Following his sojourn in Tibet, Padmasambhava is said to have departed for the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain (zangs mdog dpal ri), a site that he transformed into a tantric Buddhist paradise where he resides to the present day. In this talk I will sketch a cultural history of the Copper-Colored Mountain through narratives of Padmasambhava’s journey there in the Chronicles (bka’ thang) of his life, biographical accounts of travels there by treasure-revealers (gter ston) spanning from the thirteenth to the twentieth century, prayers of aspiration for rebirth there, and visual representations of the mountain and the Palace of Lotus Light at its summit.
About the Speaker
Benjamin Bogin is a scholar of Himalayan Buddhism. He is Associate Professor at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY. Bogin writes and teaches on the intersections of biographical literature, sacred geography, and visual art in Himalayan cultures. He is the author of The Illuminated Life of the Great Yolmowa (Serindia Publications, 2013) and the co-editor, with Andrew Quintman, of Himalayan Passages: Tibetan and Newar Studies in Honor of Hubert Decleer (Wisdom Publications, 2014) and, with Ariana Maki and Rachel Seligman, Forms of Awakening: Tibetan Art from the Jack Shear Collection (Delmonico Books, 2025).
