On the One Vehicle Thought of the Lotus Sutra

Ein Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Shiro Matsumoto (Komazawa University, Tokyo)

It is generally assumed that the central message of the Lotus Sutra, expressed by the term ekayāna (One Vehicle), is that all sentient beings can attain Buddhahood. However, the message can be found only in the prose portion of the Upāyakauśalya chapter, while in the prose portion of the following chapter, i.e. the Aupamya chapter, this message was replaced with the more specific idea that only bodhisattvas can attain Buddhahood.

The oldest layer in the formation of the Lotus Sutra seems to be the prose portion of the Upāyakauśalya chapter, where the terms bodhisattva and mahāyāna (Great Vehicle) were never used. The terms are however found in the prose portion of the Aupamya chapter. The author[s] of the chapter composed the famous parable of the burning house in order to introduce the term mahāyāna to the Lotus Sutra, and by means of this introduction, to replace buddhayāna (Buddha Vehicle) with mahāyāna as the content or the meaning of ekayāna.

However, the term mahāyāna is meaningful only when it is contrasted with hīnayāna (Small Vehicle) in the sense of being superior. Therefore, if ekayāna is identified with mahāyāna in the prose portion of the Aupamya Chapter, the message expressed by the term ekayāna in the chapter is not “universal salvation” but the discriminatory message that only bodhisattvas can attain Buddhahood by means of the Great Vehicle, while non-bodhisattvas can never attain it.

The people left in the burning house as stated in the burning house parable, it could be assumed, represent non-bodhisattvas who can never attain Buddhahood. Such a discriminatory idea that non-bodhisattvas can never attain Buddhahood can be found in the theories concerning the so-called icchantikas as formulated in the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, although some efforts to rescue even icchantikas appear in later developments.

Prof. Dr. Shiro Matsumoto obtained his M.A. from the University of Tokyo and his Ph.D. from Komazawa University. His Ph.D. thesis was published in 1994 as Zen Shisō no Hihanteki Kenkyū (Critical Studies of Zen Thought). Since 1982 he has been a member of the Faculty of Buddhism, Komazawa University, Tokyo, where he teaches as a professor. In 2001 he was visiting professor at the Numata Chair at the University of Chicago.

His research interests include Indian Buddhism, especially Mādhyamika and Buddha-nature thought, and Japanese Buddhism focusing on Hōnen, Shinran and Dōgen. He published eight monographs in Japanese, including Engi to Kū (Dependent-arising and Emptiness, 1989) and Hokkekyō Shisōron (Essays on the Thought of the Lotus Sutra, 2010). Some of his papers were translated into English and are included in Pruning the Bodhi Tree: the Storm over Critical Buddhism, 1997.

Zeit: Mittwoch, 28. Juni, 16:15-17:45 Uhr
Ort: Universität Hamburg, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Ostflügel (ESA O), Raum 120.

Vortragssprache ist Englisch. Der Eintritt ist frei. Alle Interessierten sind herzlich willkommen!

Die PDF-Datei des Vortrages kann hier heruntergeladen werden.

Veranstaltungsflyer (PDF)

Filmvorführung mit anschließender Diskussion:

"Lost in the Mists of Time: Khunying Damrongthammasan: Thailand's Remarkable Female Dhamma Practitioner"

(auf Thailändisch mit englischen Untertiteln)

Basierend auf langjährigen Forschungsarbeiten zum Leben, religiösen Wirken und dem literarischen Schaffen von Khunying Damrongthammasan (1882-1944) haben Martin Seeger und sein thailändischer Kollege Naris Charaschanyawong einen 63-minütigen Dokumentarfilm produziert. Dieser Film zeigt, wie Seeger und Naris beweisen konnten, dass ein bekannter thailändischer buddhistischer Text nicht, wie lange irrtümlich geglaubt, von einem der einflussreichsten Mönche des thailändischen Buddhismus verfasst wurde. Seeger and Naris belegen, dass Khunying Damrongthammasan die wahre Autorin dieses Textes ist.

Nach der Aufführung des Films wird Dr. Seeger sowohl über den Hintergrund seiner diesbezüglichen Forschung sprechen, also auch seine Erfahrungen darlegen, wie das Produzieren des Films seine Forschungsarbeit bereichert hat. Der Film ist in auf Thailändisch mit englischen Untertiteln. Der anschließende Kurzvortrag and die Diskussion werden auf Deutsch stattfinden.

Dr. Martin Seeger lehrt und forscht als Associate Professor of Thai Studies an der University of Leeds, Großbritannien. Von 1997 bis 2000 war er als Mönch im Norden Thailands in der Theravada-buddhistischen Tradition ordiniert. Danach studierte er Thaiistik und Buddhismuskunde an der Universität Hamburg (Magister 2001, Promotion 2004). In seiner Forschungsarbeit beschäftigt er sich mit den Biographien und Texten von thailändischen buddhistischen Denkern und Praktizierenden des 20. Jahrhunderts. Seine Forschung wendet sich auch folgenden Themen zu: thailändischer Buddhismus und Umweltschutz, Menschenrechte aus der Sicht des thailändischen Buddhismus und Entwicklungsmönche im Nordosten Thailands. Zurzeit arbeitet er an einem langfristigen Forschungsprojekt über die hagiographischen und autobiographischen Texte weiblicher Praktizierender im thailändischen Buddhismus der Moderne.

Zeit: Dienstag, 20. Juni, 18:15-19:45 Uhr
Ort: Universität Hamburg, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Ostflügel (ESA O), Raum 121

Der Eintritt ist frei. Alle Interessierten sind herzlich willkommen!

Veranstaltungsflyer (PDF)

Eine gekürzte Version des gezeigten Films kann unter diesem Link angesehen werden.

Buddhism and Its Others

Local Comparisons of Ritual and Religion in Upland Laos

Ein Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Guido Sprenger (Universität Heidelberg) 

Comparison is not only the foundation of anthropology, but may even be a human universal. However, how do people who are usually the subject of anthropological research practice comparison themselves? This talk shows how Rmeet uplanders in northern Laos and Jru’ in the south employ comparison when they talk about ethnic and religious difference. In particular, they compare local ritual systems with translocal and national Buddhism. This occurs in a framework of distinctions between center and periphery, between Buddhism and its manifold “animist” others. Therefore, comparison appears in a particular context – Buddhism in Mainland Southeast Asia demands an Other, and in case of non-Buddhist uplanders, this other has its own voice. 

Guido Sprenger is Professor of Social Anthropology at the Institute of Ethnology, University of Heidelberg since 2010. He has done research on ritual, cosmology and transculturality in the uplands of Laos since 2000. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, from 2004 to 2007, and a Junior Professor in Münster, Germany, from 2007 to 2010. He has published his research in the Journal of Asian Studies, Anthropological Theory, Anthropology Today and others. His research interests include ritual, exchange, human-environment relations, animism, kinship and social morphology, cultural identity, gender and sexuality.

Vortrag gemeinsam mit der Hamburger Gesellschaft für Thaiistik e.V. und dem Arbeitsbereich Thaiistik der Abteilung Sprachen und Kulturen Südostasiens des AAI.

Formation of Sinhala Buddhist Identity in Sri Lanka:

From Violent Conflict into the Post War Era

Ein Vortrag von Dr. Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi

This lecture explores the ethno-religious, socio-cultural and geo-political impact on the island nation of Sri Lanka, in the formation of an identity that has consistently and persistently claimed to be unique in South Asia. A language, a religion, an ethnicity, and their corresponding cultural strands have historically defined and formed Sri Lanka’s Sinhala Buddhist ideology. The post-independence era was at political crossroads, with the Sinhalese feeling that Buddhism should be normative in nation building and redefined as the ‘national religion’.

The lecture examines the feelings of the majority Sinhala Buddhist community that their island might be the only place where their language, their ethnic group and their religion are rooted. Any attempt to contest this paradigm of ownership and custodianship, either internally or externally, was and is, abhorred, disowned and defeated. The Sinhala Buddhist ethos has ardently formed and confirms its ethno-religious identity despite all opposition. A rebellion to this politico-ideological legacy has been fought institutionally and otherwise with hostility. The bitter war fought for nearly 30 years, between the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnics, was a battle for identity, language, ethnicity and religion claiming their space and place on the island.

The lecture analyses how the post war reconciliation and social integration remain an uphill task for all communities cohabiting on the island. The operationalization of the claims for separatism, by the Tamil Tigers was dismantled. However, appropriate decentralization of power is a possibility, despite its own campaigners and doubters. Signs of peace building propositions are underway but it is not without resentment, tensions and struggles within the country’s natural plurality. The challenge remains on how this tiny nation would decide to deal with the post war scenario of loss, trauma, suspicion and disillusionment that ripped through all ethnic communities island-wide for three decades. Hopes of renewed energy to rebuild the nation is an imperative, as no compromise is tenable.

Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi is visiting lecturer at the Universities of Colombo and Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, senior resource person for the Oblate Institute of Higher Learning (OIHL), Colombo and senior lecturer at the Asian Theological Academy (ATA). He is a Consultant in Religion, Conflict and Social Adjustment and worked extensively with community groups and social movements in Sri Lanka. His primary research interests are in the diaspora communities – their settlement processes, religious affiliations, political mobilization and identity politics in social and cultural adjustments in the UK, Europe and Australia. His most recent involvement has been in the rehabilitation, de-radicalisation and the community reintegration processes of ex-combatants in Sri Lanka’s post conflict period. He is the author of the book Faithing the Native Soil: Dilemmas and Aspirations of Post-colonial Buddhists and Christians in Sri Lanka (CSR, Colombo, 2012) and co-editor of Twenty-First Century Theologies of Religions: Retrospection and Future Prospects (Leiden/Boston, Brill/ Rodopi 2016).

Zeit: Dienstag, 2. Mai, 18:15 – 19:45 Uhr
Ort: Universität Hamburg, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Ostflügel (ESA O), Raum 123.
Vortragssprache ist Englisch. Der Eintritt ist frei. Alle Interessierten sind herzlich willkommen!
Veranstaltungsflyer (PDF)

Vortrag gemeinsam mit der Akademie der Weltreligionen.

Formation of Sinhala Buddhist Identity in Sri Lanka:

From Violent Conflict into the Post War Era

Ein Vortrag von Dr. Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi

This lecture explores the ethno-religious, socio-cultural and geo-political impact on the island nation of Sri Lanka, in the formation of an identity that has consistently and persistently claimed to be unique in South Asia. A language, a religion, an ethnicity, and their corresponding cultural strands have historically defined and formed Sri Lanka’s Sinhala Buddhist ideology. The post-independence era was at political crossroads, with the Sinhalese feeling that Buddhism should be normative in nation building and redefined as the ‘national religion’.

The lecture examines the feelings of the majority Sinhala Buddhist community that their island might be the only place where their language, their ethnic group and their religion are rooted. Any attempt to contest this paradigm of ownership and custodianship, either internally or externally, was and is, abhorred, disowned and defeated. The Sinhala Buddhist ethos has ardently formed and confirms its ethno-religious identity despite all opposition. A rebellion to this politico-ideological legacy has been fought institutionally and otherwise with hostility. The bitter war fought for nearly 30 years, between the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnics, was a battle for identity, language, ethnicity and religion claiming their space and place on the island.

The lecture analyses how the post war reconciliation and social integration remain an uphill task for all communities cohabiting on the island. The operationalization of the claims for separatism, by the Tamil Tigers was dismantled. However, appropriate decentralization of power is a possibility, despite its own campaigners and doubters. Signs of peace building propositions are underway but it is not without resentment, tensions and struggles within the country’s natural plurality. The challenge remains on how this tiny nation would decide to deal with the post war scenario of loss, trauma, suspicion and disillusionment that ripped through all ethnic communities island-wide for three decades. Hopes of renewed energy to rebuild the nation is an imperative, as no compromise is tenable.

Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi is visiting lecturer at the Universities of Colombo and Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, senior resource person for the Oblate Institute of Higher Learning (OIHL), Colombo and senior lecturer at the Asian Theological Academy (ATA). He is a Consultant in Religion, Conflict and Social Adjustment and worked extensively with community groups and social movements in Sri Lanka. His primary research interests are in the diaspora communities – their settlement processes, religious affiliations, political mobilization and identity politics in social and cultural adjustments in the UK, Europe and Australia. His most recent involvement has been in the rehabilitation, de-radicalisation and the community reintegration processes of ex-combatants in Sri Lanka’s post conflict period. He is the author of the book Faithing the Native Soil: Dilemmas and Aspirations of Post-colonial Buddhists and Christians in Sri Lanka (CSR, Colombo, 2012) and co-editor of Twenty-First Century Theologies of Religions: Retrospection and Future Prospects (Leiden/Boston, Brill/ Rodopi 2016).

Zeit: Dienstag, 2. Mai, 18:15 – 19:45 Uhr
Ort: Universität Hamburg, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Ostflügel (ESA O), Raum 123.
Vortragssprache ist Englisch. Der Eintritt ist frei. Alle Interessierten sind herzlich willkommen!
Veranstaltungsflyer (PDF)

Vortrag gemeinsam mit der Akademie der Weltreligionen.

Vortragsreihe Achtsamkeit Kritischer Blick auf einen Trend

Achtsamkeit ist zu einem Trend geworden, insbesondere durch die Verbreitung des Programms „Stressbewältigung durch Achtsamkeit“ (MBSR). Zahlreiche wissenschaftliche Studien haben die Wirksamkeit untersucht. Mediziner, Therapeuten, Pädagogen und mittlerweile auch Firmen interessieren sich dafür. 

Damit scheint eine kritische Reflexion überfällig zu sein, zum Beispiel aus gesellschaftspolitischer Sicht: Blendet Achtsamkeit gesellschaftliche Kontexte aus und fördert den Rückzug ins Private? Wie ist es ethisch zu bewerten, wenn Firmen Achtsamkeit strategisch einsetzen und in den Dienst von Effizienz und Leistung stellen? Ist es möglich, Achtsamkeit in Schulen zu bringen, und wie könnte dazu ein kritischer Bildungsdiskurs aussehen? 

Buddhisten kritisieren, dass die gegenwärtig geläufigen Achtsamkeits-Übungen auf halbem Wege stecken blieben und die Verbindung sowohl zur Ethik als auch zur Weisheit gekappt hätten. Welche tieferen Bedeutungen hat die Achtsamkeit? 

Ein weiteres Feld ist die Qualität der Studien, mit denen Wirksamkeit von Achtsamkeit belegt werden soll. Wie aussagekräftig sind ihre Ergebnisse? Ist Achtsamkeit tatsächlich ein Allheilmittel für die Krankheiten unserer Zeit?

Veranstalter: Numata-Zentrum für Buddhismuskunde der Universität Hamburg und Netzwerk Ethik heute
Ort: Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, ESA Ost, Raum 221
Beginn: jeweils 18.15 Uhr
Anmeldung: nicht erforderlich, die Veranstaltungen sind kostenlos
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