Universität Wien

142249 SE Indian Buddhology in the Uttaratantrasastra (2026S)

10.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 14 - Orientalistik, Afrikawissenschaften, Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismusk
Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung
Moodle
Do 28.05. 13:00-16:00 Digital

An/Abmeldung

Hinweis: Ihr Anmeldezeitpunkt innerhalb der Frist hat keine Auswirkungen auf die Platzvergabe (kein "first come, first served").

Details

max. 17 Teilnehmer*innen
Sprache: Englisch

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

Classes will not take place every week, but rather (generally) alternating weeks, likely beginning on March 4th or 5th, with some classes online. More information will be forthcoming soon. Student availability will be taken into account.

  • Donnerstag 05.03. 13:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Donnerstag 19.03. 13:00 - 16:00 Digital
  • Donnerstag 16.04. 13:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Donnerstag 30.04. 13:00 - 16:00 Digital
  • Donnerstag 07.05. 13:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Donnerstag 11.06. 13:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Donnerstag 25.06. 13:00 - 16:00 Digital

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

The Uttaratantra ('Supreme Disquisition'), also known as the Ratnagotravibhāga ('Analysis of the Source of the [Three] Jewels'), is a Buddhist treatise (śāstra) composed in likely the late fourth century. It is best known as a work that attempts to systematize Indian Buddhist thought on 'buddha-nature', or teaching about tathāgatagarbha, which is a focus of its first chapter (also, a focus of another course offered this semester). However, the rest of the text is comparatively less studied, and its second chapter is an intricate discussion of Mahāyāna 'buddhology', or theorizing about the nature and attainments of a buddha. This course will focus on close reading and discussion of this second chapter, and what it has to say about relatively 'mature' Indian thought about buddhas and their profound relationship to reality. Methodologically, and depending on the language skills of students in the class, we will also consider how best to handle different witnesses to a work such as this (Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese).

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

Assessment will take into account the following:

Attendance and participation in class, plus weekly preparation (translation from source language; reading prescribed secondary literature): 50%

Written exercise/s (details TBC): 50%

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

Knowledge of Sanskrit and Tibetan OR Classical Chinese. Weekly preparation will require translation from one of these languages.

Prüfungsstoff

All discussed contents.

Literatur

Further relevant works:
* Jones, Christopher V., 2021. The Buddhist Self: On Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman. Honolulu: University of Hawai‵i Press [relevant chapters].
* Kano Kazuo 加納和雄, 2016. Buddha-Nature and Emptiness: rNgog Blo-ldan-shes-rab and A Transmission of the Ratnagotravibhāga from India to Tibet, Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 91, Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien.
* Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, 2015[2017]. "The Original Ratnagotravibhāga and Its Yogācāra Interpretation as Possible Indian Precedents of Gzhan stong ('Empti[ness] of Other')," Hōrin: Vergleichende Studien zur japanischen Kultur 18, 119–140.
* Ruegg, David Seyfort, 1976. "The Meanings of the Term Gotra and the Textual History of the Ratnagotravibhāga," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 39/2, 341-363.
* Wangchuk, Tsering, 2018. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows: Tibetan Thinkers Debate the Centrality of the Buddha-Nature Treatise, Albany: SUNY Press.

Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

MATB5
MASK 4

Letzte Änderung: Di 03.03.2026 09:26