BuddhistRoad Guest Lecture
Online Event

BuddhistRoad Guest Lecture by Reinier Langelaar (Vienna)
The lecture will be available live at Zoom. Please pre-register until 07 February 2023, 12 pm. Zoom lecture times: 2 pm (CET) (Amsterdam, Berlin, Rom; Vienna)
This lecture will discuss the connections and gaps between Tibetan Dunhuang manuscripts on Avalokiteśvara and post-dynastic materials from the Tibetan Plateau, where this bodhisattva would attain unparalleled standing. Mapping how Avalokiteśvara acquired his paramount status in Tibet, the talk combines Dunhuang materials with detailed study of pivotal Tibetan works from the early second millennium, chief among which the bKa’ chems ka khol ma [Pillar Testament] and the Ma ṇi bka’ ’bum [Collected Works on the Maṇi (Mantra)], in which the bodhisattva plays an outsize role. The textual histories of these early writings, some recent strides notwithstanding, remain largely unexplored. Bringing new insights into their past, Reinier Langelaar will illustrate how the Tibetan mythology and cult of Avalokiteśvara developed. To what extent did they piggyback on pre-existing traditions that circulated in surrounding areas, such as Dunhuang? And when and how did innovative Tibetan twists, if any, come about?
To join the lecture, please register at https://ruhr-uni-bochum.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Mkf-CsqT8vGdP4YnUurFZK3vNhg8B_lkTv