Cathy Cantwell

PersonType	Category:Authors of English Works Category:Professors
FirstName / namefirst	Cathy
LastName / namelast	Cantwell
MainNamePhon	Cathy Cantwell
SortName	Cantwell, Cathy
bio	Dr. Cathy Cantwell in an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation. Dr Cathy Cantwell first came to Kent for her undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology in 1975-78 and, after travelling in India the following year, she returned to Kent for her doctoral research. Her PhD (1989) was a study of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Northern India, especially focusing on the annual cycle of ritual practice. Since the 1990s, she has principally worked on Tibetan textual research projects together with her husband, Robert Mayer, including a project at CSAC Kent with Professor Michael Fischer on an eighteenth century Tibetan manuscript collection. While keeping her Kent association, Cathy has participated in research projects in Tibetan studies at the University of Bochum as a Mercator Fellow (2018-2019) and as a visiting Research Fellow (2015-2016), working on the theme of Religion and the Senses. She has been involved in the design of and work on a series of AHRC funded research projects at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford (2002-2015), as well as one at the University of Cardiff (2006-2009). Major publications have included: A Noble Noose of Methods, the Lotus Garland Synopsis: A Mahāyoga Tantra and its Commentary (2012); Early Tibetan Documents on Phur pa from Dunhuang (2008); and The Kīlaya Nirvāṇa Tantra and the Vajra Wrath Tantra: two texts from the Ancient Tantra Collection (2007), written jointly with Robert Mayer, and published by The Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna. Dr Cantwell retains her passionate interest in Tibetan rituals and tantric practice of all historical periods. As well as delving into archaeologically recovered tantric manuscripts dating from the tenth century, a book is in process on authorship, originality and innovation in Tibetan revelations (the output of a project at Oxford, 2010-2015), looking at textual developments over many generations, with a focus on the productions of Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987). Recent publications include an article on contemporary Tibetan 'Medicinal Accomplishment' rituals. Her major work on a twentieth-century Tibetan Buddhist master is also in press. A further forthcoming book on a twentieth century revelation of longevity rituals, co-authored with Geoffrey Samuel with contributions from Robert Mayer and P. Ogyan Tanzin, is entitled, The Seed of Immortal Life: Contexts and Meanings of a Tibetan Longevity Practice. (Source Accessed Mar 18, 2021)
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Full Name

Cathy Cantwell

Affiliation

University of Oxford, Research Officer, and Member of the Buddhist Studies Unit: Oriental Institute / Wolfson College

Other Information

Position: Research Officer, and Member of the Buddhist Studies Unit

Faculty / College Address: Oriental Institute / Wolfson College

Email: catherine dot cantwell at orinst dot ox dot ac dot uk

Research Interests:

• Early rNying ma tantric tradition
• Critically editing old Tibetan texts
• Dunhuang tantric texts
• Contemporary Tibetan ritual
• bDud 'joms gter ma tradition

Current Projects:

• A Comparative Study of the Earliest Bon and Buddhist Phur pa traditions (AHRC; with Dr Charles Ramble and Dr Robert Mayer)
• Authorship, originality and innovation in Tibetan Scriptural Revelations: A case study from the Dudjom Corpus (AHRC; with Professor Vesna Wallace and Dr Robert Mayer)

Courses Taught:

• Buddhism II (Lecture series, 2007-2008)

Recent Publications:

Books:

• Buddhism: The Basics, 2009 Routledge, London.
• (with Robert Mayer) 2008 Early Tibetan Documents on Phur pa from Dunhuang, Vienna, The Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. (Output of our AHRC project, A Detailed Study of the Complete Dunhuang Phur-pa Materials, 2004-2007.)
• (with Rob Mayer) 2007 The Kīlaya Nirvāna Tantra and the Vajra Wrath Tantra: two texts from the Ancient Tantra Collection, Vienna, The Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. vi, 289 pages, plus editions of texts on cd (529 pages).

Forthcoming Books:

• (with Geoffrey Samuel, with contributions by Robert Mayer and P. Ogyan Tanzin) The Seed of Immortal Life: Contexts and Meanings of a Tibetan Longevity Practice. (Output of our AHRC project with Professor Geoffrey Samuel at the University of Cardiff, Longevity Practices and Concepts in Tibet: A Study of Long-Life Practices in the Dudjom Tradition, 2006-2009.)
• (with Robert Mayer) A Noble Noose of Methods, the Lotus Garland Synopsis: A Study of a Tibetan Tantric Scripture and its Commentary. 9Output of our recently completed AHRC project, A Critical Edition of the Thabs-kyizhags-pa padmo 'phreng-ba and a Comparative Study of its Commentary, 2006-2010.)

Electronic Publications:

• (with Rob Mayer and Michael Fischer) The Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu Edition of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum: An Illustrated Inventory, CSAC (University of Kent) in association with The British Library (2002-3). Over 1600 pages, http://ngb.csac.anthropology.ac.uk/Title_page_main.html.
• "The Dance of the Guru's Eight Aspects", CSAC (University of Kent at Canterbury), 2003, http://ngb.csac.anthropology.ac.uk/csac/NGB/Doc_ext/Gar.xml.

Articles:

• (with Robert Mayer) "A Dunhuang Phurpa Consecration Rite: IOL Tib J 331.III's Consecrations Section", in Matthew Kapstein and Sam van Schaik (eds) Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang: Rites and Teachings for this Life and Beyond, Brill, Leiden 2010: 3-60.
• (with Robert Mayer) "Continuity and Change in Tibetan Mahāyoga Ritual: Some Evidence from the Tabzhag (Thabs zhags) Manuscript and other Dunhuang Texts", in José Cabezón 2010, Tibetan Ritual, New York, OUP: 69-88.
• (with Robert Mayer) "The Dunhuang Phur pa Corpus: A Survey", and "Why did the Phur pa tradition become so prominent in Tibet?", in Orna Almogi, ed. 2009 Contributions to Tibetan Buddhist Literature. PIATS 2006: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Eleventh Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Königswinter 2006. Beiträge zur Zentralasienforschung 14. Halle: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (pp. 248-276 and 277-314).
• (with Robert Mayer) "Enduring myths: smrang, rabs and ritual in the Dunhuang texts on Padmasambhava", in Françoise Pommaret and Jean-Luc Achard (eds) 2008 Tibetan Studies in Honor of Samten Karmay, Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines (Langues et Cultures de l'Aire Tibétaines, CNRS, Paris, available online: http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/journals/ret/), Vol.15, November 2008: 289-312.
• "The case of the shuffled folios and other mysteries: First steps in critically editing the phur bu mya ngan las 'das pa'i rgyud chen po in the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum". In Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis, Ron Davidson and C. Wedemeyer (eds), Brill, Leiden, 2006: 75-93.
• (with Rob Mayer) "Two Proposals for Critically Editing the Texts of the rNying ma'i rGyud 'bum", Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines (Langues et Cultures de l'Aire Tibétaines, CNRS, Paris), Vol.10, April 2006: 56-70.
• (with Jean-Luc Achard, Rob Mayer, Michael Kowalewski) "The sGang steng-b rNying ma'i rGyud 'bum manuscript from Bhutan", Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines (Langues et Cultures de l'Aire Tibétaines, CNRS, Paris), Special Edition, Vol.11, June 2006. ISSN:1768-2959.
• "The Tibetan Earth Ritual: Subjugation and Transformation of the Environment", in Revue D'Etudes Tibétaines 7 Langues et Cultures de l'Aire Tibétaines, CNRS, Paris), Avril 2005: 4-21. ISSN:1768-2959.
• "Distinctive Features of the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu (Waddell) Edition of the Rnying ma'i rgyud 'bum", in D. Germano & H. Eimer (eds) The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism, Brill, Leiden, 2002: 359-376.
• (with Hiroko Kawanami) Chapter on Buddhism, in Linda Woodhead (ed.) Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations. Routledge, 2001 (second edition in press).
• "Reflections on Ecological Ethics and the Tibetan Earth Ritual", The Eastern Buddhist, Vol.33:1, 2001: 106-127.

Other Info:

• Secretary of the U.K. Association for Buddhist Studies <http://ukabs.org.uk/> (elected 2008)

Source Accessed May 27, 2011

This is first one of the inner tantric schools according to the Nyingma tradition. Mahāyoga includes two sub-sections of the tantras which includes eighteen tantras and the sādhanās that includes the eight sādhanā practices. Mahāyoga focuses on the Development Stage and espouses the view of equality and purity in which equality refers to equal nature of phenomena in being empty and purity refers to all appearances being inherently enlightened energies. The Mahāyoga path leads to four stages of vidyadharas.

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique