Prof. Dr. Péter-Daniel Szántó (ELTE University, Budapest)Buddhism for Beginners: Mañjukīrti’s Ādikarmāvatāra

31 January 2024

16:00, 31 January 2024. ESA-Ost, Raum 120 & Zoom

We sometimes tend to lose sight of the fact that the vast majority of Sanskrit Buddhist literature we read with breathless admiration was never studied or used by most South Asian Buddhists, but was the concern of an elite minority. To start my talk I would therefore like to begin with the question: what kind of literature did laypeople access and put into practice? After some reflections on a large arc of literature beginning with Nāgārjuna’s Suhṛllekha and the *Saddharmaparikathā, I shall turn to mediaeval practical manuals aimed at beginners (ādikarmika), focusing on the Ādikarmāvatāra of one Mañjukīrti. I will give an overview of the work, provide some hypotheses on its influence, share some thoughts about its possible role and presumed audience, and present and discuss some passages from my critical edition in progress.

The lecture will be held at ESA-Ost, Raum 120, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, 20146 Hamburg, and via Zoom. For those who wish to participate via Zoom and are not students/members of Universität Hamburg, please write a short email to Prof. Dr. Wangchuk one day before the event: dorji.wangchuk@uni-hamburg.de.

* Prof. Szántó will also be offering readings from the Ādikarmāvatāra on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Jan. 30th – Feb. 1st. Those who wish to join those readings should contact Harunaga Isaacson (harunagaisaacson@gmail.com) for details of time and venue.

Click to download the invitation as a PDF

Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk (Director)
Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship (KC-TBTS)
Abteilung für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets
Asien-Afrika-Institut
Universität Hamburg
Alsterterrasse 1
D-20354 Hamburg