PHD research
To Read a Buddhist Titanomachy: Cosmos, Myth and Narrative as seen in Buddhist Devāsurasaṃgrāma Myth
Based on the trilingual (Sanskrit-Tibetan-Chinese) critical edition of the fifth chapter (“Animal”) of a Buddhist text Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra, my academic project investigates on the pan-Indian Devāsurasaṃgrāma myth , i.e., the cosmic warfare between the Indian Gods and Titans, as attested in the Buddhist literature and art, with its mythological and religious nature in focus. It examines the role the myth played when ancient Buddhists conceptualized their Axis-Mundi cosmological pattern that is hierarchical yet with interacting dynamics. Thereby, we can better understand mythology and cosmology and their relationship in Buddhist context.
Supervisors: prof. dr. J.A. Silk and prof. dr. P.C. Bisschop.
Education
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Sept. 2017 — July 2020:
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National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai: M.A. with distinction; Sanskrit Literature, Buddhist text and Manuscriptology.
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Sept. 2013 — July 2017:
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Faculty of History, Nankai University, Tianjin: B.A. with distinction; Ancient Chinese History, Mongol-Yuan Dynasty, and Maritime Silk Road in 13-14 century.
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Grants
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2019:
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Khyentse Foundation Award for Excellence in Buddhist Studies.
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2014/2016:
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National Scholarship for Academic Excellence.
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2015:
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National Scholarship for Encouragement; University scholarship for one-month academic visiting in Soochow University, Taipei.
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Publications:
Peyrot, Michaël and Xiaoqiang, Meng. "Tocharian B santse ‘daughter-in-law’" Indogermanische Forschungen 126, no. 1 (2021): 405-410.
Meng, Xiaoqiang. “A Preliminary Study of the Dunhuang Tibetan Fragments of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-Ekottarakarmaśataka (I): Tarjanīyakarman,” Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia 34 (2021): 205-241.
Meng, Xiaoqiang. "On the Sources of the Nāgakumārāvadāna of the Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā," in: Angermeier, Vitus et al. (Hrsg.): Puṣpikā: Proceedings of the 12th International Indology Graduate Research Symposium (Vienna, 2021), Heidelberg: Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing, 2023, pp. 319–362 (Puṣpikā – Tracing Ancient India through Texts and Traditions: Contributions to Current Research in Indology, Band 6).
Meng, Xiaoqiang. “A Critical Study of Nāgakumārāvadāna & Saṅgharakṣitāvadāna in Kṣemendra’s Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā,” unpublished M.A. thesis, Shanghai, PRC: Fudan University, 2020.
Meng, Xiaoqiang. “A Further Study on the Mongolian Naval Expedition to Java: With an Analysis on Qubilai’s Maritime Prohibition,” unpublished B.A. thesis, Tianjin, PRC: Nankai University, 2017.
Meng, Xiaoqiang. “Some Notes on the Mongolian Expedition to Java,” read on The International Conference on the “Master and the Classical Studies in China,” Feng Qiyong Academic Hall, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Dec. 16-19, 2017.
