When Teachings Are “Not to Be Disclosed”: A New Look at the Bodhisattva Vows in Asaṅga’s Tradition (Public Lecture by Prof. Dr. Achim Bayer, Kanazawa Seiryo University）

26 August 2026

August 25, 2026, 14:15—15:45
Universität Hamburg, Alsterterrasse 1,
Abteilung für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets, seminar room 117

The bodhisattva, the ideal practitioner in the Indian Mahāyāna tradition, was expected to strive vigorously for the benefit of others. In pre-modern India, these “others” included followers of various non-Buddhist and non-Mahāyāna traditions, as well as distinct strands within the Mahāyāna tradition itself. This constellation was not entirely unprecedented: early Buddhist monastics had already adapted their teachings depending on whether their audience consisted of laypeople or monastics.

 
The duties of an aspiring Mahāyāna teacher were codified in the Bodhisattva-bhūmi (ca. 3rd–4th century CE), which contains a ritual for taking a set of bodhisattva vows. Under these vows, a bodhisattva is meant to withhold higher teachings if they might distress the audience or if the listeners hold a hostile attitude toward the bodhisattva scriptural collection (piṭaka).
 
Asaṅga, the putative final editor of this text, and later scholars in his tradition appear to have applied this principle of target-oriented instruction not only in their oral teachings, but in their written works as well. Drawing on more than 14 years of research, this talk offers a fresh perspective on the topic while taking feedback on previous publications into account.