The Hastikakṣyasūtra: Some Reflections on an Early Mahāyāna Text
7 November 2018
The Hastikakṣyasūtra: Some Reflections on an Early Mahāyāna Text
Prof. Dr. Zhen Liu, Professor in the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Director of Center for Gandhian and Indian Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai
November 7, 2018, 4.15-5.45 pm.
The lecture attempts to investigate a Sanskrit fragment of a Mahāyānasūtra, the Hastikakṣyasūtra, and compare it to its corresponding Chinese and Tibetan translations. Through a comparison of all extant titles of this text found in both the Chinese and Tibetan versions and their reconstructions in Sanskrit, this work further throws light on the question why some titles use the metaphor of the effort or power of an elephant. In conclusion it will become clear that by analyzing the Chinese and Tibetan versions, the content and structure of this text can shed some important light on the early development of Mahāyānasūtras.
Prof. Dr. Zhen Liu studied Indology and Tibetology at the Institute for Indology and Tibetology at Munich University (2001-2008). In 2005 he attained an M.A. degree with the thesis Das Maitreyavyākaraṇa - Ein Vergleich der verschiedenen Fassungen mit einer Übersetzung des Sanskrit-Textes (The Maitreyavyākaraṇa - A Comparison of the Different Versions with a Translation of the Sanskrit Text). In 2008 he got his Ph.D. degree with a dissertation titles Versenkung und Askese. Eine neue Sanskrit-Quelle zur Buddha-Legende (Meditation and Asceticism - A New Sanskrit Source for the Buddha Legend). Liu is now professor at the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, and director of the Center for Gandhian and Indian Studies at Fudan University, Shanghai. His research specialties are the comparison between Chinese and Indian literature, Indian Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna Buddhism, Sanskrit manuscripts, the Veda and Vedic literature.
Organizer: Numata-Zentrum für Buddhismuskunde der Universität Hamburg
Location: Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, ESA-Ost, Room 120
The flyer can be found here.