News

東文研セミナー　「Royalty and Religious Patronage in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra」のお知らせ

このたび、ケンブリッジ大学のChrstopher V. Jones博士をお招きして、東洋文化研究所セミナーを開催することといたしました。Jones博士は昨年、The Buddhist Self: OnTathāgatagarbha and Ātman (Hawaii University Press, 2021)を出版された新進気鋭の仏教学者です。このたび、大乗『涅槃経』にかんする新説を発表する予定とのことで、ご関心のある方は奮ってご参加ください。

日時：　2022年９月２７日午後３時―４時３０分
発表者：　Dr Christopher V. Jones, Research Associate, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge
Bye-Fellow, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge
演題：　Royalty and Religious Patronage in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra

発表要旨：　The Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra was one of the most influential Indian Mahāyānist texts for the reception of Buddhism in China, primarily as a source for teachings about the enduring, transcendent character of the Buddha, and also the notion of a permanent and precious ‘buddha-nature’ in the constitution of every sentient being. The text does not, however, seem to have been so influential in India itself; this is perhaps due to how radical many of its ideas seem to have been, including its use of the language of selfhood (ātman) – a focus of other religious traditions, but anathema to wider and earlier Buddhist teaching – to refer to both the Buddha and buddha-nature.

Recent scholarship has argued that the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra should be situated at the beginning of Buddhist teaching about buddha-nature in India, and in particular the use of the enigmatic term tathāgatagarbha to promote it. In my work I have tried to account for how and why this text so conspicuously departed from established Buddhist doctrine, adopting as it did the language of selfhood. In this paper I will explore my hypothesis that reasons for this were political, or perhaps economic: that is, we can consider doctrinal innovations of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra as having been at least in part motivated by concerns for the maintenance and survival of the Saṅgha in the diverse and competitive religious world of classical India. We will look at the prominent role given to kings and persons of power in the language and structure of this rich and unusual text, and I will suggest that it is by thinking about the broader political and religious dynamics of classical India that we can understand some of the unusual declarations made by these unconventional Mahāyānist authors.

URL: https://u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/84740322947?pwd=dmtKWEtVaW1uMXF4UlpRMkw1VG93dz09

登録種別：研究会関連
登録日時：SunSep2515:30:052022
登録者　：馬場、廣田
掲載期間：20220926 - 20220927
当日期間：20220927 - 20220927