Please note the new time and location for our 2017-18 lecture series.

In the context of a perceived spiritual and moral crisis in Chinese society, growing numbers of Han Chinese are turning to Tibetan Buddhism for ethical guidance. This talk, based on an ethnographic study of a group of affluent, urban Han Chinese followers of Tibetan Buddhism, examines the sources of the appeal of Tibetan Buddhism for wealthy Chinese and the range of ways in which they integrate Buddhist principles and ritual practice into their lives as well as some of the tensions that have emerged in communities of followers. For some, donations to Tibetan lamas serve as a form of “spiritual protection money” that will safeguard their businesses and enhance their careers, while for others, Buddhist principles become the basis for dramatic moral and social transformation.

John Osburg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Rochester. He received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago in 2008. Prior to his current position, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Chinese Studies at Stanford University. His research interests include morality, corruption, luxury consumption, gender and sexuality, and spirituality in contemporary China. Osburg’s first book, Anxious Wealth: Money and Morality Among China’s New Rich (Stanford, 2013), examines the intersection of China’s market reforms with the local moral worlds and social networks of entrepreneurs and government officials in southwest China. Currently, he is engaged in two research projects. The first examines the effects of the current anti-corruption campaign on the cohort of businesspeople who were featured in Anxious Wealth. The other project, based on fieldwork Osburg conducted in 2014 and 2015, looks at wealthy Han Chinese who have become followers and patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. Professor Osburg is also currently a Fellow of the Public Intellectual Program at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.