Organised to celebrate the successful close of the Lotus Sutra Project (2017–2022), this conference brought together an international group of scholars and the Project team to present on the impact of the Lotus Sutra as a critical Buddhist text.
This conference was held on 15-16 December 2022, both in-person in the British Library’s Foyle Suite and online via livestream.
The conference will investigate the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, the Lotus Sutra as represented at Dunhuang, and the methodology and results of the Lotus Sutra Project, which has now conserved, digitised and published nearly 800 Lotus Sutra manuscripts in the British Library’s collections.
A programme of the two-day conference is available to download (PDF).
The lectures were recorded and are now available on the IDP YouTube channel:
• Opening Ceremony of the Lotus Sutra Conference (15 – 16 December 2022)
Panel 1: Teachings of the Lotus Sutra
Chaired by: Luisa Elena Mengoni
• Keynote presentation: ‘The Lotus Sutra: Creating Buddhist Scripture’ by Dr Stephen F Teiser (15 December 2022)
• ‘When Being Original No Longer Matters: Reflections on the Sanskrit Text of the Lotus Sutra and its Uses’ by Dr Paul Harrison (15 December 2022)
• ‘Lotus Sutra: Applying the Teachings in an Everyday Life‘ by the Venerable Miao Duo 妙多法師 and Roxanna Pang (15 December 2022)
• ‘Deciphering the Exhibition of The Arts of the Lotus Sutra at the National Palace Museum‘ by Dr Eric Tzu-yin Chung 鍾子寅 (15 December 2022)
• Panel 1 Discussion: Teachings of the Lotus Sutra
Panel 2: The Lotus Sutra at Dunhuang
Chaired by: Sam van Schaik
• ‘Universal Gate of Salvation: Guanyin at Dunhuang’ by Dr Roderick Whitfield (16 December 2022)
• ‘Dividing and Structuring the Lotus Sutra in Manuscript Form’ by Dr Costantino Moretti (16 December 2022)
• ‘At the Intersection of Image, Text and Ritual: The Lotus Sutra in Mogao Murals’ by Dr Neil Schmid (16 December 2022)
• ‘Pieces of a Puzzle: Fragments of Chinese Manuscript with the Lotus Sutra‘ by Dr Imre Galambos (16 December 2022)
• ‘The Guanyin Sutra at Dunhuang as Seen Through the British Library Collection’ by Mélodie Doumy (16 December 2022)
• Panel 2 Discussion: The Lotus Sutra at Dunhuang
Panel 3: Preserving the Lotus Sutra at the British Library: From Physical to Digital
Chaired by: Mélodie Doumy
• ‘Locating the Lotus Sutra Manuscripts Digitisation Project’ by Tan Wang-Ward 王潭 (16 December 2022)
• ‘The Lotus Sutra Project at the British Library 2017–2022: A Conservators’ Perspective’ by Marie Kaladgew, Paulina Kralka & Marya Muzart (16 December 2022)
• ‘Conservation Case Studies from the Lotus Sutra Project at the British Library 2017–2022’ by Tania Estrada-Valadez, Marie Kaladgew, Paulina Kralka & Marya Muzart (16 December 2022)
• ‘Seeing Things Differently: The Imaging of Lotus Sutra Scrolls’ by Isabelle Reynolds-Logue (16 December 2022)
• Panel 3 Discussion: Preserving the Lotus Sutra at the British Library: From Physical to Digital
The Lotus Sutra Conservation and Digitisation project has been generously sponsored by the Bei Shan Tang Foundation.
