BUDDHIST STUDIES SYMPOSIUM STANFORD UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY STANFORD September 7-9, 2016

Symposium Proceedings The symposium is sponsored by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation and organized by the American Council of Learned Societies in coopera- tion with The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Center for Buddhist Buddhist Studies Symposium Studies at Stanford University.

Opening Event—Wednesday Evening

Introductory remarks by representatives of Stanford University, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies, followed by a roundtable discussion on “Buddhist Celebrating the Fellows of Studies and Buddhist Practice” The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies Fellows’ Workshop—Thursday and Friday

The workshop is the centerpiece of the symposium, with Fellows presenting their projects in a retreat-like format. Following general discussion at each session, commentators will review salient points of Stanford University the discussion and identify potential synergies in topics, methods, and September 7-9, 2016 approaches. Fellows as well as commentators will each speak for ten minutes.

Commentators have been intentionally “mismatched” with Fellows in panels in order to cut across disciplinary and area expertise. The point is to use the Fellows’ research projects, and the reactions to them, as a springboard for exploring implications for the international field of Buddhist studies.

Special thanks to Reflections on the Symposium—Friday The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford University Group discussion: continuities, debates, and the symposium process. for hosting the symposium 5 Wednesday

Introductory Remarks Sessions will be held at the Stanford Humanities Center.

Paul Harrison is the George Edwin Burnell Professor of 4:00 — RECEPTION Religious Studies and Co-Director of the Ho Center for 5:00 pm Faculty Club—Gold Lounge Buddhist Studies at Stanford University. Educated in his native New Zealand and in Australia, he specializes in Buddhist literature and history, especially that of the MahÃyÃna, and in the study of Buddhist manuscripts in 5:00 — OPENING EVENT—Levinthal Hall Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. He is the author of The 6:30 pm Introductory Remarks SamÃdhi of Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present, and of numerous journal articles on Buddhist sacred texts and their interpretation. He is also one of Steven C. Wheatley the editors of the series Buddhist Manuscripts in the Vice President Schøyen Collection. American Council of Learned Societies

Ted Lipman was appointed the chief executive officer of Ted Lipman The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation in 2011. He Chief Executive Officer received his BA in Asian studies from the University of The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation British Columbia, then undertook studies in Chinese history at Peking University. He had a 35-year career as a diplomat representing Canada, principally in Greater Paul Harrison China, with assignments in Hong Kong, Beijing, Co-Director Shanghai, and Taipei. For four years, he served as the The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Canadian Ambassador to South and North Korea. Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford University

Roundtable on “Buddhist Studies and Buddhist Practice” Moderator: Donald S. Lopez, University of Michigan Steven C. Wheatley, vice president of the American Speakers: Birgit Kellner, Austrian Academy of Council of Learned Societies, is responsible to the Sciences president for the oversight of programs and the adminis- John Kieschnick, Stanford University tration of the Council’s office. Before joining ACLS as the director of the American Studies Program, he taught history at the University of Chicago, where he was also dean of students in the Public Policy Committee and, 6:30 — SUPPER before that, assistant to the dean of the (graduate) Social 8:30 pm Faculty Club—Gold Lounge Sciences Division. He holds a BA from Columbia University and MA and PhD degrees in history from the University of Chicago. 6 7 4:00 — Session IV Thursday 5:30 pm Chair: Donald S. Lopez, University of Michigan Fellows: Xi He, Hamline University (in residence at University of California, Berkeley) 8:30 — Breakfast—Board Room Hallway Matthew Don McMullen, University of 9:30 am California, Berkeley Comment: Birgit Kellner, Austrian Academy of 9:30 — Fellows’ Introductions Sciences 10:00 am Explanation of the workshop format (Andrzej W. Tymowski and the Advisory Committee) 6:00 — Supper— Watt Room and Outdoor Patio 8:00 pm 10:00 — Session I 11:30 am Chair: Andrzej W. Tymowski, Director of International Programs, ACLS Friday Fellows: Kris L. Anderson, University of California, Berkeley 8:30 — Breakfast—Board Room Hallway Linda Chhath, University of Wisconsin, 9:30 am Madison Comment: Stephen F. Teiser, Princeton University 9:30 — Session V 11:30 — Coffee Break 11:30 am Chair: Donald S. Lopez, University of Michigan 11:45 am Fellows: Anthony Irwin, University of Wisconsin, Madison 11:45 — Session II Kamilla Mojzes, Rheinische Friedrich- 1:15 pm Chair: Steven C. Wheatley, ACLS Wilhelms-Universität Bonn Fellows: Jack Meng-Tat Chia, Cornell University Lina Verchery, Harvard University Jin kyoung Choi, Ludwig-Maximilians- Comment: Paul Harrison, Stanford University Universität München Comment: John Kieschnick, Stanford University 1:00 — Lunch 2:00 pm 1:15 — Lunch 2:15 pm 2:15 — Session III 2:00 — Reflections on the Symposium—Levinthal Hall 3:45 pm Chair: Michaela Mross, Stanford University 4:00 pm Moderator: Stephen F. Teiser, Princeton University Fellows: Javier Schnake, École Pratique des Hautes Fellows and advisers will consider Études themes and continuities that emerged Wei Wu, Princeton University during the symposium. Comment: James Benn, McMaster University 4:00 — Farewell Reception 3:45 — Coffee Break 5:00 pm 4:00 pm The Sarvadurgatipariĝodhana Tantra and the Roots of Tantric Buddhist Funerary Ritual

KRIS L. ANDERSON

Buddhist Studies University of California, Berkeley

The Robert H. N. Ho Family

Foundation Fellows ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the Buddhist funerary traditions of the Sarvadurgatipariĝodhana tantra. The project maps the iterations of the text between the eighth and thirteenth centuries using the tantra, its Tibetan translations, and related ritual manuals from Dunhuang, contributing to scholarship on death in Buddhist traditions and on the development of the tantras. Its second portion examines later ritual literature preserved in Nepal, particularly samadhi and sadhana texts in a hybrid of Sanskrit and Newari, to trace how the text was deployed in later periods. The third portion of the project situates more recent texts and practices in the broader Sarvadurgatipariĝodhana tantra trad- ition, looking at the contemporary Newar community of Patan and the Tibetan community of Boudhanath, Nepal.

11 Ethics of Independence: Buddhist Cosmopolitanism in Diasporic Dharma: Buddhism and Modernity across Cambodia, 1953-1970 the South China Sea

LINDA CHHATH JACK MENG-TAT CHIA

History Cornell University Languages and Cultures of Asia, Religion University of Wisconsin, Madison

ABSTRACT ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the ways in which Khmer intellectuals, This dissertation examines Chinese Buddhism in maritime Southeast artists, and modernizers used Buddhist ethics as a medium for express- Asia and inquires into the dynamics of transnational religious circula- ing and shaping a new internationalism, which entered into Buddhist tions in the modernization and globalization of Chinese Buddhism in and popular moral discourses during the 1950s and 1960s. It argues that the twentieth century. It investigates the transnational religious careers international efforts at building transnational and pan-Buddhist solidari- of three eminent monks—Chuk Mor (1913-2002), Yen Pei (1917-1996), ties in the post-World War II reality of the Cold War, decolonization, and Ashin Jinarakkhita (1923-2002)—who were instrumental in the and nation building shaped local Khmer concepts of social responsibility. movement, exchanges, and innovation of Buddhist knowledge and Thus, the ethical ideas being transmitted through material culture and institutions in the Chinese diaspora. The research reveals that overseas religious literature in this period were conscious of global factors, Chinese monks not only contributed to the creation of a hybrid Buddhist mirroring what I see as the broader Buddhist cosmopolitanism of this modernism, but also to making Southeast Asia into a new center for era. “Ethics” in this project concerns values, ideas, and practices of Chinese Buddhism. morality within social contexts.

12 13 Three Sĭtras in the Sanskrit DírghÃgama Manuscript From Buddhology to Aesthetics: Literary Design and Religious Emotions in the “Lalitavistara”

JIN KYOUNG CHOI XI HE

Group of Buddhist Studies University of California, Berkeley Buddhist Studies Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

ABSTRACT ABSTRACT The main theme of this research belongs to a category of Buddhist This project focuses on the Sanskrit Buddhist text the Lalitavistara, an philology, especially early Indian Buddhist textual tradition recorded in early biography of the Buddha, dated between the second and the Sanskrit. More precisely, this dissertation project is to transliterate three seventh centuries C.E. Through a close analysis of the literary and sutras of the Sanskrit manuscript of the DírghÃgama, the “Collection descriptive art of the Lalitavistara, the emotions that these literary of Long Discourses (of the Buddha),” transmitted by the (Mĭla-)Sarva- devices construct, and the community who read or hear this text, this tivÃdins which was one of the most powerful Buddhist sects in ancient project suggests the importance, hitherto often neglected, of literary India, and to create a critical edition, i.e., a reconstruction of the text, forms and literary culture to the understanding of Buddhist aesthetics, a translation, and additional philological research on related sources in emotions, and community. It suggests the Buddhist contribution to PÃli, Classical Chinese, and Tibetan. Sanskrit literary culture and thus the importance of rethinking Sanskrit literary culture through a reflection on a genre of texts that are usually left out of consideration in Sanskrit literary tradition.

14 15 Building Buddhism in Chiang Rai, Thailand: The Development of Esoteric Buddhist Scholasticism Construction as Religion in Early Medieval Japan

ANTHONY IRWIN MATTHEW DON MCMULLEN

Buddhist Studies University of California, Berkeley

Languages and Cultures of Asia University of Wisconsin, Madison

ABSTRACT ABSTRACT This project argues that building temples is building Buddhism. Focusing This dissertation examines the development of esoteric Buddhist doc- on Buddhist construction in Chiang Rai, Thailand, since its repopulation trine in early medieval Japan. Esoteric Buddhist texts and rites had been in 1844, the research uses archival, ethnographic, and visual studies introduced in subsequent centuries. However, not until this period did methodologies to track the importance of Buddhist aesthetics in the scholiasts begin to articulate a system of doctrine originating with the making of Buddhism itself. Buddhist construction projects are studied works of Kukai, the revered founder of the Shingon school. By focusing in relation to the development of Chiang Rai city as an emerging popu- on the writings of the scholar-priest Saisen, the dissertation illustrates lation center and regional hub for trade, religion, and culture. how this system developed to distinguish Kukai’s views on esoteric Foregrounding sima space consecration as an indigenous form of doctrine from those of the Tendai exegete Annen. It argues that Annen’s Theravadin religious construction, this dissertation asserts that religious view of esoteric Buddhism unifying the esoteric teachings with the building projects are at the forefront of the Yuan Buddhist imaginaire, Tendai perfect teachings was the dominant interpretation until the late and are some of the main ways that Yuan Buddhists organize ritual Heian period, when Saisen first advanced a system of doctrine based on activity, unify community, and create meaning. the works of Kukai.

16 17 The Fourth Zhwa-dmar-pa Incarnate: Dhamma through Letters: The VajirasÃratthasaˠgaha, A Comprehensive Study of the Life and Work of a Sixteenth-Century PÃli Text from Northern Thailand Chos-grags ye-shes dpal bzang-po (1453-1524)

KAMILLA MOJZES JAVIER SCHNAKE

History Texts and Documents École Pratique des Hautes Études Tibetan Studies Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms- Universität Bonn

ABSTRACT ABSTRACT The fourth Zhwa-dmar-pa incarnate Chos-grags ye-shes dpal bzang-po This research is a philological investigation of a Buddhist text in PÃli, (1453-1524), the second highest eminence of the Tibetan Buddhist the VajirasÃratthasaˠgaha written in North Thailand (fifteenth to six- Karma bka-brgyud lineage, was an influential scholar and meditation teenth centuries), which has never been the object of a full-fledged master, who played a central role in the historical events of fifteenth- to study. It aims to establish a critical edition of this text and its com- sixteenth-century Tibet. Although he was a charismatic leader and a mentary, to translate this corpus, and to understand its place with- prolific writer at the focal point of a rich and remarkably sectarian-unbi- in the Buddhism of South-East Asia. This compendium is unique in ased environment, arguably, his main sponsor, Don-yod rdo-rje the PÃli literary landscape, in its mode of presentation as well as in (1463-1512), the most powerful Rin-spungs-pa prince, dominated and its contents: each of its chapters is coded on the basis of linguistics restricted his religious activity. This PhD thesis examines how the mechanisms and games. It is an original synthesis of scholarly ele- fourth Zhwa-dmar-pa’s political involvement influenced and eventually ments (hua jai, ekakkhara. . . ) throwing new light on regional speci- came to the detriment of his religious role. ficities in their practical and esoterical dimensions, and opening new ways for understanding the status of PÃli as a sacred language.

18 19 The Fajie Fojiao Zonghui: Rethinking Monasticism, Seeking Dharma from Tibet: Indigenization of Modernity, and Moral Selfhood Tibetan Buddhism in Twentieth-Century China

LINA VERCHERY WEI WU

Religion Princeton University

Buddhist Studies Harvard University

ABSTRACT ABSTRACT This dissertation explores modern Chinese Buddhist monasticism and This dissertation explores the intellectual and social history of Chinese the cultivation of moral personhood through the first ethnographic religion with particular focus on the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism study of Master Xuan Hua’s (1918-1995) transnational Buddhist monastic to China proper from the 1920s to the present. With the weakening of organization, the Fajie Fojiao Zonghui (Dharma Realm BuddhistAssoci- imperial centralized power in the early twentieth century, many ethnically ation, DRBA). Using the DRBA as a case study, this study situates the Han followers of traditional Chinese Buddhism looked to Tibet and other phenomenon of religious conservativism within a larger program of non-Han ethnic traditions as sources for reviving Chinese Buddhism. By self-cultivation that promotes a particular vision of moral personhood. examining historical trajectory of the key events, organizations, and I show that this vision is inextricably modern, and has much to con- individuals, the dissertation investigates how these cross-cultural tribute to current discussions of personhood, agency, and ethics in the endeavors brought great changes to Buddhist thoughts and practice, and broader field of Buddhist studies. significantly altered the shape of the great Chinese Buddhist community.

20 21 JAMES A. BENN Department of Religious Studies McMaster University

Workshop RECENT RESEARCH INTERESTS RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Advisers James Benn’s research is aimed at • Tea in China: A Religious and understanding the practices and Cultural History. (Honolulu: Uni- world views of medieval men and versity of Hawai‘i Press, 2015). women, both religious and lay, • “Self-immolation, Resistance through the close reading of prima- and Millenarianism in Medieval ry sources in literary Chinese—the Chinese Buddhism,” Medieval His- lingua franca of East Asian religions. tory Journal, 17.2, (October 2014), He has concentrated on three 229–254. major areas of research: bodily • “Biographies of Eight Auto-Cre- practice in Chinese Religions, the mators and Huijiao’s Critical Eval- ways in which people create and uation” in Early Medieval China: transmit new religious practices A Sourcebook, edited by Robert and doctrines, and the religious F. Campany, Wendy Swartz, and dimensions of commodity culture. Lu Yang. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013).

23 BIRGIT KELLNER PAUL HARRISON Institute for the Cultural and Department of Religious Studies Intellectual History of Asia Stanford University Austrian Academy of Sciences RECENT RESEARCH INTERESTS RECENT PUBLICATIONS RECENT RESEARCH INTERESTS RECENT PUBLICATIONS Paul Harrison specializes in • “Resetting the Diamond: Re- Buddhist literature and history, flections on KumÃrajíva’s Chinese Birgit Kellner’s area of specializa- • ”Proving Idealism: Vasuband- especially that of the MahÃyÃna, Translation of the Vajracchedikà tion is philosophical analysis with- hu and Dharmakírti.” In: Jonar- and in the study of Buddhist (“Diamond Sĭtra”),” Journal of in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. don Ganeri (ed.), The Oxford manuscripts in Sanskrit, Chinese, Historical and Philological Studies More specifically, she focuses on Handbook of Indian Philosophy and Tibetan. His current projects of China’s Western Regions, No. 3 epistemology and logic, the so- (2015). DOI: 10.1093/oxford- include editions and translations (Beijing: Science Press) 2010, pp. called pramÃĈa school founded by hb/9780199314621.013.18. of a number of MahÃyÃna and 233–248. Dignaga and Dharmakirti, in its • Together with John Taber: Mainstream Buddhist sĭtras and • Tabo Studies III: A Catalogue of Indian context and its manifold “Studies in YogÃFÃra-VijñÃnavÃda ĝÃstras, including the Vajracche- the Manuscript Collection of Tabo forms in Tibet. She investigates idealism I: The interpretation of dikà (Diamond Sutra) and the Monastery by Cristina Scherrer- Buddhist philosophy in its philo- Vasubandhu’s Vi˞ĝikÃ.” Asiatische Vimalakírtinirdeĝa, as well as a Schaub and Paul Harrison, Volume logical dimensions and historical Studien/Études Asiatiques 68/3 general study of issues of authori- 1 (by Paul Harrison): Sĭtra Texts context, and with a view to its (2014) 709-756. ty, textual transmission and inno- (Sér phyin, Phal chen, dKon general philosophical significance. •“Changing Frames in Buddhist vation in MahÃyÃna Buddhism. brtsegs, mDo sde, Myan ‘das) Thought: The Concept of ÃkÃra (Serie Orientale Roma Clll. 1) in Abhidharma and in Buddhist (Rome: Istituto Italiano per l’Africa Epistemological Analysis”. In: e l’Oriente, 2009). Birgit Kellner, Sara McClintock • “Mediums and Messages: (ed.): ÃkÃra in Buddhist Philo- Reflections on the Production sophical and Soteriological Anal- of MahÃyÃna Sĭtras,” Eastern ysis. Journal of Indian Philosophy 42/2-3 (2014) 275-295. 24 Buddhist 35.1 (2003): 115-151. 25 DONALD S. LOPEZ JOHN KIESCHNICK Department of Asian Languages Department of Religious Studies and Cultures Stanford University University of Michigan

RECENT RESEARCH INTERESTS RECENT PUBLICATIONS RECENT RESEARCH INTERESTS RECENT PUBLICATIONS

John Kieschnick specializes in • Coeditor (with Meir Shahar) Donald Lopez has written widely • Buddhism: Norton Anthology of Chinese Buddhism, with particular of India in the Chinese Imagina- on Indian Mahayana Buddhism and World Religions (Norton, 2015). emphasis on its cultural history. He tion (Philadelphia: University of on Tibetan Buddhism. His current • The Princeton Dictionary of is currently working together with Pennsylvania Press, 2014). projects include the translation (in Buddhism (with Robert Buswell), Marcus Bingenheimer and Chang • “A History of the Bathhouse in collaboration with Thupten Jinpa) (Princeton University Press, 2014). Boyong to create a new Chinese Chinese Buddhist Monasteries,” of a refutation of the Buddhist • A Short History of the Buddha edition of the Song gaoseng zhuan in Religion and Society. Papers doctrines of emptiness and rebirth (University of Chicago Press, 宋高僧傳, a tenth-century collec- from the Fourth International by the Jesuit missionary to Tibet, 2013). tion of biographies of monks. He Conference on Sinology, History Ippolito Desideri (1684-1733); a is also writing a monograph on Section (Taipei: Academia Sinica, study of the influence of the Lotus Buddhist historiography in China, Institute of History and Philology, Sutra; and a translation of an tentatively titled “The Place of the 2013), pp.107-138. eighteenth-century Tibetan com- Past in Chinese Buddhism.” The • The Impact of Buddhism on pendium of Buddhist philosophy. book examines the ways in which Chinese Material Culture Buddhist historians employed (Princeton: Princeton University Buddhist doctrines like karma and Press, 2003). themes like the prophecies of the Buddha to re-evaluate the past.

26 27 MICHAELA MROSS STEPHEN F. TEISER Department of Religious Studies Department of Religion Stanford University Princeton University

RECENT RESEARCH INTERESTS RECENT PUBLICATIONS RECENT RESEARCH INTERESTS RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Michaela Mross’s interests include • Coedited with Barbara Ambros • Silk Road, Dunhuang • Yili yu fojiao yanjiu 儀禮與佛 Zen Buddhism, Buddhist rituals, and James Ford. Kďshiki in Jap- manuscripts 教研究 (Ritual and the Study of sacred music, and manuscript and anese Buddhism. Special Issue Buddhism), forthcoming, based print culture in premodern Japan. of the Japanese Journal of Reli- • Chinese Buddhist practice, on the 2014 Guanghua Lectures, Currently, she is working on a gious Studies. (Nagoya: Nanzan interaction between Buddhism Fudan University (復旦大學光華人 book manuscript about the devel- Institute of Religion and Culture, and Chinese culture 文傑出學者講座). opment of kďshiki (Buddhist 2016). • Readings of the Platform Sĭtra, ceremonials) in the Sďtď school • “Vocalizing the Lament over • Buddhist studies, discipline and coedited with Morten Schlütter analyzing ritual changes, the the Buddha’s Passing: A Study of theory in the humanities (Columbia University Press, 2012). relation of rituals to their institu- Myďe’s Shiza kďshiki.” In Kďshiki • Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings tional context, and the role of in Japanese Buddhism. Special of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist music in Buddhist rituals. She Issue of the Japanese Journal of Temples (University of Washing- further works on kirigami (secret Religious Studies 43/1: 89-130. ton Press, 2006). initiation documents) in early (Nagoya: Nanzan Institute of Reli- modern Zen Buddhism, as well as gion and Culture, 2016). the reformation of Zen Buddhism • “Vocalizing the Remembrance in the Meiji era. She has also just of Dďgen: A Study of the Shinpen finished an article on prayer hďon kďshiki.” In Dďgen and Sďtď beads, which showcases the Zen, edited by Steven Heine, 210- esoteric and multivocal nature of 234. (Oxford/New York: Oxford Japanese Sďtď Zen. University Press, 2015). 28 29 Image Credit Head of Buddha (800-850, Sailendra dynasty) and Head of Buddha (1200-1300) [from left] V&A Interior: The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Galleries of Buddhist Art. Courtesy of The Victoria and Albert Museum, London