Centre for Tantric Studies

Dr. Hong Luo, from the China Tibetology Research Center, visited the CTS during February and March 2009, and again briefly in
May-June 2009 in order to further the joint project on Abhayākaragupta’s Abhayapaddhati. Dr. Luo is reading sections of the Abhayapaddhati with Prof. Harunaga Isaacson and a number of CTS associates. The project members are preparing an edition and translation of this important commentary on the Buddhakapālatantra (see here for further information).

Dr. Shaman Hatley (visiting from Concordia University, Montreal) has given the following presentation:

Yoginīmelaka: Representations of encounters with goddesses and women in the early Bhairavatantras

• Date: 4 December 2008, 4pm
• Venue: Room 222, Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 (Ostflügel)

Visionary, transactional encounters with the deities, particularly goddesses known as yoginīs, comprise one of the central concerns of the Vidyāpīṭha division of the Śaiva bhairavatantras. Indeed, the entire edifice of ritual appears oriented at this level of the tradition toward bringing about power-bestowing “union” (melaka/melāpa) with the goddesses. This presentation examines representations of these encounters based on early sources such as the Brahmayāmala and Siddhayogeśvarīmata, exploring both the ritual context and doctrinal interpretation of melaka, the variety of its classifications, the transactions envisioned between sādhakas and yoginīs, and later transformations in conceptions of melaka. (Continued »)

Two classes relating to tantric studies are being taught in the winter semester (2008–2009) at the AAI, University of Hamburg:

• Lektüre buddhistischer und schivaitischer Tantra-Literatur (Prof. Harunaga Isaacson)
• Philology and Codicology (Prof. Harunaga Isaacson)

In addition, the program held in conjunction with the Buddhism and Human Rights Symposium, co-convened by Dr. Carmen Meinert, offers sessions and lectures related to Tibetan Vajrayāna:

• Nov. 22, 1.30 pm: Conference Panel — Tibet/Vajrayāna (Chair: Prof. Jan-Ulrich Sobisch, Carola Roloff; Discussants: Patrick French, Helmut Steckel)
• Jan. 12, 6.00 pm: Tibet/Vajrayāna: Verhältnis religiöser und staatlicher Ordnungsvorstellungen in Tibet (T.B.A.)