Prof. Dr. Leonard van der Kuijp (Harvard University): In Search of the Buddha’s Anno Nirvanea [AN]: Tibetan Perspectives

17 November 2021

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

The fourteenth and presumably early fifteenth century Sanskritist Lo tsā ba Nam mkha’ bzang po is still a little-known figure in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. A disciple of Lo tsā ba Byang chub rtse mo (1315–1379/80), he played a role in the ongoing Tibetan estimation of the dates of the Buddha and his Anno Nirvanea [AN], the year of his passing. Some of his theories on astral science are critically signaled in the writings of ’Gos Lo tsā ba Gzhon nu dpal (1392–1481), Byang bdag Rnam rgyal grags bzang (1395–1475), Gtsang chung Chos grags rgya mtsho (ca. 1570–1630), Grwa phug pa Lhun grub rgya mtsho (ca. 1400–1460) and others. Two short tracts in which he calculated the AN have recently become available. In this talk, I will first attempt to place him on the map of Tibetan intellectual history and then pivot to a brief discussion of these two treatises.

• 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