Travelling the Southern Pathways: Esoteric Buddhism along the Maritime ‘Silk Routes’, 7th–14th Century

You are invited to a seminar titled “Travelling the Southern Pathways: Esoteric Buddhism along the Maritime ‘Silk Routes’, 7th–14th Century” by Dr Andrea Acri, hosted by the Belt and Road Initiative Research Cluster at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Please find more details below.

Travelling the Southern Pathways: Esoteric Buddhism along the Maritime ‘Silk Routes’, 7th–14th Century
Speaker: Dr Andrea Acri (École Pratique des Hautes Études, PSL University)
Date: Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Time: 4pm – 5:30pm (SGT)
Venue: FASS Research Division Seminar Room
The Shaw Foundation Building, Block AS7, #06-42
5 Arts Link, Singapore 117570
Registration: Microsoft Forms (or scan the QR code to register)

Travelling the Southern Pathways: Esoteric Buddhism along the Maritime ‘Silk Routes’, 7th–14th Century
My talk will give a historical overview of the networks of locales and agents that were instrumental to the rise and circulation of Esoteric (or Tantric) Buddhism/Mahāyāna Buddhist Tantra between the 7th and 14th centuries CE. I will approach the study of Esoteric Buddhism from a broad geographical perspective, emphasizing the maritime interactions that took place along the so-called ‘Maritime Silk Routes’ over the course of several centuries. On the basis of textual, material, and archaeological evidence disseminated throughout the vast territory of Maritime Asia, I will show how highly mobile Buddhist masters of the « first wave » and « second wave » of Esoteric Buddhism travelled to various Asian regions where new cults and rituals served the purpose of the political elites, i.e. ‘State protection Buddhism’. I will then highlight the role of Southeast Asia, and especially Nusantara, as both a crossroads and terminus of Buddhist contacts, and a locale that contributed in important ways to Pan-Asian Sanskritic Buddhism.

Andrea Acri (PhD Leiden University, 2011) is Assistant Professor in Tantric Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, PSL University) in Paris. Prior to joining the EPHE in 2016 he has held various research and teaching positions in India, Singapore, Australia, and the Netherlands. He is currently Principal Investigator in a project on the maritime circulation of Tantric Buddhism funded by the French Agency for Scientific Research, and adjunct researcher in the ERC Synergy project DHARMA, hosted by the EFEO in Paris. His main research and teaching interests are Śaiva and Buddhist Tantric traditions in South and Southeast Asia, Sanskrit and Old Javanese philology, Yoga studies, and Balinese Hinduism. His recent publications include « The Creative South: Buddhist And Hindu Art in Medieval Maritime Asia » (co-edited with Peter Sharrock, Singapore: ISEAS, 2022) and « Tantra, Magic, and Vernacular Religions in Monsoon Asia » (co-edited with Paolo E. Rosati, London and New York: Routledge, 2023).