RYI at the 2025 IABS Conference
The International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS) is a respected academic society dedicated to advancing Buddhist Studies through non-sectarian dialogue and rigorous research. We are pleased to share that the XXth IABS Congress will take place at Leipzig University, Germany, from August 10–15, 2025.
This year, Rangjung Yeshe Institute (RYI) is proud to participate in this global gathering of scholars. Professors Diane Denis, Thomas Doctor, and Julia Stenzel will be presenting their research at the conference.
Professor Diane Denis will lead a panel titled,“The Notion of Reliance in Sanskrit and Tibetan Textual Sources.”
The panel will include a series of papers exploring the concept of reliance as presented in diverse Buddhist textual traditions.
The following list features our faculty presenters, their presentation topics, and scheduled times.
Topic: Panel 10: The Notion of Reliance in Sanskrit and Tibetan Textual Sources
Time: Aug 15, 2025 09:00 AM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
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Click here to learn more about IABS by visiting the official website.
RYI Alumni Presenters
The list below features our alumni scholars, their presentation topics and scheduled times.
Monday, August 11
| Name | Panel / Section | Time (CET) | Title |
| Conlon, Ryan | Panel 1: The INTELLEXUS Project: Mapping the Indic and Tibetic Buddhist Text Corpora | 12:00–12:30 | An Introduction to the Saṃpuṭatilaka: A Crossroads of Commentary, Compendium, and Scripture |
| Sundén, Rebecca | Panel 1: The INTELLEXUS Project: Mapping the Indic and Tibetic Buddhist Text Corpora | 14:00–14:30 | The Geology of the *Subāhuparipṛcchātantrapadārthaṭippaṇī: An Overview of Its Sources |
| Yang, Jingyi | Panel 1: The INTELLEXUS Project: Mapping the Indic and Tibetic Buddhist Text Corpora | 14:30–15:00 | Revealing the Interrelationship Between Three Obscure Tantras of the ’Dus pa’imdo Corpus |
| Jamtsho, Sonam | Panel 1: The INTELLEXUS Project: Mapping the Indic and Tibetic Buddhist Text Corpora | 15:00–15:30 | Intertextuality Between the Bodhicittabhāvanā (D2591/P3405) and Other Works in the rNying ma rgyud ’bum |
| Jenkins, Stephen | Panel 33: Emotional States and Buddhist History, Literature, and Practice | 14:00–14:30 | Affect as the Basis of Buddhist Ethics Illustrated in Its Protective Powers for Buddhas, Soldiers, and Sex Workers |
| Liang, Jue | Panel 25: Reading, Writing, and Rewriting Buddhist Genders | 16:00–16:30 | The Two Truths of Buddhist Gender: Case Studies from Tibet |
| Zu, Jessica | Panel 25: Reading, Writing, and Rewriting Buddhist Genders | 12:00–12:30 | Radical Buddhist Nuns in the Sinophone Sphere |
| Swanson, Eric Haruk | Panel 31: Tracing the Early Contours of Japanese Buddhist Philosophy | 11:30–12:00 | The Subtleties of Evil and Immediate Buddhahood: Re-Examining Annen’s Thoughts on the Subjugation of Evil |
| Sraman, Upali | Section 11: Buddhist Literature (2) | 14:00–14:30 | So Close, Yet So Far: The Poetics of Accessibility and Transcendence in Ramachandra Bharati’s Bhaktisataka |
| Ford, Renée | Section 17: Mahāyāna Buddhism (2) | 17:30–18:00 | Reliance on a Teacher in Longchenpa’s Commentary on the All-Creating Majesty |
Tuesday, August 12
| Name | Panel / Section | Time | Title |
| Barstow, Geoffrey | Panel 38: Buddhist Responses to Nature, Ecology, and the Climate Crisis | 09:00–09:30 | “Karmically Allotted Lifespan”: A Tibetan Buddhist Perspective on the Concept of Nature |
| Lavolé, Oriane | Panel 38: Buddhist Responses to Nature, Ecology, and the Climate Crisis | 11:30–12:00 | Revealing the Great Perfection from the Lotus Crystal Cave: The Ecology of Treasure Revelation (gter ma) |
| Simonds, Colin H. | Panel 38: Buddhist Responses to Nature, Ecology, and the Climate Crisis | 15:00–15:30 | Seeing Climate Change Directly: Hyperobjects, Contemplative Frameworks, and a Tibetan Buddhist Approach to the Climate Crisis |
| Zuckerman, Devin | Panel 38: Buddhist Responses to Nature, Ecology, and the Climate Crisis | 12:00–12:30 | Hearing the Chorus of All Beings: Sensory Relations with Land, Water, and Air in Early Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) Contemplatio |
| Duckworth, Douglas | Panel 13: On Sakya Paṇḍita’s Treasury of Epistemology (tshad ma’i rigs gter) | 14:00–14:30 | Introducing Sapaṇ’s Treasury with a New Commentary: A Flower for a Beginner’s Mind |
| Dunne, John | Panel 13: On Sakya Paṇḍita’s Treasury of Epistemology (tshad ma’i rigs gter) | 16:30–17:00 | Ultimate and Conventional Reflexive Awareness: Sapaṇ, Gorampa, and Dharmakīrti |
| Yeung, Yat-Ching | Panel 13: On Sakya Paṇḍita’s Treasury of Epistemology (tshad ma’i rigs gter) | 16:00–16:30 | Sa-paṇ’s Anti-Realist Account of Perception and Gyaltsab’s Realist Reinterpretation |
| Brown, Amanda | Panel 6: Wrathful Deities: Transcultural Vectors of Tantric Buddhism | 09:30–10:00 | Yamāntaka’s Protection and Destruction: Secrecy and the Modes of Building Global Tantric Networks |
| Sailer, Monika | Section 22: Tibetan Buddhism (2) | 15:00–15:30 | Embracing Change: The Personal Journal of Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje |
| Yadav, Megha | Section 22: Tibetan Buddhism (2) | 16:30–17:00 | Memory, History, and Tibet Monasticism: A Study of Thangka Paintings, c. 11th–16th Centuries CE |
| Hobhouse, Nicholas | Section 22: Tibetan Buddhism (1) | 10:00–10:30 | Historical Contingencies, Key Institutions and Teacher Networks: The Integration of Mipam Rinpoche’s and Khenpo Zhenga’s Texts Into Contemporary Nyingma Curricula |
| Moore, Amber Marie | Panel 14: Idioms of Newar Buddhist Storytelling | 15:00–15:30 | The Legend of Ugratārā Vajrayoginī at Sankhu: A Study of Select Excerpts from the Newar Maṇiśailamahāvadāna of Barnavajra Vajracharya |
| Simoes-Gomes, Austin | Panel 14: Idioms of Newar Buddhist Storytelling | 16:30–17:00 | ‘Who Was Hāratī’s Guru?’: Storytelling as a Buddhist Pedagogical Device in the Living Room of a Dyaḥmāṃ |
| Holz, Kathrin | Section 18: Manuscripts, Codicology, and Epigraphy (1) | 09:30–10:00 | Towards a (Digital) Re-Edition of Proto-Śāradā Inscriptions |
| Hartmann, Catherine | Panel 16: Surveying the Field of Tibetan Pilgrimage | 16:00–16:30 | Circumambulating Mules and Suffering Yaks: Reflections on Animals in Tibetan Pilgrimage |
| Longobardi, Lorena | Panel 37: Around Kālacakra: New Sources and New Perspectives | 11:00–11:30 | The Shorter Treatise on Ṣaḍaṅgayoga by Anupamarakṣita |
Wednesday, August 13
| Name | Panel / Section | Time | Title |
| Alvarez Ortega, Miguel | Section 5: Buddhism and Society | 09:00–09:30 | A Contemporary Take on Church & State Relationship and the Basis of Legislation: Chos srid zung ’jug and dGe bcu’i srol in Khenpo Tsultrim Lödro |
| Chien, Gloria I-Ling | Panel 7: Dharma in Motion: Intersecting Pathways of Buddhism and Film | 16:30–17:00 | Non-Attachment and Love in Journey to the West Adaptations |
| Craig III, Ralph H. | Panel 15: Constructing, Deconstructing, and Reconstructing Buddhist Authority(ies) | 09:00–09:30 | The Preacher’s Undertakings: Examining the Dharmasaṅgītisūtra’s Dharmabhāṇaka |
| Copplestone, Louis | Panel 28: Artistic Connections in Premodern Buddhist Asia | 15:00–15:30 | Monasteries and Mandalas? Architecture and Tantra in Medieval Southern Asia |
| Gentry, James | Panel 46: Guardians of the Path: The Multidimensional Role of Protection of Buddhism | 09:30–10:00 | Protecting the Dharma in Writing: Literary Apologia and State Defense in Seventeenth–Century Tibet |
| Kuzmin, Nikita | Panel 27: Tangut Buddhist Studies: Conceptualizing a Field | 16:30–17:00 | Tangut Dunhuang: Glimpses of Tangut Pilgrimage Through the Lenses of Inscriptions from Dunhuang and Yulin |
| Mathes, Klaus-Dieter | Panel 30: Kālacakra Studies | 09:30–10:00 | Relative and Ultimate Buddhakāyas |
| Schott, Julian | Panel 30: Kālacakra Studies | 11:00–11:30 | Textual Reuse in Kālacakra Composition |
| Thomas, Paul | Panel 30: Kālacakra Studies | 12:00–12:30 | The Kālacakra and the Cult of Kubjikā |
Thursday, August 14
| Name | Panel / Section | Time | Title |
| Ehm, Chandra Chiara | Panel 35: Looking into the Future: Influential Buddhist Women in Living Buddhist Traditions | 09:30–10:00 | How Meaningful is a Delayed Victory? Pedagogical Shifts in the Education of Tibetan Nuns at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Convent |
Friday, August 15
| Name | Panel / Section | Time | Title |
| Bhuchung, Tenzin | Panel 47: Candrakīrti’s Madhyamaka | 09:00–09:30 | Candrakīrti Through Tsongkhapa’s Lens: Examining the Validity of Conventional Truth in Light of the Assertion that Nothing Exists at the Level of Ultimate Reality |
| Denis, Diane | Panel 10: The Notion of Reliance in Sanskrit and Tibetan Textual Sources | 09:00–09:30 | The Reliability of the Groundless Nature of Mind/Reality |
| Doctor, Thomas | Panel 10: The Notion of Reliance in Sanskrit and Tibetan Textual Sources | 10:00–10:30 | Selves as Perspectives: Distributed and Shareable Subjectivity |
| Stenzel, Julia | Panel 10: The Notion of Reliance in Sanskrit and Tibetan Textual Sources | 11:00–11:30 | Compassion Cultivation in Tantric Context—Considerations in Regard to the Question of Reliance |
| Westerhoff, Jan | Panel 47: Candrakīrti’s Madhyamaka | 09:30–10:00 | Is Madhyamaka Self-Refuting? Candrakīrti’s Discussion of Prāpya and Aprāpya in Madhyamakāvatāra 6:169–178 |
| Dai, Qiao | Panel 39: Pali Literature in the Second Millennium: Southeast Asia | 11:30–12:00 | Mapping out Cultural Authority through Monastic Composition—An Analysis of the Pali-Burmese Bhūridatta Jātaka |
| Grimes, Samuel | Panel 41: Newar Buddhist Visual and Material Culture | 16:00–16:30 | The Blood of the Nine Nāgas: Narratives in Text, Inscription, Oral History, and Ritual upon Gośṛṇga Hill |
| Guggenmos, Esther-Maria | Section 6: Buddhism in the Contemporary World | 16:30–17:00 | The Blood of the Nine Nāgas: Narratives in Text, Inscription, Oral History, and Ritual upon Gośṛṇga Hill |
| Heckman, Annie | Panel 20: Studying the Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur: Advancing the Understanding of Buddhist Ritual, Doctrine, and Textual Tradition | 12:00–12:30 | Notes on The Questions of Upāli: Comparing the Upāliparipṛcchās from the Two Versions of the Uttaragrantha Preserved in the Kangyur |
| Humbert, Sierra | Panel 41: Newar Buddhist Visual and Material Culture | 15:00–15:30 | Menstrual Blood, the Body and Iconography: Hidden Materialities Among the Newars in Sankhu, Nepal |
| Jae Pi, Seung | Panel 10: The Notion of Reliance in Sanskrit and Tibetan Textual Sources | 09:30–10:00 | Vasubandhu on the Reliable Foundation of Exegesis |
| Komarovski, Yaroslav | Section 19: Meditation Theories and Practices | 16:00–16:30 | Contemplating Conceptual Networks: Interconnectedness of Buddhist Meditation and Buddhist Models of the Mind, Body, and Reality |
| Lindsay, Rory | Panel 20: Studying the Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur: Advancing the Understanding of Buddhist Ritual, Doctrine, and Textual Tradition | 14:00–14:30 | Citing the Silla Sūtra: Korean Buddhist Teachings in the Literature of Imperial Tibet |
| Lopes, Ana Cristina | Panel 20: Studying the Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur: Advancing the Understanding of Buddhist Ritual, Doctrine, and Textual Tradition | 11:30–12:00 | Expressing the Inconceivable: Notes on the Translation of “A Treatise on Buddhology” in the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra |
Alumni Meet-Up
