An important trend in Chinese Buddhist studies: Sino-Tibetan Buddhism
Sino-Tibetan Buddhist studies is the academic study undergirding emergent perspectives on the relationship between expressions of Buddhism in China and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Sino-Tibetan Buddhist studies investigates the intersections and interactions between Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, which have evolved and been practiced for centuries in regions shaped by cultural and religious influences. A core thesis of the Sino-Tibetan school is that Buddhism in these regions cannot be categorized so neatly into one or the other traditional category, and instead proposes a more fluid and malleable methodology that allows for doctrinal and historical overlap between Buddhist traditions in the Tibet Autonomous Region and China.
From 10–11 January, the Center for Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Tsinghua University held a significant gathering on this field, titled: 2026 Annual Symposium on Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies: Figures, Teachings, and History of the Nyingma School. It was held on the Tsinghua campus in Beijing. The symposium brought together distinguished scholars from leading universities and research institutions, alongside eminent khenpos (མཁན་པོ།) from the Nyingma school, providing a platform for in-depth dialogue between academia and the Buddhist community.
This year’s symposium on the Nyingma school represents the center’s second such initiative. Last year, the Center for Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies successfully organized a symposium that brought together scholars and the khenpos of the Sakya tradition (the conference was titled: Tsinghua University’s New Study of Sakya Figures, Doctrine, and Places). Next year in 2027, the focus of the center will turn to the Kagyü school.
The 2026 Annual Symposium on Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies: Figures, Teachings, and History of the Nyingma School
Through systematic discussions of the Nyingma school’s history, key figures, and teachings, this year’s symposium aimed to further advance the field of Sino-Tibetan Buddhist studies. The sessions were conducted in Chinese, Tibetan, and English. Prof. Shen Weirong, director of the Center for Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the School of Humanities, Tsinghua University, noted that this symposium marked the first time eminent lamas from Nyingma monasteries and Buddhist institutes participated so extensively. Such a deep convergence of the religious and academic communities is rare even in international Nyingma studies and is expected to become a landmark event of significant importance in the academic history of Sino-Tibetan Buddhist studies. He observed that the discipline has continued to expand and mature, exerting significant influence in overseas Chinese studies as well as in international Buddhist studies.
Most presentations at the annual symposium focused on comparative studies of Sino-Tibetan Buddhism. This field that has been advanced and developed by Prof. Shen Weirong for more than two decades. Among the representatives of the religious community, the most prominent participant was Ven. Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö from Larung Gar Buddhist Academy (བླ་རུང་ལྔ་རིག་ནང་བསྟན་སློབ་གླིང་།) in Sertar County, Sichuan. He noted that by focusing on Nyingma figures, teachings, and history, the symposium provided a high-level platform for intellectual exchange between the religious and academic communities. He expressed the hope that scholarly research and genuine insights would bring renewed vitality to the development of the Nyingma school.
The symposium convened a diverse and representative cohort of 50 participants, including scholars and members of the religious community. From the academic community, scholars specializing in Sino-Tibetan Buddhist studies and Buddhist philology came from institutions including: Tsinghua University, Peking University, Renmin University of China, Lanzhou University, The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Northwest Minzu University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Inner Mongolia University, and Northeastern University.
From the religious community, khenpo representatives came from prominent Nyingma monasteries such as Samye Monastery (བསམ་ཡས།), Mindrolling Monastery ( སྨིན་གྲོལ་གླིང་དགོན་པ།), and Dorje Drak Monastery (རྡོ་རྗེ་བྲག་དགོན་པ།) in Shannan Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region; Dzogchen Monastery (རྫོགས་ཆེན་དགོན།) and Shechen Monastery (ཞེ་ཆེན་བསྟན་གཉིས་དར་རྒྱས་གླིང་།) in Dege County, Sichuan Province; Katok Monastery (ཀཿ ཐོག་དགོན།), Palyul Monastery (དཔལ་ཡུལ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཆོས་གླིང་།), Yachen Monastery (ཡ་ཆེན་སྒར།), Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, and Daze Monastery in Sertar county; and Tshamne Monastery (མཚམས་གནས་དགོན།) in Barkam City.
Highlights from the symposium included several groundbreaking papers presented by several speakers. For example, Prof. Saerji from Peking University delivered a keynote presentation titled “Are the New Inferior to the Old? The Guhyasamaja Text from the Perspectives of the Old and New Tantras.” Meanwhile, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö, of Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, delivered a keynote presentation titled “The Analysis of the Relationship between the Nyingma School and Chinese Chan Buddhism.” (སྔ་འགྱུར་རྙིང་མ་དང་རྒྱ་ནག་བསམ་གཏན་པའི་བར་གྱི་འབྲེལ་བ་ལ་དཔྱད་པ།)
Meanwhile, Prof. Yao Zhihua from The Chinese University of Hong Kong delivered a keynote presentation titled “Four-Dimensional Time: Dzogchen and Heidegger.” Tangutology veteran Prof. Kirill Solonin from Renmin University delivered a keynote presentation titled “An Overview of Nyingma Literature from the Western Xia Period.”
Janie Chen, a doctoral student at The University of Hong Kong, presented “A Comparative Study of Theories of Mind in Bodhidharma’s Treatise on the Bloodline and Padmasambhava’s Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness.” And Gewe Dhonden, a PhD student at Tsinghua University, presented “The Transmission of Nyingma Terma in Ming Dynasty China: A Brief Study of the Chinese Translation of Guanyin Pusa Bianmeng Yaomen (Essentials of Avalokiteśvara’s Dream Interpretation).”
Thanks to Prof. Shen Weirong’s dedication and relentless pursuit of academic rigor, the Center for Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Tsinghua is rapidly consolidating itself as a core institution for the advancement of this field in China and beyond.
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