Institute Of Buddhist Studies Podcast
How DhÄraṇīs Were Proto-tantric: Ritual Uses of Buddhist Spells in Dunhuang and Beyond
- Author: Vários
- Narrator: Vários
- Publisher: Podcast
- Duration: 1:10:27
- More information
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Synopsis
The 2010 Spring Numata Lecture was delivered by Jacob Dalton on April 30, 2010. The following episode is the full video version of Prof. Dalton's talk. The Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang include a large number of copied dhÄraṇīs, both sÅ«tras and stand-alone spells. In this talk I will examine the content, the colophons, and the formats of these manuscripts and attempt to draw some broader conclusions about how dhÄraṇīs were used by early Tibetan Buddhists living around Dunhuang. I will then turn to the dhÄraṇī collections (dhÄraṇī-saṃgraha). The contents of these collections could vary according to the interests of the manuscripts’ owners, yet certain shared patterns may be discerned. The significance of these formal patterns becomes clear when we see how the same template was used by later Tibetans to structure the dhÄraṇī (gzungs ‘dus) section of their Tibetan canon (bka’ ‘gyur). Finally, I will step back to consider the historical development of dhÄraṇī ritual practic