An interview with
Tom Tillemans
Position & Affiliation: Professor Emeritus of Buddhist Studies, University of Lausanne
Date: March 30, 2019 in Puidoux, Switzerland
Interviewed by: Anna Sehnalova
Cite this archive
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Oral History of Tibetan Studies project.
Timestamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:34 Can I ask about your family background and childhood?
- 4:37 Interest in Philosophy
- 8:32 First contacts with Tibetans and travels to India
- 17:47 Move to Switzerland
- 24:37 Thoughts on debate practice
- 29:29 Sanskrit studies with Jacques May
- 34:22 Chinese studies under Jean François Billeter
- 36:33 Memories of the IABS conference in Oxford 1982
- 39:20 Writing his PhD thesis
- 43:13 Employment at Hamburg University in 1989
- 30:24 Why did you decide to study medicine in the first place?
- 48:24 Professorship at University Lausanne
- 57:23 Memories of important students and teaching activities
- 1:06:37 Meeting Thomas Doctor and the establishment of yearly meetings in Kathmandu of the “Cowherds”
- 1:19:14 Retirement and engagement with the 84,000 Project
- 1:27:29 Reflections on different ways of studying languages
- 1:31:53 Evolution of Tibetan studies and memories of the IATS
- 1:32:31 Discussion about the Tibet-centric approach in Tibetan studies
- 1:49:51 What are your memories of your first visits to India, Tibet, and Nepal?
- 1:54:16 How do you remember Kathmandu at the time?
- 1:57:21 Could you say something about your involvement with the IABS?
- 2:02:35 How would you say research perspectives are changing within Buddhist or Tibetan studies?
- 2:07:36 Could you say something about Tibetan and Buddhist studies in Switzerland?
- 2:17:26 Could you also say something about meeting Tibetans for the first time?
- 2:20:51 What is so fascinating about it for you?
- 2:21:52 You mentioned the Rikon monastery, would you have something to say about its beginnings or something to add?
- 2:27:23 Did you know Michael and Anthony Aris?
- 2:29:29 What has your work in Buddhist studies has given to you? How has it changed or influenced your life?
- 2:35:04 What did you find the most interesting and the most challenging in your work?
- 2:38:37 Who are your favourite philosophers in Europe and Asia?
- 2:44:12 What do you regard as your most significant academic contributions and why?
- 2:47:10 Are there still topics that are interesting and you want to pursue?
- 2:49:37 Are you also venturing into different disciplines and regions?
- 2:52:03 As we are conducting this project for contemporary researchers, students, and the public, do you have a message for them?
Additional info
Books
2014: Bill Viola: Passions (with Kathleen Bühler), Kunstmuseum Bern/Cathedral of Berne
2014: Kosmos – Weltentwürfe im Vergleich (with Albert Lutz et al.), Museum Rietberg Zürich/Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG, Zürich, ISBN 978–3‑85881–451‑7
2011: Quentin Roosevelt’s China – Ancestral Realms of the Naxi (with Christine Mathieu and Cindy Ho), Rubin Museum of Art, New York / Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart
2010: Grain of Emptiness – Buddhism-inspired contemporary art (with Mary Jane Jacob) Rubin Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 978–0‑9772131–9‑1
2009: Mandala – Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism (with Helen Abbott) Arnoldsche /Rubin Museum of Art, Stuttgart/New York, ISBN 978–3‑89790–305‑0
2005: The Virtual Mandala – The Tibetan Book of the Dead/ Das tibetische Totenbuch (with Claudio Dal Pra), Art Adventures, Zürich, ISBN 3–9522726‑7–1 (part 1), ISBN 978–3‑9522726–8‑8 (part 2)
2005: Die Dalai Lamas – Tibets Reinkarnationen des Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart,ISBN 3–89790–219–2
2005: The Dalai Lamas – A Visual History, Serindia, Publications, Chicago, ISBN 1–932476–22–9
2005: Les Dalaï-Lamas – Les 14 réincarnations du bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Favre, Lausanne, ISBN 2–8289–0840–2
2004: Mandala – Cercle sacré du bouddhisme tibétain, Favre, Lausanne, ISBN 2–8289–0772–4
2004: Dreamworld Tibet – Western Illusions, Weatherhill, Trumbull, ISBN 083‑4805–464
2003: Bambus im alten Japan / Bamboo in Old Japan, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart, (with Patrizia Jirka-Schmitz) ISBN 3–89790–190–0
2002: Peter Aufschnaiter’s Eight Years in Tibet, Orchid Press, Bangkok, ISBN 974–524–012–5
2000: Traumwelt Tibet – Westliche Trugbilder, Haupt, Bern-Stuttgart-Wien, ISBN 3–258–05639–0
2000: Deities of Tibetan Buddhism – The Zürich Paintings of the Icons Worthwhile to See (with Martin Willson), Wisdom Publications, Boston, ISBN 0–86171–098–3
1999: Mandala – Il cercio sacro del buddhismo tibetano, Sovera editore, ISBN 88–8124–074–2
1998: Mandala – Posvatny kruh tibetského buddhismu, Volvox Globator, Praha, ISBN 80–7207–145–9
1998: De Mandala – De heilige cirkel van het Tibetaans boeddhisme, Asoka, ISBN 90 5670 021 9
1997: The Mandala – Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism, Shambhala, Boston, ISBN 1–57062–296–5
1994: Irgendwo in Bhutan – Wo Frauen (fast immer) das Sagen haben, Verlag im Waldgut, Frauenfeld, ISBN 3 7294 0202 1
1992: Das Mandala: Der Heilige Kreis im tantrischen Buddhismus, DuMont, Köln, ISBN 3–7701–2509–6
1993: Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalaya (with Charles Ramble), Ethnologische Schriften Zürich, ESZ 12, Ethnological Museum of the University of Zurich, ISBN 3–909105–24–6
1984: Nepal – Leben und Überleben, Ethnologische Schriften Zürich, ESZ 2, Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich
1983: Peter Aufschnaiter – Sein Leben in Tibet, Steiger Verlag, Innsbruck, ISBN 3–85423–016–8
1982: Junge Tibeter in der Schweiz – Studien zum Prozess kultureller Identifikation (with Detlef Kantowsky), Verlag Rüegger, Diessenhofen, ISBN 3 7253 0169 7
1982: Fremden-Bilder, Ethnologische Schriften Zürich, ESZ 1, Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich
1980: Feste in Ladakh, Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, ISBN 3–201–01122–3
1978: Tibetan Studies, presented at the International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (with Per Kværne), Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich
1974: Heinrich Harrer’s Impressionen aus Tibet, Pinguin Verlag, Innsbruck
1969: Tibetische Kunst, Tibeta 69, Bern
Curriculum Vitae for Tom J.F. Tillemans
Date of birth: Dec. 21, 1950 in Haarlem, Holland
Citizenships: Canadian and Dutch
Present position since 1992: Professor of Buddhist Studies, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. (After Aug. 1, 2011 Emeritus Professor, University of Lausanne.)
Other positions
At various times Invited Professor at different universities, Head of the Department of Oriental Languages (University of Lausanne) and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Letters.
University Studies
BA Honours (Philosophy) from University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada;
Licence ès lettres (Sanskrit, Chinese and Philosophy) Lausanne and Geneva;
Doctorate (Buddhist Studies), Lausanne. Research scholarship at Hiroshima University, Japan.
Research interests
Indian and Tibetan Buddhist logic and epistemology; Madhyamaka philosophy; comparative philosophy; indigenous Tibetan grammatical literature; Tibetan poetry.
Other responsibilities
1.Co-editor ( with Cristina Scherrer-Schaub) of the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies from 1998–2006.
2.Editor of the series Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Wisdom Publications, Boston.
3. General Secretary of the International Association of Buddhist Studies from 20022010.
4. Project editor for “the 84000” (project to translate the Buddhist canonical literature primarily from Tibetan sources).
Doctorate theses directed
1. John D. Dunne, Foundations of Dharmakīrti’s Epistemology. A Study of the
Central Issues in his Ontology, Logic and Epistemology with Particular Attention to the Svopajñāvṛtti , Harvard, 1999.
2. Sara L. McClintock, Omniscience and the Rhetoric of Reason in the Tattvasaṃgraha and the Tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā, Harvard, 2002.
3. Vincent Eltschinger, Dharmakīrti sur les Ecritures et l‘Incréation des Vedas. Autour du Pramāṇavārttika k. 213–275 et Svavṛtti. Lausanne, 2003.
4. Ryusei Keira, Madhyamaka and Epistemology. A study of Kamalaśīla’s Method for proving the Voidness of all Dharmas. Introduction, Annotated Translations and Tibetan Texts of Selected Sections of the Second Chapter of the Madhyamakāloka’. Lausanne, 2003.
5. Pascale Hugon. Trésors du raisonnement. Sa skya Pandita et ses prédécesseurs tibétains sur les modes de fonctionnement de la pensée et le fondement de l’inférence. Edition et traduction annotée du quatrième chapitre du Tshad ma rigs pa’i gter et d’une portion de la section initiale du dixième chapitre. Lausanne, 2005.
6. Toru Tomabechi, Etude du Pañcakrama.Introduction et traduction annotée. Lausanne, 2006.