[PAST EVENT] Bloodstained Buddhas: Warfare, Violence, and Religion in Medieval China

April 1, 2022
4pm - 5:15pm
Location
Blow Memorial Hall, Room 333
262 Richmond Rd
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Access & Features
  • Open to the public
Buddha

In the second half of the eighth century, a new Buddhist teaching was introduced and propagated in China. Generally referred to in scholarship as Esoteric Buddhism, this iteration of Buddhism was swiftly adopted by the Chinese imperial government and disseminated throughout the empire. In this talk based on his book Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra, the Ruling Elite, and the Emergence of a Tradition (Columbia 2019), Geoffrey Goble introduces Chinese Esoteric Buddhism and reveals the surprising role that warfare and ritual technologies for murdering and afflicting enemies played in the creation and establishment of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism.