Cathy Cantwell
Present Position
Research Officer, Grade II, and Member of the Buddhist Studies Unit, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford (2002-date); Member, Wolfson College, Oxford.
Career Profile
Cathy has worked widely in Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, especially focusing on Tibetan tantric ritual, including both contemporary and historical sources of different periods. Her career began with a degree in Social Anthropology (Kent 1978), progressing to doctoral research on the ritual practice at a Tibetan monastery in Northern India. In the past decade, she has principally worked on Tibetan textual research projects, combining this with teaching at a number of Higher Education institutions (Oxford, Open, Lampeter, Sunderland, Kent and others). She has supervised and examined PhD research in Buddhist studies, refereed for publishers, academic journals and Research Councils, and is currently working on two university level textbooks as well as her research contributions. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Committee Member of the U.K. Association for Buddhist Studies, and a member of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, the International Association for Buddhist Studies, and the Association of Social Anthropologists, U.K.
In 2008 she was elected Secretary of the U.K. Association for Buddhist Studies.
Research Interests
- Early rNying ma tantric tradition
- Critically editing old Tibetan texts
- Dunhuang tantric texts
- Contemporary Tibetan ritual
- bDud 'joms gter ma tradition
Publications
Books
- 2009 Buddhism: The Basics, Routledge, London.
- (with Robert Mayer) 2007 The Kilaya Nirvana 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).
- (with Robert Mayer) 2007 The Kilaya Nirvana 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). Output of Oxford AHRC project, critical editions of two Phur-pa texts.
- (with Robert Mayer) Forthcoming. Early Tibetan Documents on Phur pa from Dunhuang. (Output of our recently completed Oxford AHRC project, A Detailed Study of the Complete Dunhuang Phur-pa Materials, 2004-2007)
Electronic Publications
- (with Robert 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. (Output of our University of Kent AHRB project on the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum.)
- "The Dance of the Guru's Eight Aspects", CSAC (University of Kent at Canterbury), 2003.
Book Chapters and Refereed Journal Articles:
- (with Robert Mayer) "The creation and transmission of a textual corpus in the twentieth century: the 'Chi med srog thig", in Jean-Luc Achard, Anne Chayet, Françoise Robin, Cristina Scherrer-Schaub (eds) in press, Publishing and Editing: the evolution and future of writing in Tibet. Munich: Indus Verlag, Collectanea Himalayica.
- (with Robert Mayer) "The Dunhuang Thabs kyi zhags pa padma 'phreng Manuscript: a source for understanding the transmission of Mahayoga in Tibet. A progress report". To appear in Kapstein and Imaeda, eds, OTDO monograph series.
- (with Robert Mayer) "Continuity and Change in Tibetan Mahayoga Ritual: Some Evidence from the Tabzhag (Thabs zhags) Manuscript and other Dunhuang Texts", in CabezÛn, JosÈ (ed.) 2009, Tibetan Ritual, New York, OUP.
- (with Robert Mayer) "The Dunhuang Phur pa Corpus: A Survey", and "Why did the Phur pa tradition become so prominent in Tibet?", in Almogi, Orna, 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 Pommaret, Françoise 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), Vol.15, November 2008: 289-312.
- (with Robert Mayer) "A Dunhuang Phurpa Consecration Rite: IOL Tib J 331.III's Consecrations Section", in Matthew Kapstein and Sam van Schaik (eds) 2009 Chinese and Tibetan Tantra at Dunhuang, Brill, Leiden.
- "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.
- To Meditate upon Consciousness as Vajra: Ritual 'Killing and Liberation' in the rNying-ma-pa tradition. In Tibetan Studies, vol.1, ed. H.Krasser, M.Torsten Much, E. Steinkellner, H.Tauscher, pp.107-118. Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
- Review article: The Byang-gter and other Phur-pa traditions. Tibet Journal 21(1): 88-99, 1996.
- Rewalsar: Tibetan Refugees in a Buddhist Sacred Place. Tibet Journal 20 (1): 3-9, 1995. (Special issue on Powerful Places and Spaces in Tibetan Religious Culture, ed. Toni Huber.)
- (with Robert Mayer) A Dunhuang Manuscript on Vajrakilaya. Tibet Journal 19(1): 54-67, 1994.
- Buddhist Ritual and Tibetan Identity. In Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Fagernes 1992, ed. Per Kvaerne, pp.95-101. Oslo: Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, 1994.
- A Black Hat Ritual Dance. Bulletin of Tibetology (N.S.) 1: 12-23, 1992.
- A Tibetan Buddhist Ritual in a Refugee Monastery. Tibet Journal 10(3): 14-29, 1985.
Current Projects
At the University of Oxford:
- A Critical Edition of the Thabs-kyi zhags-pa padmo 'phreng-ba and a Comparative Study of its Commentary (AHRC)
- A Comparative Study of the Earliest Bon and Buddhist Phur pa traditions (AHRC)
Previous Projects:
At Cardiff University
At the University of Oxford:
- Beginning 'Ancient Tantras' Text Restorations: Critical Editions & Studies of Two Seminal Early Tibetan Scriptures, 2002-2005 (AHRB)
- A Detailed Study of the Complete Dunhuang Phur-pa Materials, 2004-2007 (AHRB)
At the University of Kent:
Fully descriptive analytic catalogue of the Waddell Manuscript NGB (rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum), including miniature paintings & other artwork, 1999-2002 (AHRB)
Additional Information
Cathy also works as a researcher at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford.
She is a committee member of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies.
Page revised 6 September 2010
by Geoffrey Samuel.