Temples to the Buddha and the Gods

Lecture on Buddhist Art & Architecture in Sri Lanka

Keynote Speaker: Dr Sujatha Meegama                   

Respondent: Dr Elizabeth Harris

On behalf of the British Mahabodhi Society / London Buddhist Vihara

Sri Lanka’s diverse and interwoven cultural heritage has led to religious art being shared by followers of Buddhism and Hinduism over millennia. Archaeological remains, inscriptions, poetry and literature provide evidence of common architectural forms, rituals and patronage that existed over centuries amongst the island’s different communities as well as in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

Dr Sujatha Meegama from the Courtauld Institute of Art will talk on her recently published book, Temples to the Buddha and the Gods: Transnational Drāviḍa Tradition of Architecture in Sri Lanka, which explores the legacy of religious art and architecure on the island. We are also delighted that Dr Elizabeth Harris (President, UK Association of Buddhist Studies) will respond to Dr Meegama’s talk and lead an audience Q&A session.

To join Dr Sujatha Meegama’s talk and discussion in-person at London Buddhist Vihara, kindly register here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dr-sujatha-meegama-temples-to-the-buddha-the-gods-tickets-1329102664849?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you prefer to join online please click on the link below to receive the Zoom link via email:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/LjcYU4Z0Q2WIkNkXsi_Rdg

ALL WELCOME

With Metta,

British MahaBodhi Society

London Buddhist Vihara

Dharmapala Building

The Avenue

London W4 1UD

United Kingdom

PUBLICATION >

Buddhist Studies Review

Vol. 41 No. 1-2 (2024): Special Edition: Literary Buddhas: From Magadha to Mexico

Edited by Christopher V. Jones and Naomi Appleton

Now available: https://journal.equinoxpub.com/BSR/issue/view/2720

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This meeting of the Sacred Traditions & the Arts seminar will explore the intersection between poetry and politics in representations of Buddhist and Hindu traditions.

7 Oct 2024

18:00 – 19:30

Free, booking essential

Vernon Square Campus, Lecture Theatre 2

This event takes place at our Vernon Square campus (WC1X 9EW).

Series: Sacred Traditions and the Arts

Poetry and Politics in Buddhist and Hindu Visions of Self and Other – The Courtauld

Dr Sujatha Meegama (The Courtauld) will speak on ‘Envisioning Kingship in Early Modern Sri Lanka’:

With the violent destruction of temples—both Buddhist and Hindu—during Sri Lanka’s first encounter with a European colonial power, little remains of monuments, sculptures, and paintings from sixteenth century Sri Lanka. To understand the visual culture from this tumultuous time, one must turn to the gifts produced for Portuguese patrons. These ivories provide rare glimpses into the courtly and religious traditions of Sri Lankan royalty—portrayed as bodhisattva-like kings seated at court, these rare depictions illustrate an aspect of sixteenth-century kingship that has not yet been examined at length before. This paper locates these ivory carvings within traditions of visualising the historical Buddha on a throne surrounded by a retinue of guardian figures, while placing poetic descriptions of kings in dialogue with ivory carvings to further understand how kingship was envisioned in sixteenth-century Sri Lanka. Such visual and textual comparisons suggest the significance of the divinity of kings, invoking both Buddhist and Hindu traditions.

Dr Ankur Barua (Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge) will speak on ‘The Lure of Love: Engendering Longing for Krishna’:

Central to many forms of Hindu devotional love (bhakti) is the paradox that God is the “intimate stranger”: God remains interwoven with the sinews of the human heart, but because we are estranged from God we are unable to discern God’s subtle presence. The (seeming) absence of God becomes a moment of unbearable anguish, yet this very absence can become a site of cultivating God-centredness. Over the last millennium, this leitmotif has been vividly expressed in numerous styles of literature, architecture, and the performative arts – and, occasionally, Bollywood film songs. I will explore it in the symbolic poetry of Śrīmanta Śaṅkardeva (Assamese: 1449–1568) and Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali: 1861–1941). By singing two of their songs, I will invite the audience to “savour” a distinctive style of Hindu theological inquiry that is articulated through the sentiments of despair, deference, and delight.

Following this pair of papers and discussion between the speakers, there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. Refreshments will be provided.

Organised by Dr Caroline Levitt (The Courtauld) and Professor Ben Quash (KCL), as part of the seminar on Sacred Traditions and the Arts, a joint venture between the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s and The Courtauld. It seeks to place researchers in dialogue who are working on any aspect of the sacred and visual culture. It is open to all scholars and students who have an interest in exploring the intersections of religion and art regardless of period, geography or tradition.Book tickets

Speakers

Dr Ankur Barua (Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge) works on Vedāntic Hindu philosophical theology and Indo-Islamic styles of sociality. He researches the conceptual constellations and the social structures of the Hindu traditions, both in premodern contexts in South Asia and in colonial milieus where multiple ideas of Hindu identity were configured along transnational circuits between India, Britain, Europe, and USA. An integral dimension of Ankur’s research is the comparative philosophy of religion. He studies the theological and the socio-political aspects of Hindu–Christian engagements. In recent years, his research focus has moved to an exploration of the intersections between the idioms of bhakti, yoga, tawḥīd, and taṣawwuf on the multiply-stratified postcolonial landscapes of South Asia.

Dr Sujatha Meegama (The Courtauld) received her MA in Japanese studies from Stanford University and her doctorate in South Asian art and architecture from UC Berkeley. She is the editor of Sri Lanka: Connected Art Histories (Marg, 2017) and has published journal articles in Artibus Asiae and Archives of Asian Art. She has a forthcoming book from University of Hawai’i Press on patronage of Buddhist and Hindu temples in Sri Lanka. Her current research interests range from informal shrines in modern-day Singapore to Sri Lankan ivories made for the consumption of Portuguese, Dutch, British, and Sri Lanka Buddhist patrons

Zoom lecture: Meeting Registration – Zoom

13 April 2024 03:00 PM

In her recent book, ‘I Hear Her Words: An Introduction to Women in Buddhism’, Prof Collett asks for a change in the way we understand the phrase ‘women in Buddhism’. She shows that increasing knowledge of the historical sources has made it possible to build a coherent picture based on real lives of historical characters and today’s Buddhist women.

Professor Alice Collett (University of St Andrews) specialises in ancient Indian religions, with a focus on women in Buddhism, an area on which she has published extensively.

The British MahaBodhi Society is delighted Prof Alice Collett will discuss and answer questions on the role and impact of women in Buddhism, describing their achievements and struggles from the past to the present.

Speakers: Naomi Collick and Dr Nick Swann

To book: Redisplaying the Buddhist Collection at Chiddingstone Castle – The Courtauld

Chiddingstone Castle is a historic house and accredited museum in Kent, which holds the collections of the last private owner, Denys Eyre Bower (1905 – 1977). Bower had a personal interest in Buddhism, and it was a key part of his identity. His understanding, display, and interpretation of the collection was informed by attitudes towards Buddhism in the West of the early 20th century. In Bower’s ‘Buddhist Room’, the original context and sacred significance of the objects was secondary to their aesthetic qualities, and their new meaning as the curiosities of a collector.

In 2018, the opportunity arose to redisplay the Buddhist collection and to reconsider how it is interpreted. The current display is the result of consultation, collaboration, and research over the past six years. The displays have been developed with the support and insight of members of the Buddhist and Tibetan communities in the UK, and specialists in Buddhism and Buddhist art. This work has supported the castle’s ongoing aim of decolonising the collection and uncovering new stories, perspectives, and meanings behind the objects.

Naomi Collick has worked as the Curator at Chiddingstone Castle in Kent since 2018. The castle is a historic house and museum which holds the Buddhist, Japanese, Stuart and Jacobite, and Ancient Egyptian collections of the last private owner. She is a graduate of Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford and the History of Art and Archaeology of East Asia at SOAS. Her interests are Japanese art from the Edo and Meiji periods, and the display of Buddhist art in museums.

Dr Nick Swann is Senior Lecturer in Buddhist Studies at University of South Wales. His research interests include decoloniality in education, as well as the use of games and innovation in learning Buddhist languages. He is currently Secretary of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies.

This event is organised by Lori Wong (Senior Lecturer in Conservation) and Dr Sujatha Meegama (Senior Lecturer in Art History) as part of The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Art and Conservation at The Courtauld.

Call for papers

20 April 2024 (9:00am-5:00pm) 

The University of Oxford China Centre, Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6LU 

The University of Oxford and Yin-Cheng Buddhist Studies Network are pleased to announce a one-day conference on Buddhism and Food Ethics to be held on Saturday 20^th April 2024 at the University of Oxford China Centre. 

Food Ethics lie at the heart of many aspects of Buddhist practice. Traditionally consideration and debate concerning food ethics were played out in relation to the nature of Buddhist renunciation and identity, almsgiving (dāna) and merit making, serving of seniors, ancestors, deities and Buddhas, and so forth. In recent decades, food ethics has been transformed by concerns about climate change, the plastic catastrophe, waste management, modern-day slavery, endangered species, animal welfare, agri-business, the health impact of food and food security.  

Papers are welcome on any aspect of Buddhism and Food Ethics, historical or modern. Please submit your 300-word proposal to [email protected] by 6pm on 1 March 2024. 

All associated costs, including accommodation and meals during the conference, will be covered by the conference organizers. Depending on the funds available, travel expenses may also be partially or fully covered. The anticipated time slot for each paper is 20 minutes. Selected conference papers will be published in the Yin-Cheng Journal of Contemporary Buddhism.  

The conference is kindly funded by the Yin-Cheng Network for Buddhist Studies. 

Date: Wednesday 13^th December

Time: 19:30-20:30 PM

Location: on Zoom

Description: Dr. Caroline Starkey, Associate Professor of Religion and Society and Director of Liberal Arts in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science at the University of Leeds joins us online for a fascinating talk based on her work studying Buddhists in Britain. Caroline writes, ‘The aim of this talk is to provide a brief historical overview of Buddhism’s connection to Britain, detail its contemporary trajectories, and give particular focus to burgeoning areas of study and reflection of interest to Buddhist practitioners and academics alike, including gender, social class, secular mindfulness, and Covid. Whilst Buddhism in Britain has grown and diversified since the 1960s, it still does not receive the kind of academic attention it deserves, and the aim of this talk is to encourage a revitalisation in the study of Buddhism on British shores. Through the talk, I weave together a discussion of what it is like being a Buddhist in Britain, whilst also studying Buddhists in Britain, and the opportunities and tensions inherent within occupying this particular position.’ Caroline’s talk will be followed by a live Q&A session. You don’t want to miss this!

How to register: please register for the online event using this link – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIldO2tqzkrGteNqF7Blaxue7mmln6Dl0mg. once you have registered you should receive the Zoom log-in details. If you do not receive the log-in details within 24 hours of registering, please send me an email and I will help you with that. 

Note: UKABS, NBOs, BMBS and CfAB are hosting a follow-up Being Buddhist in Britain meeting online on Wednesday 13^th December from 7:30-8:30pm!
As those of you who attended last month’s event will know, due to the adverse weather conditions that the UK was experiencing on that weekend and the resulting disruptions to transport services, the key speaker, Dr. Caroline Starkey, was unfortunately unable to make the event. We tried to arrange for her to dial in over Zoom on the day, however, that didn’t work out either. 

ON BEHALF OF CHARLES PREBISH

As some of you may know, in 1993 and 1995 I did two surveys of Buddhist Studies as an academic discipline. Most of the results of these surveys were published in my 1999 book Luminous Passage. A little more than a decade later (in 2006) I did a follow-up survey. This survey was significantly larger than the previous surveys, and yielded a wonderful response rate of more than 80%. The results were published in the JIABS (30, 1-2), and presented at the 2008 meeting of the IABS in Atlanta.

We have also benefited from José Cabezón’s brilliant Presidential Address at the 2020 American Academy of Religion annual meeting, published in the September 2021 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

However, despite the immense growth and changes in Buddhist Studies in the intervening years from 2006 until now, no additional surveys of individual Buddhist Studies scholars have appeared in more than 15 years. I would very much like to remedy that situation. As such, I am requesting that any and all Buddhist Studies scholars take just a few moments from their busy schedules, and email me ([email protected]) a copy of their curriculum vitae (formatted in either Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat). I will then collate and tally the results of this data, and make the results available online. Be assured that complete anonymity will be maintained throughout the project, and no individuals will be identified by name.

We will then be able to see where our colleagues earned their doctorate, where they teach, what is their rank, what languages they know, what professional societies they belong to, where they publish their books and articles, where they present papers, what are their areas of Buddhist Studies specialization, what grants and awards have they received, where have they held editorial positions, how they use the internet, and so forth.

Obviously, Buddhist Studies as an academic discipline has been profoundly influenced, and advanced, by the explosive growth of technology. It has also expanded to provide a truly comprehensive approach to the study of all aspects of the Buddhist tradition worldwide.

I am hoping this new survey will greatly enhance our understanding of the academic study of Buddhism, and all you have to do to assist that advance is email me your curriculum vitae. I hope you’ll join your colleagues in this effort.

Finally, because I have been retired for more than a decade, I may not be completely up to date on the newest Buddhist Studies scholars. If you know of anyone who is relatively new to Buddhist Studies, please send their name and email address along to me so that I can be sure that they too are invited to participate in this survey.

With Best Wishes.

Charles Prebish

Professor Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University

Charles Redd Endowed Chair Emeritus, Utah State University

[email protected]

Crossing the Boundaries of the Pali Canon: An Analysis of Future Bodhisattas in Theravada Tradition Ven. Medagampitiye Wijithadhamma

The next Buddhist Forum event of the SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies is scheduled this Friday 19 May, 5-7pm; it will take place in the SOAS Main Building, room 4426 (4^th floor). The lecture is free, and no registration is needed.
Our speaker will be Ven. Medagampitiye Wijithadhamma, professor in the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.

Buddhist Forum 202319 May 2023, 5:00-7:00 PMSOAS, Main Building Room: 4426 (In-person only)

Abstract

A bodhisatta is an individual one who seeks awakening. In Pali Buddhism, bodhisatta refers to someone who has decided to become a Buddha and has also received a prediction from a living Buddha that this will be so. In the Pāli Nikāyas of the Theravāda tradition, the term bodhisatta is used mainly by the Buddha Gautama to refer to his pre-awakening experiences.

The Pali Canon only mentions one future Buddha, Metteyya. But the Dasabodhisattuppattikathā (DBK) mentions ten future Buddhas and their Bodhisatta lives. The DBK is a Pali text where the most important paramitās perfected by the ten future Buddhas in their bodhisatta lives are described. This also is the only example of a book written in Pali devoted entirely to extolling the bodhisattas who will be Buddhas in future. The Wheel-turning King Saṁkha, Nārada, King Pasenadi Kosola, Abhibhū deity, Asura King Dīghasoṇa, Caṁkī brahmin, Subha brahmin, Todeyya brahmin and two elephants Dhanapālaka and Pāraleyyaka are the ten future bodhisattas. They will be Buddhas by the names of Metteyya, Rāma, Dhammarāja, Dhammassāmi, Nārada, Raṃsimuni, Devadeva, Narasīha, Tissa and Sumaṅgala respectively.

Ancient Sri Lankan artists have transformed this literary description in temple paintings. My research has explored such paintings through random samples, based on the ‘Protected Monument List’ published by the Department of Archaeology, Sri Lanka. I have selected 21 places covering 11 districts in Sri Lanka. Each place was visited and photographed and then carefully analyzed. Paintings in Pusulpitiya Rajamaha Viharaya of Kotmale, Potgul Viharaya of Hanguranketa, Kasagala Rajamaha Viharaya at Kumbukgate, Tam Pita Viharaya of Digampitiya, Sneviratnarama Tempita Viharaya at Dodanthale and Bomalu Tempita Viharaya at Udatalawinna were discovered during this research. The paintings of the ten bodhisatvas in these temples exhibit several special features, which I shall discuss in the lecture.

Ven. Medagampitiye Wijithadhamma is professor in the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. He received his Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Pali from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 2009. He is the author of Dasabodhisattuppattikathā-aṭṭhakathā, which explored the concept of future bodhisattas and Buddhas. His current research explores Sinhalese manuscripts in the British Library and the SOAS library. He is a visiting scholar at the Centre of Buddhist Studies at SOAS.The Buddhist Forum series is supported by the generosity of the Khyentse Foundation.