In this episode of 84000 In Conversation, Joie Chen chats with Dr. James Gentry, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, to learn more about the scriptural collection known as the Pañcarakṣā.
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.
