Faculty/College
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Biography:
Dr. Chen is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Her research focuses on the transmission and reception of Sanskrit lexical works in Tibet during the Later Spread of Buddhism, with specific interests in the Tibetan versions of the Indian lexicon Amarakośa (c. 5th century) and its commentary Kāmadhenu (c. 1110- c. 1130). She received her PhD in Indian language and literature from Peking University in 2025. During her time at Oxford, she will be working on a Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscript of the Amarakośa, formerly housed in the Norbulingka in Tibet, which is inscribed with abundant Tibetan annotations from the Kāmadhenu.
Educational Background:
Peking University, 2020 –2025. PhD in Indian Language and Literature.
Harvard University, 2023 –2024. Visiting Fellow at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, program in “Indian Studies in China.”
Tibet University, 2013 – 2017. Master’s in Comparative Literature (Tibetan and Chinese).
Sichuan University, 2009 – 2013. Bachelor’s in History.
Doctoral Dissertation Title: A Carriage of Tibetan Language Arts: Zhwa lu lo tsā ba Chos skyong bzang po (1441-1528) and the Kāmadhenu/’Dod ’jo ba mo. (《西藏声明学的车舆——夏鲁译师·却迥桑布及其〈如意牛〉》)
Current Projects:
Learning Sanskrit Vocabulary in Fourteenth-Century Tibet: The Amarakośa Palm-Leaf Manuscript with Kāmadhenu Glosses in Tibetan Preserved at the Norbulingka.
Research Interests:
Sanskrit-Tibetan lexicon, grammar and other works on language arts
Tibetan historical and biographical literature
Tibetan geographical writtings
Recent Publications:
Chen Yilan. 2025(a). “A Bibliographic Sketch of the Linguistic works by Zhwa lu lo tsā ba Chos skyong bzang po.” (《夏鲁译师·却迥桑布的梵-藏语言学文献考》) Forthcoming in 西藏研究/Tibetan Studies.
Chen Yilan. 2025(b). “Two 16th and 17th Century Biographies of Zhwa lu lo tsā ba Chos skyong bzang po (1441-1528): An Annotated Translation.” (《夏鲁译师·却迥桑布（1441-1528）传记译注研究》) Forthcoming in 西域历史语言研究集刊/Historical and Philological Studies of China’s Western Regions.
Chen Yilan. 2024. Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp in collaboration with Chen Yilan, “Shalu Lotsāwa, Situ Paṇchen and Daṇḍin’s Kāvyādarśa/Nyenngak Melong: A Bibliographic Excursion” (《夏鲁译师、司徒班钦与檀丁的〈诗镜〉——一次书目文献之旅》). Translated in Chinese by Chen Yilan. In 西藏贝叶经研究/Tibetan Palm-leaf Manuscripts Studies (2023).
Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp in collaboration with Chen Yilan, 2024. “Shalu Lotsāwa, Situ Paṇchen and Daṇḍin’s Kāvyādarśa/Nyenngak Melong: A Bibliographic Excursion.” In Journal of Tibetan Literature. Vol. 3 No. 1 (2024).
Chen Yilan. 2023. “On the colophons in the Tibetan versions of the Amarakośa and its Kāmadhenu commentary” (《〈甘露藏〉及其注释〈如意牛〉藏译跋文研究》). In 藏学学刊/Journal of Tibetology. Vol. 29.
Chen Yilan. 2018. “Beyond Romance: Exploring Fidelity and Cultural Context in Chinese Translations of The Sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso’s Verses.” (《仓央嘉措“情歌”原作和汉语翻译问题初探》). In 中国藏学/China Tibetology, Vol. 132. no.1 (2018).
