First Tibetologist awarded with Humboldt Fellowship
For the first time, a tibetologists has been awarded with the renowned Humboldt Fellowship granted by the German Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. Dr. Jan-Ulrich Sobisch, currently researcher at the University of Vienna and the Lumbini Research Center in Nepal, has received the fellowship.
During his fellowship between November 2017 and October 2018 he will conduct a research project at the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Carmen Meinert (Central Asian Religions).
His project at CERES is dedicated to the historical fromation processes of a disctinct religious tradition in Tibet. In his research, he will analyse the medieval scripture of dGongs gcig that portrays and evaluates all buddhist traditions, philosophical ideas, yogi practices and ethnical rules, which had been imported to Tibet until the scripture was written down. This scripture, however, became the central text of the Kagyü school and marks the difference towards other Buddhist schools in Tibet. For that reason, this scripture faces polemical attacks from other Buddhist branches until today.
The research project ties in with Jan-Ulrich Sobisch's academic work in the fields of Tibetology, Classical Indology and History of South Asian Philosophies.