An International Conference on Esoteric Buddhist Tradition in East Asia: Text, Ritual and Image
Through this important gathering of international specialists at Yale University in November 2007, we hope to synthesize and understand one of the most influential traditions of religious thought and practice in the world. The conference will investigate the images which served for ceremonies of an esoteric character, in conjunction with a study of manuals and scriptures and ritual procedures, in order to examine and discover how common or different religious practices were established and seek to determine why diverse courses were pursued at different periods in China, Korea and Japan. We would like to explore the relationships and interdependence of revealed teachings (xianjiao) and esoteric images in East Asian Buddhism, to show how each of the three countries developed its own tradition.