D. Phil (Buddhist Philosophy), Oriental Institute and Wadham College, University of Oxford (1978)
Most of his work has been on Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophy, a school of Buddhism which developed in India probably initially during the first century C.E. and had a wide influence on Buddhist thought throughout India, Tibet and East Asia. In particular this tradition was often taken in Tibet as the final philosophical position of Buddhism, and it has been studied as such by Tibetans to the present day. He has also worked on the Tibetan assimilation and scholastic extension of Madhyamaka ideas, notably the complex understanding developed by a sub-school known as Prasangika Madhyamaka. More recently he has become particularly interested in ethics, -and is planning a book on Virtue Ethics and the principles of bodhisattva conduct - and also medieval Western philosophical and mystical theology.