BuddhistRoad

Dynamics in Buddhist Networks in Eastern Central Asia 6th to 14th Centuries

BuddhistRoad—Projektseite

The objective of the research project Buddhist Road is to create a new framework to enable understanding of the complexities in the dynamics of cultural encounter and religious transfer in pre-modern Eastern Central Asia—the vast area extending from the Taklamakan desert to Northeast China. This region was the crossroads of ancient civilisations. Its uniqueness was determined by complex dynamics of religious and cultural exchanges gravitating around an ancient communication artery, known as the Silk Road. Buddhism was one major factor in this exchange; its transfer predetermined the transfer of adjacent aspects of culture.

The religious exchange involved a variety of cultures and civilisations, which were modified and shaped by their adoption of Buddhism. The spread of Buddhism overrode the ethnic and linguistic boundaries in Eastern Central Asia creating a civilisational whole, which despite its diversity, shared a set of common ideas originating from Buddhism. One specific aspect of this process in Eastern Central Asia was the rise of the local forms of Buddhism. The project intends to investigate such Buddhist localisations between the 6th–14th centuries. As a scholar with over 20 years research background in Buddhist Studies, at the Tibetan-Chinese interface, project leader Carmen Meinert is recognised as an expert in the field.

The team of the research project will create a new trans-regional and trans-cultural vision of the religious transfer in Eastern Central Asian history and will reconstruct this Buddhist network with its entities and relations. It will incorporate the fascinating, but as yet under-researched field of Eastern Central Asian Buddhism into a broader research agenda of Comparative Religious Studies. It will establish a new research approach by bringing together many research fields and agendas (such as Philology, Art History, Archaeology, Religious Studies) into one synthesising narrative based on a unique perspective, in which, religious exchange in Eastern Central Asia will be analysed as a dynamic network emerging in its spatial and temporal aspects. For the first time the multi-layered relationships between the trans-regional Buddhist traditions (Chinese, Indian, Tibetan) and those based on local Buddhist cultures (Khotanese, Uyghur, Tangut, Kitan) will be explored in a systematic way.

Förderzeitraum

08.2017 – 01.2024

Gefördert von

Beteiligte Personen

Foto von Michelle Dieren B.A.

Michelle Dieren B.A.

Wissenschaftl. Hilfskraft

Universitätsstr. 90a
44789  Bochum
Büro 4.08
Michelle.Dieren@rub.de
Foto von Prof. Dr. Lewis Doney

Prof. Dr. Lewis Doney

Kooperationspartner

Brühler Str. 7
53119  Bonn
Büro Universität Bonn, Raum 1.029
ldoney1@uni-bonn.de
Foto von Prof. Dr. Erika Forte

Prof. Dr. Erika Forte

Assoziierte*r Forscher*in

Institute for Research in Humanities at Kyoto University
 
erika.forte@zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Foto von Dr. Emanuela Garatti

Dr. Emanuela Garatti

Forscher*in

Universitätsstraße 90a
44789  Bochum
Büro Office 4.11
egaratti@gmail.com
Foto von Tanja Heilig B.A.

Tanja Heilig B.A.

Wissenschaftl. Hilfskraft

Universitätsstr. 90a
44789  Bochum
Büro 4.08
tanja.heilig@rub.de
Foto von Prof. Dr. Haoran Hou

Prof. Dr. Haoran Hou

Assoziierte*r Forscher*in

Zhejiang University, Hangzhou
 
haoran.hou@rub.de
Foto von PD Dr. Yukiyo Kasai

PD Dr. Yukiyo Kasai

Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in

Universitätsstr. 90a
44789  Bochum
Büro 4.08
+49 234 32-21683
yukiyo.kasai@rub.de
Foto von Prof. Dr. Diego Loukota

Prof. Dr. Diego Loukota

Kooperationspartner

290 Royce Hall, Box 951540
CA 90095-1540  Los Angeles
loukota@humnet.ucla.edu
Foto von Selina Lüdecke

Selina Lüdecke

Wissenschaftl. Hilfskraft

selina.luedecke@rub.de
Foto von Dr. Zhouyang Ma

Dr. Zhouyang Ma

Kooperationspartner

Dr.-Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2
1010  Vienna
Zhouyang.Ma@oeaw.ac.at
Foto von Prof. Dr. Carmen Meinert

Prof. Dr. Carmen Meinert

Principal Investigator

Universitätsstr. 90a
44789  Bochum
Büro 1.05
+49 234 32-28783
carmen.meinert@rub.de
DM

Danny Aaron Menges

Wissenschaftl. Hilfskraft

danny.menges@rub.de
Foto von Ben Müller M.A.

Ben Müller M.A.

Wissenschaftl. Hilfskraft

ben.mueller@rub.de
Foto von Prof. Dr. Neil Schmid

Prof. Dr. Neil Schmid

Kooperationspartner

Dunhuang Research Academy
736206  Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China
dnschmid@me.com
Foto von Prof. Dr. Kirill Solonin

Prof. Dr. Kirill Solonin

Assoziierte*r Forscher*in

Renmin University of China, Beijing
 
kirill_solonin@mail.ru
Foto von Vivien Staps B.A.

Vivien Staps B.A.

Wissenschaftl. Hilfskraft

Universitätsstr. 90a
44789  Bochum
Büro 4.08
vivien.staps@rub.de
Foto von Dr. Henrik Hjort Sørensen

Dr. Henrik Hjort Sørensen

Koordination

Universitätsstr. 90a
44789  Bochum
Büro 4.08
+49 234 32-21683
hensor@hotmail.com