Karl Debreczeny - 14/06/21 Cycle de conférences SFEMT 2020/2021

Dans le cadre du Cycle de Conférences 2020/2021 de la Société Française d'Etudes du Monde Tibétain, Karl Debreczeny (Rubin Museum of Art, New York) a donné le lundi 14 juin 2021 via Zoom une conférence intitulée :
From Iron-wheel Cakravartin to Unabashed Super-fan: Ming Engagement with Tibetan Buddhism 1375-1521
Résumé de la conférence :
Tibetan Buddhism’s dynamic political role in the courts of Northern Asia was a major catalyst in moving it beyond Tibet’s borders. Even after the collapse of the Mongol Empire, ca 1368, and the Chinese reclaimed their land establishing the Ming dynasty, the Chinese court followed Mongol precedents and Tibetan Buddhism continued as a faith of the powerful within the inner court. A number of objects and commissions reveal that engagement with Tibetan Buddhism became a defining aspect of imperial identity for the first half of the Ming. Thus a great deal of Tibetan Buddhist art was created in the Ming imperial workshops, both for internal court use and as part of complex diplomatic exchanges with Tibetan hierarchs, a projection of what we might call today “soft power.” However, if one looks closely at the context of these courtly gifts, one often finds the underlying meaning and intent was still as much about the Ming emperor as their Tibetan recipients.