This paper examines what can be said about the social and religious context of Tibet in the late-8th and early 9th centuries, that is, the period during which Padmasambhava would have been active. In doing so, it queries some general assumptions about “royal religion,” “popular religion,” and tantra.
About the Speaker
Brandon Dotson is the McKenna Chair of Buddhist Studies and professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. His research largely concerns seventh- to tenth-century Tibet and Dunhuang, and the circulation of rituals and narratives in and out of Tibet during this period. His most recent works are Producing Buddhist Sutras in Ninth-Century Tibet: The “Sutra of Limitless Life” and Its Dunhuang Copies Kept at the British Library (De Gruyter, 2025; with Lewis Doney), “Catastrophe and Prophecy in Tibetan Religious Contexts” (special issue, Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 34 [2025]; co-edited with Jetsun Deleplanque).
