Register for a CSMC workshop
The Body of the Spoken Word
The Interconnection of Ritual, Text and Manuscript in Bon and Naxi Traditions
When: Friday, 24 March 2023, 10:30 am – Saturday, 25 March 2023, 3:00 pm CET
Where: Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg, Room 0001 (Pavilion), and online
Through the series of workshops devoted to Bon and Naxi manuscripts organized in the years 2016–2020 we aimed to create and to reinforce a network of scholars who are known for their work on both traditions. The topics included the different collections of Bon and Naxi manuscripts, the concepts and history of both traditions, the science and technology of book studies and its possible application to Bon and Naxi manuscripts, the relationship between text and illustrations, writing materials used in both traditions, and the historical and archaeological context of the manuscripts’ places of origin. At the last workshop, we were able to formulate the key topics that had emerged from our extended investigation of the Bon and Naxi manuscripts. Thus, for this workshop we ask our participants to present their research developed within the framework of one of a dozen possible topics, as follows:
- One or more Bon rituals that may only be fully understandable in the light of Dongba sources;
- The Nyen Collection (gNyan ’bum) text, which has a parallel in Dongba manuscripts;
- The Sadak Collection (Sa bdag ’bum) text, which has a parallel in Dongba manuscripts;
- The figure of King Kong (Kong tse);
- The Donak ritual;
- The biographies of Shenrab Miwo;
- Llü rituals in the Naxi tradition, and their connection with the Bon Walchu ritual;
- Book format and binding in Bon, Naxi, Yi and other groups of Highland Asia;
- Surveys of extant Bon, Naxi and other Asian Highland manuscript collections available for material analyses;
- The book as a physical object in Bon, Naxi, and other related rituals: relationship between form and specific functions;
- Papermaking traditions in relevant regions;
- Associations / relationship between Bon, Naxi and Daoist rituals;
- Drawings, symbols, iconography: similarities and connections across Bon, Naxi and other manuscript cultures
Workshop Organisers