To Abhinavagupta, beauty (saundarya) is not a property of the thing, accessible to everyone’s experience indiscriminately, nor is it a hidden, undefinable quality of the thing itself requiring from the perceiving subject a special kind of insight which only a happy few can possess. Rather, beauty is a special way of approaching reality that alone “creates” beauty in the object. Thus, only our spiritual refinement is responsible for the emergence of beauty, and in turn the beauty-based experience – i.e. aesthetic experience (rasa, etc.) – nourishes our spiritual refinement, helping us to escape from saṃsāra.
Beauty
15.03.2019 15:15 - 16:45
Organiser:
Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde
Location:
Seminarraum 1, Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde, AAKH, Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2.7, 1090 Wien