Executive Summary Title: Dr Forenames: Sam Surname: Van Schaik UK Employing British Library institution: Proposal Department: Scholarship and Collections Project Title: Tibetan Zen Abstract: Tibetan Zen is an important Buddhist tradition that was almost lost to us. It survives mainly in manuscripts that were sealed in the Dunhuang caves in Central Asia around AD 1000. The relevant manuscripts are now kept at the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale, but they have never been systematically catalogued or studied. Under the proposed project the applicant will (i) compile and publish the first complete catalogue of Tibetan Zen, (ii) undertake research in close consultation with academic specialists in Chinese and Japanese Zen; (iii) create transcriptions (with XML markup) of all the manuscripts and English translations of key texts; (iv) oversee the digitization of the manuscripts. Outcomes will include a catalogue, several journal articles, a book for non- specialists and a web resource. The project has been planned as a coherent approach to material that has not previously been studied as a whole, crossing language and departmental boundaries and making Tibetan Zen accessible to non-Tibetanists, so that it can take its place in the study of history of religions. Created: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 15:54 [Awarded] Dr Sam Van Schaik BARDA 2nd Stage - BARDA 2nd Stage 2010 Primary Subjects: Subject Subject Group Asian Religions Religious Studies Secondary Subjects: Subject Subject Group Chinese language and literature Oriental and African Studies Central and South Asian languages and literature Oriental and African Studies Classifications Time Periods: TimePeriod c.400-c.1000 Audiences: Audience Other funding bodies overseas (e.g. EU, NIH, foreign funding councils) Journalists, broadcasters and other media Charities in the UK Charities overseas General Public Regional Interests: Region Region Group Central Asia Asia East Asia Asia Applicant Personal Details Title: Dr Forenames: Sam Surname: Van Schaik Preferred Name: Initials: S.J. Fellow: No Address: The British Library 96 Euston Rd Town: London Postcode: NW1 2DB Email Address: [email protected] Telephone (work): 02074127846 Co-Applicants: Created: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 15:54 [Awarded] Page 1 of 11 Dr Sam Van Schaik BARDA 2nd Stage - BARDA 2nd Stage 2010 Applicant Career Summary Statement of Qualification Date Qualifications and Ph.D. 2000 Career: Present appointment: Research Project Manager Present employing The British Library institution: Present department: Scholarship and Collections PhD confirmation: Yes Publications: Monographs (selected): Tibet: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press. Forthcoming in Spring 2011. Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang: Rites and Teachings for this Life and Beyond (co-edited with Matthew Kapstein). Leiden: EJ Brill. 2010. Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library. (with Jacob Dalton). Leiden: EJ Brill, 2006. Articles (selected): “Fragments of the Testament of Ba from Dunhuang” (with Kazushi Iwao) in the Journal of the American Oriental Society 128.3 (2008): 477-488. “Beyond Anonymity: Palaeographic Analyses of the Dunhuang Manuscripts” (with Tom Davis and Jacob Dalton) in Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 3 (2007). http://www.thlib.org?tid=T3106 “Where Chan and Tantra Meet: Buddhist Syncretism in Dunhuang” in Susan Whitfield (ed.), The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith. London: British Library Press, 2004. Unpublished research: The following books and chapters result from a current research project on Tibetan and Chinese manuscript paleography, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (to conclude 31 July 2010): Monograph: Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim (with Imre Galambos). Berlin: de Gruyter. Forthcoming in 2010. Articles: “The Origin of the Headless Style (dbu med) in Tibet.” Tibeto-Burmese Linguistics, edited by Nathan Hill. Leiden: EJ Brill. Forthcoming in 2010. “Towards a Tibetan Paleography: A Preliminary Typology of Writing Styles in Early Tibet.” Manuscript Cultures in Asia and Africa, vol.I, edited by Michael Friedrich, Jörg Quenzer, Matthew Driscoll and Jan-Ulrich Sobisch. Berlin: de Gruyter. Forthcoming in 2010. “A New Look at the Invention of the Tibetan Script.” Old Tibetan Documents Monograph Series, vol.III, edited by Yoshiro Imaeda, Matthew Kapstein and Tsuguhito Takeuchi. Forthcoming in 2010. Created: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 15:54 [Awarded] Page 2 of 11 Dr Sam Van Schaik BARDA 2nd Stage - BARDA 2nd Stage 2010 Personal Statement: The applicant's salary at the British Library has primarily been funded from external sources. These have included a three-year AHRC major research project (2002-2005) and a five-year project funded by the Leverhulme Trust (2005-2010). Typically 75% of the applicant's time has been devoted to these research projects, with 25% of his time spent on core activities for the International Dunhuang Project at the British Library. Next period of The British Library does not offer regular research leave. research leave: Dates of research n/a leave in last five years: Sabbatical The British Library does not offer sabbatical leave. arrangements: Where did you hear of From colleagues. this scheme?: Previous support No dates: Previous support n/a description (title of project): Previous support n/a description (amount awarded): Proposal Subject: Religious Studies / Asian Religions Title of project: Tibetan Zen Abstract: Tibetan Zen is an important Buddhist tradition that was almost lost to us. It survives mainly in manuscripts that were sealed in the Dunhuang caves in Central Asia around AD 1000. The relevant manuscripts are now kept at the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale, but they have never been systematically catalogued or studied. Under the proposed project the applicant will (i) compile and publish the first complete catalogue of Tibetan Zen, (ii) undertake research in close consultation with academic specialists in Chinese and Japanese Zen; (iii) create transcriptions (with XML markup) of all the manuscripts and English translations of key texts; (iv) oversee the digitization of the manuscripts. Outcomes will include a catalogue, several journal articles, a book for non- specialists and a web resource. The project has been planned as a coherent approach to material that has not previously been studied as a whole, crossing language and departmental boundaries and making Tibetan Zen accessible to non-Tibetanists, so that it can take its place in the study of history of religions. Proposed programme: Censured in Tibet, forgotten in China, the Tibetan version of Zen was almost completely lost. Zen first came to Tibet in the 8th century, when Chinese teachers were invited there at the height of the Tibetan Empire. Acccording to traditional histories, doctrinal disagreements developed between Indian and Chinese Buddhists at the Tibetan court, and the Tibetan emperor called for the situation to be resolved in a formal debate. When the debate resulted in a decisive win by the Indian side, the Zen teachers were sent back to China. Though this narrative has been questioned, it is clear after the 11th century Tibetan Zen survived only as the object of polemics, its original texts all but forgotten. This changed at the beginning of the 20th century with the discovery of a sealed Created: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 15:54 [Awarded] Page 3 of 11 Dr Sam Van Schaik BARDA 2nd Stage - BARDA 2nd Stage 2010 cave full of ancient manuscripts in Dunhuang (in Chinese Central Asia). The Tibetan manuscripts from the cave have been dated to the 9th and 10th centuries, making them the earliest known source materials for Tibetan Buddhism. Among them are 40 manuscripts containing the only surviving original Tibetan Zen texts, the primary source material for understanding Tibetan Zen. Since the manuscripts offer a snapshot of the early Zen tradition in the 8th–10th centuries, they are significant sources for the study of Chinese, Japanese and Korean Zen as well. Furthermore, Tibetan Zen appears to have developed into a distinct tradition, incorporating elements of tantric Buddhism, and this fascinating synthesis remains little understood. So far, work on the Tibetan Zen manuscripts has taken place in a piecemeal fashion, focusing on specific texts. Many manuscripts have not been studied at all, and no assessment of the manuscript group as a whole and its social and historical context has yet been attempted. Recent research in Tibetan palaeography now allows a much more precise dating of these manuscripts, and identifications of the scribes and patrons responsible for their creation. What is needed now in order to assess the importance of these manuscripts as a whole and to make this material more accessible is a coherent and focussed programme of research: (i) Cataloguing all the manuscripts, summarizing their contents and their links to known works in Chinese Zen (Chan). This will be carried out in the first year of the project, in collaboration with experts in Chan studies already known to the applicant. The results will be published as a monograph or in a peer-reviewed journal, and as an online catalogue on the IDP website. (ii) Research into (a) the relationship between Tibetan Zen and Zen traditions in other cultures, (b) local developments at Dunhuang combining Zen meditation with tantric techniques, and (c) evidence for the claim that