Tuesday, October 21, 2025, 6:10 PM EST, Anthropology Building, RM 130 (hybrid; Zoom link will be announced through the AIA, Toronto Chapter website.
Why were the dead sealed in caves at a Buddhist site? What religious aspirations and social needs shaped this unconventional funerary practice in the Tang dynasty? Building on the recent discovery of burial caves at the Longmen Grottoes, this study aims to reconstruct their contexts and associated rituals in two steps: First, by analyzing the newly excavated WFG K1 and utilizing 3D technologies, it restores the original conditions and the dynamic process of constructing a burial cave. Second, by referencing textual and epigraphic sources, it reconstructs the burial ceremonies and posthumous rituals conducted at the site, while exploring how Buddhist ideas of death and rebirth were successfully integrated into local funerary traditions.
Please contact aiatorontosociety@gmail.com if you are interested in joining Dr. Li for dinner.
Please register here to attend the lecture via Zoom.
