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Prof. Dr. Brandon Dotson

Profile

Academic positionFull Professor
Research fieldsAsian Studies,Religious Studies
KeywordsTibetology, Sacred Kingship, Buddhism, Royal Religion, Bon Religion

Current contact address

CountryUnited States of America
CityWashington
InstitutionGeorgetown University
InstituteTheology Department
Homepagehttp://explore.georgetown.edu/people/bbd12/

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Franz-Karl EhrhardInstitut für Indologie und Tibetologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), München
Prof. Dr. Armin SelbitschkaInstitut für Sinologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), München
Start of initial sponsorship01/09/2010

Program(s)

2010Sofja Kovalevskaja Award Programme

Nominator's project description

From the seventh to the ninth century, Tibet was ruled by a dynasty of kings whose divine right to rule was based both on their sacred nature and on their just form of governance. With the royal conversion to Buddhism in the middle of the 8th century, the king’s divine nature underwent significant changes. Like other Buddhist kings, he came to be seen as a universal Buddhist monarch. Brandon Dotson is examining the Buddhist transformation of Tibetan kingship, both in its sacred and political aspects, from the early contacts with Buddhism in the 7th century through to its dominance from the 11th century onward. Employing comparative anthropological models and considering similar examples of sacred kingship in China, Southeast Asia, and Central Eurasia, the project will contribute to relevant debates concerning the age old and universal question of the relationship between spiritual and temporal power.

Publications (partial selection)

2015Brandon Dotson: Failed Prototypes: Foliation and Numbering in Ninth-Century Tibetan Śatasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtras. In: Journal Asiatique, 2015, 153-164
2015Brandon Dotson: Introducing Early Tibetan Law: Codes and Cases. In: Dieter Schuh, Secular Law and Order in the Tibetan Highland. International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, 2015. 267-314
2015Brandon Dotson: Popular Wisdom in the Margins of the Perfection of Wisdom. In: Olaf Czaja, Guntram Hazod, The Illuminating Mirror: Festschrift for Per K. Sørensen on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday. Reichert Verlag, 2015. 119-130
2015Brandon Dotson: The Call of the Cuckoo to the Thin Sheep Of Spring: Healing and Fortune in Old Tibetan Dice Divination Texts. In: Charles Ramble, Ulrike Roesler Tibetan and Himalayan Healing: An Anthology for Anthony Aris. Vajra Publications, 2015. 148-160
2013Brandon Dotson, Kazushi Iwao, Tsuguhito Takeuchi: Scribes, Texts, and Rituals in Early Tibet and Dunhuang.. Reichert Verlag, 2013
2013Brandon Dotson: The Dead and Their Stories: Preliminary Remarks on the Place of Narrative in Tibetan Religion. In: Cristoph Cüppers, Rob Mayer, Michael Walter Tibet after Empire: Culture, Society and Religion between 850-1000. Lumbini International Research Institute, 2013. 51-83
2013Brandon Dotson: The Princess and the Yak: the Hunt as Narrative Trope and Historical Reality. In: Brandon Dotson, Kazushi Iwao, Tsuguhito Takeuchi Scribes, Texts, and Rituals in Early Tibet and Dunhuang. Reichert Verlag, 2013. 61-85
2013Brandon Dotson: The Remains of the Dharma: Editing, Rejecting, and Replacing the Buddha’s Words in Officially Commissioned Sūtras from Dunhuang, 820s to 840s. In: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 2013, 5-68
2013Brandon Dotson: The Unhappy Bride and Her Lament. In: Journal of the International Association for Bon Research, 2013, 199-225
2011Brandon Dotson: Theorising the King: Implicit and Explicit Sources for the Study of Tibetan Sacred Kingship. In: Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, 2011, 83-103