Early Tantra

In the framework of its ANR-DFG Franco-German thematic programme, the French National Research Agency (ANR) has decided to allocate the sum of €129,065 to the EFEO (Dominic Goodall), effective as of December 28, 2007. Set to last for three years, the programme is entitled "Discovering the Interrelationships and Common Ritual Syntax of the Saiva, Buddhist, Vaisnava and Saura traditions" (or Early Tantra)

The principal objective of the programme is to elucidate the interactions and relations between the ancient Tantric traditions. It was felt that by studying the similarities and differences between their ritual systems and terminology it would be possible to reach a clearer understanding of how these traditions were established and defined. The programme is also intended to make available for the first time reliable scholarly editions of a certain number of the earliest Tantric texts, all of them previously unpublished.

In the German part of the programme, scholars will focus their expertise and experience on the study of Nepalese manuscripts, particularly Buddhist manuscripts and early Saiva material. German partner researchers have privileged access to the National Archives of Kathmandu. Meanwhile, French researchers possess unique expertise regarding such material as well as of Shivaism in general. The two groups will pool their databases on Tantric literature.

This close and intensive collaboration will be reinforced by annual two-week long workshops attended not only by the members of the French and German teams but also by a substantial number of leading international experts in Tantric traditions who have agreed to be associated with the project.

The programme will culminate in six principal publications. Five of those publications will be constituted by the texts themselves. Depending on the state of the sources, the texts will be published either as critical editions or as diplomatic transcriptions. Each publication will be accompanied by a DVD containing digital images of the manuscripts in colour. The sixth publication will be a collection of articles on the ritual syntax common to the earliest Tantric traditions.

EFEO News
CANCELLATION of the Paris EFEO/ASIES Seminar
Paris, France, 16 December 2019
Due to the transport strike, the seminar is postponed to a later date.

Alain Arrault (EFEO) speaks on: "Écrire l’histoire en Chine". This seminar is part of the Dire et écrire l’histoire theme of the Master Études asiatiques - PSL (EFEO-EPHE-EHESS).

From 10:30 to 12:00, free admission
Maison de l'Asie, 22, avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris, Grand salon, 1st floor READ MORE
Buddhist scribal practices in a transcultural perspective
France, Paris, 25 November 2019
This international workshop is a collaborative effort organized by the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO-Paris) and the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC-Hamburg), which involves scholars in Buddhist studies, codicology, and art history to analyze the connecaons between scribal pracaces agested in various Central and East-Asian Buddhist manuscript cultures, with a focus on mutual influences between them regarding the use of specific ornamental and/or structural marks. Read program here
Conference
Paris, France, 07 November 2019
Alain Arrault gives a lecture on religious statuary in China, Japan and Korea on Thursday, November 7, at 2pm, Salon Pelliot of the Hotel Heidelbach.
This conference is organized by the Société des amis du Musée Guimet, for more details follow the link.
Paris EFEO/ASIES Seminar
Paris, France, 21 October 2019
LEE Jung-nam, professor at the Asiatic Research Institute of the Korea University speaks on: "South Korea’s perception and policy on China in the age of competition between the US and China. Focusing on the approaches of China experts in Korea".

From 10:30 to 12:00, opened to all
Maison de l'Asie, 22, avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris, Grand salon, 1st floor READ MORE
The international conference ''New perspectives in Chinese History''
Paris, France, 18 October 2019
The international conference New perspectives in Chinese History is co-organized by the EFEO (Paris and the Beijing Center), the Max Weber Foundation (and its Beijing branch), and EHESS (CECMC) and sponsored by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange.

This conference, which is part of the same framework as the previous meetings held in Cambridge and Paris, is designed as a workshop focusing on the presentation of the archives of the period from the end of the Ming period to the republican period, i.e. from the end of the 16th century to 1949.

See the program