84000 In Conversation | The Five Protections: A Buddhist Approach to Healthcare

This conversation will center on the role of the scriptural collection of five texts known as the Pañcarakṣā in Buddhist approaches to healthcare and protection through discussion of its history and practice across the Buddhist world, with special focus on its translation and transmission in Tibet.

The Pañcarakṣā collection is comprised of the following five texts.  We encourage you to explore our Reading Room links to read the sūtras and get more in-depth understanding with them.

• The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen (Toh 559)
• The Great Amulet (Toh 561)
• Great Cool Grove (Toh 562)
• Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm (Toh 558)
• Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra (Toh 563)

Speakers
Dr. James Gentry | Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University
Dr. James Gentry is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. He specializes in Tibetan Buddhism, with particular focus on the literature and history of its Tantric traditions. He is the author of Power Objects in Tibetan Buddhism: The Life, Writings, and Legacy of Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen (Brill, 2017), which examines the roles of Tantric material and sensory objects in the lives and institutions of Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhists. His current project is a history of the maṇi pill and other Buddhist medico-ritual pill traditions in Tibet.    

Joie Chen |  PhD Candidate, Buddhist Studies, Harvard University
Joie is a PhD candidate in Buddhist Studies at Harvard University, where her research looks at the confluence of various modes of learnedness in Tibetan Buddhism, in particular how the language and visual arts play into the formation of a learned Buddhist person. She holds a BA in Film Studies and English from Yale University and an MPhil in Tibetan & Himalayan Studies from the University of Oxford.

This In Conversation series is open to all and we invite you to attend and spread the word amongst your communities and networks. Each episode’s details and its registration link will be announced on our web page, news page, by email, and on social media.

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Posted: 5 Sep 2023