Transmission of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond
This session is the first of three in the conference Enduring Discoveries of the Cosmopolitan, Multicultural, Expansive and Relative Orthodoxies in the Study of East Asian Buddhism, History, Manuscripts, Archaeology, Literature, Art, and East-West Exchanges that will honor the late Dr. Antonino Forte (1940–2006).
The Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies, with the assistance of the FROGBEAR Project based at the University of British Columbia (frogbear.org), the Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale” in Naples of Italy and La Scuola Italiana di Studi sull’Asia Orientale (ISEAS) in Kyoto of Japan, the Geumgang University 金剛大學 in Nonsan of South Korea, and Princeton University in New Jersey, USA, is pleased to present this conference to honour the remarkably enduring influence of Antonino Forte (1940–2006) upon the fields of Buddhist studies, medieval Chinese and Japanese history, Silk Road studies, East Asian art and archaeology, and beyond in North America, Europe, Oceania, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China. Characteristic of Professor Forte and his work, the “Enduring Discoveries of the Cosmopolitan, Multicultural, Expansive and Relative Orthodoxies in the Study of East Asian Buddhism, History, Manuscripts, Archaeology, Literature, Art, and East-West Exchanges” conference will be a unique tripartite confluence: geographically cross-regional, and thematically as cross-cultural, cross-religious, and interdisciplinary as possible.
The theme for the first session of this three-session conference, The Transmission of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond (for the North American session, July 4–6, 2020). This session will highlight exacting, pioneering scholarship about how the teachings and practices of Buddhism were communicated, shared, and applied by diverse groups and individuals along the so-called Silk Roads—or western regions in Chinese—across time and space. Topics may include, but are not limited to: translation and translators; textual study, paleography and codicology; monastic and lay administration, monasteries, temples, and archaeological remains of religious sites; manuscript Buddhist canon(s) and compendia; inscriptions, epigraphy, and variant sources used to study the transmission of Buddhism.
The conference organizers will collect all the papers in English, plus the English translations of major papers written in non-English languages to produce conference volumes dedicated to the enduring legacy of Forte. Publication of multiple Chinese volumes is also planned and will include the Chinese versions for all non-Chinese papers in addition to those papers originally presented by Chinese. Only scholars who are confident in finishing their draft papers by the middle of June (for the North American session), or by the end of September (for the European session) and submitting publishable papers by the end of 2020 are encouraged to apply.
The North American session is planned as a component of the annual intensive program on Buddhism, administered by the FROGBEAR project. Details for the program are available:
https://frogbear.org/2020-international-and-intensive-program-on-buddhism-at-princeton-university/
