[EAsiaUVa] [Fwd: Speaker, April 2nd, 2008]

[East Asia Center]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Speaker, April 2nd, 2008
Date: 	Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:14:46 -0400
From: 	John William Nemec <jwn3y@cms.mail.virginia.edu>
To: 	East Asia Center <eastasiacenter@virginia.edu>
References: 	<47F0F6E0.9080500@virginia.edu>



Would you kindly forward the following to East Asia Center list members?
Thank you.

****
Ronald Davidson Speaks on Buddhist Tantra (April 2, 2008)

April 2 2008, Wednesday, 4pm (Byrd Seminar Room 318 in the Small Special 
Collections Library)

Sponsors: Tibet Center, Center for South Asian Studies, Department of 
Religious Studies.

Ronald Davidson of Fairfield University will present

"Dharani scriptures, Buddhosnia and the Beginnings of Tantric Buddhism."

This talk concerns the earliest Buddhist tantric system as found in the 
Chinese documents of the seventh-eighth century and surviving Sanskrit 
fragments. Seventh to early eight century documents reveal the earliest 
tantric system to grow out of the late Mahayanist Dharani literature, but 
distinct from it. It is framed in a thorough-going narrative of Buddhism 
under siege, hardly surprising given the political events in seventh century 
India. The system is formed around the U????a of the Buddha as the magical 
source for the Buddha's power and authority to defeat the dreaded t?rthikas. 
Dh?ra?? scriptures continue to be composed even after the development of 
full-blown tantric materials and the latest Dh?ra?? -sutra was a 790 CE work 
entitled Protecting the Country's Ruler Dh?ra?? Scripture.
****
__________________________________
John Nemec, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Indian Religions and South Asian Studies
Dept. of Religious Studies
University of Virginia
120 Halsey Hall
Charlottesville, VA 22911 (USA)
nemec@virginia.edu
+1-434-924-6716


-- 
Graham Odell
Graduate Assistant
East Asia Center
New Cabell Hall B031
PO Box 400781
(434) 924-7836
EASTASIACENTER@virginia.edu

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