Diane Riggs completed her PhD at UCLA in 2010. Her dissertation, “The Cultural and Religious Significance of Japanese Buddhist Vestments,” was based on five years of research in Kyoto at Ryūkoku University (2002–2007) and at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Kokusai Nihon bunka kenkyū senta) (2002–2003). This research has also lead her to four publications on the subject, the latest entitled, "Materials appropriate for Buddhist robes: Two Edo period interpreters of the Rag robe (funzōe) and Daoxuan's prohibition of silk robes,” in Indogaku Bukkyō gaku kenkyū (2007). She has lectured at UCLA, Kenyon College, and Oberlin College, where she now teaches as Visiting Assistant Professor.