Samstag
03
NOV

09.00 Uhr

Workshop: Enacted Words of the Buddha: Buddhist Manuscripts as Mediums of Transcultural Interactions :

As physical instantiations of Buddhist ideas and practices dispersed in space and time, manuscripts provide us with a unique lens through which to gain a glimpse of transcultural aspects of Buddhism, one of the most important cultural sources that justify speaking of something called “Asia” at all. Unlike a mirror, which passively reflects the object it represents, Buddhist manuscripts, by means of their materiality, take active part in the vibrant interactions between faith communities from different cultural backgrounds. These interactions were the rule rather than the exception throughout the history of Buddhism and have more often than not left traces in manuscripts produced and circulated by Buddhists in various religious contexts.

This workshop brings together scholars working on Buddhist manuscripts written in a variety of Asian languages (i.e. Sanskrit, Tibetan, Tocharian, Khotanese, Uyghur, and Chinese) to discuss some issues of interest also for non-specialists: What do manuscripts have to teach us about diverse understandings of the same Buddhist idea(l) across cultural boundaries? How does the use of manuscripts change in different cultural spheres? What happens to manuscripts when they reach the end of their usefulness? And so on. It also creates a golden opportunity for interdisciplinary dialogues between philologists and scholars in neighboring fields, such as art history and visual anthropology. The dialogues may well shed new light on the multifarious interplay between textuality and materiality, a topic which has recently become a hotspot in many a subject area.

All interested persons are welcome to attend. No registration is obligatory.

Adresse

Karl Jaspers Centre

Raum 212

Voßstraße 2

69120 Heidelberg

Veranstalter

Südasien-Institut /HCTS

Homepage Veranstalter

www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de

Kontakt

presse@sai.uni-heidelberg.de

Kontakt URL

http://www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/varchiv/