Universität Wien

142260 SE The Bodhisattva’s Lives in Aryasura’s Jatakamala (2024S)

Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung

An/Abmeldung

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

Details

max. 16 Teilnehmer*innen
Sprache: Englisch

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

Time slot negotiable if necessary. Please contact christopher.jones@univie.ac.at

  • Mittwoch 06.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 13.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 20.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 10.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 17.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 24.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 08.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 15.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 22.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 29.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 05.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 12.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 19.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18
  • Mittwoch 26.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-18

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

Arguably the most widely known body of Buddhist literature across Asian Buddhist cultures is nothing overtly philosophical or heavy with doctrine – it is the stories about the past lives of “the bodhisattva/bodhisatta”, the sentient being who would eventually become the Buddha Śākyamuni. In Jātaka stories the bodhisattva is only sometimes human, and not always (at least by modern standards) morally perfect, but his deeds in these stories are the subject of our very oldest artistic record of Buddhism in India, and continue to be re-told across Buddhist cultures today. One collection of Jātakas, surviving in Sanskrit, is by the poet Āryaśūra, who wrote sometime between the second and fourth centuries CE, perhaps with a royal audience in mind. In this course, we will read Sanskrit versions of several famous Jātakas as they survive in Āryaśūra’s “Garland of Birth-Stories” (Jātakamāla): including the story of the lioness (Vyāghrījātaka), of the hare (Śaśajātaka), and – perhaps the most influential Jātaka of all – the story of the generous prince Viśvantara (Viśvantarajātaka). Our interest will be literary as well as doctrinal features of these texts, and what they tell us about how Indian Buddhists understood the bodhisattva and his long, arduous journey towards the status of a Buddha. This course will complement an exploration of the (Mahāyāna) bodhisattva in the course “The Bodhisattva’s Mind in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa”.

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

Assessment will take into account the following:
Attendance and participation in class, plus weekly preparation (Sanskrit/Tibetan translation; reading prescribed secondary literature): 50%
Written exercise/s (details TBC): 50%

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

Knowledge of Sanskrit is required. Weekly preparation will require translation of Sanskrit materials uploaded to Moodle. Knowledge of Tibetan will be beneficial.

Prüfungsstoff

All materials translated and discussed in class.

Literatur


We will be using the Sanskrit edition of Vaidya (1959), made available on the Jātaka Stories database of Edinburgh University:
https://jatakastories.div.ed.ac.uk/textual-collections/aryasuras-jatakamala/
An excellent resource is the entry on “Narratives: South Asia” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Vol.1), available in the library and online. What follow are simply initial suggestions for further reading.

* Appleton, Naomi. 2010. Jātaka Stories in Theravāda Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path. Burlington: Ashgate.
* Appleton, Naomi and Shaw, Sarah. 2016. The Ten Great Birth Stories of the Buddha. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Press.
* Khoroche, Peter. 1989. Once the Buddha Was a Monkey: Ārya Śūra’s Jātakamālā. Chicago, IL; London: University of Chicago Press.
* Meiland, Justin. 2009. Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives. Two Volumes. Clay Sanskrit Library. New York, NY: New York University Press.
* Speyer, J.S. 1895. Jātakamālā, or Garland of Birth-Stories, by Āryaśūra. Electronic version 2010.
* Steiner, Roland. “Āryaśūra”. In Jonathan Silk et al (eds), Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume 2. Leiden: Brill. 70–72.

Introductions to Jātakas as a genre can be found in all good introductions to Buddhism (e.g., Rupert Gethin’s Foundations of Buddhism; John Strong’s Buddhisms: An Introduction, also The Buddha: A Short Biography).


Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

MATB5

Letzte Änderung: Do 29.02.2024 10:06