Biography
Dr. Carmen Meinert, Sinologist and Tibetologist, obtained her PhD from the University of Bonn in 2001 with a comparative study on Chinese Chan Buddhism and Tibetan rDzogs chen. She spent a total of four years at Universities in the PRC (Beijing University, Sichuan University) and on fieldwork in Khams. She is also an associated member of the Center for Buddhist Studies at Hamburg University. Currently she is working as a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen, Germany.
Her fields of research are Buddhist interchange between China and Tibet, Meditation in Chinese Buddhism, Tibetan rDzogs chen, early Tibetan tantric traditions (pre-11th century), Chinese esoteric Buddhism, Dunhuang manuscripts and more recently aspects of humanistic Buddhism. One of her current research projects focuses on aspects of violence in Tibetan and Chinese tantric Buddhism up to the 11th century, particularly on rites such as “Liberation through killing” (sgrol ba).
- The International Symposium on Buddhism and Human Rights, which took place at the University of Hamburg over 21–22 November 2008, was coordinated by Dr. Meinert and Dr. Hans-Bernd Zöllner. Further information (PDF).
Publications
Books
2009. Carmen Meinert/Hans-Bernd Zöllner (eds.): Buddhist Approaches to Human Rights, Bielefeld: Transcript publishing house, 250 pages.
2004. Chinesische Chan- und tibetische rDzogs chen-Lehre: eine komparatistische Untersuchung im Lichte des philosophischen Heilskonzeptes ,Nicht-Vorstellen’. PhD dissertation, University of Bonn. PDF download.
Articles
2009. “Gangkar Rinpoché between Tibet and China: A Tibetan Lama among Ethnic Chinese in the 1930s to 1950s”, in: Buddhism between Tibet and China, M. Kapstein (ed.), Boston: Wisdom Publications, 215-238.
2008.
“Gestückelte Schriften: Überlieferungsgeschichten der dem Meditationsmeister Wolun zugeschriebenen Dunhuang-Manuskripte”, in: Oriens Extremus 47 (2008), 215-245.
2007. “The Conjunction of Chinese Chan and Tibetan rDzogs chen Thought: Reflections on the Tibetan Dunhuang Manuscripts IOL Tib J 689-1 and PT 699″, in: Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet (extra volume to Studies in Central and East Asian Religion), Matthew T. Kapstein/Brandon Dotson (eds.), Leiden/Boston: Brill, 239-301.
2007. “A Pliable Life: Facts and Fiction about the Figure of the Chinese Meditation Master Wolun”, in: Oriens Extremus 46 (2007), 184-210.
2006 “Between the Profane and the Sacred? On the Context of the Rite of “Liberation” (sgrol ba)”, in: Buddhism and Violence, M. Zimmermann (ed.), Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, 99-130.
2006 “Legend of Cig car ba Criticism in Tibet: a List of Six Cig car ba Titles in the Chos ‘byung me tog snying po of Nyang Nyi ma ‘od zer (12th century)”, in: Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis. Studies in its Formative Period 900-1400, Ronald Davidson/Christian Wedemeyer (eds.), Leiden: Brill, 31-54.
2003/4. Lecture manuscript: “Plötzliches oder allmähliches Erwachen – konträre Positionen im chinesischen Mahāyāna-Buddhismus?”, in: Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart, vol. X, 17-37, Hamburg University, Asien-Afrika-Institut, Department for the Culture and History of India and Tibet. PDF.
2003 “Structural Analysis of the bSam gtan mig sgron: A Comparison of the Fourfold Correct Practice in the Āryāvikalpapraveśanāmadhāraṇī and the Contents of the Four Main Chapters of the bSam gtan mig sgron“, in: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 26/1 (2003), 175-195.
2002 “Chinese Chan and Tibetan Rdzogs Chen: Preliminary Remarks on Two Tibetan Dunhuang Manuscripts”, in: Religion and Secular Culture in Tibet. Tibetan Studies II (PIATS 2000). H. Blezer (ed.), Brill: Leiden, 289-307.
Translations
2009. Ulrich von Schoeder/Heidi von Schroeder, Development of Buddhist Art in Tibet. Illustrated with Sculptures and Paintings of the Tibet Museum Alain Bordier Foundation, academic editorial and English translation, Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications Ltd.
1996. Marylin M. Rhie/Robert A. F. Thurman, Weisheit und Liebe. 1000 Jahre Kunst des tibetischen Buddhismus, co-translator of the German version of the exhibition catalogue, Cologne/Bonn: DuMont/Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
Forthcoming
2010. A Guide to Nonconceptuality. Texts Related to the Topic of avikalpa, Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House, 150 pages (forthcoming).
2010. (ed.): Traces of Humanism in China–Tradition and Modernity, Bielefeld: Transcript Publishing House, 190 pages (forthcoming March 2010).
2009. “Lun Chanding muju de jiegou: Sheng ru wu fenbie zongchi jing si zhengxing yu Chanding muju sige zhuyao zhangjie zhi bijiao [Structual Analysis of the bSam gtan mig sgron]”, in: Festschrift for Prof. Wang Yao on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday, Shen Weirong (ed.), Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House, 10 pages (forthcoming).
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