Project description
Understanding Indic and Tibetan cultures’ traditions
Indic works in Sanskrit, Indic works translated into Tibetan and autochthonous Tibetic works claiming Indic origin contain profound ideas that are integral to understanding the rich philosophical, religious and literary traditions of both Indic and Tibetan cultures. In this context, the ERC-funded Intellexus project aims to map these three corpora, while also considering non-Buddhist Indic and Tibetic material. It will focus on three aspects: the textual geology (composition history) of texts and text corpora, the genealogy of selected concepts, and the intellectual ecosystems involved. Additionally, the project will develop sophisticated visualisations of the networks of interactions between texts, ideas and people. These visualisations will reveal patterns of intertextuality and intersecting pathways of ideas, facilitating the profiling of intellectual ecosystems.
Objective
A major legacy of the Indic and Tibetic great civilisations is the enormous corpora of preserved texts and the plethora of profound ideas transmitted therein. Intellexus focuses on three vast corpora of Buddhist texts: Indic works in Sanskrit, Indic works in Tibetan translation, and autochthonous Tibetic works with claimed Indic origin. Our hypothesis is that the Indic and Tibetic Buddhist intellectual cultures and their elements—including texts, ideas, and intellectual ecosystems (and their constituents)—arose and developed in dependence. Bringing to light the details of this dependent arising is essential for understanding the rich philosophical, religious, and literary traditions of these cultures and the subtle processes of transfer from the Indic to the Tibetic cultural sphere. These complex processes, we claim, involved interactions not only with other Buddhist elements, but also with non-Buddhist ones. The unique synergy within a broad team of scholars of Humanities and Computer Science makes it possible for the first time to develop methods and tools with which our hypothesis can be tested. We will map the three corpora, taking also Indic and Tibetic non-Buddhist material into consideration, with a focus on three aspects: (a) the geology (composition history) of texts and text corpora; (b) the genealogy of selected concepts; and (c) the intellectual ecosystems involved. The project will also devise sophisticated visualisations of the nexuses of interactions between texts, ideas, and people, which will uncover patterns of intertextuality and intersecting pathways of ideas, and will enable the profiling of the intellectual ecosystems. Our groundbreaking methodology and tools will revolutionise the way we think about and investigate these―and with some adaptations also other―intellectual cultures and the processes leading to the development of their rich traditions. We thus expect a major impact on our fields and beyond.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC-SYG - HORIZON ERC Synergy GrantsHost institution
20148 Hamburg
Germany