Buddhist Forum Seminar

Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia (University of Southern California, USA) and Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa (Occidental College, USA)

Biodegradable Blessings: Prayer Flags and Ephemeral Materiality in the Himalayas Workshop

Polyester prayer flags have been enthusiastically embraced throughout the Himalayas, and throughout Buddhist communities around the world, in the last three decades. Originally, these prayer flags, known as lungta, were intended to carry prayers and blessings on the wind, and were printed as needed in villages and monasteries. Mass production using synthetic fabric and screen printing has made prayer flags more convenient to procure. However, with the discovery of microplastics in the high mountains and concern about rubbish in the glaciers and streams, in the last five years there has been more critical discussion around these convenient prayer flags, and projects that are concerned with returning to traditional knowledge ways that promote sustainability.

This interdisciplinary workshop will connect three different methods: firstly, the study of material religion; secondly, scholarly conversations around Buddhist communities and climate change; and thirdly, doing community-based collaborative projects in Buddhist studies. The workshop will guide participants in creating prayer flags as a way for them to think about the connected issues of sustainability and waste in global ecosystems, and also as a way to consider the importance of traditional craft knowledge as a method for the study of Buddhism. We will discuss historical examples of prayer flag materials and texts, and reflect on how these aspirations have changed over time to reflect contemporary concerns. We will also discuss work with community-based organizations in India and Nepal who are engaged with the creation of biodegradable prayer flags and consider the broader implications of these debates for the study of Buddhist material culture.

Speakers bio

Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia is a visiting fellow in the East Asian Studies Center at the University of Southern California. He is from west Sikkim, and works on the more-than-human histories of the Kanchendzonga region that he grew up in. He is currently working on a monograph on the environmental history of Sikkimese Buddhism and is engaged in making biodegradable prayer flags for local communities.

Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa is an associate professor in the Departments of Religious Studies and Asian Studies at Occidental College, Los Angeles, USA. She is the author of The Social Life of Tibetan Biography: Textuality, Community and Authority in the Lineage of Tokden Shakya Shri (Modern Tibetan Studies Series, Lexington, 2014), which explored the trans-Himalayan travels that shaped religious communities inspired by the Tibetan yogi Tokden Shakya Shri (1853-1919). Her current research explores the cosmological and material interactions that have shaped the cultures and histories of the Himalayas on a regional and global level. Part of this project has included her participation in the multi-year research project ‘Mapping Religious Diversity in Modern Sichuan’, led by Stefania Travagnin (SOAS) and Elena Valussi (Loyola University Chicago) and funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange.

The Buddhist Forum is kindly sponsored by the Khyentse Foundation

Registration

Please register in advance by emailing hs77@soas.ac.uk