The Geluk Domestication of Tantra

Brenton Sullivan presents his new book "Building a Religious Empire: Tibetan Buddhism, Bureaucracy, and the Rise of the Gelukpa" and discuss the third chapter, "Institutionalizing Tantra", in more detail In his new book, "Building a Religious Empire Tibetan Buddhism, Bureaucracy, and the Rise of the Gelukpa (UPenn Press, 2020)" Sullivan utilizes constitutions written for Buddhist monasteries as well as Chinese and Tibetan historical materials to uncover the role of Buddhist prelates in legislating and administering their monasteries across Inner Asia. In this talk, he will focus in particular on the attention these prelates gave to domesticating tantra taking the streams of powerful mouth to ear practices meant for the liberation of the practitioner and bringing them into the confines of the monastery, where they serve the purposes of the institution.