معرفی
Robert Mayer is a Faculty Associate at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, and a Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. Affiliated with Wolfson College, he specializes in Tibetan Buddhist studies with a focus on early Nyingma tantric traditions and scriptural revelation practices.
His research centers on rNying ma tantric traditions, gTer ma (treasure) literature, the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum (NGB), Dunhuang tantric manuscripts, Tibetan ritual systems, and phur pa (kīla) traditions across both Buddhist and Bon contexts. Mayer examines textual transmission mechanisms, ritual innovation, and the historical formation of Tibetan Buddhism from the 10th-12th centuries, with particular attention to how revelation practices challenge conventional notions of authorship and originality.
Analysis of his recent publications reveals a consistent trajectory exploring treasure literature's relationship to Indian Buddhist antecedents, comparative studies of Bon and Buddhist tantric systems, and critical editions of foundational texts like the Ancient Tantra Collection. His work demonstrates increasing interdisciplinary engagement with cultural history, myth-making processes, and the sociology of religious knowledge production in Tibetan contexts.
Mayer directs the Treasure Seminar Series and has secured major funding from the AHRC, John Fell Fund, and DFG for projects including authorship studies in Tibetan scriptural revelations, comparative analyses of Bon/Buddhist phur pa traditions, and restoration of ancient tantric manuscripts. He teaches courses on Early Tantric Traditions in Tibet and Early Bon Tantric Literature, while maintaining the research blog kīli kīlaya documenting discoveries in Tibetan Buddhist studies.
