Table of Contents
- WORKSHOP> Buddhism(s): Traditions; Philosophies; Practices
- NEW BOOK> Buddhist Perspectives on Free Will: Agentless Agency?
- LECTURE> "Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychologist's Office"
- LECTURE> "Rendering Memories and Family History," Kyoto Asian Studies Group
- LECTURE/WORKSHOP> "Robed Warriors" Series at Smith College
- CALL FOR PAPERS> 2017 ASCJ Revised Call for Papers
WORKSHOP> Buddhism(s): Traditions; Philosophies; Practices
by Leesa S Davis
Dear Colleagues,If you are in Melboure Australia (or nearby) the following workshop at Deakin University may be of interest.
All are welcome.
Buddhism(s): Traditions, Philosophies, Practices
This interdisciplinary workshop highlights the numerous dimensions of the Buddhist world by focusing on a range of Buddhist traditions with diverse philosophical orientations and varying interpretations of Buddhist practice. Scholars from the fields of Asian Studies, Anthropology, History, Philosophy, and China Studies will explore these dimensions through examining traditional Buddhist texts and contemporary expressions of Buddhism(s). The workshop schedule will allow ample time for discussion where we can engage with the idea of Buddhism in the plural and explore traditional and contemporary intersections of Buddhist thought and practice.
Speakers: Associate Proffessor Cristina Rocha (WSU); Associate Professor Judith Snodgrass (WSU); Professor John Powers (Deakin); Professor John Makeham (La Trobe); Dr Leesa Davis (Deakin)
Deakin Melbourne Corporate Centre (DMCC)
L3 550 Bourke St Melbourne
Friday October 21, 10:00- 5:00
Event is free and all are welcome.
Please RSVP to Leesa Davis by October 18 with any special dietry requirements for catering purposes:
leesa.davis@deakin.edu.au (with Buddhisms in the subject line)
Leesa S Daivis
Lecturer in Philosophy and Religious Studies
Deakin University, Australia
NEW BOOK> Buddhist Perspectives on Free Will: Agentless Agency?
by Riccardo (Rick) Repetti
I’m happy to announce the recent publication (August 2016) of my edited
collection on Buddhist thought about free will:Buddhist Perspectives on Free will: Agentless Agency? Edited by Rick Repetti (London & NY: Routledge / Taylor & Francis, 2016).
https://www.routledge.com/Buddhist-Perspectives-on-Free-Will-Agentless-Agency/Repetti/p/book/9781138950344
Reviews
‘Repetti brings together a wide range of scholars to consider the notion of free will in Buddhist thought. Is free will a meaningful conjunction of terms in a Buddhist context? What constitutes freedom for a Buddhist? And what (if anything) corresponds to will? This volume tackles these tough questions and moves cross-cultural philosophy another step forward.’
Douglas Duckworth, Temple University, USA
‘This is an outstanding collection on an undertheorized, but fascinating, set of topics: Buddhist accounts of agency, free will, and moral responsibility (among others). The editor's introduction is insightful and helpful, and the authors constitute an all-star lineup in this area. I highly recommend this book.’
John Martin Fischer, University of California,
Riverside, USA
‘Buddhist philosophy and the historical problem of free will have each been
of major philosophical interest for centuries, but until recently they have
been studied separately and by scholars of different traditions. That is changing,
thanks in large part to the work of the contributors in this volume. Rick
Repetti has collected contributions from the world’s leading scholars on
Buddhism and free will. His insightful and engaging introduction sets the stage
beautifully for philosophers and non-philosophers alike. Anyone interested in
Buddhism and free will, either individually or in relation to each other,
should buy this book.’Gregg D. Caruso, SUNY Corning, USA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword by Daniel Cozort
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Preface
Introduction: Introductory Hermeneutical Koan: What Is the Sound of One Buddhist Theory of Free Will?
Rick Repetti
1 Why the Buddha Did Not Discuss ‘the Problem of Free Will and Determinism’
Christopher W. Gowans
2 Why There Should Be a Buddhist Theory of Free Will
Rick Repetti
3 Uses of the Illusion of Agency: Why Some Buddhists Should Believe in Free Will
Charles Goodman
4 Just Another Word for
Nothing Left to Lose: Freedom, Agency and Ethics forMādhyamikas
Jay Garfield
5 Negative Dialectics in Comparative Philosophy: The Case of Buddhist Free Will
Quietism
Owen Flanagan
6 Free Will and the
Sense of SelfGalen Strawson
7 What Am I Doing?
Susan Blackmore
8 Freedom from Responsibility: Agent-Neutral Consequentialism and the Bodhisattva Ideal
Christian Coseru
9 Free Will, Liberation and Buddhist Philosophy
Marie Friquegnon
10 Buddhism and Free Will: Beyond the ‘Free Will Problem’
B. Alan Wallace
11 Degrees of Freedom: The Buddha’s Implied Views on the (Im)possibility of Free Will
Martin T. Adam
12 Buddhist Paleocompatibilism
Mark Siderits
13 Shifting Coalitions, Free Will, and the Responsibility of Persons
Ben Abelson
14 Psychological versus Metaphysical Agents: A Theravāda Buddhist View of Free Will and
Moral Responsibility
Peter Harvey
15 Emotions and Choice: Lessons
from TsongkhapaEmily McRae
16 Grasping Snakes: Reflections on Free Will, Samādhi, and Dharmas
Karin Meyers
17 Agentless Agency: The Soft Compatibilist Argument from Buddhist Meditation, Mind-
Mastery, Evitabilism, and Mental Freedom
Rick Repetti
IndexFor further information, or if you’d like to write a review, please contact the editor, Rick Repetti, at rick.repetti@kbcc.cuny.edu
LECTURE> "Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychologist's Office"
by Wendi Adamek
The Numata Chair in Buddhist Studies
at the University of Calgary is pleased to present a talk by Professor David McMahan
Friday Sept. 30, 3-5pm in SS541
Department of Classics and Religion, University of
Calgary
2500 University Dr. NW
Calgary, AB Canada T2N1N4
"Meditation in Context: From
Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychologist's Office"
Buddhist meditation practices were
invented by ancient Indian ascetics who developed what is probably the world’s
first sophisticated system of psychology. In a circuitous historical and
geographical journey, these practices have wound their way to the West, where
they are now used in therapy, studied in neuroscience labs, and practiced by
urban professionals. Professor McMahan will present a few highlights of this
fascinating history and discuss his take on the role social context plays in
the meanings and uses of meditation in different times and places.
David L. McMahan is the Charles A. Dana Professor
of Religious Studies at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. He
received his Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of California at
Santa Barbara. He is the editor of Buddhism in the Modern World (Routledge
2012) and author of The Making of Buddhist Modernism (Oxford, 2008), Empty
Vision: Metaphor and Visionary Imagery in Mahāyāna Buddhism (Routledge Curzon,
2002), and a number of articles on Mahāyāna Buddhism in South Asia and Buddhism
in the modern world. He has written on Indian Buddhist literature, visual
metaphors and practice, and the early history of the Mahāyāna movement in
India. More recently, his work has focused on the interface of Buddhism and
modernity, including its interactions with science, psychology, modernist
literature, romanticism, and transcendentalism. He is currently researching the
various ways that Buddhist and Buddhist-derived meditation is understood and
practiced in different cultural and historical contexts, ancient and modern.
For more information call:
403-220-5886
To receive event notices,
send an email to numatach@ucalgary.ca
LECTURE> "Rendering Memories and Family History," Kyoto Asian Studies Group
by Niels Van Steenpaal
Dear colleagues,The speaker for the October meeting of the Kyoto Asian Studies Group is Yen-Yi Chan, who will present “Rendering Memories and Family History: The Kōfukuji Nanendō and Its Buddhist Icons from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century” (see abstract below). The lecture will be held on Tuesday, October 11th from 18:30-20:00 in Room 212 of the Fusokan on the Doshisha University Campus (see link below for access information).
Abstract
Rendering Memories and Family History: The Kōfukuji Nanendō and Its Buddhist Icons from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century
Standing in the southwest of Kōfukuji temple in Nara, the Nanendō (South Octagonal Hall) began its history in 813 as a memorial for the Northern Fujiwara clan, but gradually turned into a sacred place and a pilgrimage site. While fruitful and diverse, the studies on the Nanendō and its images have tended to position them within a short timespan and view them from the Buddhist notion of salvation. Aiming to unravel the transitory character of the Nanendō, and its interaction with family memories, this talk examines the process in which the hall went from a space for mourning to a miraculous site for generating success, and the socio-political implications behind this changing/changed character and function. In the first part of the presentation, through the use of temple records, travel accounts, and related images, I examine the hall’s founding history, how it came into being, how its architecture and images marked it as a Buddhist memorial, and what the building meant for the living and dead. In the second part of the presentation, I analyze the transformation of the hall as a miraculous site beginning after the mid-eleventh century through the relevant setsuwa tales and the religious practice of replication in the Kōfukuji-Fujiwara community. I argue that in addition to fulfilling the filial piety and satisfying the need for postmortem salvation, the Nanendō functioned as a site of collective memories that engaged in the complex mechanism of remembering, forgetting, and family history (re)formation.
Yen-Yi Chan is a Ph.D. Candidate in Art History at the University of Kansas.
Sponsored by the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies. For access information see:
http://www.doshisha.ac.jp/en/information/campus/imadegawa/imadegawa.html
Please refrain from bringing food or drinks into the meeting room.
Contact: Niels van Steenpaal, nielsvansteenpaal@hotmail.com
LECTURE/WORKSHOP> "Robed Warriors" Series at Smith College
by Jamie Hubbard
Smith College is pleased to
announce the Robed Warriors program,
a series of lectures, workshops, and practicum that brings to the Five Colleges
four prominent Buddhist monastic women whose work has transformed contemporary
Buddhist practice and the world beyond. This year-long series of visiting
scholars comprises five public talks, several class visits, a student seminar,
a faculty seminar and a Smith College short-term Kahn Institute program. Each
visiting scholar will be in residence for one to two weeks, with Smith College
as the home base.
These visiting
scholars will explore topics ranging from the impact of Buddhist monastics on
health care and hospice services, the design of charitable NGOs, cognitive
science, values education and feminism to the envisioning of religious life.
Students and scholars in
the cognitive and medical sciences, in anthropology, sociology, religious
studies, gender studies, South and East Asian Studies and philosophy will find
these events of interest. More broadly, the public lectures will appeal to
anyone interested in large questions about the role of religion in world
culture and the ways in which attitudes and practices that impact our lives can
grow out of unlikely sources. More information, schedules of events, etc.
can be found at https://www.smith.edu/buddhism/robedwarriors_scholars.php.
CALL FOR PAPERS> 2017 ASCJ Revised Call for Papers
by Alexander Vesey
This replaces an earlier posting made to H-Announcments regarding the 2017
ASCJ conference in Tokyo.**** ASCJ 2017 REVISED CALL FOR PAPERS, CONFIRMING DATE OF CONFERENCE AND SETTING LATER DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS ****
Revised Call for Papers
2017 Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ)
Rikkyo University, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan
Date: Saturday and Sunday, July 8-9 2017
Submission Deadline: October 27, 2016
The ASCJ Executive Committee apologizes for the delay in finalizing the date of the 2017 Tokyo conference. We have now completed negotiations with our host university. The conference is now set for July 8 and 9 next year, and we are happy to announce that we are now accepting panel, individual paper, and roundtable proposals for the conference. Set in one of the leading capitals of East Asia, the conference provides a stimulating environment for intellectual exchange on a wide range of topics and themes pertaining to Asian studies. In 2016, ASCJ celebrated its 20th anniversary with forty-seven sessions in all fields of social sciences relating to Asia, and it will continue this interdisciplinary tradition with its 2017 conference at Rikkyo University.
Directions for proposal submissions:
www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~ascj/forms/ASCJ%20Call%202017.html
Please submit questions to ascj20XX@gmail.com
The main ASCJ site has additional information on early bird registration and past conferences: www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~ascj/
