2011-07-12 Dr. Giuliana Martini: “The bodhisattva path in the early Buddhism of Khotan”

12 July 2011

After a brief overview of the history, problems and potential of Khotanese Buddhist Studies as  an  academic  field,  Dr.  Martini  will  offer  a  closer  look  at  some  Khotanese  “texts  and contexts”. In particular, she will attempt a religio-historical reconstruction of the dynamics of the  early  Mahāyāna  transmission  to  Khotan,  focusing  on  the  local  building  of  a  polemical doxography  of  the  Buddhist  vehicles  (yāna),  which  was  apparently  directly  aimed  at supporting and promoting the bodhisattva’s path, vows and rituals.

She will further explore the  ritual  and  ideological  aspects  of  a  selection  of  significant  passages  (in  the  light  of  their Indian sources and Chinese parallels) found in the Book of Zambasta—possibly the earliest extant  Khotanese  text,  dating  from  ca.  the  mid-fifth  century—and  suggest  (a)  how  the polemical discourse is complementary to the presence of a Khotanese parallel to the chapter on  ethics  (śīlapaṭala)  of  the  Bodhisattvabhūmi,  which  is  included  in  the  same  Book  of Zambasta  as  its  twelfth  chapter,  and  (b)  how  to  some  extent  such  a  polemical  discourse becomes, for the Khotanese bodhisattva, foundational to the very setting out on the Mahāyāna path.

Giuliana Martini studied Indology, Tibetology and Indo-Iranian philology at the University of Naples, where she obtained her Ph.D. in 2010 with a dissertation on doctrinal and religio-historical aspects of the Khotanese Book of Zambasta. Her main research interests are early Buddhist āgamas and the Mahāyāna transmission in Khotan in the fifth and sixth centuries.

July 12th, 2011 - 18:00h
Universität Hamburg,
Asien-Afrika-Institut (Flügel Ost), Raum 221