James B. Apple is full professor of Buddhist studies at the University of Calgary. He received his doctorate in Buddhist studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His current research focuses upon the critical analysis of Mahayana sutras and topics within Indian and Tibetan Buddhist scholasticism. He has published over seventy-five articles in the study of Buddhism. His books include Stairway to Nirvana (2008), A Stairway Taken by the Lucid: Tsong kha pa’s Study of Noble Beings (2013), Jewels of the Middle Way: The Madhyamaka Legacy of Atisa and His Early Tibetan Followers (2018), Atisa Dipamkara: Illuminator of the Awakened Mind (2019), and An Old Tibetan Dunhuang Manuscript of the Avaivartikacakrasutra (2021).