Michael D. Smith, MA MPH MSW
[email protected]
he/him
Michael, a Louisiana native, holds masters degrees in social work and public health from Tulane University and in Translation, Textual Interpretation, and Philology from Rangjung Yeshe Institute at Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies. He will begin a PhD program in Buddhist literature at the University of Virginia in August 2025. He first came to Nepal in 2003 with the University of Wisconsin’s Nepal study abroad program and has returned annually to South Asia to study languages, work on gap-year and college study abroad programs, and volunteer with social development, environmental, and rural disaster reconstruction projects for various NGOs.
His research has included collecting oral histories from Khumbu, Nepal, which he collated into a full length biography of an influential Tibetan lama, and observing the social and religious dynamics of contemporary Newari Buddhist patrons of Tibetan Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley, conducted on site in monasteries while on a Fulbright research grant.
Prior to joining SIT, Michael served as a translator and instructor at Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies. Since 2004, he has worked with a dozen educational institutions on over 50 student travel programs in Nepal, India, Tibet, and Bhutan. His experience ranges from academic to non-academic experiential learning formats, for high school, undergraduate, graduate, and continuing adult education instruction levels.
He has also been closely involved in environmental and social projects in New Orleans and in Himalayan and Tibetan communities since the early 2000s. He is a board member of the Louisiana Himalaya Association as well as a founding member of Woven Earth, an organization that runs permaculture and natural building trainings in Nepal. He returns to Dharamsala, India each summer with students from Tulane University, teaching philosophy and facilitating social service work with the local Tibetan exile population.
Courses Taught
ASIA 3010 – Religious Change in Tibet and the Himalayas
ASIA 3020 – The Politics of Tibetan and Himalayan Borders
ANTH 3500 – Field Methods and Ethics
Selected Publications
Smith, M. D. (2025). The Carefree Dzogchen Yogi of Dolpo: A Study and Translation of The Condensed Life of the Old Beggar Orgyan Tenzin (1657–1757). Kathmandu, Vajra Academy Publications. Forthcoming
Smith, M. D. (2024). Subgenres of Spiritual Song (mgur, dohā) in 17th-18th Century Dolpa, Nepal. Proceedings of the 13th Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal and the Himalaya. Kathmandu, Social Science Baha. Forthcoming.
Smith, M. D. (2007). The Lama of Sky Mountain: A Brief Introduction to the Life Story of Khari Rinpoche Lobsang Tsultrim. Buddhist Himalaya Journal, Spring 2007. Lalitpur, Nepal, Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods.
Selected Presentations
Smith, M. D. (2024, July 24-26). Subgenres of spiritual song (mgur, dohā) in 17th-18th century Dolpa, Nepal [Conference presentation]. The 13th Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal and the Himalaya, Kathmandu, Nepal. https://annualconference.soscbaha.org/
Smith, M. D. (2024, April 17). The carefree Dzogchen yogi of Dolpo: Notes on The condensed life of the old beggar Orgyan Tenzin (1657–1757) [Paper presentation].
Smith, M. D. (2007, May 12). Pilgrimage sites of the Kathmandu Valley [Paper presentation]. Fulbright Research Symposium, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Current Research Interests
How stories and spiritual songs, both oral and textual, inform the transmission and expression of Buddhist ritual and conduct across Tibet and the Himalayas
16th and 17th century life stories (rnam thar) and spiritual songs (mgur) from Dolpo in northwest Nepal
Questions related to genre, inter-textuality, and historical transmission of Buddhist literature and praxis between the Tibetan plateau and Nepali Himalayan valleys
Education
- MA, Translation, Textual Interpretation, and Philology, Kathmandu University, Rangjung Yeshe Institute
- MPH, International Health and Development, Tulane University
- MSW, International Social Work, Tulane University
- BA, Religious Studies, Rice University
- BA, Environmental Policy Studies, Rice University
