McTyeire Fireside Chat
“Remembering Past Lives in Early Medieval China”
Robert Campany, Professor of Asian Studies and Religious Studies, and Director of Asian Studies Program
Buddhism famously teaches that we are born not once but repeatedly and that our rebirths are a function of our karma-the sum of our past deeds. But the ability to remember former lives was at first attributed only to Buddhas and other very advanced practitioners. Over time, as Buddhism spread northward from India, this mnemonic feat came to be more widely attributed. The talk focuses on stories from China between 300 and 550 C.E. in which ordinary people are represented as remembering or learning about their own past lives. Interesting about such stories is what they tell us about how people in early medieval China chewed over the implications of rebirth, requiring them to rethink indigenous notions of memory, selfhood, and justice.
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2015
Time: 7-8pm
Location: McTyeire Fireside Lounge
Contact: anja.bandas@vanderbilt.edu