* Please note the different room

Speaker: NORIHISA BABA, Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo

Abstract:

While the Four Āgamas have been often regarded as a part of the Early Buddhist canon, this talk will shed new light on these collections. Comparing Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Pāli Texts, it will suggest that the Four Āgamas include doctrinal formulas parallel not only to the First Four Nikāyas, but also to three groups of later Pāli texts: the Abhidhamma, Post-canonical texts, and Commentaries. These findings show that the Four Āgamas were not closed but open canon, since they share textual sources with the other Buddhist traditions. This new approach is also used to elucidate the formation of one discourse (on Dependent Arising) in the Chinese Ekottarikāgama.Harvard Buddhist Studies Forum co-sponsored by the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies

Speaker Bio:

Norihisa Baba is a Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo. He was a research associate at Drawing College of the University of Cambridge 2006 to 2008 and at Stanford University as a visiting scholar of Ho Center for Buddhist Studies from 2009 to 2010. His research interests include the history and thought of Indian Buddhism and Theravāda Buddhism; the relationship between Sri Lanka and East Asia; and Modern Discourse of Buddhism. His comparative approach uses the Pāli, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese texts. He has published several English language articles and Japanese books including The Formation of Theravāda Buddhist Thought: From the Buddha to Buddhaghosa, and Early Buddhism: Tracing the Buddha’s Thought. He is also the recipient of several academic prizes such as the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies Prize, and the Japan Science Promotion Society Prize.

This talk will be held in person with a Zoom option. As always, there will be refreshments for all to enjoy after the event.

Please RVSP here to attend in person. Please register here to participate on Zoom.

This event is generously co-sponsored by the Committee on the Study of Religion, the Mahindra Humanities Center, and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.