Tantra and Daoism

A Multidisciplinary Conference on the Globalization of Religion and Its Experience

Boston University, April 2002

There is a limited amount of space for additional scholars who are interested in participating in the discussion. To register, please email Livia Kohn at lkohn@bu.edu.

Those who are registered for the conference can download the papers in Adobe PDF format by clicking on the relevant link and supplying the password.

Friday 

April 19

1-1:30

Welcome 

Public Lectures, 1:30-3:30

Tantra and Daoism  

Russell Kirkland (UGA)

"Hermeneutics, Paradigms, and the Transformation of Reality: Reflections on the Scholarship on Tantra and Daoism"

Robert Gimello (Harvard)

"Dharani and Deity: The Place of the Occult in Chinese Buddhism"

3:30-4 Break

First Panel, 4-5:30

Historical Interactions

Evgeny Torchinov (St. Petersburg)

Chair and Discussant

Ron Davidson (Fairfield)

"Born to be Wild: Siddhas, Outcastes, S´abaras, and Tribal Esoterism"PDF file

Robert Sharf (UMich)

On Esoteric Buddhism in China

David Eckel (BU)

The Interaction of Tantra and Daoism according to David White.

Saturday 

April 20

Second Panel 9-10:15<  

The Dzogchen School 

John Makransky (Boston College)

Chair and Discussant

David Germano (VA)

Creative Buddhas and Pure Lands in Renaissance Tibet

Monica Esposito (Kyoto)

A Sino-Tibetan Tradition in China at the Monastery of the Celestial Eye

10:15-10:45

Break

Third Panel, 10:45-1:00

The Body and Sexual Practices 
Liu Xun (USC)

Chair and Discussant

Douglas Brooks (NY)

The Orthodox Tantrika: Appearance and Secrecy in Hindu Shakta Tantra

Janet Gyatso (Amherst)

The Thirdness of Ma-Ning: A Category to Breach Categories

Michael Winn (Healing Tao University)

Sexual Cultivation in Modern Daoist and Tantric Practice

1:00-2

Lunch

Public Lectures, 2-4

Tantric and Daoist Art

Jane Casey Singer (SOAS)

Tantric Themes in Early Tibetan Art

Stephen Little (Art Institute of Chicago)

What is Daoist Art?

4-4:30

Break

Fourth Panel, 4:30-6

Art

Eugene Wang

Chair and Discussant

James Robson (Stanford)

Talismans and Talismanic Script in Chinese Tantric Buddhism

Shawn Eichman (Nelson-Atkins Museum)

Giving Shape to the Shapeless: Gilded Bronze Daoist Votive Statues from the Sui-Tang Period

Sunday 

April 21

Fifth Panel 9-10:30

Ritual
John Lagerwey (EFEO, Paris)

Chair and Discussant

Richard K. Payne (IBS)

Homa of the Northern Dipper

Charles Orzech (UNC)

Fang yankou and pudu: Translation, Metaphor and Religious Identity
Sweet Dew: Metaphor, Translation, and Daoist Ritual in a 'Tantric' Key

Frederick Smith (Iowa)

Possession, Prognostication, and the Dissemination of Popular Ritual in India and China

10:30-11

Break

Sixth Panel, 11-12:30

Contemporary Practice in The U.S. 

Livia Kohn (Boston University)

Chair and Discussant

John Makransky (BC)

Competing Paradigms in the Current Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the West

Liu Ming (Orthodox Daoism of America)

"The Use of Intermediaries in Daoist and Tantric Buddhist Ritual"

Louis Komjathy (BU)

"Daoism in the U.S." PDF file

12:30-1

Concluding Discussion
1:00-2:00 Lunch