image of Final Conference of ERC Project "BuddhistRoad" held online

Final Conference of ERC Project "BuddhistRoad" held online

Earlier this month, the project team of BuddhistRoad held an international conference online. It was the third and final conference of the ERC funded project. The conference covener was Lewis Doney.

This conference formed a fitting tribute to its aims of creating a new framework to understand the dynamics of cultural encounter and religious transfer across premodern Eastern Central Asia. The conference focused on the complex interactions between Buddhism and non-Buddhist traditions, and the multifaceted aspects of Buddhist doctrines in the region. The first section included areas and religious traditions that encompassed a whole spectrum from minor to major impact on Buddhism, while the second part interrogated themes of orthodoxy, the transmission and geographical instantiation of belief. Although doctrines and non-Buddhist influences were discussed on separate days of this conference, there proved a great deal of dynamic overlapping of topics and stimulating dialogue throughout the event.