Author: Dr. Evgeny A. Torchinov (1956-2003): The late Evgeny Torchinov was head of the Department of Oriental Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University, Russia. With an initial degree in Chinese Philology, he specialized in historical science for postgraduate work, with his doctoral thesis on Ge Hong’s ’Baopu-zi’ as Historical and Ethnological Source. Before entering the professorate, he worked as a museum research fellow, followed by a position as research fellow of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. He was a member of the faculty of philosophy at St. Petersburg State University since 1994 and headed the Department of Religious Studies. In addition to his native Russian, Torchinov was a sinologist with proficiencies in both classical Chinese and modern standard Chinese, and acquired a working knowledge of Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Hebrew. Since 1980, he published about 120 articles on different aspects of the history of religious and philosophical doctrines in China (Buddhism, Daoism) and on problems of religious studies and comparative religions in general. EDITOR: