Tantrism

The guest speaker at this well-attended seminar Professor Alexis Sanderson (Oxford) is a renowned specialist in the field of the Indian esoteric, mystic forms of religion known as Tantrism, which have constituted important later developments in Hinduism as well as Buddhism. His first lecture, under the title "Pious Plagiarism", dealt with evidence of the dependence of Buddhist Yogini-tantras (such as Laghusamvara, Abhidhanottara- and Hevajra-tantra) on certain texts belonging to the Hindu traditions of Saiva Tantrism (e.g. Jayadratha-yamala- and Picumata- alias Brahmayamala- tantra), inter alia in the listings of the 24 holy places. Professor Sanderson's second lecture, "Levels in Esoteric žaivism: the Five Initiations", dealt with the hierarchy and order of the initiations as described in the Tantraloka.
Four speakers from within the research-cluster contributed to the seminar. Professor K.R. van Kooij (Leiden) spoke on "Tantrism and Art: the realization of violence", presenting materials from his ongoing reserach on the role and the iconography of violence in Indian classical arts. Dr. P.C. Verhagen (Leiden), in his lecture "Relations between Tantrism and Tibetan Indigenous Grammar", presented evidence for the considerable influence of Tantristic exegesis, particularly the phonological descriptions associated with the esoteric formulas, the mantras, on the grammatical traditions in Tibet. Dr. T. Goudriaan (Leiden) delivered a lecture on the comparison of the vow termed Vidya-vrata as formulated in four versions of the Kubjika tradition. Dr. H. Isaacson (Groningen) gave some interesting specimens of his recent work on the textual criticism of the Buddhist Hevajra-tantra, and its commentaries Muktavali and Ratnavali.

Dr P.C. Verhagen is affiliated to the Kern Institute of Indology, Leiden University