Out of the Slough: The Positive Side of Candrakīrti's Epistemology
Out of the Slough: The Positive Side of Candrakīrti's Epistemology
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10 October 2024, 7.00pm - 8.30 pm
Classroom 22 (Cendana), Yale-NUS College
Stories change in the retelling, and their meaning shifts accordingly. I want to explore such changes in retelling and meaning as they arise in the enigmatic 10th Century Javanese Buddhist monument, Borobudur. The first gallery of its elaborately carved reliefs features two narrative layers running in parallel: on top, a retelling in stone of the Lalitavistara—narrating a Mahāyāna version of Śākyamuni’s awakening; below this, selected tales found also in the Divyāvadāna. Focusing on the Lalitavistara, I want to first examine how the story changes in focus or meaning when it is retold visually and in stone, in this particular context. I will then explore how themes are magnified, sharpened or thrown into relief at selected points by the juxtaposition of representations of avadānas directly beneath.
Jay L. Garfield directs the Buddhist Studies Program and Tibetan Studies in India program at Smith College. He is also visiting professor of Buddhist philosophy at Harvard Divinity School, Professor of Philosophy at Melbourne University, and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. Academicinfluence.com has identified him as one of the 50 most influential philosophers in the world over the past decade.
Garfield’s research addresses topics in the foundations of cognitive science and the philosophy of mind; metaphysics; the history of modern Indian philosophy; topics in ethics, epistemology and the philosophy of logic; the philosophy of the Scottish enlightenment methodology in cross-cultural interpretation; and topics in Buddhist philosophy, particularly Indo-Tibetan Madhyamaka and Yogācāra. He is the author or editor of over 30 books and over 200 articles, chapters, and reviews.
Note that this speaker will be joining us virtually.
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