This talk is organised by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore; with funding support from the Foo Hai Ch’an Monastery Fellowship in Buddhist Studies.
CHAIRPERSON
Assoc Prof Jack Meng-Tat Chia, Department of History, National University of Singapore
ABSTRACT
This article examines the conceptualization of earth and sky deities in the cosmological writings of medieval Theravada Buddhist scholar monks. Drawing on untranslated and understudied sources, I reconstruct how monastic authors systematized these living beings and authorized ways of conceiving and relating to them. I show, for instance, that the monastic injunction not to harm plant life was based as much on a concern for the living beings residing in plants as ascetic decorum. I also demonstrate how the earth deity realm assimilated and subordinated Śiva within a Buddhist cosmological framework and how depictions of sky deities rendered weather patterns, seasons, and the climate as social and moral phenomena. Together, these findings reveal a picture of humanity as deeply embedded within the environment through our moral relationships with the deities who animate its physical forms.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alastair Gornall gained his PhD in Asian Studies from the University of Cambridge in 2013. He is currently Associate Professor in History and Religion at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and a research associate in the Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a member of council of the Pali Text Society. His research focuses on the intellectual history of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia and the editing and translation of second-millennium Pali literature. At SUTD, he teaches courses on Asian religions, history, and the digital humanities.
REGISTRATION
Registration is closed. However, we welcome walk-ins to join us if there are available seats.
