Inter-area/Border Crossing

Organized Panel Session

New Directions in Gandhāran Buddhist Studies

Rarely does an entirely new area of study emerge, but such is the case with Gandhāran Buddhism, largely thanks to recent and ongoing manuscript discoveries. The history of Buddhism across Asia owes much to developments that occurred in Gandhāra (modern day eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan), beginning in the centuries around the turn of the Common Era. At this time, Gandhāra served as a continental trade hub linking diverse cultures, and the Buddhist practices and literary innovations coursing through this region shaped Buddhist thought and contributed to its spread from South to East Asia. And yet, only in the last two decades has the significance of Gandhāran Buddhism been fully recognized; it remains mostly absent from curricula about Buddhism. With the publication this year of Richard Salomon’s The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhāra (2018), Gandhāran Buddhism is introduced to a wider audience, cementing it as an independent tradition worthy of study by scholars of Asian religions.

In this panel, we build on Salomon’s foundation by presenting four innovative approaches to Gandhāran Buddhist studies. Presentations cover the philological and philosophical complexities involved in deciphering unique Gāndhārī manuscripts, the value of and techniques for integrating Gandhāran studies into college courses, the role of Buddhist monastic sites in facilitating Kuṣāṇa imperial power, and how the decline of Buddhism in Gandhāra impacted the development of esoteric Buddhism. Together, we highlight the relevance of this relatively new field to Buddhist and Asian studies.

Organizer(s)

• MS

  Michael Skinner

  University of Hawaii at Hilo

Chair(s)

• TL

  Timothy Lenz

  University of Washington

Paper Presenter(s)

• MS

  Michael Skinner

  University of Hawaii at Hilo
• MB

  Michael Butcher

  University of Washington
• JM

  Joseph Marino, III

  Cornell University
• AK

  Adam Krug

  University of California, Santa Barbara

Papers:

• 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

  Gandhāran History: The Buddhist Donative Sphere and the Making of the Kuṣāṇa Empire
• 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

  Gandhāran Manuscripts: Deciphering Birch Bark Scrolls through the Lens of a Gandhāri Verse Text
• 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

  Teaching Gandhāran Buddhism: Incorporating New Discoveries into Old Curricula
• 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

  Later Gandhāran Buddhism: Theorizing Institutional Decline in Gandhāra as an Impetus for the Two-Stage Yoga of the Great Seal