SSIUK Lecture: The Tibetan Ascetic Self in Space and Time by Prof. David DiValerio

28th April 2022, 6:30pm – 8:00pm (UK time)

ZOOM LINK : https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81855955603

This presentation will share some findings from a research project exploring the history of long-term individual meditative retreat in Tibetan Buddhism. This research grows out of the reading of more than thirty-five Tibetan texts offering instruction on how to live and practice in retreat, dating from the twelfth century to the early part of the twentieth, many of which bear the title “mountain Dharma” (ri chos). By tracking trends in the prescriptions offered regarding certain pragmatic facets of the ascetic’s comportment—such as how do decide on an appropriate location for a retreat, how to relate to other people, to food, the body, the spiritual lineage—this project attempts to tell a history of ascetic practice in Tibet. A predominating development in that history, as this talk will show, is the Tibetan ascetic self’s coming to be understood as a being in time.

About the speaker

David DiValerio is Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, specializing in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. His publications include The Holy Madmen of Tibet (2015) and The Life of the Madman of Ü (2016). He also worked in the 2021-2022 academic year through a Research Fellowship from the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.