sanskrit, Pāli, and Tibetan sources, and situates her textual scholarship within broader inquiries into Buddhist epistemology, Madhyamaka philosophy, Vijñaptimātratā, and Buddhist ethics.
A second and interconnected strand of her research concerns gender in Buddhism, examining the historical status, roles, and contributions of women in Buddhist communities and thought, drawing on canonical, commentarial, and narrative sources. This work engages contemporary debates in feminist scholarship and the history of religions. A third area of her scholarly attention addresses Buddhism and contemporary social questions, including the interface between Buddhist ethics and international humanitarian concerns, the social dimensions of Buddhist teaching, and the relationship between Buddhist thought and modernity.
Her most extensive long-term scholarly project is her editorial work on the Śatasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā is the “Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines,” one of the longest texts in the Buddhist canon which carried out in collaboration with Professor Kashinath Nyaupane and others. The project, which Dr. Poudel has contributed to since 2015, has resulted in a 36-volume critical edition with Hindi translation, published by Central Sanskrit University, Delhi, in 2026.
Selected Publications
Among her major book publications, Dr. Poudel’s edited Sanskrit text with Hindi translation of the Mīmāṃsā-tarka-bhāṣā (Central Sanskrit University, Delhi, 2025) represents a significant contribution to Sanskrit philosophical literature. Her co-edited Hindi translation of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, 2025) makes accessible one of the foundational shorter texts of the Prajñāpāramitā tradition. Her English translation of the Svayambhū Purāṇa (D. K. Publishers, Varanasi, 2023), co-authored with Professor Nyaupane, offers English-language scholarship an important Newar Buddhist cosmological and mythological text. Her monograph Sanskrit Mahāyāna Sāhitya (Nepal Sanskrit University, 2023) provides a comprehensive scholarly overview of Sanskrit Mahāyāna literary tradition. Earlier, she produced Nepali translations of the Śrī-Nāmasaṅgīti and the Suhṛllekha (both Nepal Sanskrit University, 2023), prepared a critical edition of the Tattvopaplavasiṃha of Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa (Nepal Academy, 2013), and authored Bauddhadarshan Mūlrūpmā (Nepal Sanskrit Pratishthan, 2012), an introductory scholarly work on Buddhist philosophy in Nepali.
Her peer-reviewed articles address a range of topics in Buddhist studies and Indian philosophy, including the doctrine of karma in early Theravāda Buddhism, the life and scholarship of Buddhaghoṣa, the Vijñaptimātratā doctrine of the Yogācāra school, the Pañcabuddha conception in Buddhist tantra, the six Buddhist councils, the social ethics of the Sigālovāda Sutta, the relationship between Buddhism and Marxism, and the role and status of women in Buddhist history. Her work has appeared in Lumbini Prabha, Buddhist and Pali Studies (Midlands International Buddhist Association, UK), Siddhartha Journal of Academics, Darshan Pravāha, and other national and international publications.
Conference and Lecture Activity
Dr. Poudel has delivered invited lectures and presented research papers at major international scholarly events. At the 19th World Sanskrit Conference held in Kathmandu in June 2025, she presented a paper on the transformation of the Buddha concept from the historical Śākyamuni to the Cosmic Buddha as reflected in Pāli and Sanskrit sources. In March 2026, she delivered a lecture on the contribution of Nalanda Mahāvihāra to the dissemination of the Buddha’s teaching at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi. She presented at an international conference on Buddhism and International Humanitarian Law in Dambulla, Sri Lanka (2019); at an ICCR bilateral seminar on India–Nepal socio-cultural relations in New Delhi (2017); and at the Chong Sheng Forum in China on the globalization of Buddhism and women’s empowerment (2017). She has also spoken at Lumbini International Buddhist Conference (2021), international symposia on India–Nepal Buddhist heritage (2025), and numerous conferences organized by Lumbini Buddhist University.
She has served as organizer, panelist, and discussant at the Third International Buddhist Conference (Lumbini, 2026), international symposia on diplomacy and Buddhist teachings for global peace and sustainable development, and seminars on China–Nepal Buddhist cultural exchange, among others.
Doctoral Supervision and Examination
Dr. Poudel has supervised over Fifteen Master’s theses at Lumbini Buddhist University on subjects spanning Buddhist philosophy, gender studies, and textual analysis of Pāli literature, Buddhist history, and monastic institutions. She has served as an external doctoral examiner at Nepal Sanskrit University, evaluating dissertations on Aśvaghoṣa’s literary works Buddha Charita and Vasubandhu’s Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, and has reviewed more than twenty doctoral research proposals and scholarly articles.
Languages
Dr. Poudel works in Nepali, English, Sanskrit and Hindi. Her scholarly publications and translations appear in Nepali, Sanskrit, Hindi, and English.
Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies
Master’s Degree in Rural development
Post Graduate Diploma in Buddhist Studies
Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies
Mimamsatarkabhasa, a Hindi translation, Varanasi: D.K. Publishers, 2017
Bauddha Siksha ra Devdaha Parichaya, A text book, Devdaha, Nepal: Sthaniya Vikaas Mantralaya,2017
Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayarashi bhatta(ed.), Kathmandu: Nepal Academy, 2013
Tarakalpa(ed.), A nepali Translation, Kathmandu: Nepal Sanskrit Pratisthan , 2012
Bauddhadarshan Mulrupma, Kathmandu: Nepal Sanskrit Pratisthan 2012
Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita, A hindi Translation