Hindu theology, and particularly Vedānta, is grounded in the reading of sacred texts and has been largely developed in commentaries on those texts. This Sanskrit reading class will explore the way Vaiṣṇava Vedānta develops its theology through a careful reading of the Upaniṣads. We will read the commentary on the Īśā Upaniṣad by Vedānta Deśika (1269–1370), the most prominent Viśiṣṭādvaita theologian after Rāmānuja, paying particular attention to the way he formulates his theology and develops his hermeneutics. This reading class aims to introduce students with an intermediate knowledge of Sanskrit to the style and reasoning of Sanskrit commentaries as well as the fundamentals of Vaiṣṇava Vedānta.
Archives: Lectures
Graduate Seminars (Session One) (HT 14)
Mortality and Immortality in the Kaṭhopaniṣad
Thabiso Bustraan, Wolfson College, Oxford
My paper on the Katha Upanishad is a representation of philosophical discourse in which what can be called the four main/dominant ways of conceiving and reaching immortality are compared and contrasted to each other. Being one of the Upanishads it is hardly surprising that moksa ultimately triumphs over the rest yet still the seeming fairness in which they are compared and the reasons for leaving the others by the wayside are interesting regardless.
What is especially interesting is that while the first three of ‘putras’, ‘ayus’ and ‘svarga’ do follow each other in a logical progression and are interwoven the fourth option of moksa is a total break with all of these and turns them all on their head (which is actually a literal quote in the upanishad).
Apart from this I have also given some thought to the narrative style in which the text is written, something which could provide some speculative insights into the use and purpose of the text in ancient, daily life interactions involving flesh-and-blood human beings.
The Buddhist self as it appears in the Mahāyāna Mahābherī Sūtra
Chris Jones, Wolfson College, Oxford
My doctoral research concerns the Indian Buddhist tathāgatagarbha (‘Buddha embryo’) literature, from around the C3rd-5th, which presents sentient beings in saṃsāra as possessing an essential nature which is identical to that of a Buddha (the so-called buddha-dhātu). In the course of affirming this nature, several texts praising the tathāgatagarbha doctrine choose to designate it as ātman, i.e. a self, in apparent opposition to the well-attested doctrine of anātman that informs the vast majority of Buddhist sources.
One such tathāgatagarbha text is the Mahābherī (‘great drum’) Sūtra, which appears to have had little influence on later Buddhist literature, and has received very little scholarly attention. The text is very clear in affirming the existence of something that could be called a self, and presents a unique account of why such an entity is required in order not only for beings to attain awakening, but also, it seems, to make sense of transmigration in saṃsāra.
No Sanskrit text survives, and as such I am working on Chinese and Tibetan translations of the sūtra, and am concerned mostly with what we can learn of the Indian recensions of the text from these. In my presentation I shall discuss key passages of the text concerned with its account of the self (with reference to its place in the wider tathāgatagarbha corpus), and how this text holds its doctrine is to be reconciled with other expressions of the dharma.
Hindu Approaches to the Divine – Four Theories (HT 14)
Drawing on Clifford Geertz’s understanding of religion as a ‘worldview’, the seminar series explore key themes in Hinduism and looks at the way in which crucial conceptual ‘translations’ are needed to understand Hindu culture properly from without, and asks whether it is possible to derive critical and hermeneutic ‘theory’ in religious studies from Indic material. One of the goals will be to challenge the hegemony of Western-derived ‘theories’ of religion, culture, and human nature.
Elementary Sanskrit: Week Two (HT 14)
The course continues an introduction to Sanskrit for the preliminary paper in Elementary Sanskrit. The class is designed to introduce students of Theology and Religion to the basics of the Sanskrit grammar, syntax and vocabulary. By the end of the course students will have competency in translating simple Sanskrit and reading sections of the story of Nala. The course book is Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language.
Readings in Phenomenology and Religion (Session Two) (HT 14)
Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century that has had a deep impact on Theology and Religious Studies. This reading group seeks to engage with developments in Phenomenology as they pertain to theology and religion. It is a continuation of the reading project begun several years ago. The overall concern is a reconceptualisation of phenomenology in the wake of both deconstruction and cognitivsm. This reconceptualisation has been inspired partly by the publication of the English translation of Heidegger’s Phenomenology of the Religious Life a few years ago, which reflected the philosopher’s earlier views. A second inspiration is the imperative for the academy to engage with other civilizations and the apparent proximity of some Indian philosophical thinking to Phenomenology. The overall theme of this reading group will be human practices. The particular texts that we read are fluid but we will begin with Peter Sloterdijk’s Your Must Change Your Life (Du musst dein Leben ändern) (2009).
Readings in the Netra Tantra (Session Two) (HT 14)
The Netra Tantra is an important early medieval Śaiva text. We will read and discuss sections of the text based on the two manuscripts in the NGMPP Library and compare these with the published KSTS edition. Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning.
Hinduism 2: Hindu Traditions (Paper 21): Week Two (HT 14)
Beginning with the early medieval period, this paper traces the development of Hinduism in devotional (bhakti) and tantric traditions. The paper examines the development of Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava traditions along with ideas about liberation, ritual, asceticism, yoga and devotion. There will be some exploration of Hinduism and Modernity and there may also be reference to major schools of Hindu philosophy such as Vedānta.
An Introduction to Vedantic Hermeneutics: Vedānta Deśika’s commentary on the Īśā Upaniṣad (Session Two) (HT 14)
Hindu theology, and particularly Vedānta, is grounded in the reading of sacred texts and has been largely developed in commentaries on those texts. This Sanskrit reading class will explore the way Vaiṣṇava Vedānta develops its theology through a careful reading of the Upaniṣads. We will read the commentary on the Īśā Upaniṣad by Vedānta Deśika (1269–1370), the most prominent Viśiṣṭādvaita theologian after Rāmānuja, paying particular attention to the way he formulates his theology and develops his hermeneutics. This reading class aims to introduce students with an intermediate knowledge of Sanskrit to the style and reasoning of Sanskrit commentaries as well as the fundamentals of Vaiṣṇava Vedānta.
Elementary Sanskrit: Week One (HT 14)
The course continues an introduction to Sanskrit for the preliminary paper in Elementary Sanskrit. The class is designed to introduce students of Theology and Religion to the basics of the Sanskrit grammar, syntax and vocabulary. By the end of the course students will have competency in translating simple Sanskrit and reading sections of the story of Nala. The course book is Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language.
Readings in Phenomenology and Religion (Session One) (HT 14)
Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century that has had a deep impact on Theology and Religious Studies. This reading group seeks to engage with developments in Phenomenology as they pertain to theology and religion. It is a continuation of the reading project begun several years ago. The overall concern is a reconceptualisation of phenomenology in the wake of both deconstruction and cognitivsm. This reconceptualisation has been inspired partly by the publication of the English translation of Heidegger’s Phenomenology of the Religious Life a few years ago, which reflected the philosopher’s earlier views. A second inspiration is the imperative for the academy to engage with other civilizations and the apparent proximity of some Indian philosophical thinking to Phenomenology. The overall theme of this reading group will be human practices. The particular texts that we read are fluid but we will begin with Peter Sloterdijk’s Your Must Change Your Life (Du musst dein Leben ändern) (2009).