Keynote Presentation: T. H. Barrett (in-person)

Date: October 7, 2022

Speaker: T. H. Barrett (SOAS)

Webpage: https://frogbear.org/keynote-presentation-t-h-barrett/ ‎

Abstract

In the 1970s the Cold War was still in full swing, and many had already confronted its possible conclusion in global nuclear annihilation after experiencing the Cuban missile crisis of 1961. Yet in the Anglophone study of Asia no awareness seemed to exist as to the possibility of reactions to that future that might not be identical to those of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. In 1976 however Dan Overmyer published Folk Buddhist Religion, a volume that drew attention to the apocalyptic visions of some popular groups influenced by Buddhist conceptions, amongst others, of global disaster. Since then, more has been written in this vein, and a considerable literature has grown up, including a certain amount concerning reaction in East Asia to climate change. What have we learned over the past five decades?

About the Speaker

Tim H. Barrett is Emeritus Professor of East Asian History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He studied Chinese at Cambridge and Buddhist Studies at Yale, and spent much of his career publishing on the history of the religious traditions of East Asia, primarily with regard to China. His books include Li Ao: Buddhist, Taoist, or Neo-Confucian? (1992), Taoism Under the T’ang (1996), The Woman Who Discovered Printing (2008), and From Religious Ideology to Political Expediency in Early Printing (2012).

This is one of the keynote presentations of The Dharma-Ending Age: The Climate Crisis through the Lens of Buddhist Eschatology, Past and Present international conference.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

UBC C.K. Choi Building Room 120, 1855 West Mall, Vancouver, Canada