Sarah Shaw received her PhD in English from Manchester University. After studying Pali and Sanskrit at Oxford, she began teaching and writing on Buddhist subjects. She has written several books on meditation theory and practice, and Jataka literature. She is the author of several books including Introduction to Buddhist Meditation, The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisattaand her most recent book, The Spirit of Buddhist Meditation.
She is a member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, and Wolfson College. She is a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and Khyentse Foundation Reader in Buddhist Studies and the University of South Wales.