Thursday 19 March 2026 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 8 & 9
About
Book Culture in Buddhism and Beyond Lecture Series, 2025-26, University of Cambridge
Title: Book Culture and Ritual: Liturgical Manuscripts from Dunhuang
Abstract: What can we learn about the performance of Buddhist rituals by examining the physical form of liturgical texts? This talk examines formatting, mise-en-page, punctuation, decoration, rubrication, performance notes, and other features of medieval Chinese Buddhist liturgies. It considers what can be learned about performers and audiences, monks and commissioners, plans and accidents in Buddhist ritual by paying close attention to the material aspects of textual production.
Biography: Stephen F. Teiser is D.T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies at Princeton University. He examines textual, artistic, and manuscript evidence to understand social history and religious practice in medieval Chinese Buddhism.
Image: British Library Or. 8210/S. 5637. Pages from a liturgical manuscript in booklet format, dating from the ninth-tenth centuries, discovered in Dunhuang (Gansu).