Inaugural AABS Melbourne Seminar
On the 11th of November 2011, the inaugural AABS Melbourne seminar took place at Monash University’s Caulfield Campus, coordinated by Ruth Fitzpatrick and Dr Anna Halafoff. Professor Greg Barton and Professor Judith Snodgrass welcomed participants, and Dr David Templeman and Dr Di Cousens introduced the presenters. The guest speakers were Professor Adrian Snodgrass and Dr Peter Friedlander.
Prof Snodgrass discussed the significance of ritual in the understanding of deities and iconography. (See abstract below). Dr Friedlander provided a complex account of the relationship between Buddhism, peace and conflict throughout history in multiple Asian contexts. (See abstract below).
The presentations were followed by lively questions and discussions. Representatives from the Buddhist Council of Victoria, the Monash Buddhist Society, academics from Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, as well as ordained Sangha and undergraduate students attended the seminar and a dinner to celebrate the inaugural event. The evening was enjoyed by all, and plans have been set in place to develop an AABS Buddhist seminar series in Melbourne coordinated by Dr Friedlander and Dr Halafoff.
Photos of the event can be viewed at: https://picasaweb.google.com/107229944075848338841/AABSMonash11Nov11?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyQpoOAspS8fg&feat=email
Kind regards
AABS Executive
Adrian Snodgrass - Role Reversals in Buddhist Rituals
The process whereby Buddhism assimilated the Hindu gods and goddesses has been well documented. This process, however, was not merely one of absorbing these deities into the Buddhist pantheon to act as guardians of the Dharma. There are other layers of assimilation that perhaps are not so familiar. In Buddhist rituals involving Hindu divinities there is a recurrent theme of the reversal of the roles played by benign and malignant beings in the Hindu epics. In Buddhist rituals of subjugation evil demons are invoked to subjugate the very same gods and goddesses who the epics record as having conquered them. Another characteristic of the Buddhist rituals is the frequent recourse to the rhetoric of armed conflict and violent confrontation in the name of conquering non-Buddhist systems of belief.
These themes are developed by reference to the Sanskrit mantr as and seed syllables used in rituals of subjugation (kōfukuhō) practised in the Shingon School of Japanese Buddhism.
Peter Friedlander - Conflict and Peace in Buddhism.
This paper examines Buddhist involvement in war and the apparent paradox inherent in this if Buddhism is seen as a world renouncing pacifist religion. I will look at Buddhist teachings on the sources of conflict and methods for conflict resolution in Buddhism. However, I will argue that whilst inner peace in the monastic community is to be maintained by acceptance of spiritual authority, in the secular state Buddhism has also always sanctioned the exercise of state power, including violence, or the threat of violence, in order to maintain peace in the world. In order to illustrate this I will explore Indian Buddhist models for the state and the sangha and how as Buddhism spread from India into East Asia the idea of Buddhist support for the state was influenced by its interaction with East Asian notions of kingship. I will conclude by exploring Buddhist involvement in wars in Sri Lanka, China, Korea and Japanese and this relates to contemporary Buddhist Peace Movements.