Book Project
Governing beyond Death
Governing beyond Death: The Dalai Lama, Reincarnation, and the Making of Early Modern China
The Research Question
How does sacred authority endure when the person who embodies it dies? This book project examines Tibetan Buddhist reincarnation as a problem of religious succession and statecraft in the making of early modern China. It asks how the authority of the Dalai Lama was transmitted across moments of rupture and connected to imperial rule.
Why It Matters
The project brings Buddhist history into conversation with the history of empire, asking how institutions sustain authority across personal and political change.
Related Published Research
My article on the Sixth Dalai Lama examines how gaps in information and disputes over religious succession prompted changes in the Qing information system on Tibet.
“The Issues of the Sixth Dalai Lama and the Transformation of Qing Information System on Tibet.” Religions 16, no. 1 (2025): 31.
- Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
- Book manuscript in progress
Image via Wikimedia Commons; marked public domain.
Book Project
Governing beyond Death
Image via Wikimedia Commons; marked public domain.
Governing beyond Death: The Dalai Lama, Reincarnation, and the Making of Early Modern China
The Research Question
How does sacred authority endure when the person who embodies it dies? This book project examines Tibetan Buddhist reincarnation as a problem of religious succession and statecraft in the making of early modern China. It asks how the authority of the Dalai Lama was transmitted across moments of rupture and connected to imperial rule.
Why It Matters
The project brings Buddhist history into conversation with the history of empire, asking how institutions sustain authority across personal and political change.
Related Published Research
My article on the Sixth Dalai Lama examines how gaps in information and disputes over religious succession prompted changes in the Qing information system on Tibet.
“The Issues of the Sixth Dalai Lama and the Transformation of Qing Information System on Tibet.” Religions 16, no. 1 (2025): 31.
- Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
- Book manuscript in progress