1) The Vimalakīrtinirdeśasūtra in China and Japan
Dienstag, 4.12., 10:00-11:30, SR 4 TB
The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa was translated three times into Chinese (3rd c., 5th c., 7th c.). We will discuss these versions of the text as examples of the history of Buddhist scriptural translation in China, and the value of Chinese witnesses to such texts in the study of textual history. We will also touch upon the reception of the text in China and Japan, where it was the topic of relatively numerous commentaries; furnished a basis for vernacular narrative and homiletic literature; and has been connected by both traditional and modern commentators with supposedly typical and distinctive features of Chinese and East Asian Buddhism.
Diese Lehrveranstaltung ist Teil der UE von Michael Torsten Wieser-Much: „Das Vimalakīrtinirdeśasūtra im Tibetischen — ausgewählte Stellen“, BA Modul 8b.
2) Reading Chinese Buddhist Texts – Challenges and Pitfalls
Di, 4.12., 13:30-15:00, SR 3 SAK
Even for students or scholars already conversant with the classical Chinese language as it is used in other genres, and with the methods and tools of Sinology and Chinese philology, Buddhist texts present various special challenges and potential pitfalls, as do our reference tools for their study. This class will comprise a simple introduction to some of the considerations we face in reading such texts. The presentation will be associated (somewhat loosely and whimsically) with the general theme of this course by using the Chinese character 茶 chá as our example.
Diese Lehrveranstaltung ist Teil der UE von Patrick Suchy: „Einführung in das klassische Chinesisch“, MATB Modul 3b.
3) The Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā in China
Do, 6.12., 13:00-14:30, SR 2 TB
The Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā was translated three times into Chinese (3rd c., 6th c., 10th–11th c.). We will discuss these versions of the text as examples of the history of Buddhist scriptural translation in China, and the value of Chinese witnesses to such texts in the study of textual history. We will focus particularly on the earliest version of the text, translated by Dharmarakṣa 竺法護 (fl. ca. 265–308) in the year 270, a version which modern Buddhology, at least in the West, took some time to correctly recognise as a version of the Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā. Through this example, we will touch upon some larger issues in the study of textual history in relation to Chinese Buddhist translation literature.
Diese Lehrveranstaltung ist Teil des Seminars von Klaus-Dieter Mathes: „D KFBTS Übersetzungsprojekt Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā (‚Die Frage von Rāṣṭrapāla‘)“, MATB Modul 7.
Alle interessierten Studierenden und Mitarbeiter sind zu diesen drei Lehrveranstaltungen herzlich willkommen. Wir empfehlen, LV 1) und 3) gemeinsam zu besuchen. Literaturhinweise und Unterlagen sind über die regulären Lehrveranstaltungsleiter erhältlich.