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Table of Contents

1. CONFERENCE> Vinaya Revival in 20th Century China and Taiwan
2. SYMPOSIUM> Ratnākara Readings 2018 (International PhD Programme in Buddhist Studies, Mahidol University)
3. JOB> Lecturer in Tibetan, University of Heidelberg
4. LECTURE> Prof. emer. Dr. M. Nasim Khan (Peshawar Univ.) at IRIAB, Soka University (2017-12-16)
5. CALL FOR CHAPTERS> The Anthropological Study of Religious- and Religion-Themed Mobile Apps
6. POSITION> Instructor, Carleton-Antioch Buddhist Studies in India 2018

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CONFERENCE> Vinaya Revival in 20th Century China and Taiwan

by Pei-Ying Lin

Dear colleagues, 

We are excited to announce a conference on the Chinese Buddhist Vinaya funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange and organized by the Religious Studies Department, Fu Jen Catholic University (Taiwan) in collaboration with the Faculty of Chinese Studies, University of Perugia (Italy). The conference presents the results of research conducted by members of the project “Vinaya Revival in 20th Century China and Taiwan” under the direction of Ester Bianchi and Daniela Campo.

You may find the details below and on our project webpage: https://vinayarevival.com/conferences/

  

This event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.  

Kind regards,

Pei-ying Lin 

Fu Jen Catholic University

—

Vinaya Revival in 20th Century China and Taiwan

Fu Jen Catholic University, 20-21 December 2017

Program:

Wednesday, December 20

9:00 AM: Greetings

9:30 AM: Opening Keynote  by T.H. Barrett (SOAS, University of London) 

“Rewriting the History of Modern and Contemporary Chinese-language Buddhism: Revivals and Renaissances Reconsidered”

10:00 AM: Panel 1 - Reforming the Vinaya: Ordination Procedures  

Jiang Wu (University of Arizona) 

Yu-Chen Li (National Chengchi University) 

Respondent:  William Bodiford (University of California, Los Angeles) 

11:10 AM: Coffee break 

11:25 AM, Panel 2 - Adjusting the Vinaya: Traditional Models and the Modern World

Zhe Ji (INALCO, Paris) 

Dhammadinnā bhikkhunī (Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts) 

Respondent:  Eric Goodell (Fo Guang University) 

12:30 PM: Lunch

2:00 PM:  Panel 3 - Interpreting the Vinaya: Body Movement and Sport Activities 

Ann Heirman (Ghent University) 

Tzu-Lung Chiu (Max Planck Institute, Göttingen) 

Respondent:  Po-Chi Huang (National Chengchi University) 

3:05 PM: Coffee break

3:25 PM: Panel 4 - Reviving the Vinaya: Republican China

Raoul Birnbaum (University of California at Santa Cruz) 

Stefania Travagnin (University of Groningen) 

Respondent: Paul Katz (Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica)

Thursday, December 21

9:00 AM: Panel 5 - Mahāyāna Vinaya: Bodhisattva Precepts

Ester Bianchi (University of Perugia) 

Pei-Ying Lin (Fu Jen Catholic University) 

Respondent: Matt Orsborn (Fo Guang University) 

10:05 AM:    Coffee break 

10:20 AM: Panel 6 - Chinese Vinaya: Rules for Monasteries

Jennifer Eichman (SOAS, University of London) 

Daniela Campo (University of Strasburg)

Respondent: Richard Jaffe (Duke University)

11:30 AM:     Closing Keynote by Mario Poceski (University of Florida)

“Public Monasteries, Hereditary Temples, and the Institutional Development of Modern Taiwanese Buddhism”

—   The conference finishes at noon.  —

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SYMPOSIUM> Ratnākara Readings 2018 (International PhD Programme in Buddhist Studies, Mahidol University)

by Mattia Salvini

Ratnākara Readings 2018 (21^st Feb – 23^rd March)
Thanks to the generous support of Khyentse Foundation, the International PhD Programme in Buddhist Studies, Mahidol University, is happy to announce our forthcoming yearly installment of the Ratnākara Readings. This year they will be divided into three parts:

Part I: “The oldest Chinese translation of the Dhātuvibhaṅga Sūtra (蓱沙王五願經, T511) and its Pāli, Chinese and Tibetan parallels”
Prof. Jan Nattier, Dr Giuliano Giustarini, Dr Torsten Gerloff
21^st – 23^rd February | 8.30 am – 11.30 am

Part II: “The chapter on Pāṇini's philosophy in the Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha”
Prof. Johannes Bronkhorst
26^th February – 2^nd March | 8.30 am – 11.30 am

Part III: “Ācārya Jñānaśrīmitra’s Sākārasiddhiśāstra, Chapter III (Madhyamāvatāra)”
Prof. Harunaga Isaacson
March 5,6,7,8,9,12,13,14,15,19,20,21,22,23 | 8.30 – 11.30
Dr Torsten Gerloff – Afternoon revisions to be decided in consultation with the participants

Venue: International PhD Programme in Buddhist Studies, Department of Humanities (second building, third floor), Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Salaya Campus, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
 https://www.google.co.th/maps/search/faculty+of+social+sciences+and+humanities+mahidol+university/@13.7938214,100.3220006,17z/data=!3m1!4b1
If you are interested in attending, kindly contact Mattia Salvini, prasajya@gmail.com

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JOB> Lecturer in Tibetan, University of Heidelberg

by Markus Viehbeck

Dear Colleagues,
The University of Heidelberg is searching for a lecturer in Tibetan.
Please spread the word among interested and interesting candidates.
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=56205
The University of Heidelberg invites applications for a full-time instructor in Tibetan language. The position is initially an eighteen-month appointment, and will begin on March 1, 2018. It is hosted by the professorship of Buddhist Studies, as part of the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies. The salary corresponds to level TV-L 13 of the German public service salary scale.
Applicants should have experience in teaching both classical and spoken Tibetan. Candidates must have a high level of knowledge of Tibetan, fluency in English, and teaching experience; and must hold at least a Master’s degree or higher in Tibetan language, literature, history, religious studies, or other related fields. Preference will be given to those with teaching experience at university level.
The lecturer will teach semester-length courses in both classical (literary) and colloquial Tibetan, to students ranging from undergraduate to PhD level. Aside from teaching, duties also include general service to Buddhist Studies and the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies, to which the lecturer is also expected to contribute with his or her own research interests.
Review of applications will begin on January 1, 2018. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. The University of Heidelberg is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.
Required documents:
application letter, curriculum vitae, teaching evaluations (if available), and two letters of reference, as well copies of syllabi of courses taught or proposed. The documents should be sent to Ina Buchholz-Chebbi via e-mail and as a single PDF. Questions regarding the position should be sent to the same e-mail address: buchholz@asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de
With kind regards,
Markus Viehbeck
Assistant Professor | Buddhist Studies
Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context"
Heidelberg University

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LECTURE> Prof. emer. Dr. M. Nasim Khan (Peshawar Univ.) at IRIAB, Soka University (2017-12-16)

by Noriyuki Kudo

Dear friends and colleagues,

You are cordially invited to the following lecture at the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University in Tokyo.

Dr. M. Nasim Khan  (Professor emeritus, Peshawar University, Pakistan)

Theme: Studying Buddhist Sculptures in Context: The case of But Kara III site in Gandhāra

  

Date: 16, December, 2017

Time: 1500-1700 (JST)

Place: Meeting Room 8, 12th Floor, Global Square, Soka University

[Japanese]

http://iriab.soka.ac.jp/lecture/

[English]

http://iriab.soka.ac.jp/en/lecture/

(PDF file in Japanese)

Contact Phone Number: +81-(0)42-691-2695

Contact E-mail: iriab@soka.ac.jp

Access (Japanese): https://www.soka.ac.jp/access/

Access (English): https://www.soka.ac.jp/en/access/

All those who are interested in the topic will be welcome.

Noriyuki KUDO

The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology

Soka University

nkudo@soka.ac.jp

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CALL FOR CHAPTERS> The Anthropological Study of Religious- and Religion-Themed Mobile Apps

by Jacqueline Fewkes

Chapter Proposal Deadline: January 15, 2018
As smartphone use becomes increasingly widespread globally, the development of mobile apps has a potentially significant impact on contemporary religion.  Mobile apps can reach large audiences; one of the most popular religious apps available, the Biblical app “YouVersion”, has an estimated 200 million users worldwide.  From Roman Catholic confession apps to Jewish Kaddish assistance apps and Muslim halal food apps, religion-themed mobile apps may create complex sites for potential new forms of religious expression, worship, discussion, and practices.  The purpose of this edited volume is to explore from an anthropological perspective the impact of mobile apps that focus on religious practice, communities, and religious issues, and/or those that may be used for religious purposes whether or not they were originally developed for that purpose.
Anthropological studies of religious mobile apps may focus on a range of potential issues, such as ethnographic accounts of app use, or emic critiques of digital modes of religious authority.  The studies may emphasize the cultural significance of widespread use, or explore the ways in which a focus on the globalizing influences of mobile app technologies minimizes attention to the significance of local contexts of production, pre-existing knowledge networks, and non-digital relationships of power.  Such studies can be situated in a broad historical context, thus placing what may seem to be “revolutionary” technologies into cultural narratives that span centuries to include literacy, printing, and other long-established human innovations and technologies (Hofheinz 2011).  To focus on the digital and to reify it as some new form of culture, is, as Miriam Aouragh pointed out, often done so in ways to project Orientalist notions of modernity, civilization, and progress on the Other, ignoring human agency.  Thus our analysis must be critical and recognize the complex ways in which in-app and on-ground (as opposed to online or virtual) contexts interact (Aouragh 2012).  Whether this comes in the form of conceptualizing the in-app and on-ground as “collocations” or critical reconceptualizations of the human, methods and insights from the growing subfield of digital anthropology may be useful to apply to the study of religious mobile apps (Whitehead and Wesch 2012; Boellstorff and Nardi 2012; Boellstorff 2015).
Technology has been credited with almost super-powers in terms of its ability to effect change and shape human experiences, frequently without, as John Rahagi has pointed out, “a clear understanding of the context of what is actually transpiring” (Rahagi 2012:154).  Thus while the large numbers of religious app users such as those mentioned earlier may be impressive, there is also a need to examine in more detail how those numbers may shape religious participation along lines such as gender, class, and national origins.
A detailed anthropological understanding is therefore necessary to examine the actual impact of mobile apps on religion and religious beliefs, behaviors, and ideals, and the range of issues associated with this topic.
Potential chapters may consider issues such as:

• How do particular mobile apps create new ways for religious communities and believers to communicate, share information, solicit support, or disseminate viewpoints?
• What is the source of religious authority in a religious app, and how does this authority intersect with other forms of authority within the community of users?
• How do the economics and technology of mobile apps shape religious ideas and practices through variables such as programming and corporate policies?
• What are the best anthropological methods for studying digital technology such as mobile apps?  How might methodological perspectives from various sub-disciplines be applied to the study of this topic?
• What on-ground practices, power relations, and other non-digital contexts shape the development of the digital world constructed through religion-themed mobile apps?
• Do religious mobile apps create new networks of religious knowledge sharing or forms of community?
• How do religious mobile apps contribute to globalization or localization processes?  How are they challenged by the same?
• How do religious mobile apps interact with the physical bodies of religious believers; thus potentially contributing to digital anthropological discussions of the “virtual human” and/or “post-human”?
• How does the use of religious apps transform users’ relationships with technology and their digital environment?

This is not a definitive list of possible directions, and all those with ethnographic evidence or anthropologically informed theoretical interests related to the broad topic of mobile apps and religion are encouraged to propose a chapter.  We are particularly interested in receiving proposals from researchers working outside the United States, as well as those with polytheistic and/or local religious traditions.
We invite chapter proposals of 250–350 words, with a tentative title and a short biographical note on the contributor(s) as a single pdf page by January 15^th, 2018.  Please send chapter proposals, as well as any inquiries, to the volume editor Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes at jfewkes@fau.edu.  Notifications of the submission status will be sent to by January 30th, 2018.   Accepted contributors are expected to submit their full chap­ters of 6,000–8,000 words by May 1st, 2018. The compiled edited volume will be submitted for publication to a major academic publisher shortly thereafter; Palgrave Macmillan has expressed interest in this publication.
Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University

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POSITION> Instructor, Carleton-Antioch Buddhist Studies in India 2018

by Arthur McKeown

Dear Colleagues,
Carleton-Antioch Global Engagement Programs seeks two instructors to accompany the Buddhist Studies Program to Bodh Gaya, India, in the fall of 2018.  This semester-long program draws undergraduates from colleges throughout the United States and Canada.
See full job posting here: https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=56183
https://apps.carleton.edu/global-engagement/buddhist-studies-india/

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