College
St. John’s College
Thesis Title
Rituals of Power: Tantric Buddhism, Statecraft, and Visual Culture in Early Ming China (1368–1450)
Supervisors:
Ulrike Roesler and Ming Tak Ted Hui
Biography:
Tian Chen is a D.Phil. researcher in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford. His work examines the intersections of art and religious history between Tibet and China during the 14th–15th centuries. Tian’s doctoral project investigates the role of tantric Buddhism within early-Ming statecraft, with particular attention to newly discovered materials from southwestern China.
Tian holds a BA and an MSt from Oxford. His previous research focused on the transcultural visual idioms in the Avadāna painting cycle created by the eastern Tibetan polymath Situ Panchen (Si tu Paṇ chen Chos kyi ’byung gnas, 1700–1774). This work will be presented in a forthcoming article in Archives of Asian Art. For his master’s thesis, he studied and translated an enigmatic early-Ming imperial manuscript entitled The Vajra Wisdom Tantra: True Meditation of Inner Mudrā for the Sudden Realisation of the Illusory Dharmadhātu, a text that brings together Daoist, Tibetan Buddhist, and Confucian imagery. Tian has consulted on Tibetan art for Christie’s and serves as a contributor for Himalayan Art Resources.
Educational Background:
Present – D.Phil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Sino-Tibetan Art and Buddhism),
University of Oxford
2024-2025 – M.St in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Sino-Tibetan Tantra),
University of Oxford
2020-2023 – BA in Philosophy and Oriental Studies (Buddhist Philosophy and Tibetan)
University of Oxford
2018-2020 – History of Art and Architecture, (Chinese Art History) Rice University
Research interests
● Sino-Tibetan Art and Buddhism,
● Material culture
● Buddhist tantric practices
● Politics and religion
Publications
(Forthcoming) "Painting the World: Transcultural Syncretism in Si tu Paṇ chen’s Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā Painting Set." In Archives of Asian Art, Duke University Press ed., 2026.
"A Mongolian Judge attributed to Khyentse Chenmo" Himalayan Art Resources, September 2022. Accessible at https://www.himalayanart.org/items/24784
Recent Presentations
Tea, Salt, and Tantra: Vajra Wisdom Tantra and the Sponsorship of Azhali Buddhism in the Xuande court, 2nd International Conference on the History and Culture of the Silk Road, 2025.
Transcultural Buddhism and Visual Culture in the Early Ming Court, Annual Conference UK Association of Buddhist Studies, University of London SOAS, June 2025.
Towards an International Style: Tracing Cross-Cultural Exchanges and Visual Syncretism in Si tu Paṇ chen’s Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā Painting Set, 8th International Conference on Tibetan Archaeology & Arts, 2023.
50 Billion Princes and 50 Billion Crowns: Media Transfer and Visual Syncretisms in Tangut Maitreya Frontispiece, 16th Conference of IATS International Association of Tibetan Studies, Prague, 2022.
