The British Library will host a conference on 7–8 February to examine a wide array of manuscripts and texts from the history of Buddhism, ranging from colorful illuminated books from Thailand to Buddhist medic texts found along the ancient Silk Road trade routes. The conference, titled “Unlocking Buddhist Written Heritage” is open to the public, but space is limited and booking on the library website is required.

The library, located in London near St Pancras railway station and the University of London, will host major British scholars, along with one joining from Vienna and another from Boston, in the US. The program consists of a keynote address and four panels under the themes of: Collections and Buddhist Practice: Texts and Translation; Collections in the Monastic Context; Collections and Buddhist Practice: Art and Performance; and Collections in the Heritage Context: Conservation, Preservation, Dissemination.



The British Library. From bl.uk

The keynote speaker, Dr. Birgit Kellner from the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, will offer a talk titled “Worshipped as Precious Relics? On the Valuation of Indian Manuscripts in the History of Tibetan Buddhism.” Dr. Kellner is a world-renowned expert on the topic of Tibetan Buddhism and served as the principle investigator at the cluster of excellence “Asia and Europe in the Global Context” at the University of Heidelberg, 2010–15. She is currently directing a project called “Rationality, Meditation, and Liberation in Indian Buddhism” (2019–23).

Other leading academics include Dr. Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim from Goldsmiths, University of London, Ven. Dr. Mahinda Deegalle of Bath Spa University, Dr. Kate Crosby from King’s College London, Tim Barret from the School of Oriental & African Studies (University of London), and Dr. Jann Ronis, from the Buddhist Digital Resource Center, Boston. The conference is being run in partnership with the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.