Geology of Texts, Genealogy of Concepts, Intellectual Ecosystems: Mapping the Indic and Tibetic Buddhist Text Corpora

Introduction

A major legacy of the Indic and Tibetic great civilisations is the enormous corpora of preserved texts and the plethora of profound ideas transmitted therein. Intellexus focuses on three vast corpora of Buddhist texts: Indic works in Sanskrit, Indic works in Tibetan translation, and autochthonous Tibetic works with claimed Indic origin.

Hypothesis

Our hypothesis is that the Indic and Tibetic Buddhist intellectual cultures and their elements—including texts, ideas, and intellectual ecosystems (and their constituents)—arose and developed in dependence. Bringing to light the details of this dependent arising is essential for understanding the rich philosophical, religious, and literary traditions of these cultures and the subtle processes of transfer from the Indic to the Tibetic cultural sphere.

Interactions

These complex processes, we claim, involved interactions not only with other Buddhist elements but also with non-Buddhist ones.

Methodology

The unique synergy within a broad team of scholars of Humanities and Computer Science makes it possible for the first time to develop methods and tools with which our hypothesis can be tested. We will map the three corpora, taking also Indic and Tibetic non-Buddhist material into consideration, with a focus on three aspects:

1. The geology (composition history) of texts and text corpora.
2. The genealogy of selected concepts.
3. The intellectual ecosystems involved.

Visualisations

The project will also devise sophisticated visualisations of the nexuses of interactions between texts, ideas, and people, which will uncover patterns of intertextuality and intersecting pathways of ideas, and will enable the profiling of the intellectual ecosystems.

Impact

Our groundbreaking methodology and tools will revolutionise the way we think about and investigate these—and with some adaptations also other—intellectual cultures and the processes leading to the development of their rich traditions. We thus expect a major impact on our fields and beyond.