This project conducted the first comprehensive investigation of two scriptural commentaries by the historically influential Indian Buddhist scholar, philosopher, and monastic dignitary, Kamalaśīla (c. 740–795 CE): the Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇīṭīkā (shortened to APDhṬ) and the Vajracchedikāṭīkā (shortened to VChṬ). To this end, a methodology combining philological studies with historical contextualisation was employed. Historical contextualisation chiefly pursued three interrelated problems: (1) the rationale for composing these commentaries; (2) their relationship to other works by Kamalaśīla, particularly with regard to doctrinal and philosophical content; and (3) their position in the transcultural history of Buddhism between India (particularly the Pala realm) and the Tibetan Empire, focusing especially on the so-called 'Bsam Yas debate', a momentous religious controversy in which Kamalaśīla played a key role and which pitted Indo-Tibetan and Sino-Tibetan currents of Buddhism against each other.

The initial project team comprised Birgit Kellner (project head), Margherita Serena Saccone (postdoctoral researcher) and Pei-Lin Chiou (PhD student). During the project, Saccone was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Naples 'L'Orientale'; she continued her project-related research on a reduced basis as an external collaborator. The postdoctoral position was subsequently filled by Hiroko Matsuoka (PhD, Leipzig University). In 2023, external funding enabled the project team to be expanded to include Yan Ma (MA, Peking University), who began pursuing a doctorate at the University of Vienna. Due to the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, significant conferences were delayed or cancelled. Nevertheless, the project team attempted to make productive use of the discoveries, opportunities and new international research contacts that emerged during this period. As a result of all these developments, (4) the impact of Kamalaśīla’s thoughts and arguments on later Indian Buddhist literature emerged as a stronger focus than had initially been anticipated.

One of the main outcomes is the hypothesis, as set out in Kellner (2023, Asiatische Studien), that the two commentaries examined in the project, as well as other works by Kamalaśīla, were written during his time in Tibet towards the end of his life. This hypothesis relies chiefly on text-internal evidence (ideas, arguments, and discursive strategies) and is consistent with external evidence concerning general aspects of the historical setting. This hypothesis has significant implications for further charting Kamalaśīla’s extensive body of work. It also raises new questions about the activities of Indian scholar-monks in imperial Tibet and the interconnected histories of Tibet and neighbouring Indian regions. Furthermore, it suggests that Tibet may also have been a location for the production of transcultural Buddhist knowledge in the late 8th and early 9th centuries — a perspective that has scarcely been pursued until now. The project has used its philological and historical focus to develop significant, broader new research questions with this hypothesis.

Secondly, the project has accumulated a great deal of textual data demonstrating a high degree of intertextuality across Kamalaśīla’s works, with numerous textual parallels between his philosophical writings and his sūtra commentaries, as well as other forms of textual re-use. More specifically, Saccone (2023, Asiatische Studien) demonstrated how, in the VChṬ, Kamalaśīla re-used philosophical arguments that he had previously set out in greater detail in the encyclopaedic Tattvasaṅgrahapañjikā (TSP). Detailed studies of the contents of the APDhT and the VChṬ also demonstrate how Kamalaśīla interprets base texts — sūtras relating to Yogācāra and Prajñāpāramitā perspectives on the nature of reality — from his own characteristic vantage point. This vantage point belongs to the late Madhyamaka tradition philosophically and doctrinally (Chiou, 2023, Asiatische Studien). These studies also built on Kellner's work, which was published in preparation for the project: 'Using concepts to eliminate conceptualisation: Kamalaśīla on non-conceptual gnosis (nirvikalpajñāna)', Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 43 (2020): 39–80; see also Kellner, 'Lianuhuajie ...', translated into Chinese by Chiou). This further confirms that Kamalaśīla’s activities as a scriptural commentator were driven by an agenda of overall philosophical and doctrinal coherence and systematicity, as also argued in Kellner (2023, Asiatische Studien).

Thirdly, several articles and papers have been devoted to elucidating Kamalaśīla’s intellectual environment and the historical impact of his thought (Matsuoka, 2022 and 2024; Saccone, 2022/fragment, 2022/ Śubhagupta and 2023/omniscience). In terms of impact, the monograph Tantra and Pramana, co-authored by Saccone and P. D. Szántó, made a significant contribution to the case for studying logico-epistemological Buddhist scholarship (Pramana) in the final period of Indian Buddhism in relation to Tantrism. This research agenda is now supported by a three-year FWF project at the IKGA (ESP 654, D. Cheung).

With a focus on both digital and print editions, the project has contributed to the development of best practice models in digital humanities (as outlined by Kellner, 2020). The ongoing work on digital editions of the VChṬ and the APDhṬ in TEI/XML format has formed the basis for the current development of the 'Vienna Encoding Guidelines for Editing Sanskrit Texts' (VEGEST) at the IKGA. These guidelines also apply to Tibetan-language materials.

Chiou, Pei-Lin. “Kamalaśīla’s “Middle Way” (madhyamā pratipad) and His Theory of Spiritual Cultivation: A Study with a Special Focus on the Fourteenth Chapter of the Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇīṭīkā.” Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques 77/1 (2023): 117-144. https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2023-0002

Chiou, Pei-Lin, Hiroko Matsuoka, and Serena Margherita Saccone. “Special Issue: Kamalaśīla and His Place in the Intellectual History of Buddhism: Introduction.” Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques 77/1 (2023): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2023-0042

Chiou, Pei-Lin. “Purifying the Mind and Non-conceptually Realizing True Reality: Kamalaśīla’s View on the Non-conceptuality of Yogic Perception (yogipratyakṣa)” In: Jeson Woo et als (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Dharmakīrti Conference, Seoul, August 21 to 26, 2022. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. (Accepted)

Kellner, Birgit. “Buddhist Philosophy and the Neuroscientific Study of Meditation: Critical Reflections.” APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies 19/1 (2019): 36-40.

Kellner, Birgit. “Using Concepts to Eliminate Conceptualization: Kamalaśīla on Non-conceptual Gnosis (nirvikalpajñāna).” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 43 (2020): 39-80. https://doi.org/10.2143/JIABS.43.0.3289052 

Kellner, Birgit. “On editing Sanskrit texts digitally — tools, methods and implications.” In Sanskrit Manuscripts in China III: Proceedings of a Panel at the 2016 Beijing International Seminar on Tibetan Studies, August 1 to 4, edited by Birgit Kellner, Xuezhu Li, and Jowita Kramer, 93-106. Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House, 2020. PDF download: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/Institute/IKGA/PDF/digitales/Kellner_Li_Kramer_2020.pdf 

Kellner, Birgit. “Lianhuajie (Kamalaśīla) duiyu ruhe huode wufenbiezhi (nirvikalpajñāna) de shuoming [Kamalaśīla's account of attaining non-conceptual gnosis (nirvikalpajñāna)]” In Weishi Yanjiu, di ba ji [Research on Yogācāra, Vol. 8], edited by Shi Guangquan, 324-336. Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe, 2022.

Kellner, Birgit. “Where Did Kamalaśīla Compose His Works, and Does It Even Matter? Reflections on the Activities of Indian Scholars in Imperial Tibet.” Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques 77/1 (2023): 245-275. https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2023-0003

Kellner, Birgit. “Dharmakīrti”. In Oxford Bibliographies in Buddhism, https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0284.xml (Last modified 26 May. 2023).

Kellner, Birgit. “More from Jitāri and Jñānaśrīmitra – New Sources for late Indian Buddhist Epistemology and Logic from the Tibetan Autonomous Region”. In: Horst Lasic, Francesco Sferra and Xuezhu Li (eds.): Sanskrit Manuscripts in China IV. Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House. (In the press)

Kellner, Birgit. “Why everyone needs inference to determine non-existence – non-apprehension (anupalabdhi) in Dharmottara’s Pramāṇaviniścayaṭīkā”. In: Jeson Woo et als (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Dharmakīrti Conference, Seoul, August 21 to 26, 2022. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. (Accepted)

Matsuoka, Hiroko. “On pratītyasamutpāda in the initial statement of the Tattvasaṅgraha.” Hōrin 22 (2022): 214-232.

Matsuoka, Hiroko. “What Is the Tattvasaṅgraha About? Kamalaśīla on the Fourteen Qualifiers of the pratītyasamutpāda.” Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques 77/1 (2023): 9-36. https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2022-0047

Matsuoka, Hiroko. “Prajñākaragupta’s Ambiguous Self-Presentation: in Light of Yamāri’s Nibandha on the Final Statement of the Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāra.” Prajñākaragupta Studies 4 (2024): 31-53. https://doi.org/10.50869/prajnakaragupta.4.0_31

Matsuoka, Hiroko. “Biographical and Bibliographical Data on Yamāri and the Pramāṇa-vārttikālāṅkāranibandha.” In: Horst Lasic, Francesco Sferra and Xuezhu Li (eds.): Sanskrit Manuscripts in China IV. Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House. (In the press)

Matsuoka, Hiroko. “Yamāri on the Initial Statement (ādivākya) of the Pramāṇavārttika.“ In: Jeson Woo et als (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Dharmakīrti Conference, Seoul, August 21 to 26, 2022. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. (Accepted)

Saccone, Margherita Serena. “Śubhagupta.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume II: Lives, edited by Jonathan A. Silk, Richard Bowring, Vincent Eltschinger, and Michael Radich, 458-462. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

Saccone, Serena. “Review of Shinya Moriyama, Omniscience and Religious Authority: A Study on Prajñākaragupta’s Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkārabhāṣya ad Pramāṇavārttika II 8-10 and 29-33.” Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 3 (2021): 188-194. https://doi.org/10.1353/jbp.2017.0010

Saccone, Serena. “Śubhagupta: An Externalist Outsider Within the Dharmakīrtian Tradition.” In The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy, edited by William Edelglass, Pierre-Julien Harter, and Sara McClintock, 427-438. New York City: Routledge, 2022. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351030908-38

Saccone, Margherita Serena and Péter-Dániel Szántó. “A Fragment of Pramāṇa from Gilgit.” In ‘Verità e Bellezza.’ Essays in Honour of Raffaele Torella, edited by Francesco Sferra and Vincenzo Vergiani, 1011–1024. Napoli: UniorPress, 2022.

Saccone, Margherita Serena and Péter-Dániel Szántó. Tantra and Pramāṇa: A Study of the Sāramañjarī. Napoli: UniorPress, 2023. https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6719-279-3 

Saccone, Margherita Serena. “The Vajracchedikā, the Self, and the Path. Kamalaśīla on Logic and Scriptures.” Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques 77/1 (2023): 89-115. https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2023-0001

Saccone, Margherita Serena. “Apology for omniscience. An eighth-century demonstration of the Buddha's sarvajñatva.” In: Burlesque of the Philosophers. Indian and Buddhist Studies in Memory of Helmut Krasser, edited by Vincent Eltschinger and Jowita Kramer, 571-595. Bochum/Freiburg: Projekt Verlag, 2023. PDF download via https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/en/publikationen/hamburg-buddhist-studies.html 

Saccone, Margherita Serena and Cristina Pecchia: “Omniscience” In: Jonathan .A. Silk, Richard Bowring, Vincent Eltschinger, Péter-Dániel Szántó (eds.), Brill’s Encyclopaedia of Buddhism. Volume III: Buddhist Thought. Leiden/Boston: Brill (Accepted).