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Linnart Mäll (7 June 1938 – 14 February 2010)
Born in Tallinn, Estonia, Dr. Mäll graduated from the Tartu State University in 1962 with a major in general history. He followed graduation with postgraduate studies at the Institute for Oriental Studies at the Academy of Sciences of USSR (1964-1966) and Department of History, Tartu State University (1966-1969); 1985 Cand. Hist. (Ph.D.) in history, Ph.D. thesis "Ashtasâhasrikâ Prajñâpâramitâ as a Historical Source". Dr. Mäll died of cancer in Tartu, 2010.14.02.
His main research fields included: Buddhist Mahâyâna texts, Buddhist mythology, classical Indian literature and culture, classical Chinese texts, Tibetan Buddhist texts and the history and rights of small nations and peoples.
He was one of the first who applied the methods of semiotic analysis for investigation of Buddhist texts and other texts of classical Oriental thought. Mäll was one of the central figures of the branch of oriental studies in the Tartu-Moscow school of semiotics in 1960-70s. In the 1990s Mäll worked on the elaboration of the conception of humanistic base texts. Since 1994 he has been the Head of the Centre for Oriental Studies, at the University of Tartu. He later served as head of the Laboratory for Oriental Studies (1991-1994). In 1998 he expanded his work on humanistic based texts and he was the initiator and head of the research project "Humanistic base texts in the history of mankind". Mäll was also an author of ten books and over one hundred academic articles on the subject.
Mäll was inspired to become a Buddhist and buddhologist by well-known Estonian theologian and philosopher Uku Masing in the early 1960s. He later studied under and worked together with several Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachers and scholars including Nikolai Konrad, Alexander Piatigorsky, Oktiabrina Volkova, Youri Parfionovich, Lev Menshikov and Lama Bidia Dandaron. He was a teacher and spiritual master for many Estonian buddhists and orientalists. In the 1990s he established close ties with His Holiness The Dalai Lama and served as the main organizer of both of the visits of His Holiness in Estonia (1991 and 2001).
Mäll was the founder and president of the Mahâyâna Institute (from 1991-1994, in Tartu), and president of the Estonian Buddhist Institute (from 2002 in Tallinn).
He was awarded the Order of the White Star, IV degree in 2001 and other awards.
His membership in the academic associations is as follows:
registration code: 80157537 (Estonian Mahayana Institute)
phone: +372 51 013 87; e-mail info@budismiinstituut)
Tallinn, Estonia; bank account no. 221018598037
in Swedbank