Dr. Orna Almogi and Sebastian Nehrdich: BuddhaNexus, a Powerful Tool for the Study of the Evolution of Scriptures, Formation of Canons, and Intellectual Networks

10 February 2021

17:00 February 10, 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic conducted online via Zoom.

BuddhaNexus is a database devoted to the study of Buddhist texts and literary corpora in Pāli, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese, with particular emphasis on evolution of scriptures, formation of canons, and intellectual networks. The evolution of Buddhist scriptures and the formation of the various Buddhist canons are complex processes that often stretch over a long period of time and involve numerous aspects of the societies in which they take place, including the existence of intellectual networks. BuddhaNexus offers new ways to study the various stages in the evolution of a specific scripture, intertextuality between various scriptures, the linkage between treatises and scriptures, and possible intellectual networks, by locating in the various texts and textual corpora (approximate) textual matches, be them acknowledged citations, “borrowed” textual passages, or parallel passages. In our talk we will introduce the database and demonstrate its current abilities by presenting several examples, and discuss planned developments.

• Click here to download the invitation [PDF]

The lecture is held online via Zoom. For those who whish to participate, please write a short mail to Prof. Dr. Wangchuk: dorji.wangchuk@uni-hamburg.de

Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk (Director)
Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship (KC-TBTS)
Abteilung für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets, AAI, Universität Hamburg
Alsterterrasse 1, D-20354 Hamburg