Masterclass on Esoteric Buddhism in Phnom Penh

By Christian Luczanits, David L. Snellgrove Senior Lecturer in Tibetan and Buddhist Art

As part of the SAAAP professional development programme, Christian Luczanits held a Masterclass on Esoteric Buddhist Art, Critical Concepts at the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA), Phnom Penh from 14 to 18 November 2022. The class was jointly sponsored by the National Museum of Cambodia and RUFA and members of both institutions participated in it.

In five hours of teaching per day, a two-hour seminar in the morning and a three-hour lecture in the afternoon, the class aimed to communicate the most crucial aspects of the development of esoteric Buddhism and their relationship to and difference from earlier Buddhist ideas. The five themes covered during the week were the correlation of body, speech and mind as a base for an esoteric understanding of the Buddha and other deities, the development of deity families based on their qualities, the importance of attributes to explore these qualities, the direct relationship of the aspiration deities (my translation of iṣṭadevatā) to the practitioner, and the usage of the mandala for initiation into the practice of such an aspiration deities. The course was attended by several Alphawood alumni, National Museum staff, and RUFA staff and students.

^{Photographed by Chap Sopheara}

Due to organisational reasons the preparatory visits to relevant sites in Thailand and Cambodia planned to be undertaken before the teaching had to be reduced to visits to the National Museums of Thailand and Cambodia only.

Christian Luczanits is grateful to the Alphawood alumni Sopheara Chap from the National Museum to take over the local organisation of the course, and to Sophektra Sion who kindly translated the lectures into Khmer. Further, he would like to thank Visoth Chhay, Director Department of Museums, for his support during my visit and for enabling so many of his staff to attend the course, as well as to Siyonn Sophearith for the warm welcome and farewell.

^{Photographed by Khun Sathal}