Dr. Lewis Doney: “Philological Insights into the Cult of Padmasambhava in Tibet”

11 January 2017

The Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava is one of the foremost culture heroes of Tibetan literature. He is remembered to have converted Tibet to Buddhism in the eighth century, and his life-story has thus exerted a huge influence on later Tibetan ritual, mythology, lineage legitimation, art, songs and dances. This talk will look back into the earliest appearances of Padmasambhava in Tibetan historiographical literature, focusing on the various versions of the Testimony of Ba (dBa’/sBa bzhed) of unknown authorship and the Copper-Island Hagiography (Zangs gling ma) by Nyang ral Nyi ma ’od zer (1124–1192). These works have been fundamental to many Tibetans’ sense of their own history, and yet they offer different representations of Padmasambhava that betray a transformation in the image of the tantric master, and his relationship with the Tibetan emperor Khri Srong lde brtsan (742–c.800). Moreover, both works were redacted and adapted by successive generations of Tibetan scholars, who included increasingly positive depictions of Padmasambhava within their narratives, reflecting a growing “cult of Padmasambhava” in Tibet.

• Click here to download the invitation [PDF]

January 11th, 2017 - 16.00h
Universität Hamburg,
ESA-Ost, Raum 120, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, 20146 Hamburg
Free Entrance.