Tripartite Lineages and Cremation Ground Revelations: Crossovers Between Early rDzogs chen and Kaula Śaivism.

Abstract

As I argue in my recent PhD dissertation, it is probable that Indian Tantric Śaivism exerted a direct influence onto Tibetan rDzogs chen in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.  In this talk I will discuss two related elements of this crossover: peculiar tripartite lineage schemes, and revelation and transmission in particular cremation ground settings.

About the speaker

Paul Thomas, Ph.D. is an Associate Translator at 84000 (84000.co), a project to translate the entire Tibetan Buddhist canon into English.  As part of the project, he is currently working on a translation into English of the main Indian Kālacakra commentary, the Vimalaprabhā.  He recently completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, and his thesis explores the intersections among the Kālacakra, Tantric Śaivism, and Dzogchen in India and Tibet during the tenth to the thirteenth centuries.