M.A. Navpreet Singh

Responsibilities

"The Avalokita-sūtra Textual Family: Formation, Transmission and Historical Import"

Navpreet Singh completed his MA in Asian Studies (track History, Philology & Religion) at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris. The MA dissertation for his first year was titled the Fan fanyu 翻梵語 – A Sanskrit-Chinese Glossary from the 6th century where he undertook a preliminary study of this text (authorship, dating, translation of select passages and their analysis and detailed study of chapter 18). His MA dissertation for the second year was titled Fo benxing ji jing 佛本行集經 – A Neglected Hagiography of Śākyamuni Buddha: literature review, translation and preliminary study of chapter 5. Mr. Singh's PhD dissertation project at LMU, within the framework of a doctoral school in cross-cultural philology, focuses on the development and transmission of a scriptural family known as the Avalokita-sūtra contained within the Mahāvastu (I-IV/V cent. CE), which is of great relevance for the history of the conception of the Buddha's Awakening and the cult of his substitutes (particularly the stūpa) in South Asia. Apart from Buddhist philology and history, he is also interested in Buddhist art, particularly the Dunhuang murals centered around the Ascent and Descent sūtras of Maitreya.