Shaping Space: Perception and Transformation in Tibetan Construction Rituals

The Lecture

This talk presents ongoing research on 'sa chog', a Tibetan ritual for selecting, analysing, and preparing landscapes, typically carried out prior to construction projects. Through this ritual, space is defined, organised, and transformed for human occupation and use. Drawing from various Tibetan ritual manuals, I will outline the key stages involved and address notable variations across texts. The stages, which combine astrological calculations, geomancy, and tantric practice, point to a complex and holistic process that engages with multiple spatial dimensions, along with their associated beings, simultaneously.

Using 'sa chog' as a lens to explore how rituals produce and structure space on a localised level (i.e., where the rituals took/take place), I will also consider how this contributes to the broader conceptualisation and transformation of space within Tibetan Buddhist practice. Moreover, I argue that ritual actions shape perceptions of space, and that these perceptions, in turn, influence how rituals are practiced.

The Speaker

Rachael M. Griffiths is a postdoctoral researcher in the ERC-funded project PaganTibet: Documenting the first reconstruction of pre-Buddhist practices in Tibet at the École Pratique des Hautes études (EPHE), PSL. She received both her MPhil in Tibetan and Himalayan studies and a PhD in Oriental studies from the University of Oxford. From 2021 to 2023, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include Tibetan life writing, social and intellectual networks, pilgrimage, and digital humanities methods for textual research.

Buddhist Studies Lecture Series

This is a lecture in the framework of the Buddhist Studies Lectures Series, jointly organised by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS).

Registration (required)

All are welcome. Registration using the web form on this page is required due to limited seating.