Saroruhavajra's Hevajra-Lineage – A Close Study of the Surviving Sanskrit and Tibetan Works

• Applicant: Dr. Torsten Gerloff
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2018 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 396661046

The transmission lineage accredited to the Indian mahāsiddha Saroruhavajra, alias Padmavajra (Tib. mTsho skyes rdo rje), assumed an important role in the development of the Hevajra Cycle which in course of time, especially during the peak of the development of the Buddhist tantric traditions between the 9th and 13th centuries C.E., developed into one of the most important systems in the realm of tantric Buddhism.This project which is the first and most complete study of an entire transmission lineage of the Hevajra corpus aims at a detailed analysis of the surviving textual witnesses of this commentarial tradition. It comprises the critical edition of the texts surviving both in Sanskrit and Tibetan (keyword "Grundlagenforschung"), the careful analysis of the teachings contained therein and an extensive annotated translation into English.Whereas the main focus of the preceding part of this project lay on the close study of the surviving Sanskrit works, also taking into account the texts' canonical Tibetan translations, special attention is now being paid to the textual witnesses of this tradition which only survive in Tibetan, both canonical and para-canonical Tibetan translations as well as autochthonous Tibetan works. The results of this detailed study not only show the lineage’s underlying philosophical tenets and soteriological methods, but also shed light on its intellectual development with its influences on and from other buddhist and non-buddhist traditions. The outcome of this extensive research project is planned to be published in three volumes in the end of 2019.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Thailand
• Host: Professor Dr. Mattia Salvini