He obtained a PhD in Tibetan Buddhist literature at the University of Manchester in 2000, with a dissertation on the translations of Dzogchen texts by Jigme Lingpa.^[1]

Since 1999 van Schaik has worked at the British Library in London, where he is currently the Head of the Endangered Archives Programme^[2] a position to which he was appointed in February 2019. He was previously a project manager for the International Dunhuang Project, specialising in the study of Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang.^[3] He has also taught occasional courses at SOAS, University of London.^[4]

From 2003 to 2005 van Schaik worked on a project to catalogue Tibetan Tantric manuscripts in the Stein Collection of the British Library, and from 2005 to 2008 he worked on a project to study the palaeography of Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhang, in an attempt to identify individual scribes.^[5]

Van Schaik is the author or co-author of:

• Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in the Longchen Nyingtig (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004). ISBN 0861713702
• Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library, co-authored with Jacob Dalton (Leiden: Brill, 2006). ISBN 9789004154223^[6]
• Tibet: A History (London: Yale University Press, 2011). ISBN 9780300154047^[7]
• Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim, coauthored with Imre Galambos (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012). ISBN 9783110225648^[8]
• Tibetan Zen: Discovering a Lost Tradition (Boston & London: Snow Lion, 2015). ISBN 9781559394468^[9]
• The Spirit of Zen (Yale University Press, 2018),^[10] winner of the 2019 Tianzhu Book Prize for Excellence in Chan Studies^[11]
• Buddhist Magic: Divination, Healing, and Enchantment Through the Ages (Boulder: Shambhala 2020) ISBN 9781611808254^[12]

His edited volumes include:

• Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang: Rites and Teachings for this Life and Beyond, co-edited with Matthew Kapstein (Leiden: Brill, 2010). ISBN 9789004182035^[13]

He is also the translator of:

• Dhongthog Rinpoche, The Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism: A History, Translated by Sam van Schaik (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, Inc., 2016).