Sport, Bodily Activities and Shoes
11 June 2018
Sport, Bodily Activities and Shoes: From India to China
Prof. Ann Heirman, Ghent University (Belgium)
11. Juni 2018, 18-20 Uhr
Raum J, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Hauptgebäude
Physical activities are part of daily life, and this has not remained unnoticed to early Buddhist disciplinary masters in India and China. In an attempt to protect the good reputation of the monastic community, their normative texts (vinaya) encourage monastics to control their body movements, and to strictly remain decent in all aspects, monastic clothes and shoes included. Still, body movement is not totally banned. On the contrary, walking is warmly welcomed for health reasons. It strengthens the body and the mind. This utilitarian aspect is not unimportant. It is even essential, even more so in China, where modern masters, of whom Xingyun (1927) is a prime example, promote sport as an expedient means aiming at bringing people to Buddhism.
Ann Heirman holds a Ph.D. (1998) in Oriental Languages and Cultures and is Professor at Ghent University (Belgium), where she is teaching Classical and Buddhist Chinese. She has published extensively on Chinese Buddhist monasticism and the development of disciplinary rules, including Rules for Nuns according to the Dharmaguptakavinaya (Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2002), The Spread of Buddhism (edited volume with Stephan Peter Bumbacher, Brill, Leiden, 2007), A Pure Mind in a Clean Body, Bodily Care in the Buddhist Monasteries of Ancient India and China (Academia Press, Ghent, 2012, with Mathieu Torck), and Buddhist Encounters and Identities Across East Asia (edited volume with Carmen Meinert and Christoph Anderl, Brill, Leiden, 2018). At Ghent University, she is director of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies, an international research centre that focuses on India and China.
The flyer is available here.