I attended the 2017 International Conference on Buddhist Manuscript Cultures at Princeton from Jan 20-22. Actually, that was the second time I went to the conference with this title. Buddhist manuscript studies has indeed become, or been reestablished as, an indispensable component of Buddhist studies. Especially, the growing attention to the materiality of Buddhist manuscripts plays an important role in revitalizing the study. Devoting an entire section of “New Approaches to Studying the Materiality of Buddhist Manuscripts” to its vol. 36/37, JIABS formally announced the starting of a new era of study on the manuscripts’ material culture. Given the larger context of the academic trend, it is not surprised to see growing amount of papers focusing on materiality in consecutive Princeton conferences. However, this inevitably results in, at least in a superficial level, a contradiction between the new stress on materiality and the traditional approach to textuality of the manuscripts. Therefore, the coming question is, how do we find the ideal point of balancing those two?... Read more about Balancing Materiality and Textuality: Reflections on 2017 International Conference on Buddhist Manuscript Culture

Originally from China, I am currently a Ph.D. student at IAAS, Harvard University. My primary interest is the history of Tibetan Buddhism beyond Tibet from the 11th century to 14th century and the research on Khara-Khoto (Heishuicheng) manuscripts.

I am also a pianist, composer, and conductor. Classical and Jazz are my favorite. Here is the original music composed and played by me. http://site.douban.com/mzymusic/