Establishing of Buddhist Nodes in Eastern Central Asia 6th to 14th c. - Part III: Impacts of Non-Buddhist Influences and Doctrine
Online Event
This is the 3rd and final conference of the BuddhistRoad project, which has been creating a new framework to understand the dynamics of cultural encounter and religious transfer across premodern Eastern Central Asia. This conference shares these aims, with first a new focus on the complex interactions between Buddhism and non-Buddhist traditions, and second a deepening of the traditional focus on Buddhist doctrines. Between the 6th and 14th centuries, as Buddhism continued to spread along the so-called Silk Road and strengthen its position in many of the nodes along the way, it encountered other religions, from both east and west, indigenous traditions of interacting with superhuman beings, and novel non-religious technologies. Buddhist travellers, missionaries and converts had to negotiate, accept, adapt, or reject these influences, and they all had impacts on local forms of Buddhism to a lesser or greater extent. A key part of the new Buddhist traditions created by these processes were altered worldviews, beliefs and creeds that were authorised by means of teaching and the passing down of orthodoxy. Thus, although doctrines and the impact of non-Buddhist influences are discussed on separate days of this conference, there is much scope for dynamic overlapping of topics and exciting cross-fertilisation of dialogue throughout
The conference is held online and on invitation only.
