Education
Muller"s academic study of Buddhism began as an undergraduate at Stony Brook University, where he majored in Religious Studies under the guidance of Sung Bae Park, a specialist in Seon and Korean Buddhism. After graduating, he spent two years studying in Japan, after which he spent one year in the graduate program in Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. In 1988, he left UVa to return to Stony Brook, where he completed a Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature, once again with Sung Bae Park as his principal advisor.
He also studied Theology with Peter Manchester, Islam with William Chittick, and Postmodern literary criticism with Michael Sprinker and Hugh Silverman.
His dissertation, "HamhÅ Kihwa: A Study of His Major Works," was accepted in 1993, after which he spent six months in of Korea as a research associate at the Academy of Korean Studies, before taking up an academic position in Japan, at Toyo Gakuen University.
