The Saṃmitīya school is one of the less known traditions of Indian Buddhism. Only a few works ascribable to this school are available to scholars in their original Indian languages; therefore, our knowledge of the Saṃmitīyas is mostly an indirect one, filtered by their treatment in the doxographic literature of other Buddhist traditions.<br>
The talk will focus on a newly rediscovered text of the Saṃmitīyas, which allows us to shed more light upon its main doctrinal tenets.<hr>Francesco Sferra studied philosophy and Indology at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” under the guidance of Prof. Raniero Gnoli, Prof. Raffaele Torella and Prof. Corrado Pensa. He was awarded a doctorate in Sanskrit by the same University in 1999.<br>
He holds a permanent appointment for the teaching of Sanskrit Language and Literature at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”.<br>
His main research areas are the tantric traditions in pre-13th century South Asia, especially Vajrayāna Buddhism, Śaivism, and classical Indian philosophy of language.