Yael Shiri
Awarded the 2021 Khyentse Foundation Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies
https://khyentsefoundation.org/2021-dissertation-award/?fbclid=IwAR2GqVV-UIFTD_CEhPLVo0yBKykiFLMo6Fk99y19gTxhZv8O8VnUojwH8Sk
https://khyentsefoundation.org/2021-dissertation-award/?fbclid=IwAR2GqVV-UIFTD_CEhPLVo0yBKykiFLMo6Fk99y19gTxhZv8O8VnUojwH8Sk
less
InterestsView All (6)
Uploads
Treatments of the topic, such as in the admirable works of André Bareau, typically approached it from a “historicist” perspective, trying to uncover the historical “truth” beneath the narratives. However, this dissertation treats such narratives as “historical traditions”, rather than excavating them for their presupposed historical facts.
In this dissertation, I focus on stories which are transmitted in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya (MSV), composed between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE. The Mūlasarvāstivāda nikāya, which was one of the most influential in ancient India, disappeared from its native-land in the 13th century. Its vinaya, which is an enormous and unwieldy text, is not available in its entirety in any Western language. By analysing such accounts, using narratological and philological methods, and in light of visual materials, the dissertation aims to shed new light on the way in which they reflect the historical circumstances of their compilers/authors. As this dissertation demonstrates, these monastic authors were in constant dialogue with other religious communities, and predominantly brāhmaṇas.
While the dissertation focuses primarily on the cycle of birth-stories in the Saṅghabhedavastu of the MSV, it also draws upon other parts of this vinaya as well as on other Buddhist genres and the writings of other Buddhist schools.
Treatments of the topic, such as in the admirable works of André Bareau, typically approached it from a “historicist” perspective, trying to uncover the historical “truth” beneath the narratives. However, this dissertation treats such narratives as “historical traditions”, rather than excavating them for their presupposed historical facts.
In this dissertation, I focus on stories which are transmitted in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya (MSV), composed between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE. The Mūlasarvāstivāda nikāya, which was one of the most influential in ancient India, disappeared from its native-land in the 13th century. Its vinaya, which is an enormous and unwieldy text, is not available in its entirety in any Western language. By analysing such accounts, using narratological and philological methods, and in light of visual materials, the dissertation aims to shed new light on the way in which they reflect the historical circumstances of their compilers/authors. As this dissertation demonstrates, these monastic authors were in constant dialogue with other religious communities, and predominantly brāhmaṇas.
While the dissertation focuses primarily on the cycle of birth-stories in the Saṅghabhedavastu of the MSV, it also draws upon other parts of this vinaya as well as on other Buddhist genres and the writings of other Buddhist schools.