From Jetavana to Jerusalem: Sacred Biography in Asian Perspectives and Beyond

Jetavanaramaya Stupa cropped

[Jetavanaramaya Stupa in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Photo by A.Savin.]

 

From Jetavana to Jerusalem: Sacred Biography in Asian Perspectives and Beyond
An International Conference in Honour of Dr. Phyllis Granoff
(November 7–9, 2021)

Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies @ Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies @ Yale
Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies @ UBC

Zoom registration:  https://ubc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LRN1i0GdREabFPtJqfnY8g

 

賢聖傳是研究宗教活動非常重要的資料。長期以來，學界對這類材料的價值有所低估，直到1992年，葛然諾與篠原亨一出版Speaking of Monks（云及僧）一書，而有改觀。如何藉助宗教龍象的傳記來認識信仰和修行，而今作此探討的學術作品已為數不少，且不斷增多。例如，2016年有R. Monge, K. P. C. San Chirico, 和R. J. Smith三人合著的Hagiography and Religious Truth (聖徒傳與宗教真相)，2019年有J. Keune所著Comparative vs. Hagiology (比較vs.聖徒志)。這說明，圍繞相關方法和理論展開了一場熱烈的討論，以求對這類重要材料作跨文化研究。學術研討會“從祇園精舍到耶路撒冷”將探討亞洲內外製造和流通的顯聖傳，旨在繼承這一開拓性的學術研究，進一步探討對聖傳—史傳的跨文化和跨邊界研究取向，特別要對僧尼人物、以及護持其遺產的群體有更深入的理解。

與會專家學者各有不同的專業背景和方法取向，將共同為僧傳研究重新確定方向。所探討的課題包括但不限於以下方面：聖徒傳的講述與再講述對個體和群體有何等創獲？聖傳—史傳有怎樣的體例？影響其創作的因素有哪一些？宗教成就者的傳記對儀軌、音樂、藝術、物質文化的研究有怎樣促進作用？為紀念葛然諾教授耶魯大學榮休，茲舉辦“從祇園精舍到耶路撒冷：亞洲內外的賢聖傳”國際學術研討會。

Sacred biographies constitute a highly valuable source for the study of religious life. Having long been underappreciated by scholars in the field until the publication of Speaking of Monks (1992) by P. Granoff and K. Shinohara, today a substantial and growing body of literature explores the ways that accounts of the lives of religious achievers help us to understand practice and belief. As work by R. Monge, K. P. C. San Chirico, and R. J. Smith (Hagiography and Religious Truth; 2016), M. Rondolino (Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Hagiographical Strategies; 2017), and J. Keune (Comparative vs. Hagiology; 2019), among others indicates, a lively conversation is underway about the methods and theories that allow for cross-cultural study of these important materials. Exploring sacred biographies produced and circulated within and well beyond Asia, the “From Jetavana to Jerusalem” Conference aims to build on this path-breaking scholarship to further explore how transcultural and cross border approaches to the study of hagio-biography, in particular, strengthen our understandings of monastic figures, as well as the communities who celebrate their legacies.

Bringing together scholars with expertise in diverse contexts and methodological approaches to reorient our studies of records of monastic lives, we will pursue questions including, but not limited to: What do the telling and retelling of saintly lives achieve for individuals and communities? What forms do hagio-biographies take? Which factors inform their composition? How do records of religious achievers illuminate the study of ritual, music, art, and material culture? The international conference “From Jetavana to Jerusalem: Sacred Biography in Asian Perspectives and Beyond” will be held between November 7–9, 2021 in honour of Professor Phyllis Granoff, hosted by the Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with the assistance of Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies at Yale and Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies at UBC, with administrative support from Frogbear (www.frogbear.org).

The organizers welcome contributions from individuals from any academic field working on monastic hagiography or hagiology. Topics might include:

  1. sacred biography and secular biography
  2. sacred biography and autobiography
  3. sacred biography and epitaphs
  4. sacred biographies and art, music, ritual, and material culture;
  5. political ends served or subverted by the lives of saints;
  6. sacred biography as sectarian and polemic devices;
  7. gendered biography: relationships between sacred biographies and gender;
  8. relationships between hagiography, hagiology, and landscape(s);
  9. strategies of reading sacred biography;
  10. how technologies are changing what and how we know about hagiology.

This conference will follow a symposia format. Panelists will first address comments from session discussants, then exchange feedback with fellow panelists, and if time allows, respond to questions from public attendees.

Please contact frogbear.project@ubc.ca if you have any questions about the conference.

 

 

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

This conference will produce a festschrift in two volumes (one English and the other Chinese) in honour of Professor Phyllis Granoff, who recently retired from Yale. The organizing committee welcomes paper proposals related to any aspect(s) of sacred biography. We will reserve priority to proposals from scholars who are students or colleagues of Prof. Granoff, but in line with the mission of Frogbear, we also welcome the participation of emerging scholars who are influenced by or respond to her research. Only scholars who are confident they can complete draft papers by mid-October, 2021 and submit publishable papers by the end of 2021 are encouraged to apply.

Please email proposals and CVs to frogbear.project@ubc.ca by June 15, 2021.