Inaugural Lecture Prof.dr. J.A. Silk
On Tuesday 1 April 2008 Jonathan Silk, Professor Study of Buddhism at the Faculty of Religious Studies, will hold his inaugural lecture.
Inaugural lecture Silk
Time and location
16.15 hrs.
Academy Building, Rapenburg 73, Leiden
Jonathan Silk studied East Asian Studies at the Oberlin College in Ohio and Buddhist Studies at the University of Michigan. In 1994 he obtained his PhD, based on his dissertation The Origins and Early History of the Mah?ratnak??a Tradition of Mah?y?na Buddhism, With a Study of the Ratnar??is?tra and Related Materials.
After his PhD Silk was appointed assistant professor of Religious Studies aan het Grinnell College in Iowa and (from 1995) the Department of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University. Since 2002 he occupies the same position at the Department of Asian languages and Cultures of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
During his studies and after Silk received several awards. He also held six fellowships, for example at Yale University. Also at Yale University he worked as the department director of education for undergraduate studies.
Silk has developed a broadth scientific interest in Buddhism: his interest is focused on the oldest Buddhist sources and the formation of buddhist communities in Asia as well as current transmissions of Buddhism to the West. Silk reads Classic Sanskrit, P?li, Classical Tibetan, Classical Chinese, Japanese, French and German.
Lecture: Henrik Kern and the Body of the Buddha
On the occasion of the inaugural lecture of Prof.dr. Silk a lecture is organised on "Hendrik Kern and the body of the buddha" by Prof. J. Johannes Bronkhorst (Department of Oriental Languages and Cultures University of Lausanne, Switzerland).
Venue: Gravensteen (Pieterskerkhof 6), room 111
Time: 1 April 2008 at 13.30-15.15 hrs.
The body of the Buddha plays a vital role in Buddhism in virtually all its forms. Indeed, it has rightly been observed that "the cult of [bodily] relics is central to all Buddhisms". In spite of this, hendrik Kern held views about the body of the Buddha which are hard to reconcile with relic worship. These views were not accepted, not even in Kern’s own time. Prof. Bronkhorst will argue that, even though Kern’s position was no doubt extreme, the scholarly consensus that has taken its place is in need of serious reconsideration.
More information
International Institute for Asian Studies
Martina van den haak: m.van.den.haak@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Website: http://www.iias.nl