Events

This talk is organised by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore; with funding support from the Foo Hai Ch’an Monastery Fellowship in Buddhist Studies.

CHAIRPERSON

Assoc Prof Jack Meng-Tat Chia, Department of History, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

From the 8th century onwards various Buddhist traditions were introduced to Tibet that drew from a complex mosaic of thriving Mahāyāna cultures in neighbouring China, India, Nepal, and Central Asia. Among the many outstanding developments that emerged from Buddhism’s transmission in Tibet is a heterogenous collection of spiritual precepts and practices known as the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). This Buddhist tradition, also known as Atiyoga (highest yoga), is the only non-dual contemplative system to develop exclusively in Tibet. Its adherents consider it to be the highest expression of Buddhist philosophical thought that reached its most elaborate articulation in the Seminal Heart literature of the 14th century. Despite a few critical and significant studies of the movement’s early history, there is no consensus among scholars as to its origins, chronology, and formative phases. This paper will significantly enrich our understanding of Śrī Siṃha’s role in the lineage-based transmission of the Great Perfection to Tibet and his relationship with other early Great Perfection figures and texts. Furthermore, it will yield an interpretive framework for critically evaluating the early development of the Great Perfection’s fundamental tenets, and for ascertaining their diachronic effect on the philosophical, literary, and visionary traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Georgios Halkias is the Glorious Sun Professor of Buddhist Studies and Director of the Centre of Buddhist Studies at The University of Hong Kong. His areas of research include, Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrayana contemplative practices, and the interactions between Hellenism and Buddhism. His publications include, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Buddhism (2024), The Copper-Colored Mountain: Jigme Lingpa on Rebirth in Padmasambhava’s Pure Land (2022), Religious Boundaries for Sex, Gender, and Corporeality (2020), Pure Lands in Asian Texts and Contexts: An Anthology (2019), and Luminous Bliss: A Religious History of Pure Land Literature in Tibet. With an Annotated Translation and Critical Analysis of the Orgyen-ling Golden Short Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra (2017).