Alexander V. Zorin

Presentation

I studied Tibetan language, literature and Buddhism in Saint Petersburg State University, and graduated in 2002. I was a doctoral student at the Saint Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (now the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts), the Russian Academy of Sciences, in 2002–2005, and defended a PhD dissertation on the genre of Buddhist hymns (stotra/bstod pa) in Tibetan literature in 2006. In 2006–2022, I was the curator of the collection of Tibetan block prints and manuscripts preserved at this Institute. I headed the project aimed at the thorough processing and cataloguing of the collection. I also studied various texts from different periods and places of production but first of all, Dunhuang, Khara Khoto, Oirat and Kalmuck manuscripts, and the Gzungs bsdus collection compiled by Taranatha. I paid a special interest in the history of the collection and, broader, of Tibetan studies in Russia and, to a certain extent, in Europe. In March 2022, I had to leave Russia for political reasons. I am based in Jerusalem now where I was accepted as a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Research thematics

• Genres of Tibetan religious poetry and ritual texts
• The 6th Dalai Lama’s songs
• Dunhuang and Khara Khoto manuscripts
• Textology of the Tibetan Buddhist canon
• Tibetan books produced by the Kalmucks/Oirats
• History of Tibetan studies in Russia and Europe

CRCAO research programmes

• The Tibetan Religious Landscape After the Empire