The report of the symposium “The Lotus Sutra: Teachings, Transmission and Material Culture of a Sacred Buddhist Text”
2022.12.27
From November 15 to 16, 2022, The British Library and the International Dunhuang Project held a symposium titled “The Lotus Sutra: Teachings, Transmission and Material Culture of a Sacred Buddhist Text.”
This symposium both commemorates the completion and presents the results of “The Lotus Sutra Project” undertaken by The British Library and the International Dunhuang Project from 2017 to 2022 to digitally archive Lotus Sutra manuscripts held at The British Library.
Spanning two days, the symposium used mainly Dunhuang manuscripts and Dunhuang murals to describe the reception to the Lotus Sutra, interpret the Lotus Sutra from the perspective of art history, and present results from philological research.
In the afternoon on day two, the working processes of the project were described, it was noted that 793 manuscripts had been photographed and 16,864 images captured in total, and the findings and results from the digital archiving process were presented.
We would like to thank “The Lotus Sutra Project” for their research on the Lotus Sutra and excavated documents, including the Dunhuang manuscripts, and also for sharing so many valuable resources with researchers working in related fields.
Reported by Hirotoshi Ogihara
The Lotus Sutra: The Teachings, Transmission and Material Culture of a Sacred Buddhist Text
15 – 16 December 2022: Foyle Suite, British Library
15 December 2022 – Day 1
14.30 – 14.45 Opening Ceremony, Greetings by Roly Keating and the Bei Shan Tang Foundation
Panel 1 – Teachings of the Lotus Sutra (Chairperson: Luisa Elena Mengoni)
14.45 – 14.50 Welcome by Luisa Elena Mengoni
14.50 – 15.50 Keynote: Stephen F. Teiser ‘The Lotus Sutra: Creating Buddhist Scripture’
15.50 – 16.15 Venerable Miao Duo 妙多法師 and Roxanna Pang ‘Lotus Sutra: Applying the Teachings in an Everyday Life’
16.15 – 16.30 Tea & Coffee Break
16.30 – 16.55 Paul Harrison ‘When being original no longer matters: Reflections on the Sanskrit text of the Lotus Sutra and its uses’
16.55 – 17.20 Eric Tzu-yin CHUNG 鍾子寅 ‘Deciphering the exhibition of “The Arts of the Lotus Sutra” at the National Palace Museum’
17.20 – 17.55 Panel 1: Q&A
16 December 2022 – Day 2
Panel 2 – The Lotus Sutra at Dunhuang (Chairperson: Sam van Schaik)
9.15 – 9.40 Roderick Whitfield ‘Avalokitesvara and the Universal Gate of Salvation’
9.40 – 10.05 Costantino Moretti ‘Dividing and Structuring the Lotus Sutra in Manuscript Form’
10.05 – 10.20 Tea & Coffee Break
10.20 – 10.45 Neil Schmid ‘At the Intersection of Image, Text and Ritual: The Lotus Sutra in Mogao Murals’ (Online)
10.45 – 11.10 Imre Galambos ‘Pieces of a puzzle: Fragments of Chinese manuscript with the Lotus Sutra’ (Online)
11.10 – 11.35 Mélodie Doumy ‘The Guanyin Sutra at Dunhuang as seen through the British Library collection’
11.35 – 12.00 Panel 2: Q&A
Panel 3 – Preserving the Lotus Sutra at the British Library: From Physical to Digital (Chairperson: Mélodie Doumy)
13.45 – 14.00 Welcome by Mélodie Doumy
14.00 – 14.25 Tan Wang-Ward 王潭 ‘Locating the Lotus Sutra Manuscripts Digitisation Project’
14.25 – 14.50 Marie Kaladgew, Paulina Kralka, Marya Muzart ‘The Lotus Sutra Project at the British Library 2017-2022: A Conservators’ Perspective’
14.50 – 15.05 Tea & Coffee Break
15.05 – 15.30 Tania Estrada, Marie Kaladgew, Paulina Kralka and Marya Muzart ‘Conservation Case Studies from the Lotus Sutra Project at the British Library 2017-2022’
15.30 – 15.55 Isabelle Reynolds-Logue ‘Seeing Things Differently: The Imaging of Lotus Sutra Scrolls’
15.55 – 16.20 Panel 2: Q&A
16.20 – 16.30 Endnote: Luisa Elena Mengoni
[Additional note] For information about the symposium, please visit the following website.
https://www.bl.uk/events/lotus-sutra
[Additional note] For information about The Lotus Sutra Project, please visit the following website.
https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2018/03/introducing-the-lotus-sutra-project.html